Message | Another Power - Galatians 3 - Pastor Rob Ketterling

Summary

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River Valley Church Podcast Summary

Message | Another Power - Galatians 3 — Pastor Rob Ketterling

Date: July 27, 2026
Main Theme:
Pastor Rob Ketterling delves into Galatians chapter 3, emphasizing that the Christian journey—both its beginning and completion—is powered not by human effort or adherence to the law, but by the Holy Spirit. He explores Paul’s argument that faith, not works, is what justifies and sustains believers, and offers practical steps to “stay plugged in” to the Spirit’s power.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Challenge: How Are We Made Complete?

• Opening Illustration (02:01): Every device needs hardware, software, and power.
  • You = Hardware.
  • God’s grace = Software.
  • Holy Spirit = Power supply.
• Paul’s rhetorical questions in Galatians 3:1–5 challenge the Galatians for relying on “the law” (rules/effort) rather than the Spirit post-salvation.
• “You trusted Christ to get you into the family of God. ... Now do you trust him to get you to the finish line? Or are you gonna think that it’s gonna be your own work?” (01:27, Pastor Rob)
• Analogy to exercise resolutions: Many start strong (faith/grace), but revert to “grit” or mere effort rather than consistent dependence on the Spirit.

“Beginning is easy and finishing is a lot harder.” (05:22, Pastor Rob)

2. Distinguishing Spirit-led Growth from Self-effort

• Paul corrects the notion that spiritual disciplines (Bible reading, prayer, serving, etc.) are the path to earning God’s favor or completing salvation by works.
  • “Those spiritual disciplines were amazing, but I did them because I wanted to be close to God, not because I was trying to win his approval or favor.” (07:38, Pastor Rob)
• Key distinction: These practices draw us closer to God, but salvation and completion are always by grace through faith.

3. Abraham: The Precedent of Faith

• Paul references Abraham (Genesis 15 vs. Genesis 17), highlighting that Abraham was counted righteous before the law—through faith, not through following rules or rituals like circumcision. (09:39)
• The defining character of God’s people is faith, not law.
  • “He never wanted it to be law. He wanted it to be faith ... that we trust him, that we take him at his word, that we believe that what he says is true.” (11:13, Pastor Rob)

4. The Law’s True Role: Revealing, Not Redeeming

• The law is compared to a smoke detector or X-ray—pointing out a problem but unable to fix it (13:16–14:34).
• “The law could show us everywhere we came short because no one can live up to it. ... It could point out the problem, it could reveal the problem, but it could never solve the problem.” (12:19, Pastor Rob)
• “Jesus solved the problem.” (15:27, Pastor Rob)

5. The Holy Spirit: Promise and Power

• Christ redeemed us so that we might receive “the promise of the Spirit” by faith. (15:25–16:09)
• The Holy Spirit is not an afterthought but the fulfillment of God’s promise, empowering us to completion.
  • “If you’re a Christian, you have the power of the living God living inside of you. You have the Holy Spirit in you. ... That’s ... drop the mic right there.” (16:09, Pastor Rob)
• Law as a “guardian” (17:49), necessary only until the coming of Christ and the Spirit.

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Practical Ways to Cooperate with the Holy Spirit (18:27–27:55)

Pastor Rob concludes with actionable steps for a Spirit-led Christian life:

1. Daily Yielding:

   • Surrendering plans, will, and agenda every morning.
   • “I give you my life. I daily yield to you, Holy Spirit.” (18:48, Pastor Rob)

2. Beholding Christ:

   • Practicing an active, attentive focus on Jesus, beyond rote Bible reading.
   • “Jesus has been too good to us to not talk about him for over 10 minutes.” (20:23, quoting Mark Buntain)
   • Avoid “museum director faith” (talking about Jesus only in the past) in favor of ongoing, relational engagement.

3. Walking in Step:

   • Cultivating moment-by-moment sensitivity to the Spirit’s conviction and leading.
   • "Moment by moment sensitivity ... you will feel moments of conviction, you’ll feel grief, you’ll feel just moments like a direction.” (22:05, Pastor Rob)

4. Abiding in Christ:

   • Relational depth—talk to Him, not just about Him.
   • “That’s abiding in Christ, where you’re talking to him, not just about him.” (23:05, Pastor Rob)

5. Worship and Praise:

   • Deepens sensitivity and invites more of the Spirit’s transformative presence.
   • “Worshiping and praising invites the Holy Spirit in a deeper way into your life.” (23:56, Pastor Rob)

6. Being in the Body:

   • Engaged participation in the church leads to mutual encouragement, correction, and spiritual growth.
   • “The body helps to correct you in things that are blind spots.” (24:15, Pastor Rob)
   • Example of mentoring: “Maybe God would use a mentoring couple in this body to speak to you. ... That would be a great idea.” (25:08, Pastor Rob)

7. Repentance:

   • Regularly acknowledging, confessing, and turning from sin to stay aligned with the Spirit.

