The Holy Spirit | Brandon Pressnell | Spiritual Battle, Spiritual Refinement

The Holy Spirit | Brandon Pressnell  | Spiritual Battle, Spiritual Refinement
Madison Church of Christ Sermons
The Holy Spirit | Brandon Pressnell | Spiritual Battle, Spiritual Refinement

Sep 21 2025 | 00:41:44

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Episode September 21, 2025 00:41:44

Show Notes

It’s amazing how God takes things we understand from a physical perspective and uses them to teach us deeply spiritual truths that are hard to see with our eyes, but easy to identify when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us through it.  Today’s passage reminds us again that though we live in the flesh, our real battle is in a different realm.  While it is internal in nature, it is eternal in its impact.  Paul challenges us to take up arms in a spiritual battle that will ultimately lead to our refinement in the Spirit.

This sermon was recorded on Sep 21, 2025.

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's Word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to Him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find [email protected] Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by. [00:00:37] Speaker B: I hope you'll allow me to share with you something that took place with me on Friday, something that was kind of unusual and unique, something that I think kind of coincides with what we're talking about here today in the Holy Spirit. You know, this week has been a kind of a tough week. We've had a lot of people in the hospital, and it's taken a lot of time to be there and to help support people. And, you know, whenever you're doing that and you're studying on something, it's kind of hard to find those windows where you can just really get focused and study. And I did that the best of my ability this week. And of course, when you think about preaching on the Holy Spirit, that's kind of one of those you really kind of want to be dialed in on, right? You know, you want to be zeroed in on what you want to say and how you want to go about doing that. And so I remember on Thursday night just feeling like, man, I really need, like another just deeper study. You know, I've got my slides, I'm working through things. I've got everything kind of worked out in my mind, but I really felt like I needed some concentrated focus. And so I decided I'm going somewhere where nobody knows me. I'm going on Friday morning early, and I'm going to be there until I feel really good about what I've been studying. And so I headed off and I went to this coffee shop that was the first time I'd ever been in there and walked in. They had a nice little breakfast platter and good coffee. And so, man, I felt like I was in the best place for me to do this. And so, so I put in, I got my breakfast and I got settled in this little corner table and I put on the earbuds and I've got haptic noises. So it's Kind of calming everything down and just kind of hiding everything away. And I just buried myself for a good while in just studying. And I really. There may have been some other people coming and going, but I didn't really notice them or anything like that. I was kind of zeroed in. I could feel that I was in the study. And then all of a sudden I was working. And also kind of a shadow blocked the sun that was coming through a window. And a guy came through and just. It caught my attention. I looked up and kind of gave him the, hey, hey, how you doing? You know, and the guy came and sat down. And so I was working, I was studying. I kind of Maybe two or three minutes more, and the guy sat right next to me in a joining, you know, a nearby table. And I could feel him staring at me. Do you know what I'm talking about? Where you've been in a place, you're like, that guy keeps looking at me and that kind of thing. So I'm study, and I'm getting zeroed in, but I'm also a little distracted. And so I kind of look, look at that direction. And the guy is literally just sitting there staring at me. And I said, hey, how you doing? You know, and kind of went back and moved back, and he said something, and of course, I had my earbuds in. So I'm like, I'm sorry, you know, and so I said, hey, how are you? And he says, are you a preacher? And I'm like, yes, yes, I am trying to get ready for Sunday, you know, and so having this conversation. And he says, well, do you mind, he said, if I ask you a question or two? Because he said, I was driving down the road, and for whatever reason, he said, and these are the words he uses, I was prompted to come into this coffee shop. And I said, really? He said, yeah, because I don't know, but sometimes I feel like maybe God is needing me to do something. And so, like, I kind of listen for those kinds of things. And I. I decided to come into this coffee shop and, you know, I didn't know if I was going to buy someone's breakfast or what, but you were the only person in here. So I thought, well, maybe I need to go and sit down and talk to that guy. And he said, so do you mind me asking, what is it that you're studying? I said, well, I'm studying the Holy Spirit. And I'm studying, like, the spiritual warfare that we go through and how the Holy Spirit helps us in those things. He says, you're kidding me. I said, well, no, that's what I'm studying. Kind