The last time we were together here talking about the Holy Spirit I concluded with this story from Ken Sande:

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1 1 Sermon Series: The Spirit: Coming Alive to his practical work in your life Sermon Title: The Spirit active in every moment Sermon Text: Galatians 5:25 and Romans 8:12-13 Big Idea: The Spirit, active in every moment of our lives calls us to stay in step Intro: Purpose of series: to raise awareness of presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, with the hope that increased awareness will lead to increased tuning into and cooperation and dependency on the Spirit s work in our lives. The last time we were together here talking about the Holy Spirit I concluded with this story from Ken Sande: [Illustration] One day during my morning run I noticed a blind woman walking on the other side of the street with her Seeing Eye dog, a beautiful golden retriever. As I was about to pass them, I noticed a car blocking a driveway a few paces ahead of them. At that moment the dog paused and gently pressed his shoulder against the woman's leg, signaling her to turn aside so they could get around the car. I'm sure she normally followed his lead, but that day she didn't seem to trust him. She had probably walked this route many times before and knew this was not the normal place to make a turn. Whatever the cause, she wouldn't move to the side and instead gave him the signal to move ahead. He again pressed his shoulder against her leg, trying to guide her on a safe path. She angrily ordered [the dog] to go forward. When he again declined, her temper flared. I was about to speak up when the dog once more put his shoulder gently against her leg. Sure enough, she kicked him and then she impulsively stepped forward and bumped square into a car. Reaching out to feel the shape in front of her, she immediately realized what had happened. Dropping to her knees, she threw her arms around the dog, and spoke sobbing words into his ear. (Ken Sande, Resolving Everyday Conflict (Baker Books, 2011), pp ) Today, I want to let this story serve as an overall metaphor for understanding how you and I are to walk with the Holy Spirit in every moment of our lives. First, I want to offer a couple of disclaimers: 1. Holy Spirit not a dog I m not being foolishly disrespectful. We ve talked about who the Holy Spirit is as a person of the Godhead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And we ve covered the fact of his presence and

2 2 activity in the believer s life. And I think this story can help us get a better handle on what it means to walk with the Spirit moment by moment. 2. As believers we are not blind, but because of our sin nature, we are visually impaired. Some guide dogs are used by the visually impaired. We ve learned that the Spirit has planted new life in us and made us alive to God and his desires. The Spirit helps us see, illuminating our understanding regarding the things of God his person, his word, his promises and his desires for our lives. Here are the helpful parallels I see in the story: 1. Woman is on a journey with guide dog we are on a growth journey with the Spirit. We are being transformed (Romans 12:1-2) and Paul says we are being transformed into {Jesus } likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18). 2. The woman needs the guide dog for the journey Believers need the Holy Spirit for the journey. As we have seen from week one in our series, from Jesus words all the way through the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is a key player in creation and re-creation of the believer (Jesus teaches this in John 14-16; Paul in 1 Cor. 2:9-13; Ephesians 1, Romans 8 and Galatians 5). You can t live out the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. You can t simply ignore him or choose not to engage with him. He enables us to see our need to come to Jesus for forgiveness and to have his perfection applied to our lives. And once we submit our lives to Jesus, the Spirit seals us for heaven and goes to work on us to restore our lives from the damages of sin. 3. The guide dog gently seeks to guide the woman s steps The Holy Spirit seeks to guide our steps. The Spirit prompts, whispers, illuminates, persuades, coaxes, challenges, pries loose, melts and leads us to freedom. [Transition] - This activity of the Holy Spirit is where I want to focus today. I want to try and crank our mental microscopes down closer to this process so you can have a clearer view of what this can look like in your life. First a. The woman must choose to walk with the guide dog You and I must consciously choose to walk with the Spirit.

