Walk in the Spirit and Avoid Sin
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Dimas Salaberrios, Ministry Associate with Christian Union, is a dynamic teacher, speaker, and pastor. His bestselling memoir, Street God, was released in September 2015. Dimas holds a Master of Divinity degree from Alliance Theological Seminary and resides in the Bronx with his wife Tiffany and three daughters.
Transcript
I want to talk to you about a real important topic if you want to be a really faithful and strong follower of Jesus Christ, and I want to challenge you to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. And this is a lifetime battle that we face every day of our Christian journey. Are we walking in the deeds of the flesh [or] are we walking in the deeds of the Spirit?
And I love the way Paul lays this out in Galatians 5:19. He says, "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are"—and when I go through this list, I just want to make this clear. This is not the biggest, comprehensive list there is, because there are sins outside of this list, but this is a list to get us in the mind frame, in the frame of mind, that we can examine ourselves and make sure that we're not walking in the flesh, but our lives are surrendered to the spirit— he says some of these are this: "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry." Now the first three—immorality, impurity, and sensuality—these are called the 'lust list'. These are some of the things that that men or women can lust after. And these are the things that pull us away from an excellent relationship with God. These things tear us down, and at the bottom of this list, Paul warns us, says, the kingdom of heaven, basically, will not be your home if you practice these things habitually. Then he goes on to some of the sinful nature, which is "idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, disputes, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness." Then he goes on to also say the word "carousing."
So these are many things that Paul lays out, not that we have to walk all the time like, "wait, this is an outburst of wrath. Wait, this is this." But what he's saying is, when you're walking in the Spirit, and when you're truly surrendering yourself to God, these are things that you will naturally avoid because you're not walking so much in the natural, but just seeking after the things of the Spirit. And what I find today is very few believers are trying as hard as I used to see, to walk in the Spirit, to walk in those things that are pleasing before the Lord.
So I want to just give you this adjustment right now, this quick kind of just energy punch, to avoid sin at all costs and to try your best to walk in the Spirit. Read God's Word. Let it hit you in your heart. Let it rest in your heart. Turn to those things that are good. Turn to those things that are righteous and shut down those things that are sinful. Shut down those things that have fleshly, and live a life that is pleasing to God and that you're walking filled with the presence of Jesus. God bless you, keep looking up, and keep Christ number one. Peace.
