Sunday 11th August

Lawrence shared a message titled, 
'Still to be Spirit-Led: Part 2'

Romans 8:14 NLT
'For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.'

The title of the message holds double meaning. There is a challenge to be still in order to be Spirit-led, but we are also still to be, or yet to be, Spirit-led. We all have moments when we're better at that than at other times...

At times we are not consciously carrying the Spirit, but it's not something that we are or we aren't. We are learning to be in every moment. 

'It's one thing to be still, it's another thing to be led.'

We can hear God's voice, but it's another step to actually be led by what we hear. 

'We all want a Spiritual life... We just want to be in charge of it and have it unfold according to our schedule.'

If you're a follower, then someone is leading you. If you're a follower of Jesus, then He's the one who is leading, not you! 

Galatians 5:16-26 NLT
'So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.'

Let's all get better at being led by the Spirit of God. Key for all of us in the process is the idea that something is motivating you to be led. You can either be motivated by love, or by fear. 

There isn't a dichotomy of being all led by the Spirit or all not-led by the Spirit. We seek to increase the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and decrease the fruit of our sinful nature. 

The fruits of the Spirit are not gendered. Whether male or female we want to be growing in these things. 

John 14:15-21 NIV
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

1 John 5:1-5 NIV
'Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.'

Jesus says if you love me (motivation), keep my commands. It's an invitation. We can have different imagination around obeying vs keeping. 

Rather than hearing "obey my commands because you're scared of me." we can hear "keep my commands because of your love for me."

If I'm motivated by fear at some point I'm going to be measuring, 'When have I done enough?' If I'm motivated by love, I know that in all things God's got me.

It's not a punishment or reward thing. It's about the best way to live! 

Love inspires, motivates, invites
Fear intimidates, dominates, condemns & manipulates

It is OK to say no to God. He will wrestle with you! He is gracious enough to journey with us in the process. 

The invitation is always to go back to God and experience deep connection with Him. 

Let us be people who are motivated, inspired and invited by Love into all God has for us. 

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You can watch the full message below: