Living Through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:5-11)

In this message from Romans 8:5–11, Pastor Chris explores how the Holy Spirit, who lives within every believer, leads us into a new way of life. Using everyday illustrations and Paul’s teaching, the message challenges believers to move off spiritual autopilot, turn from familiar ruts, and live by the power of the Holy Spirit. Rather than living by lists or habits from the past, we are invited to let the Spirit shape our desires, direction, and confidence as we walk in new life. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/18645648

Key Points: How to Live in Victory Series

1. Choose to set your mind on what brings life and peace (Romans 8:5–6)
    Our mindset shapes our direction. When our thoughts are centered on Christ and renewed by Scripture, we experience life, peace, and clarity instead of drifting through life on spiritual autopilot.
2. Turn away from old patterns that keep you spiritually stuck (Romans 8:7–8)
    Familiar routines, inherited traditions, or empty religious habits can become ruts that limit growth. The Spirit invites believers to move forward in freedom rather than remain stuck in the past.
3. Depend daily on the Spirit who lives within you (Romans 8:9–10)
    The Christian life is not lived by willpower alone. Everyone who belongs to Christ has the Holy Spirit living within them, empowering obedience, transformation, and assurance.
4. Walk with confidence knowing God’s resurrection power is at work now (Romans 8:11)
    The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is actively at work in believers today, giving endurance in hardship, confidence in weakness, and hope that reaches beyond this life.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris

Pastor Chris shares relatable illustrations about driving on autopilot, mowing straight rows by fixing your eyes on a distant point, and getting stuck in familiar ruts. These stories help connect biblical truth to everyday life and spiritual habits.

Notable Quotes
“You can’t steer a parked car.”
 “Lists are good, but lists don’t change hearts.”
 “The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”

Actionable Takeaways
Reflect on where your mind naturally drifts during the week.
Identify any spiritual ruts or habits that may be limiting growth.
Choose daily to renew your mind through Scripture.
Yield your decisions and direction to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Scripture References
Romans 8:4–11
Galatians 5:13–25
Romans 12:2
John 14:16–17

Keywords
Romans 8, Holy Spirit, Christian living, spiritual growth, mindset, spiritual direction, renewal of the mind, walking by the Spirit, faith, discipleship

Challenge
This week, intentionally surrender one familiar habit or mindset to the Holy Spirit and ask God to guide you onto a new path that leads to life and peace.

