FAMILY UNDER CURSE

BIBLE PASSAGE: EZEKIEL 18:2-20

• Picture taken from Google
• Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page
• Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.desiringgod.org/ tonyEvans sermon

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

 

MEMORY VERSE

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

PSALMS 127:1

 

INTRODUCTION:

All of us bear the DNA of our mothers and fathers. The physical DNA is not the only thing that gets transferred; there is a spiritual DNA that transfers as well. This is unseen reality that passes between parents and children, grandparents’ parents and children that leads to cycle of consequences; it’s spiritual DNA. Parents don’t only pass to their children your good looks (Ehemm) but also transfers or have transferred to us the patterns of sinful behavior. These patterns transferred from one generation to another create spiritual scars in our lives. It’s usually not planned but it is very real to your children. It’s sinful patterns that we’ve picked up across generations. We’ve seen people whose father was an alcoholic and they become an alcoholic. In America, you can see parents got divorce and so are their children.  Let’s talk about a cycle of poverty where people have the mindset that being on poor situation, even you have the capacity to work, is okay; they adopt the fact that’s really okay. If these cycle behavior is unaddressed produces built-in consequences to our wellbeing. Some parents live in debt and so are the children.

Today our lesson is titled, “FAMILY UNDER CURSE” and most of us here our families are not in this category anymore but stay with me in this lesson and be reminded and thankful.

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  CURSES AND BLESSINGS ARE TRANSFERRED (LEVITICUS 26:39-42)

Let’s read Deuteronomy 30:15-16,19. These verses give a great warning for every one of us. There are choices needed to do. Let’s remember that that the life you choose affects you and your descendants. When Adam sinned in the garden the Bible says that it affected the whole human race.  His decisions affected the generations.

 

The things we see in our society today for example the ruthless murder of people. I remember the killing of Percy Lapid. If you follow the case, you’ll see how he was killed. Hiring of gunman, middlemen and look-out men just to kill him and that was shocking.

The random murder of innocent blood – abortion. Let me ask this question, do you want to pass this on? Do you want to pass your alcoholism? Do you want to pass on your drug addiction? Do I want to pass on my lifestyle? Do you want your kids to pick these up?

 

Let’s read Leviticus 26:39-42.

³⁹ And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. ⁴⁰ If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; ⁴¹ And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: ⁴² Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.

 

How to break the curse? Come to God and claim your own rebellion. You must come to God and repent your own participation in the iniquity – “Confess their iniquity (your own participation) and the iniquity of the forefathers.”

 

 

2.   THE SINS OF THE FATHERS ARE PUNISHED TO THE CHILDREN THROUGH BECOMING THE CHILDREN’S OWN SIN

Honestly before I have fear of being punished because of what my father or parents did. If my father is “babaero” I thought, I would be the punishment for his sinful acts. Who thought the same way, could you raise your hand? (insert conversation with a Christian who telling God being unfair for giving punishment)

Let’s read some verses:

EXODUS 20: 5-6 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

EXODUS 34:6-7 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

LEVITICUS 26:39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

However, there are other texts that are absolutely differentt what the Bible means in those first texts.

Deuteronomy 24:16: “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”

2 Kings 14:6: “But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.’”

Ezekiel 18:20: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”

 

We can see based from the verses that the sins of the fathers are punished in the children through becoming the children’s own sin. That is really crucial. So here is the key text: Exodus 20:5: “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” In other words, the hatred of God is the embodiment of what the father’s problem was. Those who experience the penalty of the father’s sins are those who hate God, according to that verse.

We are not told how the father’s sins become the children’s sins. That is a mysterious thing left in God’s mind. But they do. What we are told is that when father’s sins are visited on the children it is because the children have become sinners like the fathers. The father’s sins are the children’s sins.

So no innocent child has ever been punished for a father’s sins; only guilty children are punished and are guilty of the very sins that their fathers sinned.

