Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Yousef for this episode of Leading the Way Audio.
You've heard that expression, probably even said it. Don't just stand there, do something. Words encouraging movement toward some kind of growth and progress, right? Well, those words can also be used to encourage growth in your Christian walk. It's a challenge to understand that Jesus doesn't clothe us in His righteousness and salvation to just stand there but to be active in His mission. So up next, go with Dr. Yousef to Galatians chapter 5 for a look at the fruit of the Spirit.
Here's Dr. Michael Yousef to begin. Back in 1979, a small family moved from sunny California to Atlanta, Georgia. Four weeks later, Atlanta was hit by one, in fact was the worst ice storm that they ever kept on record until that point. We had just moved into a nice temporary house which we're living with three little children and there we are in this house in the middle of an ice storm, couldn't get in or out, a complete and massive power outage. We're still strangers in a strange city, we knew very, very few people. And during that time, we found ourselves camped inside this nice house without power or the ability to cook, no radio or television to find out what's going on.
And so we huddled in that cold and dark house without coats and blankets and everything else and we can find helpless, totally helpless and isolated. A few days later, the Lord began to teach me some very important lessons and obviously I haven't forgotten all these years and that's why I'm talking about it today. A lesson regarding the spiritual condition of many a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who are living their Christian life with a spiritual power outage. A lesson about how professing Christians seldom exhibit the fruit of the Spirit and why. Oh, to be sure, there are lots of gifts and lots of talents, lots of talk, but very little fruit. And the reason we do not exhibit the fruit of the Spirit is because we often rely on our own power in the Christian walk. We rely on the strength of our own efforts of what we can accomplish or what we can do or even the forcefulness of some personalities. Spiritually speaking, when the power of the Holy Spirit is not operating in the life of a believer, spiritually speaking, they may be living in a nice house.
All the appearances look great, but they internally are huddled in a cold and dark place without spiritual electricity. And most often what causes power failure, at least I know that experientially in my life, is those moments when I place something or someone or even self on the throne of my heart. Whenever Jesus is not enthroned on the heart and the soul and the life, always, always, never fails, causes a power failure. Does it all the time, every time. And that's what Paul is saying here in Galatians 5, 15 to 26. Listen, I've seen some of the most gifted people drop like a fly, and I know you've seen it too.
But why? Oh, they get to the point when they begin to rely on their giftedness instead of the giver of the gift. They get to the point of trusting in themselves instead of the one who can raise the dead. They're leaning on their own ability instead of the continuous empowerment of Him who can do all things through us. And so I have a question.
How do you know if you are experiencing a power failure? How do you know that? Paul said, if you're walking in the spirit, you are not gratifying the desires of the flesh. That's a literal translation. But if you are gratifying the desires of the flesh, you are not walking in the spirit.
It works both ways. You see, the two cannot coexist together. They cannot because the desires of the flesh and the spirit are constantly warring against each other.
That's the problem with many Christians. They don't like war. They just don't like to think that the spiritual life is a war. So they ignore the reality of the spirit warring against the flesh. They like oil and water. They cannot mix.
They cannot live together. Most people, when they hear the word desires of the flesh, immediately they think of sexual sins. That too, but that's not all. In fact, listen to the list of those desires of the flesh. Idolatry, placing anyone or anybody, anything on the throne of your heart, not the Lord. Sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, irreverence, dissension, division, envy. And so when you hear the desires of the flesh, you understand it's a lot more than just sexual sins. And Paul is saying here that when the Holy Spirit of God is in his rightful place, when the Holy Spirit's power is plugged in, when the house is wired correctly, then the desires of the flesh will become mute.
It's going to be suspended. Remember again, it is not a matter of trying harder. It's a matter of having Christ formed in you. Probably some of you are asking the question, how can I live up to my royal priesthood? How can I live up to that?
How can I get plugged in all the time, day in and day out, moment by moment, and not lose power? Here's what I've got to tell you. First of all, you must come to the conclusion, and you live in that conclusion, that you cannot trust in your own efforts. You cannot trust in your own efforts.
If you insist that you can do it, you will always experience power failure. This is a testifying and also authority of the Word of God, but I'm testifying to you. There are two things that will always trip you. One is pride, the other one is ignorance.
Sometimes both. So I want you to look at verse 16 of Galatians 5. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Another translation says, so I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. A grammar lesson.
Verse 16 is in the present tense in the imperative mood. Now this is very important. This is a big deal. What does that mean? It means that this walking is not a once for all deal. It is not you walk down the aisle, and you get zapped and you got it, and now you can move on.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The reason it is in the present imperative is because it is a continuous action. It is keeping on walking with the Spirit and in the Spirit. It is as constant as breathing.