of nervous about it, you know? And he says, would you believe that for the last two weeks, every day I've read Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 18. He said, I'm trying to study those things myself? And I said, you're kidding me. It's like, this is so weird. And so he said, do you mind giving me just a five minute synopsis of what you've been studying? I'm like, man, are you worshiping with us at Madison? That's what everybody here wants to hear is the five minute version of what I'm about to do. And so we began talking for a little bit, and it was a really interesting conversation. And before I knew it, I mean, I wasn't. We had my open Bible and we were kind of referring back to things and I was flipping pages and we're talking about these things back and forth. And what was so refreshing about that whole thing? And by the way, I can't explain how these things happen, okay? All I can say is that this is one of those unique moments where you are given an opportunity, and if you open up your eyes spiritually, you can see these opportunities in front of you. So I'm studying with this guy. We talk for a solid 90 minutes, okay? To the point where the guy's like, okay, enough, I need to go to work, you know, kind of thing. But what I want you to understand about that is there was something very refreshing about that experience is there was no criticism, there was no fear in the conversation. There was no one being judgmental. There was a full exchange of our thoughts, our convictions, our curiosities, our concerns, the things that we were confounded by. And for 90 minutes, me and this young man began to share those things back and forth. And what it did is. And by the way, these slides were already put together before we ever had that conversation. But it reminded me of what I was preparing today is as I was thinking about this, I realized there are lots of challenges that we face when we talk about the Holy Spirit. And it's one of those things that's kind of been difficult for us. Last week, Justin Rogers came and he began this conversation with us and he talked about. It's a difficult thing sometimes. There's a lot to it. It's complex, it's multifaceted, it's nuanced, if you will. And because of that, it's one of those things that we kind of run away from. But when I was thinking about it in my own mind. What is it that makes these things difficult? These are the four things that came to mind. The first one was that we live in a physical realm, but the battle that we face as Christians is a spiritual battle. And so it kind of reminded me of this. And I was looking at Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10 through 12. You know, it talks about putting on the whole armor of God that you'll be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And it talks about how we put on this specific thing so we can quench all the fiery darts of the evil one and all those things. But verse 12 particularly reminds us that we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but we are battling these spiritual forces and evil in heavenly and spiritual places. And so there's this battle that's going on that we're facing all the time. And because we live in a physical world, the spiritual stuff is the part that maybe is a little bit confounding to us. I want you to turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 2 real quickly, as I thought about. And my mind was taken to this text in First Corinthians 2. And I'm just going to read it for you. And I think your minds will probably. It's a fairly recognizable passage, but starting in verse nine, it says, but as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. And I think our initial thought is that that takes us to the concept of heaven, like we long for that. And certainly that can apply. You know, we've never seen heaven. We'll look at that someday. And certainly heaven is in the spiritual realm. But listen to what it goes on to say. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person which is in him? So also now no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. But now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit whom is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. What's he saying? Paul's saying that there's a sense in which this is a little bit confounding to people who are fastened or set so firmly in this life. So I think about this. There is A little bit of a mystery. And Justin Rogers mentioned that last week that we on some level have to embrace the idea that there's a mystery to this, that we're not going to understand all of it. But there is a sense in which, if we choose to see things spiritually, that God begins to reveal some things to us. Listen to what it goes on to say. Verse 14. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. What's he saying is people who don't want to think about things spiritually, who have turned their minds off to those kinds of things. Everything that you say, that's of a spiritual nature, they go, oh, okay, all right, that's good, that's great. It's why you hear people in our nation now going, we're tired of hearing people say prayers when someone's going through a tough time. No, this is one of those things where, spiritually speaking, we need to stop and we need to pray for people. But he says this, those things that we can understand are spiritually discerned. It means we have the capacity through a spiritual mindset to be able to discern some things and understand exactly what God wants us to know. Verse 15. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. The point here is he's saying, if you're a spiritually minded person, then you are discerning about the decisions you make. You choose to do things in a way that makes sense with regard to your convictions about God. And so you frame your life based on spiritual thinking. He says, for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. What's he saying here? You know, there's a mysteriousness to it for people who are kind of fixated on this earthly worldly life, this physical realm that we live in. But we have the ability to open up our minds a little bit and to see things from a spiritual perspective. You remember I was thinking about this earlier today. Remember a lot of times when Jesus would talk to people, he would say, he who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says. Do you catch that? As he's telling them parables, and they're understanding it in a worldly way. He's saying, hey, there's kind of a deeper message here, and I want you to kind of capture that. But you can open up your mind to these kinds of things. Foolishness it is foolishness to those whose minds are fixed on the physical, but it gives us insight into the mind of Christ if we find ourselves open to these spiritual truths. So that's one challenge. The second challenge is confusion in how the Spirit works. I'll be the first to admit I've done a lot of study. I've spent a lot of time, you know, spending time studying this and. And I've kind of challenged myself to read a lot of different kinds of authors and different people who have different perspectives. And I'll be honest with you, in our heritage, there's a lot of people that I respect and love, and I've read some of their books, and sometimes they find opposition in one another. They find that they don't necessarily see things the same exact way. And so it's one of those things that's kind of confusing because on one hand I could see that, you know, someone may be way out there where they say, hey, the Spirit completely guides us apart from. From anything that we know of God. He's just free flowing out there. That doesn't make much sense. And then you got the other side that says, there is no Spirit, it's dormant, and the Word of God is the Spirit's work. And I feel like there's a lot of things in between there. And I've read some of those and I find myself getting blown away at how some of our people can fashion a plan of thinking things through that they say, oh, this is exactly how you think. And they've got these syllogisms that help organize their thoughts. And. And I listen to all those things and when I read them, I'm like, wow, that's very convincing. And then I read another one. Wow, that's very convincing. Read another one. Wow, that's very convincing. And I find myself going, but they can't all be exactly right. Right. And so I want you to understand, I don't say this with any kind of, you know, definitely not any kind of arrogance, because I'm confounded by it. But it's hard for me to try to say if this is something that's the mind of God, that we can frame it up in such a way that we create a system of thinking that we determine how God works and how the Holy Spirit works. That's hard for me to find that kind of moxie to say it. So in the middle of that, as we begin this confusion, what I find myself saying is, well, hey, can we just go back to what Jesus says about it? And I really Appreciated that that was kind of what Justin Rogers did last week. He went to Scriptures and said, what can we glean from these things? Understanding that when the Holy Spirit came, it was a powerful thing, and it brought with it these embodiments of the Spirit, these measures, as he said, or manifestations, as the Bible calls them, that they were given the Spirit in various ways. And we know that there was a time where Jesus told his followers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. And he said these accompanying signs. In Mark, chapter 16, verse 20, it says that those signs would come in order that people could see the power of God to confirm that what they were saying was true. And so we know that the apostles were able to lay hands on people. They were to see these special gifts of the Holy Spirit, kind of miraculous things. But then we find out later that those same people, the people that the apostles had bestowed those gifts on, couldn't pass those on to other people. So we know that there was a time where those things came to an end. That's why when we read First Corinthians, chapter 13, and it says that, you know, for we know in part, we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away with. What's he saying is there's something that brought this complete revelation that gave us the reality that God's revelation of Scripture had come to a close. And we have now what we need to understand God. And so we know that there was a time for that. But when I read the Scriptures and I hear what Jesus said about the Spirit, I want to claim the things that I think we can claim and hold onto. And so knowing that