3 3 As Christians, we have the Spirit, but as I ve been saying, we often forget about him. This is why Francis Chan called his book on the Holy Spirit, The Forgotten God. (If you haven t read that, put it in your queue) The Spirit is active in every moment of our lives but we often ignore him. Also notice while there are some cases of visually impaired runners using guide dogs to run, most people don t run with guide dogs. If you re running it s way more difficult to pick up on the dog s signals. At a minimum you must learn to walk with the Spirit, before you can run with him. This is where the Five Minute Challenge comes in again. You and I must slow down and listen. God says, Be still and know that I am God (Ps. 46:10). Life comes at us fast and we have to move fast at times. But, if we don t build into our day, moments of solitude and silence, we will be fragmented in soul. We will be disjointed in thought. We will be disconnected in relationships. We simply have to stop and let our souls catch up to our bodies. [Illustration] - There s a legendary story of an explorer who is hunting for medicinal plants in the Amazon. An indigenous tribe is guiding him. The first day of the journey happens quickly. They hike long hours and cover lots of ground. On the morning of the second day, the explorer eagerly hops up from sleep and prepares for another day of trekking. The tribesmen, however, are all sitting down. What are they doing? Tell them to get up. We have to get going! urges the explorer. The translator explains that the men have pushed themselves too hard and had moved too fast. They are now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies. [Transition] When we choose to walk with the Spirit, it s counterintuitive, but the first step to walking with the Spirit is standing or sitting still to connect with him. b. The woman has to choose to listen and yield to the guide dog s guidance You and I must listen and yield to the Holy Spirit s guidance. Two Key Passages for us to examine: Turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:12-13 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it [urges]. For if you [habitually] live according

4 4 to the sinful nature, you will die; but if [habitually] by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body [that try to stay alive in you], you will live, Now flip to Galatians 5:16-17 So I say, [keep on saying] live by the Spirit, [literally - a command to walk, be guided by the Spirit; refers to the act of conducting you life, or ordering your whole manner of life AND behavior in alignment with the Spirit. 1 ] and you will not gratify the desires [impulses, cravings, urges] of the sinful nature. [Two negatives in Greek strengthen the negation. It gives a strong assurance that if the believer depends upon the Spirit to give him both the desire and the power to do the will of God, he will not bring to fulfillment in action, the evil impulses of the sinful nature, but will be able to resist and conquer them. 2 ] For the sinful nature desires [constantly like smoke from a chimney] what is contrary [in opposition to] to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. Galatians 5:16-17 This is describing the internal battle you and I face everyday. There s struggle here. The power of the Holy Spirit is there to make victory possible, but we have to choose to walk/rely on him. The Apostle Paul speaks to both sides of this strategic partnership in Philippians 2 when he says, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, [continue to focus your will and give effort to the salvation process with reverence and respect] for it is God who works [God s energy at work] in you to will and to act according to his good purpose [desire and will]. In other words, you and I are now able to choose right and refuse wrong through the presence and power of the Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit has been given to you as the Agent to counteract the evil nature, but He does that for you when you put yourself under His control, and by an act of your free will, say a point-blank positive NO to sin. In other words, you and I must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in His work of sanctifying our lives. 1 Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Ga 5:16). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2 Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Ga 5:16). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

5 5 The Holy Spirit is a divine Person waiting to be depended upon for His ministry, and expecting you and I to yield to Him in it. Thus the choice lies with you and with me as to whether we are going to yield to the Holy Spirit or yield the evil nature. The Spirit is always there to give us victory over that evil nature as we resolve a point-blank NO to sin and at the same time trust the Spirit to give us victory over it. 3 [Transition] All too often, like the woman in the story, we choose to ignore the Spirit and kick against his efforts in our lives. c. The woman can choose to ignore the guide dog s guidance We can choose to ignore the Spirit s guidance. We saw in our story that because the woman had walked that way many times before and likely intuited that that was not a normal place to turn, refused to yield to the dog s leanings. Instead of trusting his leanings, she kicked back against him. Boy oh boy, we all resonated with the story at that point. How often do we recognize the Spirit s leanings or guidance when we see it in our rear view mirror. Know what I mean? Like this woman, we recognize the Spirit was trying to help us after the fact. When we ignore the Spirit s desires and promptings, the Bible says we grieve the Spirit s heart (Ephesians 4:30). When we resist him repeatedly the Bible says we quench his work. The image is one of throwing a wet blanket on the Spirit s fire in your life (1 Thess. 5:19). And in extreme cases where patterns of ignoring the Spirit are prolonged, Paul speaks about people whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron (1 Tim. 4:2). You could argue that this is the progression as people grieve, quench and refuse to cooperate with the Spirit in their lives over and over and over again. If the woman in our story were to get in the habit kicking the dog every time the dog tried to give her a lean or a directional cue, at some point that dog is going to lay down and not be able to help that woman in any way. Instead of these, what we must learn to do in greater and greater ways is cue into the Holy Spirit and rely on him moment by moment as we engage with 3 Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Ga 5:16). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