And I don't know anybody who says, I breathed yesterday, I'm not going to breathe today. It is only when you are continuously doing this will you not fall prey to the desires of the flesh. Here's something very important you must understand. The reason he used the word walk, because it implies progression. You're moving. You're not sitting on your blessed assurance, you're moving, you're walking. He says walking implies that you are moving forward. Walking means that you are growing day by day. You may not be able to assess your growth day by day, but certainly you should be able to assess your growth year by year. At the end of each year you should be able to look up to heaven and say, blessed God, for He has been with me, He's been changing me, He's been teaching me, He's been leading me, He has been growing me up.
You should be at least able to do that and you're able to say, I thank the Lord that I am not this year what I was last year. What makes the difference is that continuous moving forward by and in the power of the Holy Spirit, which brings me to the central theme of this passage, namely the fruit of the Spirit. Remember it's the fruit in the singular. A lot of people confuse that and say the fruits of the Spirit.
It is the fruit in the singular and I'm going to tell you why that's a big deal in a minute. So what evidence, what evidence can you present to the court of your life? Don't forget about everybody else, that you got the court in your heart, in your life, and you're going to present some evidence to the court of your life. You're going to present evidence that you are growing in the Spirit, that you are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit. Are you more loving, more peaceful, more joyful? That's the evidence, the fruit of the Spirit. How do I acquire the fruit of the Spirit? By yielding more and more and more of my life to the control of the Holy Spirit.
We've been seeing this throughout the series of messages. Yielding to the Holy Spirit, beloved, listen to me, is a decision of the will and then God does the rest. You cannot just sit in your blessed assurance and say, oh, fill me Holy Spirit.
It ain't going to happen in a million years. Lots of people make that mistake. If that is possible, why would the Apostle Paul make it in a command form? It's in the imperative mood. It's a command.
You see, the use of grammar is very important in the Greek New Testament. He is saying as an order, as somebody commanding somebody who is at the lower rank and he says, walk. What's the response? Yes, sir.
That's what he's anticipating here. You see, walking is an action. It's a movement. It's a forward motion. Not sitting on the sidelines, not straddling the fence, not being indifferent, not going to church ten minutes late and leaving ten minutes early and say, I did my thing.
No, no, no, no, no. Walking must be making progress. But not only making progress, not only it's an action, but also it's a fight.
That's what he said. It's a fight. It's a warfare.
Verse 17. There's a war. The spirit and the flesh are at war with each other.
Let me tell you something. Those who minimize that pay the price. The spirit is fighting with the flesh. In any war, there are only victors and victims. In any war, there are winners and losers.
In any war, there is the quick and the dead. But here's the good news. Listen carefully. Here's the good news. I don't want you to get discouraged.
Here's the good news. When you are walking in the spirit, you are assured of victory. The spiritual warfare in a Christian life is the only warfare I know.
That you can be assured of victory ahead of time. You see, when you are led by the spirit, controlled by the spirit, you cannot lose. But if you try to live the Christian life based on your own effort, I've got to give it my best shot. I mean, after all, we trained in school. We, the captains of our own ship and the masters of our lives and all that stuff. Let me tell you something. Put that out of your mind when it comes to the Christian life.
If you're totally reliant on your own ingenuity, if you look at your own accomplishments and say, look what I've done and I can do this other thing. If you're relying on your own wisdom, Satan is not only going to eat your lunch, he's going to eat your dinner too. The question is, does every Christian who is born of the spirit yields to the spirit? And the answer is some do and some don't. Some either because of pride or ignorance as we saw, do not yield to the control of the Holy Spirit.
They think they can hack it themselves. And as a result, their lives are constantly in turmoil, internal war going on inside, in shambles. As a matter of fact, the New Testament tells us about two groups of Christians. Two churches represented. The Corinthians, those who lived in Corinth and those who lived in Galatia. The believers in Corinth and the believers in Galatians. The Galatians were in a mess because of pride. The Corinthians were in equal mess because of ignorance. The Corinthians was so ignorant of the importance of the unity of the spirit in the body, that they opened the door for Satan to come in and wreak havoc among them. Beloved, division always comes, always.
Watch it in your home, watch it in any relationship. When somebody believes half truth, because by nature we are partisans and divisive and therefore we listen to one side or one half truth and then we run with it and a division takes place. The Galatians on the other hand, they're out of pride. They were trying to earn their salvation by performance and they're messed up too.
Now here's something very important I don't want you to miss. We as human beings want or tend to believe doctrine that is based on human experience or feelings or both. We do. Instead of putting our trust in the objective truth of the word of God. I just feel that way. My experience tells me and they argue and they will fight based on experience or based on feelings or strong opinion.
Read my lips. The heck with experience and feelings if they're not consistent with the word of God. Our experience and feelings may be good or may be bad, but our victory does not come from our experience. Our victory is not based on our feelings. Our victory comes from yielding everything to the Holy Spirit of God.
Every inch of it. Only when Christ is formed in you, when he's formed in me. Only when we seek to please him above pleasing the self or pleasing others. Only when we do what he said to do. Not what we think we should do or how we feel we should do.