he's talking to his apostles here and there was a certain time where those miraculous things were in play, and understanding that they may have had their time and moved on, I still want us to hold onto the Spirit of God that we know resides with us today. And so he says, first of all, he will give you another helper. He's asked God to give the helper, and this helper is going to be with us forever. Put that in your mind that that Holy Spirit is going to be with us forever. Even the Spirit of truth. It goes on to say, for you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. And we know there are several other passages that talk about the Holy Spirit dwelling in us that we really can't dispute those, you know, First Corinthians, chapter six says that we're the Temple of the Holy Spirit. And because of that, we're not to marry ourselves to things that are not wholesome for us as Christians. And so there's other passages that deal with this same concept. John chapter 14. As Jesus is talking to his followers and they're concerned about his departure, he says, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Again, they were needing that help because this wasn't all written and the Holy Spirit was given to remind them of the things that Jesus had taught them. I look at this passage In John chapter 16, this continual conversation that Jesus is having with his followers. He says, but in fact, capture this. It is best for you that I go away. Jesus is saying, I'm going away. Why? Because if I don't, the advocate is not going to come and to be with you, but because I'm going away. That advocate, that Holy Spirit, is coming to dwell with you, to help you through some things. So he goes on to say, when the Spirit comes, he's going to do these things. He's first of all, he's going to convict the world of its sin. He's going to reveal to us what righteousness looks like. And then ultimately he's going to prepare us for the reality of a judgment to come. And so when I think about that doesn't make sense, right? That there's this battle of sin, right? Spiritually speaking, the Holy Spirit is coming to help us identify what sin is. We know what righteousness is because Jesus came and modeled it for us. The Bible says that he was the exact imprint of the Father, So we know his goodness. All of his characters, as God were in the flesh, the Word dwelt among us. We beheld him as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So we have the sin, we have the righteousness. And the reality is that the battle that we face from now on is that battling against sin, living to righteousness. And it's all in preparation for a judgment that will come. But then he goes on to say, here he will guide you. The Spirit will guide you into all truth. He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, he will take what is mine, and he will declare it to you. And he goes on to kind of clarify this, says that everything that God has given had given it to Jesus. And Jesus had just passed that along to the Holy Spirit. So last week we talked about the Holy Spirit and God are equal, right? And so the Holy Spirit has this ability to do all of these things. So those are challenges to our study. But then also the next part of it, and I kind of talked about it a little bit, is the animosity and disagreement. And I hope that this doesn't have to be the case with us today as we're studying these things. And we're just looking at what God's word has to say, that if we have one of those lanes that we have found comfortable for us, that we don't use that as a power tool to hurt someone else or to attack somebody else, because they don't necessarily see things the way we do. In my mind, this is so complex and so nuanced that we don't have all of the answers. And so this passage gives me some comfort in Deuteronomy, chapter 29, verse 29, where it says, the secret things, or those things that are concealed by God, they belong to him, but they are revealed to us. And I'm sorry, let me just. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. That we may do all the works of the law. Now, just to clarify, this is Moses giving his final farewell address to the Israelites before they're going into the land of promise. And he's telling them that these things, hey, there are going to be some things along the way that you're gonna be called to trust in God in ways that you never even imagined. You're not gonna understand everything that he's doing out in front of you. But what you do have is these laws, these instructions before you. And so what I want you to do is continue to do those things. Those are the things you're going to be held accountable for, the things that you don't understand. Don't focus your heart and your mind on those kinds of things. Focus on the things that you know. And certainly those principles still guide us today, right? That we may not know some things, but the things that are revealed to us in Scripture, certainly we are accountable for those things. It's up to us to follow those and to live out those instructions every day. But then the final one, the final challenge that I could think of as I was just kind of contemplating, why is this so difficult? And the deeper I got into this study and recognizing that one of the Holy Spirit's roles in our life is to