6 6 life and changing circumstances in our lives. We can t assume we know the way or that we always know what should be done or said. Imagine if this woman would have trusted the dog s gestures even if she didn t understand why he was leaning on her at that moment. If she would have cooperated and followed the dog s lead, she could have put out her hand to brush by the car s bumper, understanding then that the dog had helped her avoid some trouble in her life. You see, the Spirit is actively providing a way out of trouble. 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Way Out = a way out through a mountain pass. The idea is of an army apparently surrounded and then suddenly seeing an escape route to safety. The army recognizes it s facing defeat and so looks for a way of escape, sees it and takes it resolutely. If it hesitates, the way will be cut off so it seizes it the moment it sees it. This is what you and I must do. We must recognize we need the Holy Spirit, call on him to help us see the way out and rely on the him for the power to take the way out but we must choose to seize it. This is the cooperative effort. God never abandons us in this battle. In fact, The Spirit is active moment by moment in our lives. We must learn to tune in to his divine frequency and trust in his direction and courageously stay in step with him. How do we learn to do this? ü Be conscious of the Holy Spirit s presence ü We must ask the Spirit to show us what he wants. This can happen through his reflection in his Word, through his inspiration in our minds and through interaction with other trusted Christ followers. ü We must learn to recognize his voice and inspiration. (We re going to spend our whole time next week talking about learning to listen to the Spirit.) ü We have to trust him and choose to take the escape route resolutely (initially every fiber in our being will want to respond the way we ve always responded the way that seems best to us the Spirit s way can feel very counter-intuitive, but we must learn to trust him and

7 7 obey him. The good news is; the more we trust him and take his route, the easier it becomes and the stronger our obedience-trust muscle gets.) Examples: Guys on the computer some image screams at you click me, click me, it will be fun you deserve a break today Talk to the Spirit! Consciously call on the Spirit and control your click. Guys, be smart give yourself a break if you are hungry, angry, lonely or tired the way out the Holy Spirit is giving is for you not to even go near the computer at that time. When it comes at you fast stop, call out, and escape! If you are a student - when you are tempted to not complete assignments with integrity to not take tests honestly call on the Spirit in those moments. Think about what he d want. Ask him for help. When you are in a conflict the Spirit is very active key into the Spirit and listen hear person hold tongue consider speech As you are learning to love your spouse in greater and greater ways shedding self-centeredness and cultivating other-centeredness ask the Spirit to give you understanding and insight about what that might look like. As you are parenting consciously rely on the Spirit to help you cultivate selflessness - insight into your kids placing them in God s hands energy and endurance to engage and stay focused on them. Concluding Illustration: - I think this story describes our situation: Late in the Second World War, American bombers were sent on dangerous missions over southern Europe to cripple the Nazis' oil supplies. Hundreds of crews in flying tin cans soared through storms of anti-aircraft shells. Many American pilots were forced to bail from their shot-up planes. The injured airmen drifted by parachute into occupied Yugoslavia, expecting to be captured or killed. Instead, on the ground remarkable rescue teams were already in place. Serbian peasants tracked the path of the floating flight crews. Their sole mission was to grab the flyboys and bring them to safety before the Nazis arrived. Risking their own lives, the peasants fed and sheltered the downed solders. These rescued men were in friendly hands but on enemy soil. They still

8 8 needed to escape. The story of what became known as Operation Halyard builds toward a daring mission, a secret landing strip, and a clandestine evacuation plan. Amazingly, those Serbian peasants rescued every single American airman over 500 in all. Here's the fascinating subplot to the rescue. To travel to the evacuation site, the airmen had to spend weeks following the Serbian freedom fighters, who alone knew the path to the evacuation site. Despite the profound language barriers, the direction and the pace, these men knew their lives were in the hands of the rescuers. The men had been saved from their enemy, but the journey had just begun. They still had to walk to freedom. The story of Operation Halyard sheds light on an important spiritual reality: To be rescued from the enemy and find freedom, we must trust and obey our guide. For the airmen it was a journey of survival with brave peasant guides. For us it's a journey of faith and cooperation with the Holy Spirit. The One who saved us is now calling us to walk in step with his Spirit, moment by moment. It's nonnegotiable. Remember, we have an obligation but it s not to stay captive to our enemy but rather to rely on and stay in step with the Holy Spirit as he leads us to freedom moment by moment by moment!!! Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition (Crossway, 2010), pp