So you see how important to be a good example to your children. Your influence matters. If you, as parents, don’t prioritize spiritual matters; you seldom go to church, you don’t use the bible as manual of living as a family, you don’t follow God’s commandments, it will influence your children to do these things as well. Also it’s important to have a personal relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s our own decisions to follow our parents’ path of iniquity or not. If you follow God instead and accept Him to your life, you won’t be punished by the iniquity of your forefathers.

 

Let’s read Ezekiel 18: 2-20

Ezekiel 18:2-3 “²What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? ³ As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.”

 

Verse 3 reminded Israelites to not use that proverb anymore which is mentioned in verse 2. Don’t blame mother and father for what you do. Mother and father maybe have transferred it, illustrated it, demonstrated it and amplified it but you took it on by choice. In other words, don’t use what somebody else did in a previous generation as an excuse for you to keep it going. Verse 4 means, if you are messed up like your mama and daddy it’s because you chose to adopt their mess.

 

3.  JESUS CHRIST BROKE THE CURSE

Because of God’s grace, which is, of course, finally secured for us by Jesus on the cross, the children can confess their own sins and the sins of their fathers and be forgiven and accepted by God.

Nobody is trapped in his father’s sins — or even in his own sins. We already see it in the Old Testament. Leviticus 26:40–42: “If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers . . . if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob. So nobody in the Old Testament or the New Testament is trapped or enslaved or in bondage or under an unbreakable curse because of something the fathers did, or something they did.

 

The precious words of Exodus 34:6–7 are not nullified by generational migration of sin. It says, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands” — and then, as if to get the point across, he gives three words — “forgiving iniquity and [forgiving] transgression and [forgiving] sin.”

I mean, you can’t get clearer at the center of the Mosaic Law than from generation to generation God forgives the sins of those who repent.

None of this should make anyone feel trapped and without hope because of his parents’ sins. Ezekiel 33:14–15 says, “Though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” The blood of Jesus conquers all sin and judgment for those who believe.

 

And you get a beautiful sweeping statement in Acts 10:43: “To him [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” So nobody is trapped in anybody’s sin — their own or someone else’s — because of the cross.

No one who has a child who goes bad and forsakes the way of righteousness should feel that it is all his fault.

Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” In other words, there are real responsibilities in our children’s hearts, and we will not be found guilty because of our children’s guilt if we deal, of course, with our own sins. This means that you can’t be paralyzed by the guilt of thinking, “I guess my children’s problems are all owing to me.”

Finally, when it comes to generational curses, Christians should lay hold on Galatians 3:10-15L Let’s read) The rules of God, the law, that’s the ten commandments, cannot fix your problem, my problem and our problem. The law is good but He says with the law comes a curse. Why? Because all the law can do is show you the problem; it cannot fix it. With the law comes the curse because every time God give a rule, he gives consequence and if your break it something will happen. The law of God is good to expose you but not to deliver you. If committing ourselves to the law can’t make it right, it only tells us what’s wrong we’re doing that we shouldn’t be doing that we got from our parents then passing to our/your children.  What will make it right? Verse 14 says,

“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:.’”

Christ has paid every debt and broken every curse. On the cross God broke the authority (legitimate use of power) of Satan, Jesus broke the curse. The blood of Christ covers all curses.

CONCLUSION:

ROMANS 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

ROMANS 5:15 “… For if through the offence of one many be dead…”

 

The only reason we have to die is because what Adam did that got transferred to the human race. Death was the transfer of rebellion against God but then within time between birth and death are choices that are made – decisions. God said that the consequence of our sin we bear because we make a decision to repeat the practice that may have been transferred to us. Don’t make an excuse for disobeying because of your father and mother. Let’s paraphrase what God had told to Adam “Because you listen to your wife, you should have told her, I love you but we can’t eat that fruit but because you are so in love that you let her cause you to disobey me now the whole family is in trouble.” So no man and woman has the final authority, everybody who names the name of Jesus Christ is under God. The reasons we have all this chaos in families today is we got folk trying to trump God in the relationship. Jesus broke the curse of the law so that we can have the spirit. That’s why it’s important for the family to have the Holy Spirit and the family can only do that if they accepted Jesus Christ into their lives. JESUS CHRIST IS THE KEY!