8. Serving:

   • Stepping outside comfort zones exposes our need for Holy Spirit empowerment and enables spiritual growth.
   • “You get stretched beyond your capacity, and then you need the power of the Holy Spirit.” (26:52, Pastor Rob)

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Galatians 3: Four Declarations of New Identity (28:27–31:00)

Paul’s four identity statements for believers (Gal. 3:26–29):

1. Sons of God: Restored relationship with God as Father.
2. Clothed with Christ: No more shame or self-covering.
3. One in Christ: Restored unity among believers.
4. Heirs according to the promise: Full inheritance, restored what was lost at the fall.
   • “In Christ, we’re one. ... In Genesis, we lost our inheritance. ... Now in Christ, we’re heirs to the promise.” (28:56–29:09, Pastor Rob)

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Conclusion & Memorable Quotes

• “We got saved by grace, we trusted you in faith, and now we’re gonna live in faith. Thank you for the grace that helps us grow, and thank you for the Holy Spirit that’s forming us into your image and getting us to the finish line.” (30:10, Pastor Rob)
• “Thank you for the law that pointed out how broken we were. But God now, thank you for grace. Thank you for grace. Thank you for the Spirit in us ... The Holy Spirit lives within us. Wow, what a joy.” (31:06–31:29, Pastor Rob)

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Timestamps

• Analogy of hardware/software/power and introduction of Galatians 3: 01:54–02:40
• Paul’s rhetorical questions and call to ongoing faith: 03:27–04:50
• Grace vs. grit and the role of spiritual disciplines: 05:55–07:38
• Return to Abraham and faith over law: 08:27–11:39
• The law’s purpose - smoke detector/X-ray analogy: 12:13–15:27
• Promise and power of the Holy Spirit: 15:25–18:01
• Practical steps for Spirit-led living: 18:33–27:55
• Four declarations of identity in Christ: 28:27–29:09
• Summary, exhortation to live differently, closing prayer: 30:10–31:29

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For listeners:
This episode is a compelling reminder to depend daily on the Holy Spirit’s power for spiritual growth, rather than striving on our own. Pastor Rob combines biblical teaching, practical advice, memorable illustrations, and a clear call to faith-filled, Spirit-powered living.

Transcript

[Lead Pastor]

Well, we are jumping into Galatians Chapter three today. And I wanna say to the campus pastors, great job for Galatians Chapter two. I was just on a jet tour around the world. I went to Canada, to our campus there. I went to Tokyo, did a generosity

[Campus Pastor]

accelerator, encouraged the team there.

[Lead Pastor]

They're running a coffee shop and the church is packed. We were talking about going to two services and what could be our next venue there.

[Campus Pastor]

Then I went on to Indonesia and did a.

[Lead Pastor]

A conference for hundreds of missionaries, many

[Campus Pastor]

that we were supporting and from our own congregation.

[Lead Pastor]

It was so good to be there and encourage them.

[Campus Pastor]

Then a quick stop in South Korea. And now I'm back today.

[Lead Pastor]

Just a little jet lagged is all. Just a little.

[Campus Pastor]

Just a little. All right.

[Lead Pastor]

But I wanna say to the campus pastors again, thank you for Galatians 2. And we're gonna go into Galatians 3 each week looking at a different chapter. So much to cover here. So much to cover. And. And the question really is like Paul keeps saying, are you saved by Christ, but left to complete this work now on your own? Were you saved by Christ and you got in by grace? And now are you gonna work on your own to do it, or do you need to trust in the Spirit? And we're gonna answer that question here. And he's saying, like, not just how do you begin? But he's saying, who are you trusting

[Campus Pastor]

in to complete what God is doing in you?

[Lead Pastor]

You trusted Christ to get you into the family of God. You trusted him with your salvation. Now do you trust him to get you to the finish line? Or are you gonna think that it's gonna be your own work? All right, now they were trusting in the law, and they're reverting back to it. He's like, no, guys, that's not what you need.

[Campus Pastor]

You need to trust in the power of the Spirit.

[Lead Pastor]

Now, before we jump into chapter three,

[Campus Pastor]

let me give you an illustration.

[Lead Pastor]

Every electronic device that you have, some of you are taking notes on a

[Campus Pastor]

phone right now, your phone.

[Lead Pastor]

Every electronic device we own needs three things. It needs hardware, that is the device. It needs software.

[Campus Pastor]

That's what makes it run. And then it needs power, okay?

[Lead Pastor]

And Paul is saying, like, the hardware is you, the software is the grace of God. And I've been telling you about that. But now you need to know where the power's coming from. The power is coming from the Spirit.

[Campus Pastor]

And you need.