transform us and to change us from within. You know, it made me ask the question if maybe this is the most difficult part of it, because is it possible? And every one of us have to answer this question on our own. Is it possible that we've grown comfortable with who we are, that we think, oh, I'm a pretty good person. I'm fairly spiritually minded. I do good things. I don't, you know, beat my wife. I don't do a lot of terrible things. I don't go out running around all the time. I don't, you know, I don't live a overtly sinful life. And. And, you know, I've got things pretty good. I'm comfortable. I'm taken care of financially. And we just sort of get kind of a satisfaction of where we are. And we don't even push ourselves to grow spiritually. Well, if that's the case, then a Holy Spirit that is refining us and calling us to change and calling us to transformation may be difficult for us to accept. And so I want to challenge all of us to realize that transformation is very much a part of this. You're going to hear terms like sanctification. You're going to hear terms like renewal and washing and regeneration and those kinds of things. And all of these things come when the Holy Spirit comes into our life. We're supposed to be sanctified. That's a process by which we grow closer and closer into the image of God. So these passages are there to remind us that that is part of our challenge. But the reality is that the Holy Spirit didn't just come here to convict us and convince us and confirm and all of those things to tell us about sin and righteousness and judgment to come. But he also came. And the words regeneration and some of those words that we just talked about means that there's a perpetual renovation going on in our hearts all the time. And so when I think about this from the standpoint of this spiritual realm and us trying to understand all of this, and maybe we don't get all of it, there still is a choice on our part. When I think about this passage in Galatians, chapter six, it reminds us that there's work that each of us have to do as well. This is not one of those things where we get the Holy Spirit in baptism, and then all of a sudden, we're just beginning to be refined all the time without our work and without our part of it. God never takes away your ability to make a choice. He gives you the ability to go out there with your free moral agency and make decisions that you think are best in your life. And sometimes those decisions are great, and sometimes they're not so great. But listen to what this passage says in Galatians, chapter six. Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows that will, he also reap. Take that into consideration. It's a very farming kind of concept. But the idea is you plant something, what comes up is what you planted, right? So he's saying that from a fleshly standpoint, whatever a person sows, that's what he's going to reap for the one who sows to his own flesh. Now we're talking spiritual here, meaning worldly things. That person will reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Do you see what he's saying? You have to make a decision on your part to plant those seeds of spirituality, to put those things in your life, to develop a sense of spiritual thinking that draws you closer to the opportunities that God's putting out there on a spiritual plane. So how does this transformation take place? And I thought and thought and thought, and really the only word that I could come up with was this one. It's war. And that may not sound very fun, right? But this is the reality. What we are going through is a spiritual battle. We already talked about this with regard to Ephesians, chapter six, that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces and evil in the heavenly places. We talked about that. But also, I want to take you to Second Corinthians 4, 4, where it talks about the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So when you think of the spiritual battle that we're facing, a lot of times we think about it, it's like, get up and be ready to duke it out with somebody else. But what I want you to understand is the spiritual battle that we're facing is not necessarily with those outside. It's actually with that person inside of us that's battling to do the wrong things. Read Romans, chapter 7. Paul is talking about this difficulty. He says, the stuff that I don't want to do, that's the very stuff I find myself slipping into. And the things that I really want to do are the very things that I don't seem to have the strength sometimes to do that. That's that battle. And that goes on inside of us. But the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. So what it's saying is there's a power here and it's coming, and it's actually the battle is for your mind. So I want to think about this. You know, Revelation, chapter 12. We don't get too deep into it, but the Bible tells a story of how Satan, Lucifer, the angel, the dark angel was thrown from heaven and cast down to the earth with all of his demons. And there was a war that broke out in heaven, and God declared them guilty and sent them down here. And so there's power going on. The Bible says, your adversary, the devil, roars, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He is constantly on the prowl to do things to get