 

A DIVIDED HOUSE

BIBLE PASSAGE: MARK 3:24-27; PSALMS 127:1

• Picture taken from Google
• Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page
• Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons

NOVEMBER 06, 2022

 

MEMORY VERSE

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

PSALMS 127:1

 

INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever noticed how divided we are as people? We allow the simplest things to push us apart: skin color, age, education, money, vaccination status. Instead of trying to find those things we have in common and building a bond around those things, we choose to focus on the differences.

Unfortunately, this is not a new thing. In Matthew 12:22, we read an amazing testimony.  A man possessed with a demon that caused him to be both blind and dumb was brought to Jesus and He healed him. The Bible tells us that “the blind and dumb both spake and saw” (KJV).

This should have been cause for celebration. A man who had been unable to see the beauty of creation or to vocally express his thoughts now had the ability to do both. But the children of Israel were divided in this matter.

The common people were amazed. They believed the miracle Jesus had performed identified Him as the Son of David who had been promised, the Messiah that was to come (Matthew 12:23).

The Pharisees accused Him of casting out demons through the power of Satan (Matthew 12:24). I love Jesus’s response to them,

And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges (Matthew 12:25-27).

If in every aspect, we are divided, how about in the family matter. We know that that there are different views among the members of the family but in spiritual matter, do we mind having different gods to be worshipped? For those who already have a family and worship together as a family is a great blessing but to those who are not is a great struggle. Therefore, is very vital for those people who’ve recently started building their family and the couple have the same faith.

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  A DIVIDED HOUSE CANNOT STAND (MARK 3:25)

“And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

A house defined as a residence, family, people connected by blood. How about divided? This is easy to understand. It means disunited, to differ, to sectioned off, and separated. What does stand mean? According to some scholars, this word is the same used mentioned in Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Which means postured in a forward moving position, ready to advance or ready to move forward. Standing means moving forward.

 

Before we go further, I have questions for every one of us to answer. Does your family have spiritual goals in mind that needed to reach? The problem is we become contented with our family of not moving forward. There are some couples are contented with the family’s spiritual state. Children are contented of not having goals in studies, and others. Does our family have the goals to become better as family? Are your family divided? These are some questions only God and you can answer. If we try to compare our family’s state from last year to this year what could be the result? Let’s ask ourselves, “Is the family more compassionate, more loving and more caring than last year?” Let’s be observant to our family’s routine every day. We eat separately and if there’s time for eating together, everyone uses their phone and not focus to the communication. We pray separately and some members don’t pray often. Also we worship separately and some members of the family don’t have the time to worship the whole Sunday. Let’s put in mind that the enemy wants your family to be destroyed and no spiritual values. WE CAN’T STAND IF WE CONTINUE TO SEPARATE. WE CANNOT MOVE FORWARD IF THERE ARE DIVISIONS BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY. I don’t know what are the struggles of your family faces right now but let’s look for ways for us to be united and not be separated. We know seldom for the family to have meals together, the mother is busy in the kitchen or household chores and the children stay in their rooms for online class or other schedules outside the house. No matter what schedules everyone’s has, let’s look for ways and opportunities to stay united and connected like prayer time, devotion and also try to lead the children in prayer.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 

Sometimes we think small issues in the family doesn’t matter or it’s not a big deal but let’s remember that big issues start in small issues. I remember a mother told me to change the receipt of the total amount she paid in tuition fees. She wanted to get a kickback from her husband’s monthly salary. Another thing, another scenario, a husband called me and asked about his personal debt and reminded me not to tell his wife about the debt. These simple issues show that these families didn’t operate as a team. This world we live in are full of wickedness and we cannot fight if the family is divided. We know we can’t do it by ourselves; we need spiritual weapon. Hebrews 10: 31 reminds us,

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

 

 

2.  A DIVIDED HOUSE CAN BE SPOILED BY THE ENEMY

Verse 27 says,  “No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.”