26.0208de Learning a New Way to Live

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

We're continuing in Romans chapter 8. So you're probably wondering why on the screen there's an old truck on dirt roads. And the reason for that is because in this passage here, Paul is trying to change the way that God's people thought about the way they're supposed to worship, the way they're supposed to pursue God, the new road that they are supposed to take. As roads change, sometimes people do, sometimes people don't. Sometimes you just get set in your rut. I've literally, over the years, been on autopilot. And so I found myself at the post office, and I'm parked in front of the post office. I'm like, what am I doing here? It's because I was on autopilot, and somehow, not the car didn't have autopilot, no, somehow my brain thought, oh, you're busy, I'll just take care of this for you, and it took me to that one destination. And sometimes in our lives, we just want to go down the same road and do the same thing, stay in our comfortable vehicle that we're used to, take the roads that we're used to, and not make any changes. But God saw how the people were treating him, how God's people, how the Jewish people, how they were going through the motions. And God had given his Old Testament law and given his regulations and the way that he wanted the people to live, and the people did sometimes they did their best to keep it, a lot of times they didn't. But it was a list. It was a list, and God knew that it was impossible for them to keep the list on their own. So here in this passage in Romans, we see that God is changing everything from pursuing the lists and doing the motions that the things that were passed down to you to do over and over again to being led and motivated by the Spirit, that Jesus covered the cost for you to be right with God. Basically, he took care of keeping that law so that you could live the law of loving God and loving others. Romans 8 4, it says, 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. So we'd have to read like the whole book of Romans to see how Paul set all this up, and I reviewed some of it last week. But the part that we want to bridge from last week to here is those who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. And do we live according to the spirit? When I think about saying that to people, sometimes I wonder if people won't fall into mysticism and say, oh, who needs the Bible? I'll just be led by prayer. And however I feel that must be the spirit leading, and that's not how it works at all. So the Holy Spirit guides and directs and helps you to understand Scripture and convicts you of sin and helps you to move forward. But so Jesus, Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament law so that we can live under the Spirit, so that we can live spirit-empowered, so that we can live the way that he wants, because he knows that we can't keep the list on our own because of the sin that lives within us. Number one, choose to set your mind on what brings life and peace. Choose to set your mind on what brings life and peace. As you go down the roads of life, some people are more adventurous than others. Some people will just keep taking the same road and not even wonder what's down that other road. Except for our friends Mike and Sandy, who go on vacation and you ask them where they're going, and they say, I don't know. We're going to pick a road and head south this year. Or we're going to go west. And they don't really know where they're going. They just go, and that's part of their adventure. That's kind of fun, maybe, to go see where those roads go. I've done that a few times. But when you think about your mind and your mindset and the direction that you want to go, it's really important that you focus your mind on the things of Christ, that you renew your mind through scripture, that you pursue the things of God, not based on feeling and mysticism, but based on what God's Word says, rightly applied, so that you can live that out because that's where the joy comes from, that's where the peace comes from. And just take a second and just ask yourself where does your mind wander when you're not in church? You know, what do you think about? Do you think about the things that you need to do? Do you think about the things that you want to get? Do you think about the things that maybe might not be the best, but it's a temptation, and you think it might be pretty fun to give into? What if you were led by the Spirit? What if you had God's power at work in your life? What would that look like? And so this whole passage is focusing on helping these people to learn to be believers in Christ through the power of the Spirit. And that is important to us. So Romans 8:5, Romans verse 5 here. Those who live according to this flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. So what are some of those things? The best answer is in Scripture, so your best commentary on Scripture is Scripture. And if you were to look at Galatians 5 13, 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. 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 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 warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is 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, let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. So we're to live according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. The flesh in Romans is not merely the physical body. Paul's word refers to fallen human nature operating apart from God. It is the old life turned inward, self-directed, self-reliant, and resistant to God's rule. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit Himself, the living presence of God within the believer, reshaping desires and direction from the inside out. So if you really want to experience true spiritual growth, it comes from the Spirit working in you, not you just trying to live a list. Lists are good, spiritual disciplines are good. God can use all of those things. If you have a regular time when you get up to have devotions, if you have a regular time of prayer, if you even have times where you get away to pray, all of those things are good. Don't stop doing that. But don't think that just because you went through your through the year Bible reading plan and prayed for the list of the people that you know of, or you did that, that you're done, that you've put in your time, and now you can do whatever you want. No, being led by the Spirit means that everything you want is supposed to all come together where God can use you. And like we talked about in our Sunday school class, God can use you in your job or the things that you're involved in, that you can glorify God through the things that you do, the skills that you have, the way that you treat people, all of those things are good. But to live in accordance with the Spirit, have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. So when we're focused on what the Spirit desires, it helps us to do the right thing. Where we used to live, we got to get together at the last two churches, actually. Two churches before, anyway. Farmers. There are farmers. And farmers have very interesting jobs. Farm kids are very interesting too because they're very judgmental of other farmers. So they criticize other farmers' rows, you know, are the rows straight. If they've got soybeans, that they have volunteer corn in the