Slides: The Spirit of Life

The Spirit of Life
Romans 8:5-13

New heart and spirit
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you. (Ezekiel 36:26-27) 

Seeing resurrection
I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezekiel 37:10)

Born of the Spirit
No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit… You are Israel’s teacher and you do not understand these things? (John 3)

Cut to the heart
On Pentecost, Peter’s hearers were “cut to the heart.” The Holy Spirit was cutting deep to remove the stony heart and give a new heart and implant spiritual life in them. On that day, 3,000 people were baptized after the Spirit's tremendous outpouring of life and power.

Spirit of life

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. (John 6:63)

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set me free from the law of sin and death… the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:2, 10)

Spirit in focus

• Spirit of freedom (8:1-4)
• Spirit of life (8:5-13)
• Spirit of adoption (8:14-17)
• Spirit of expectation (8:18-25)
• Spirit of prayer (8:26-27)

 
⁵ For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Dead in the flesh

• Fleshly mind has fleshly focus
• Fleshly mind is death
• Fleshly mind is hostile to God
• Cannot submit to God’s law
• Cannot please God
• Without Christ and Spirit
• Dead and headed for death

Alive in the Spirit

• Spirit’s mind has Spirit’s focus
• Spirit’s mind is life and peace
• Spirit is God’s life inside you
• Spirit will raise bodies to life
• By the Spirit, kill the deeds of the body, and you will live: abundant life now, resurrection life forever.

Dead heads

No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God… The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:11, 14)

The mind of Christ

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit… We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us… We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).

Things to think about

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Mind of the flesh
The mind of the flesh is death. (Romans 8:6)
The wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away. (Psalm 1:4)

Mind of the Spirit
The mind of the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6)

He is like a tree planted by streams of water. (Psalm 1:3)

Mind the Spirit

1. Read Spirit-inspired Scripture daily.
2. Meditate on truths and applications that the Spirit impresses on you.
3. Pray (and/or sing) in response to the Word as the Spirit leads you.
4. Write insights and events in a journal as a record of the Spirit’s activity.

Meditating

• As you meditate on the Bible, the Spirit shows applications to life events. Christ enters more deeply into your life.
• As you meditate on your life events, the Spirit will bring Bible truths to mind. You enter more deeply into Christ’s life.
• The Spirit shows your spirit which thoughts and emotions are from Christ.

Listen to your life

If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that he speaks to us largely through what happens to us… If we keep our hearts and minds open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize, beyond all doubt, that, however faintly, we may hear him, he is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, his word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling. (Frederick Buechner)

Benefits of journaling

• Tracking God’s activity in your life
• Seeing how God answers your prayers
• Setting goals and evaluating progress
• Getting realistic and knowing yourself
• Keeping mind focused in meditation
• Clarifying impressions and insights
• Remembering what the Spirit shows you
• Supporting other spiritual disciplines

Mind the Spirit

1. Read Spirit-inspired Scripture daily.
2. Meditate on truths and applications that the Spirit impresses on you.
3. Pray (and/or sing) in response to the Word as the Spirit leads you.
4. Write insights and events in a journal as a record of the Spirit’s activity.

Sow to the Spirit

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)