 

Who is the strong man in the family? The leader of the house, right? We know that the bible speaks to the father if we talk about leadership. There’s only one head in the family – the father. I remember a pastor made a joke about head of the family. He said, if the family has two heads or leaders, that is a monster because the normal thing is only one head.

 In here, the enemy is on focus with the strong man in the house. If he bound the strong man, then the others followed. So you see the leader of the house has the greatest role in the family. 1 Timothy 3:4-5 reminds the fathers,

One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

The father should be the role model of the family; he leads the family in the right way. If we have a faithful Christian father, we are blessed. How sad if we see a father who doesn’t do his responsibility well to the family. What if our father does these things: he always holds his cellphone to play games, he doesn’t see the things needed to fix in the house, he has no patience taking care of the baby for so long, he doesn’t lead the family to spirituality, he’s not concerned to the spiritual situation of the family and he rebels to the spiritual leader in the church, with these, the family is in great danger. What is the evident proof that something is going on in the family? The family doesn’t prioritize spiritual things.

 

One thing I can’t forget is the words enunciated by a mother when she was asked about her spiritual condition after her separation from his husband, “You know what, what I lost is not only a father to my children but a pastor who has led the family in spiritual way.” We have seen so many parents who failed to lead their children in the right way and we’re so blessed that in spite of the failures, there’s a church we can go to in guiding our young people, and every one of us.

CONCLUSION:

James wrote: “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” (James 3:16) For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil. Envy, pride, anger, bitterness, jealously, selfishness, dishonesty…they all have something in common. They are home-wreckers.

The more internal divisions and strife there is in a home, the quicker and harder the home will fall. Since homes are made up of sinful and willful human beings, having a home united and strong can be a very daunting task. Satan would love nothing more than to see a Christian home fall to ruins and he works hard every day trying to make that happen. If you crack the door open just a small amount, Satan will squeeze his way in and take up residence.

We need to guard our homes and our marriages and we do that through complete and total surrender to God. When we are surrendered to Him, then we are on the same team, working to achieve that same goals rather than seeking our own selfish best interests. It’s way past time that we kick Satan out on the curb and give Christ the place of honor and make Him Lord in our homes, marriages, and family.

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

PSALMS 127:1

 

WHICH TREE…?

BIBLE PASSAGE: GALATIANS 5:16-25

• Picture taken from Google
• Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page
• Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons

OCTOBER 09, 2022

 

MEMORY VERSE

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

GALATIANS 5:22-23

 

INTRODUCTION:

Last Sunday our lesson we talked about titled, “IS IT IN YOU?” Is God the Holy Spirit in us? We already knew that once we accept Jesus Christ in our hearts through faith, the Holy Spirit indwells in us. Now let me say this again, “IS THE HOLY SPIRIT IN US?” Could I hear AMEN!

 

Let me ask you, how’s our week? Did our old nature become leading in the past week? Are there some situations within the past week that test our temperance, gentleness and others? Before we proceed, I’ll give some situations that possibly were happened to us last week:

 

 

 

·         You get up in the morning and you eat breakfast and head off to work. And along the way someone cuts you off in traffic or they are driving too slowly which causes you to hit a red light, which is going to make you late for work. So you ask the Holy Spirit to help you follow Him. And He brings to mind some Scriptures about how to deal with your enemies and He reminds you that He is patient, kind and gentle. So instead of honking the horn and flipping the guy off, you remain calm and just thank God that He kept me safe.

·         You get to work only to find out that one of your fellow employees has gone behind your back and told your boss things about you that aren’t true. So again you ask the Holy Spirit what step you should take. And again He brings to remembrance some Scripture verses that guide you in dealing with that situation. Perhaps He even reminds you how Jesus was falsely accused and how He dealt with those accusations. So you use those thoughts to help you deal with that situation in a Biblical manner.