Only when we obey and not insist in our own way. Only then do we know that the flesh is being starved and weakened and the spirit is producing the fruit. Don't miss the contrast between the works in the plural of the flesh and the fruit in the singular of the spirit. It's very important.
It's far more important than you realize. The works of the flesh are many. Why? Because they divide your mind. They divide your heart. They scatter your mind.
They scatter you in ten different directions or even more different directions. They divide your heart and cause you consternation. They scatter your life and put it in shambles and in turmoil. They cause you continuous tension in life. They steal your peace and your joy. They rob you of contentment. They scatter you in a thousand different ways.
All at the same time. But the fruit in the singular of the spirit. Verse 22. The fruit of the spirit is, although he gives us nine traits, but it's a cluster of fruit. One fruit.
Character quality with kaleidoscope. Why is in the singular? Because the fruit of the spirit unite your heart. Unite your mind. Unite your spirit. Unite you all together.
Integrate you. This love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. They go together. In fact, if you look closely at this cluster of fruit, look at it carefully. And if you look at it closely, you know what you're going to see? You're going to see Jesus. You're going to see Jesus for he is the one who's always, always, always loving, joyful, peaceful, long suffering, patient, kind, good, faithful, meek and self-control. And when you yield to his spirit, don't ever forget that the Holy Spirit is Jesus's spirit.
And when you yield to his spirit, he's going to make you in the likeness of Jesus. But then Paul concludes the chapter by saying that just as Jesus was crucified on that cross, every one of us must crucify the desires of the flesh. And this crucifixion is a continuous.
It takes place one day, but then you keep on doing it. In fact, three things. Very quickly, I want to tell you about crucifixions. Very, very important.
Three things you must know. Crucifixion is done without any pity on the one being crucified. And you should not feel sorry or sympathetic when you crucify the works of the flesh. Secondly, crucifixion is very painful. It is very painful. And I know I'm talking to a post-modern culture.
We want everything for nothing. And yet the crucifying of the flesh is painful. But let me tell you this. The pain cannot be compared with the joy and the peace that comes from crucifying the works of the flesh. The third thing I want to tell you is crucifixion is decisive. You must leave the flesh crucified. Don't take them out. Leave them there.
Don't take them out. Leave them on the cross. Until the day and the by and by, they will die. If you live by the Spirit, the works of the flesh eventually die.
And the obvious thing is this. After the crucifixion, there was a resurrection. And every time you crucify the works of the flesh, you're going to experience resurrection in your life. Power like you've never experienced before. Joy and peace that nobody can understand except you and the Lord.
Resurrection follows crucifixion. This is a great reminder from Dr. Yusef on this episode of Leading the Way Audio. We went in for the first sonogram, which they do very early in a high risk pregnancy like this. And they said, you know, you have twins and there's this other cell, but it will go away. We got 16 to 20 weeks into the pregnancy and they said, this is now, you know, baby C, but it is not it is not viable. If you don't terminate baby C now, you're very likely to lose baby A and baby B.
Baby C was carried with virtually no amniotic fluid. The doctors had really encouraged Nick and I to have a selective reduction in pregnancy, which means, you know, aborting one of the fetuses. So we spoke to the doctors and just that we understand that medically you have to give us that advice. But, you know, the Lord gave us these three babies and they are his. And what the Lord does with them is it's his plan.
It's not ours. So we'd like for you to treat us and help us bring these three babies to life. It was one of the most peaceful, happiest times of our life because we weren't we weren't trusting God with half of it or with three quarters of it or with ninety nine percent of it.
We were 100 percent in. We went back in three or four times every couple of weeks where they would make a fairly passionate case that we strongly recommend that you terminate and have, you know, healthy, happy, successful twins. You know, Jamie was probably in the early part of her seven month of the pregnancy when the doctor did the the intensive sonogram. And she almost dropped the the wand and she said, I can't I can't explain this. She said, baby C's turned into a very viable embryo. Baby C had caught up in growth with baby B and baby A.
They're all healthy and full of lice. And so we have pitter patter of six little feet in our house. There were days where I never thought that I would hear that sound. He's given us these three kids that any time we doubt or try to take control of the situation, we could look at them and go, you know what? That's the perfect reminder that his plan is always better. Whenever we're frazzled, whenever we're frustrated, whenever we're flustered in this life, the only safe place to return to is where we have housed the word of God. In his newest book, My Refuge, My Strength, Dr. Michael Youssef takes you on a 60 day journey towards a deeper understanding of the peace God offers us through Christ. For a limited time, for your gift of any amount, Leading the Way will send you your very own hardcover copy of My Refuge, My Strength. Give us a call. We're at 866-626-4356 or you can connect with us online. That's ltw.org. By the way, if you'd like to read what God has done in the past year, we've prepared an annual report for you to download. Just go to ltw.org. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org or through your favorite social media platform, including YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram, and more.
