Walk In The Spirit II

Heritage Baptist Church | Huntsville, Alabama Sunday sermon from Heritage Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL. Sermon: Walk In The Spirit II Text: Galatians 5:22-26 Preacher: Pastor Mike Stewart Church: Heritage Baptist Church, 390 Johns Road NW, Huntsville, AL 35806 Fruit on a tree does not appear overnight, nor does it ripen in secret. The Spirit of God produces His fruit slowly, in the rough ground of gospel relationships inside the church. Galatians 5:22-26 does not offer a moral improvement plan. It describes what the Holy Spirit inevitably works in those whom God has united to Christ by effectual calling and justifying faith. The fruit is derived from the Vine; it is not tied on by human will. Those who practice the works of the flesh without repentance will not inherit the kingdom, yet those who belong to Christ will, over time, bear the fruit that flows from sovereign grace. The fruit of the Spirit is gradual, relational, derived from union with Christ, and certain in every true believer, though it is never the ground of justification. Love, joy, and peace are first God-ward—received by faith in the gospel—and then work themselves out man-ward in the two great commandments. Longsuffering, kindness, and goodness restrain retaliation, move toward the offender with tender usefulness, and meet both bodily and spiritual needs in the body of Christ. Faithfulness, meekness, and self-control keep covenant under the mighty hand of God, endure His purifying providence, and curb passions by the superior power of Christ’s love. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh and must daily maintain that repentance with vigilance, lest they return to the place of execution. To walk in the Spirit is to keep step with His cadence in gospel relationships, refusing vainglory that either looks down in provocation or looks up in envy. The church, the marriage, and every Christian friendship become the very soil in which this fruit is meant to grow. Fleshly liberty turns Christian freedom into license, competitiveness, and self-absorption. The Spirit enables a liberty that loves God and neighbor because the believer has first received the independent, distinguishing love of God in the gospel. May the same God who effectually called His people to Himself now fill them with joy and peace in believing, keep them under His mighty hand, and cause them to march together in the cadence of the Spirit until the day they see the fullness of Christ. Website: https://heritage-baptist.com Church app: https://heritage-baptist.com/app SermonAudio: https://www.sermonaudio.com/source_de... A Baptist church holding to God’s sovereign grace and Reformed theology as outlined in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. #ReformedTheology #SovereignGrace #1689Confession #HeritageBaptistChurch #HuntsvilleAL #BaptistChurchHuntsville #Galatians #FruitOfTheSpirit #WalkInTheSpirit