·         You go to lunch in a restaurant and the server completely messes up your order. So they have to remake your food and you end up getting back to work late after lunch. So you ask the Holy Spirit how He wants you to treat the server and how to deal with your boss when you get back to work late. And again, He brings to mind Scriptures that apply to the situation and reminds you of His character.

·         On the way home you stop at grocery store to pick up just a few items that your wife asked to pick up for dinner. And there’s lady who bumped you’re your cart with her cart. She acted she didn’t know and she didn’t whisper or say any word of apology. So I ask the Holy Spirit how He wants me to respond, not just outwardly, but also in my heart.

·         You finally get home and your exhausted and you just want some “me time.” But instead of acting based on your desires, you ask the Holy Spirit to lead you. And He reminds you that you are to love your wife like Christ loved the church and that she has been home with the kids all day and that she could use some down time, too. So you help her finish up dinner and then you watch the kids for a while so she can take a quiet bath, not because that’s what you feel like doing, but because you just want to take that next step as the Holy Spirit leads you.

Our lesson for today titled “WHICH TREE?” Let’s talk about trees. I love picking up or harvesting fruits and maybe some of us here love it too.  We can tell confidently that every tree and plant in an orchard produces fruit that is consistent with the kind of tree or plant it is. Every peach tree produces only peaches. Every apple tree produces only apples. Every tomato plant produces only tomatoes. So even if you don’t know anything else about those trees and plants, you can tell what kind they are by the fruit they produce.

Our lives are just like that. The fruit that is manifest in our lives will reveal what kind of tree we are. If we’re a “flesh tree” then our lives will show evidence of that as our lives produce “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these”.

But if we’re a “Holy Spirit tree” our lives will also show evident of that as our lives produce “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.

So let me ask you a question this morning. But before I ask you to answer that question I want you to listen carefully to what I’m going to share with you this morning so that you understand the consequences of your answer before you respond.

Which tree do you want to be?

Do you want to be the “flesh tree” or do you want to be the “Holy Spirit tree”?

Let’s begin by describing…

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  HOW TO BE A FLESH TREE?

 

a)   FOLLOW YOUR OWN DESIRES

Paul writes that those who are “flesh trees” fulfill the desires of the flesh. For as long as we live on this earth, every single Christ follower is going to struggle with fleshly desires because we still have that flesh nature. And occasionally, we are even going to give into those desires and carry them to completion. The “flesh tree”, by contrast, engages in a lifestyle where he or she consistently gratifies those fleshly desires. So the flesh tree focuses on his or her desire for physical pleasure and the result is sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality and others. He or she focuses on his or her rights and the result is enmity, strife, jealousness, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy.

 

What are the simple situations we can say we follow our own desires?

 

b)   FOCUS ON WHAT YOU DO

Paul consistently connects living by the flesh to what a person does. The entire concept of gratifying the desires of the flesh implies taking some action to satisfy those desires. And in verse 19, when he writes about the “works of the flesh”, he is again emphasizing that a central component of living by the flesh is a focus on works – what we do.

If we don’t prioritize spiritual matters, can we say we live in the flesh? (Ask some reactions from the audience)

 

c)    LIVE A LIFE THAT SEEKS TO BE COMFORTABLE

This is the natural extension of living a life that is focused on satisfying one’s fleshly desires. The “flesh tree” doesn’t mind a little religion in his or her life as long as it doesn’t interfere with his or her comfort. So that person tends to compartmentalize life and relegate God to a small compartment that occupies only an hour or two on Sunday mornings. “Flesh trees” view their time and their resources as belonging to them, so they give a little bit of their time and money to God and then just live the rest of their lives the way they want. They want just enough of the Holy Spirit so they won’t feel guilty, but certainly not enough to make them uncomfortable. It’s actually pretty easy to be a “flesh tree”. All it requires is for me to pretty much just do as I please and to take the path of least resistance. And obviously there were some people in the church in Galatia who claimed to be followers of Jesus who lived like that. Unfortunately, the same is still true in the church today. But the good news is that there is a better way.