your attention. And we would love it if he wore that red suit and the pointy tail and the pitchfork and we could see him coming. But he disguises himself in a lot of different ways. And so you don't have to go very far. You go to Genesis, chapter three, and we won't read it, but you remember the temptations that he put in front of Eve, how he threw all kinds of distortions of what God said, twisting words, planting seed, thoughts and doubt and those kinds of things. And so what the devil does, the work that he does is he begins by distorting the truth. Because if we lose truth, you know, if we lose the reality that there is a truth, then we can start looking other places, right? So it leads like this. It goes from destroying the truth to hardening of the heart. Understand, if we don't have a truth, then all of a sudden, if we don't believe in truth, all of a sudden we can find ways to justify looking other places for answers, right? And so the more that happens, what happens is we become less and less concerned about spiritual things. We're just trying to find answers, and we. We get a little bit hardened. And in the middle of all that, we become a little bit less sensitive to things that are spiritual around us. We don't want to hear it. And I've met people like this before. They've had grief or they've had difficulties or they've had loss or whatever, and they've turned their mind off to the truth of God. They've turned themselves off to the point where they're hardened, and now they're insensitive to a spiritual approach to them. And then in the middle of all that, what happens is you don't look to God anymore. So you just begin to say, well, what is it? That pleases me. So you embrace sensuality. And whatever your desires are in that moment, you pursue those things not in any way spiritual. And that ultimately will lead you to a destructive behavior. And so I think that's James, chapter one, right? That we're. God doesn't tempt anybody. We're tempted when we're drawn away by our own lust. And when we act upon that, it becomes sin. And when we stay in that sin, it becomes ultimately death. That's the object of the devil. So he'll put things in your way that are tempting to you, that are appealing to you, that speak to that selfish desire inside of you. But the Holy Spirit is right the opposite. Because it leads you to truth. It softens your heart. Because the more you hear truth and the more you say, hey, let that shape the way I live, it softens you up and makes you more receptive. Not only that, but you become more aware of those spiritual opportunities that are all around you all the time. That you recognize everything that I do is a way for me to speak out about God or to be a blessing to someone. And you see that as a spiritual opportunity. And in the midst of all that, as you're being refined in the Spirit, you begin to not worry so much about what it is you want out of life, but what God wants you to be. And as you do that, there is this continual renewal and regeneration of who you are. And it's a refinement, it's a transformation that takes place, but it starts in the mind. Listen to this text in 2nd Corinthians 10. For though we walk in the flesh and are not waging war against the flesh, the weapons of our warfare are not the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. What is it? Well, we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Do you see what I'm saying? It's not the warfare against somebody else. It's. Yeah, there's other things coming in. But what we do is as a Christian, as a person who embraces truth and who holds onto it, and the Holy Spirit is reminding us of that truth. Then when we hear falsehood, we shut it down in our mind. We say, that's not truth. We break into it and we bust it up. And we say, nope, I'm going to take every one of those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. You know, I see this all the time in people, how they maybe chase an idea, think that it's something that's Helpful for them. And they move through life like that, but they don't stop and go, is this the best thing for me? And you hear other ideas that are out there, and, man, they just sound so cool and so neat, but they're raised up against in opposition of who God is. And so we take those speculations that are out there and we shut them down. We got a lot of things going on in our world right now. A lot of turmoil, a lot of hurt. We got a whole nation that's mourning one way or the other. We got people that are on opposite polar ends. And so what I hear all the time is for people to say, oh, stand up, speak up, say more. You know, we need to be more vocal and all those kinds of things. But what I want you to gather is that the way we transform the world is we begin first with ourselves. And so this battle that we're facing is internal. So I go to Ephesians, chapter six, and we're talking about the armor of God. And it makes for a cute illustration. It makes for a great flannel graph and all those things. But if we really stop and see it from the perspective of the spirit's work in that battle that we face, then it helps us to be a little bit more equipped. Think about this text. It says, you know, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the full armor of God so you'll