soybeans because that's bad, and all of these, all of these things. But whether you're a farmer with a tractor or you're just trying to mow your lawn, as you probably know, if you're mowing and you're paying attention to what is right in front of you, it's gonna be really hard to have those straight lines. But if you pick a point in the horizon, like I'm on a riding mower now and I'm picking that post right there, and I'm driving along and I'm just trying to stay centered on that post, I'm gonna have nice straight rows. And the same thing is true in our life. When we're focused on the things of God, when we're focused on pleasing Christ, when this Holy Spirit is at work in our life, helping us to choose to do what's right, empowering us, even giving us right words to say, helping us to use the spiritual gift or gifts that He's given us. It's gonna help us to stay on track, to keep our eyes on Jesus. And that is a good thing. That is a good thing. Verse 6 says the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life in peace. To have a mindset that is constantly focused on the things of God. Now you can do that. You can do that in your daily life by the things that you choose to do and you choose to say and the things that you choose to listen to. And so it isn't like you have to make a list and force yourself to do it when the Holy Spirit empowers you, when the Holy Spirit helps you to do those things that are right. And maybe you don't really think about what it would be like if the Holy Spirit wasn't active in your life because he's not going anywhere. But we're gonna see in a minute that we have to have the Holy Spirit to be Christ's followers. And maybe we need to yield our lives more to the Holy Spirit and be thankful that he is the power assist in our life to help steer us in the direction that we need to go. That is a good thing. That is a good thing, a good way to live. And when we think about the paths of life that we go down, we have to remember Romans 12, 2, that we quote often, don't conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Sometimes his will isn't your will, sometimes it's better. Sometimes his will knows he knows how to get pace you and how to get you where you need to be in the timing that you need to be. Sometimes we're always in a hurry, some maybe like me. I like to get things done quick, but if you're always rushing, you might miss out on what God has for you. So years ago, I helped work at a Bible camp in the state of Wyoming, and there's this Mount Laramie, and so you can walk up Mount Laramie. And there's really two ways to do it. The suggested way is you take the path, the well-worn path. And the well-worn path isn't straight up the mountain. It is it's like a zigzag. You go here, and it's like a, I don't know what the grade is, but it's not that great, you know. But it's like they cut a path where you zigzag up the mountain, and that's the way, you know, that most people get up there without high altitude, without injuring themselves. And the other way is that you can just pick a point and go straight down through boulder fields and all sorts of crazy things. But sometimes the spirit leads us along the gentle paths because he cares about us and he wants us to reach our destination, and he's also concerned about the growth, how we grow, and the people that we meet along the way. So to follow his path, to be focused on the spirit, to have our mind set on the spirit. The mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. We want to have a we want to have a quality of life, we want to have eternal life, we want to have peace. We want to have inner peace, we want to have peace with God, and we want to have peace with others. And sometimes when we are in step with the Spirit, not running ahead of the Spirit, that we will find those things and enjoy those things, and that can be a great way to live. The Life Application Bible commentary says, How do we cooperate with the Spirit's control? Ask for greater openness and responsiveness to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Consciously humble ourselves before God so we are not too proud of to change. Look to God's word for guidance. Obey where we have clear direction so that our forward movement will enhance the Holy Spirit's leading. It makes little sense to steer a parked car. And it asks, When was the last time you prayed as Jesus did? Nevertheless, may your will, not my will, be done. I thought that was pretty good. Number two, turn away from old patterns that keep you spiritually stuck. Turn away from old patterns that keep you spiritually stuck. So as you go down the roads of life, sometimes have you ever gotten stuck? Have you ever gotten stuck in the mud? Ever gotten stuck in the snow, ever gotten stuck so bad that you can't get yourself out, and you've had to have somebody help get you out. Sometimes Christ followers can come along and help you to get out of the rut that you're stuck in. Sometimes the rut is just a familiar path, and you're fine with it. You know, you're it leads where you want to go when it's good. I don't know if you ever went to Valley Fair with your kids, or maybe you did when you were a kid, those amusement parks that have those little cars that you can drive, and when you're a kid, it's pretty cool because the thing's got an engine and a gas puddle and a brake, and you can drive the car. The only thing is you can't really drive it that far because there's a metal rail right down the middle, and so you can go to one side or the other, but you can't get off the rail, and it's just gonna go where it's gonna go. And sometimes, sometimes empty religion, sometimes vain philosophy, sometimes the things that we learn from our parents or grandparents that was passed down to us. Sometimes those are ruts that God doesn't want us to stay stuck in. He has so much more for us if we would just get out of those ruts and to move forward. So many things that we could do, so much more peace we could experience if we would do those things. Verse 7 says the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. Those realms of what I read about in the flesh, the sinful nature, all of those things that we do that are sinful, those hollow, empty things that lead to emptiness and to disappointment and literally our sin against God. It doesn't lead to the blessed life, it doesn't lead to peace. And so here in this section of scripture, Paul is making it really clear that what we think in our mind and the direction that our mind is set really makes a difference in our life, and that when Jesus saves us, we become a new creation. And not only does he, you know, change our salvation status so that we can be saved and guaranteed heaven and adopt as a child of God, but he also changes our heart and changes our mind and we're to renew our mind through scripture and to move forward in that way. To move forward. So I say walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. To walk by the spirit, to walk in the spirit, to be led by the spirit. I don't know if you've hopefully you've experienced that before, where you're praying and the spirit prompts you and gives you an idea or motivates you to contact somebody or helps you recall some scripture passage, or maybe even a song comes, Christian song comes on the radio that inspires you. But so many times the Holy Spirit is at work guiding and directing, if we would just pay attention. Sometimes it's hard to