2.  HOW TO BE A HOLY SPIRIT TREE?

a)   FOLLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT’S DESIRES

Paul begins this passage with a command – “Walk in the Spirit…” And the remainder of the passage is our guide on how to do just that. There are three other places in this passage where Paul describes how we are to relate to the Holy Spirit: In verse 18, he writes that “Holy Spirit trees” are LED of the Spirit.  In verse 25, he writes that “Holy Spirit trees” LIVE in the Spirit. In that same verse, he writes that “Holy Spirit trees” WALK in the Spirit.

                  

“But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

                  

Overall the picture here is very clear. If I want to be a “Holy Spirit tree”, then it means that rather than following my own desires, I need to follow the desires of the Holy Spirit. I get to know Him – who He is and what He desires for my life - and then I follow in His footsteps.

Before we leave this first aspect of being a “Holy Spirit tree”, let me call your attention to a couple of other important details.

First, all of the verbs that describe how we are to relate to the Holy Spirit – walk, be led, live, and keep in step are all present tense verbs in Greek. And as I’m sure we all know by now, that means that they are describing continuous action. We are to keep on walking, keep on being led, keep on living and keep on keeping in step. In other words, this is a lifestyle, not just something we can do once and forget it.

Secondly, the verb “are led” in verse 18 is a passive verb. That means that we are the object of the action, not the ones doing the action. The emphasis is on what the Holy Spirit is doing here, not on what we are doing.

So, in contrast to what we saw with the “flesh tree”, the focus of the “Holy Spirit tree” is not on what I do, but rather on what the Holy Spirit is doing. My responsibility is to follow Him as He leads.

 

b)   FOCUS ON WHO GOD WANTS YOU TO BECOME

 

The first observation is that every one of the nine aspects of the fruit listed here is not an action, but rather a character trait. And I think I can confidently say that this list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of what the fruit of the Spirit should look like. The fact that Paul arranges these character traits in three sets of three leads me to believe that he is using these nine traits to picture the character of the triune God. Since the character of God obviously can’t be captured just by these nine traits, the fruit of His Holy Spirit is not limited to these nine either.

 

c)    LIVE A COMPLETE LIFE OF FAITH

Becoming a “Holy Spirit tree” requires a lot more than just carving a little place out of our life that we give to the Holy Spirit while we retain control over the rest of our lives. It means that we give control of every single area of our lives to Him. And when that happens our lives are going to look radically different than those of the people around us.

In just a moment, I’m going to suggest some ways that following the Holy Spirit as He leads us ought to radically impact the way we live our lives. So I’m not going to dwell too long on this point right now. But before we move on, let me just say that this kind of life is not only going to look radical to others, but it is also going to surprise us. Because when we begin to live like this, there are going to be times when we step back and think, “That sure wasn’t me. That’s not how I would normally act in this situation.” And then we realize that it was the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and all we did was to keep in step with Him.

So now let me ask you the question I asked earlier again:

Which tree do you want to be?

Do you want to be the “flesh tree” or do you want to be the “Holy Spirit tree”?

I’m still not going to ask you to answer that question yet, but at least now you can begin to see what the answer to your question is going to require you to do.

If you’re satisfied with being a “flesh tree” then you can probably just keep living life like you always have. You can just follow your own desires, focus on the externals of what you do, and live a life in which your comfort is the top priority.

 

CONCLUSION:

Which tree do you want to be?

Do you want to be the “flesh tree” or do you want to be the “Holy Spirit tree”?

God is calling every one of us to respond to His Word by answering that question. So I’m going to give all of us some time to pray and seek God’s leading here. Let me suggest a couple things that you might want to pray to God during this time:

1. Ask God to reveal what kind of tree you are right now and what kind of tree He wants you to become.

2. Ask God to help you follow the Holy Spirit one step at a time in every area of your life.

Pray: Forgive us for those times when we have lived according to the flesh rather than being led by You.

We thank You for the fruit that you develop in our lives as we follow You.

Help us to follow you step by step so that we might live radical lives of faith in which we become who you want us to become.