be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And then it says to you, first of all, put on the Belt of Truth. Now, when I was growing up, my grandmother watched WWE wrestling. Okay, you heard me correct. My grandmother, in her 70s, was a RIC Flair fan. Whoo. Okay. She was the one who would do that, like, sitting in her chair. She would watch it. And when Ric Flair would do. Whoo. She would do it too, you know, like that. It was. She took us to go to wrestling matches, okay? So in my mind, growing up, having that kind of influence, in my mind, when I heard the Belt of Truth, I imagined some big, bedazzled, you know, big belt that signified the victor, right? The champ. And so in my mind, as I looked at this, I thought in terms of that, right? But as I've gotten older, can I show you a little bit other side of that story? Like, what is a belt for a guy my age? Let me tell you something. A belt for a guy my age. And as my body shape has changed and this part's gotten thicker and this part's disappearing, like, my belt is pretty Important to hold it all together. You know what I'm saying? And I'm saying that simply because I can run and bend. Are they falling? They may be falling. The belt of truth, okay? When I read this now at my age, it sounds very much different. Because reality, folks, and in this spiritual warfare, I want you to understand God's word is critically important because it's the thing that the Spirit leads us back to over and over. And the belt of truth, if it's not securely around your waist, everything falls apart. So I want us to understand that, okay? I want us to hold onto that reality that it is the thing that holds us all together. Because with it, we can answer every falsehood that we come across. And it's through the Spirit. Think about righteousness. We have that clear vision of what righteousness looks like. We have Jesus and his example and all those kinds of things. But God made him, who knew no sin to become sin for us, so we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. Amen. And because of that, because we've seen righteousness, that breastplate is that important part that protects our heart and our soul. And it leads us in this idea of wanting to live righteously before God, but readiness. This is the idea that I am spirit filled, that I am thinking in terms of what God is doing all around me. And I see the opportunities in front of me. And as a result, it says the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel. It's the readiness, that I not only see the things that are around me as spiritual opportunity, but I have the guts to step in that place and offer my support and encouragement to others. Faith. It says that with the shield of faith we can quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. It's that confidence that says, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus came and he died for me. And it's that truth that the Holy Spirit reminds us of over and over and over again. And because we have a faith that stands on these things, it holds us together and keeps us safe. Salvation. Think about the seal of the Holy Spirit, how it's got us forever. And that salvation alone helps me understand that I don't have to be afraid of anything this life has to offer. And think about the word of God. We are armed with the perfect message. God has skillfully put it together so we have all the understanding we need when we learn from His Word and we're equipped. But then think about how we are also armed with prayer. And, you know, maybe this is one of the most important parts of it. Have you ever stopped to contemplate that we have the listening ear of the creator of the universe? I often pray sometimes. You know, Lord, we know you hear our prayer. We know you feel the things that we're going through. We know that you are moved by what we're going through. Do you realize you have access to all Almighty God, all of his power and all of his authority and the Holy Spirit? When you can't say it, you can't bring the words to your lips? He takes that to God on your behalf, man. Do we realize what it means to be armed by God's spirit? But the reality is that we can also stifle the Spirit. I won't get into all four of these in depth in any way, but just to say that you can resist. Stephen, in his message to the Sanhedrin and all of the Jewish officials, right before he was stoned to death, he told them their history and said, you have all been so stubborn and you have resisted the Spirit of God. You have been so caught up in being right and doing all these things and following the law exactly. That you have resisted the reality that there's a spirit and that we can call upon, that the Spirit can be grieved. And there's a whole long list of things, but by anger and wrath and having an unforgiving spirit. Is there anyone in here that has someone that you have something against that you just can't bring yourself to forgive? Understand, the Bible says that grieves the Holy Spirit of God. It also describes the Spirit as a fire. And that fire can be quenched. How can it be quenched? It can be quenched with sinful behaviors. But not only that, but you're in activity, man. If there's a fire inside of us through the Spirit and we see things spiritually and we are walking through this life and we see these opportunities if we