Learning to Follow by Brother Curtis Hansen

         Good morning. The scripture reading we will have is from the book of Galatians chapter 3. We will begin at verse 3. The apostle Paul is speaking to the church in this letter and one of the points of this chapter is that righteous people should live by faith. People that live by the Law is more of a performance. Let's read shall we starting with verse 3.

        3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

        4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain.

        5 He therefore that ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

        If you go through the entire Bible and read the different mighty men of God, the change comes quickly to them. Believers today don't want that quiet moment that sets us on the path. They feel like they need something big in their life like a Goliath. An oversized adversary to slay. Our Goliath is our flesh. Your spirit want to be like Christ and your flesh wants to be like the world. The sermon subject is in how to be led. In the scripture, the Lord is known as the great shepherd. There are some things and processes in life which are immovable and there is a larger portion of our life which we are in control of daily.

        The Lord being our shepherd will mean he will give us direction. You should not sweeten the direction because of a correction. You should expect direction from God or a good word from him. Your flesh is designed to deflate your spirit. This is why in life praise, both great and small, is so important.

        Look at verse 3 again. There was much confusion in the church regarding circumcision of it's members because they are seeking justification of the Law while having embraced the faith of Jesus. Paul is saying that if we are walking with Jesus by faith, no act of the flesh will draw you any closer. There is one act that can draw you closer to God and that is humility. Stop judging others and bringing them down to a certain level or designation in your view. No one is the plum line for the Christian walk. If the flesh was so spiritual by upholding and justifying through the law, there would not be so many verses telling you to mortify and suppress your flesh. 

        If you go though the life that acts of the flesh, such as giving to charity or mission will draw you closer to God, your walk is in vain. Spiritual growth manifests Christian acts of faith. Doing it the other way is as being as a white washed tomb.

        We are going to touch upon experience and identity. Once you form an identity that says who you are, you will relate to the details which define it. That's how you get people whose fleshly actions give the perception of being holy. In John chapter 10 and verse 11, Jesus is referred as the great shepherd. It is a good analogy that mankind is like sheep. Both man and sheep have great memories. Both display many emotions. Both have various ways of vocalizations that communicate different emotions. 

        In Christ but still crazy. If someone says no to something you should ask why you are doing it. Here is an expectation. If God lives in us, I expect God to direct me. There are times when you are in a spot and confused by the direction or what the larger picture is. Look at the example of King David conducting a census over in 2 Samuel. David was told not to take a census and yet chose to do so. Israel belonged to God and not to David. The end result of a failed trial is refining, disciplining, and purification of a disobedient believers. Too many people believe David's greatest sin was Bathsheeba. That led to a man and an infant dying. The disobedience of the census led to pestilence killing off a 1/3 of the people. It is easier to walk with God in righteousness than trying to accomplish it with the resources and tools of the flesh. In life, things always circle back to us and the fight between our flesh and our spirit.

        Expectations will lead us to searching in how to be led by God. God wants to direct us. If we have an identity as an independent, we may be short on listening and obeying God. When you think of yourself as an independent you will often hear God's voice and direction like that of Siri or GPS in your vehicle. You end up taking his direction and think it as really a suggestion. If we look to it as a suggestion, we will only hear the direction part of the time. When you don't hear in your conscious, you will see it in the consequence. We can be arrogant enough to believe that God's directions should change with the times. His directions never change! Some of us will try and hide ourself like Jacob or Elijah. What happened in their stories? God still found them. God has designed and called us to praise and serve him. We should resemble God daily.

        Does your ministry come by the words of man or of the spirit? The words of man can fail you and are corruptible, while the spirit is everlasting.