look forward and wonder how in the world you're going to get through whatever is coming next. It's scary. You don't know how it's going to work out. But then as you see God show up and as you see all these things happen, you're able to look back and see how God was faithful, how he got you through, how you're even surprised that you got through that, and it was better than you thought, and it gives you confidence to keep moving forward. Keep moving forward as you do the things for Christ. When we're on God's team, God can do amazing things through us. When we work together as a church, we celebrate the wins together. When we work together as the kingdom of God, God can use us to do great things. And that's his plan. His plan is that we make disciples, his plan is that we glorify him through the things that we do. When we have the Holy Spirit working in us, we're on God's team, and God can use us to do so many great things if we would be guided and directed and led by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, yielded to the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, and that is a great thing. Sometimes by default, we just want to go back to the old ways and do the old thing and not really get serious about following Jesus because it's a spiritual battle, because sometimes it's difficult, because sometimes it's scary, because sometimes it's hard, but we continue to walk with the Spirit and He motivates us, He guides us, He helps us as we depend daily on the Spirit who lives within you, as we depend daily on the Spirit who lives within you. Think about what it would be like if the Spirit helped us to get unstuck. So maybe you've never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and that's the first thing you need to do, and I'd love to talk to you about that. So we've got how to find God New Testaments out there, but ask me afterwards. I'd love to hear your questions and see what it is that's kept you from coming into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That would be a good thing. Maybe as you have come to Christ, you haven't been discipled by anybody, you don't have any idea on how to get growing as a Christian, you wouldn't know where to start, even reading the Bible, you wouldn't know what to do. And we would love to help you with that too. But it's interesting that verse eight, no, verse nine, says, You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. In the New Living Translation it says, But you are not controlled by your sinful nature, you are controlled by the Spirit, if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all. That means that if you perceive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you are born again, then you have the Holy Spirit. You could be filled with the Spirit, you could yield your life and get more of the Spirit working in you. But everybody who receives Christ receives the Holy Spirit. There are some churches that teach that receiving the Holy Spirit is the second thing, and so you have to pray for it at everything. That's not what this scripture passage says right here. It says if you do not have the Holy Spirit in you, then you do not have Christ. And we need to think about the Spirit living in us and how that works out. Verse 10. If Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. So here, death gets confusing when Paul talks about it, because sometimes he's talking about physical death and sometimes he's talking about spiritual death. And it wouldn't make no sense at all if Paul just said, because Christ is in us, that we're subject to spiritual death, because we've just been assured heaven, and we will in the next verse too. But so it's talking about physical death. So in this world, because the sinful world that we live in is plagued by physical death, there might come a time in our life when we do die physically, but we will go to be in the presence of Jesus. But again, back to this if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you, we have the Holy Spirit. If we are in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is at work to help us. Live the Christian life. The Holy Spirit is at work. Jesus said He was a comforter to help us as we move forward. He is a deposit on our salvation. He is with us to help us get through. And that is such a help because that list that we read of all the works of the flesh or the sinful nature, it's really hard to look at the list and not do anything on the lists. But when the Spirit helps you, when the Spirit enables you, when the Spirit has, because Jesus set us free from that sin on the cross, helps us to say no to temptation, we're able to move forward and to live a life that glorifies God, live a life that brings joy, live a life that makes a difference to others. So are you trusting that Christ is at work within you? Even when changes feel slow? And how does knowing that life is already at work within me reshape how I face my struggles and limitations? So we think about that. We think about what it is that Christ wants to do in us, where we are in our Christian life, and where we could go, where we could grow, what God could do through us. Number four, walk with confidence, knowing God's resurrection power is at work now. To walk in confidence, knowing that God's resurrection power is at work now. Roads are really important. Taking the right road is very important. A new road can be even better. Many years ago, when I worked at the optical company, we thought about moving out to the far western suburbs, but we were told that it wasn't, didn't make sense because you couldn't, there was no bridge. When the Minnesota River would flood, there'd be no way to get to this place where you wanted to live. And we ended up moving up here and living in Chisholm. While we were living in Chisholm, they built the Bloomington Ferry Bridge, which is like an over-a-mile-long bridge that goes over the Minnesota River that made it possible for everybody to move into this area that we were told in the past you couldn't go to because there'd be no way to get to it. Because if the river floods, how are you going to get there? You'd have to go way out of the way. So when we went to plant the church, the reason that we went to this town that was growing so quickly with new houses is because there was a new, brand new highway, a new highway bridge that went right over that Minnesota River and made it possible to make that happen. So in this passage here, God has made a new bridge to life through Jesus. And instead of keeping the Old Testament law now, they're able to follow the law of the Spirit, so the law of love, to love God and to love others and to move forward in the Spirit's power to do the right things. Where they're not focused on, you know, everything on the list, they're focused on loving God and loving others, and that motivates them to do the right thing. And the Holy Spirit can help us to do the right thing. And then verse 11 says, And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. So now there's this confidence. If you're a discouraged Christian, if you have troubles with your health, if you have troubles and you just don't know how you're going to be able to move on, you have the confidence that when you park this tent of the body, when you die physically, that you have the guarantee that you have the Spirit and Jesus living in you, and you will be given life, eternal life, because his spirit lives in you.