choose to not do those things, just understand it puts out that fire. And God gave us that for a reason. But then also in Mark, chapter three, Matthew, chapter 12, Hebrews 10, talk about this unforgivable sin. And it's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And the only thing I can deduce from that is it's an utter, total rebellion, rejection of Jesus, of God, of what the Holy Spirit did. And it's a perpetual rejection of that over and over that it's unforgivable. There's no way besides Jesus Christ. And so if we reject all of those things, there's no salvation it's not forgivable. So certainly we don't want to be guilty of any of these things to stifle the Spirit in our lives. But be reminded of this. God gave us a spirit not of fear, of power, but of power and love and self control. And it's if we follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you, some powerful words for us to be reminded of that Spirit that lives within us and the idea that we can embrace that reality. So Galatians chapter five, as we're kind of getting close to the end here, Galatians Chapter 5 talks about walking in the Spirit. And he uses this term in some way or another in a couple of different places. But right here in verse 16 and verse 25, notice the two different ways that it expresses this. The first one is walk in the Spirit. And it means being occupied in spiritual living. Now, for every Christian, that's our calling, to be occupied with spiritual living. It means that we reframe our mind and not think so much about the things that are on this in this life and how important things are, whether it be materialism or different activities that we do, or what engage. Occupy your mind in spiritual living all the time. And there's something that happens when we do that. The end part of this chapter of that passage says that we walk in the Spirit, and it really means in step with the Spirit. It means the idea that I am walking alongside the Spirit, that we're together, that we're working through these things together. Well, what happens when we have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life? Well, we've already talked about these things. It guides us, convicts us, reminds us. But also in Galatians chapter five, you're going to find that the Holy Spirit transforms me or refines me, and he does so internally so that I may represent him externally. And all of that has an eternal impact. Well, what are those things that people will see externally? I'm afraid sometimes we go to this list and the fruit of the Spirit and we say, oh, I just need to love people, have joy, be peaceful. I just do these things. And that is the evidence of the Spirit. But what I want to remind you is the hard work takes place in here. You can fake anybody with your good works, but the real renovation takes place here. And when this takes place in here, it produces in us these things, love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth. And so on that's what happens when we live in the Spirit and we walk in the Spirit. We are, as we said, walking in step with the Spirit. So I'm saying all these things to remind us that the Spirit is something that is powerful, that works within us. And so some have asked, how do we get the Holy Spirit? And we've kind of referenced it a little bit. But let me kind of go through this real quickly one more time. Jesus told his disciples to go and to preach the Gospel and teach others about him. And he said, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. He said, you're going to go to Jerusalem, you're going to wait. God's power is going to be revealed. Then they get to Jerusalem, and on the day of Pentecost, what happens is the Holy Spirit comes down and there's tongues of fire sitting there. And so these works that God said, these signs that would confirm the Word, were evident right there. And so Peter gets up and he begins preaching. And one of the things that he says is a quotation from Joel, chapter two. He says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And so he continues that sermon a little bit further, and it gets kind of harder and harder. And he says, hey, you, with wicked hands have crucified and slain the Son of God. And in that moment of being convicted, their hearts were like, whoa, you're kidding me. What do we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And this promise is not just to you and to your children, but to those who are called, those who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call. And so the question is, do you have the Holy Spirit in your life? If you're a child of God, if you've been baptized into Christ for the forgiveness you've received, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is it refining you? Are you making choices every day where the Spirit is working on you and transforming you? Or are you absent of spirit? Jesus said this. I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. If there's someone here this morning who's ready to give their life to Jesus Christ, I implore you, I beg you, to not just receive the forgiveness of your sins, but to submit to Jesus, to receive the Holy Spirit and to be transformed forevermore. If you have a need this morning Please come while we stand and sing.

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