[Lead Pastor]

If you're. If this is gonna work, you have to realize you're presenting yourself. You are there. You've been crucified with Christ and now he's living in you. But the Spirit of God is the power you need, and you have to have the power.

[Campus Pastor]

All right?

[Lead Pastor]

So he's saying, what power is changing you into the image? It's not gonna be going back to the law. The power you need to stay plugged into is the power of the Holy Spirit. And at the end of this message, I'm gonna give you practical ways.

[Campus Pastor]

How?

[Lead Pastor]

How do we stay plugged into the power of the Holy Spirit as a believer trusting in God to form us into his image? So I'll jump right in. Galatians 3:1, he says, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before your very eyes? Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish after beginning by means of the Spirit, are you no trying to finish by means of the flesh? How have you experienced so much in

[Campus Pastor]

vain if it really was in vain?

[Lead Pastor]

So again I asked, does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law

[Campus Pastor]

or by believing what you heard?

[Lead Pastor]

So he's asking a bunch of rhetorical questions to the church there. And he's like, listen, the Christian life begins in the Spirit and it continues in the Spirit. You don't get in by grace and trusting in the Holy Spirit and then say, you know, it'd be better, it'd be law. Law will get us to the finish line. The Galatians thought like, we don't need the power. We don't need the power of God to get there. You know what we need? We need the rules and we need the lists and we need the checklist. And if we could go back to those things, then we'll know that we're getting to the finish line. And Paul's like, no, you got it all wrong. And he's gonna show em how wrong they were that the law can't get them home. So he goes down a memory lane with them. And he's telling like it's Christ. It's the Spirit of God that got you in. It's the spirit of God that's gonna get you home. He's gonna complete in you by his Spirit to get you into the finished product that you need to be. Same thing that he says in Philippians 1:6, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the Day of Christ Jesus. And he was saying, hey, the God who starts it is the God who completes it and he's gonna do it in you. And so we begin with him, we grow through him. We're brought to completion by him and he will get us to the end. We're gonna start in the Spirit, and the Spirit is gonna sustain us on the good days, the bad days, the days we feel like quitting, the days that we don't know what to do. And the Spirit is gonna get us all the way through to the end. All right, how many know beginning is easy and finishing is a lot harder? How Many know on January 1st? All the gyms are packed, right? They're just packed. How Many know on July 25?

[Campus Pastor]

Not so packed, right? Becca and I were working out this Saturday morning and we kept. We just didn't have any motivation. I was jet lagged and she was like wearing the jet leg with me or something. Like, she was, like, sympathetic with me. And we were just like, oh, all right, all right, one more set. And we kept saying, a bad workout is better than no workout. A bad workout is better. That was like our motivating, like, we gotta get through this. All right, Starting is easy in January. It's in my journal, like, what I want away. But finishing is harder. All right, we do the same thing with God.

[Lead Pastor]

We say, God, we trust you. That moment of salvation, we trust you. I give you my life. I trust you with my eternity. And then all of a sudden we start saying, you know what?

[Campus Pastor]

I'm gonna replace my dependence on you with determination. I'm gonna be determined. Instead of saying, God, I need you to form me. Like, if you started in me, you can get me there.

[Lead Pastor]

You say, I'll do it. So self motivation, we replace faith with effort. And we say, all right, I had faith in you.

[Campus Pastor]

And now we say, well, I have a bunch of effort.

[Lead Pastor]

And that's why Paul's question confronts us today.

[Campus Pastor]

He say, what are you trusting in to get you to the finish line?

[Lead Pastor]

Who's gonna complete what God started in you? He said, it's not law. It's not your efforts.

[Campus Pastor]

It's gonna be the spirit of God working in you. Okay, now some of you are like,

[Lead Pastor]

yeah, that's why I'm just taking it easy.

[Campus Pastor]

No, no, that's not the right answer. All right, we're gonna work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

[Lead Pastor]

But it's the power of the Spirit

[Campus Pastor]

that is changing us into his image now. That's because, like, our life doesn't start out in grace and then go to grit. All right, it starts out in grace, and the Spirit of God keeps forming us into his image. And we work in cooperation with. With the Spirit to be formed into his image. And again, they were struggling with circumcision and the law. That's not what we struggle with, but we still understand. We start saying things like, all right, Bible study, prayer, fasting, church attendance, giving, serving, kingdom builders.

[Lead Pastor]

And we start turning these things into,

[Campus Pastor]

like, that's how I'm gonna get to the finish line.

[Lead Pastor]

And God's like, my, no, Those are all things you do to be close to me. Those spiritual disciplines are incredible. That's what you're gonna do to be close to me. And it's a way for you to have a living relationship with me. But it's not like, at the end of it, you're like, that's how I got in, because I did all these things. No, I got in by grace. And the Spirit kept me moving forward, and I did those things. Those spiritual disciplines were amazing, but I did them because I wanted to be close to God, not because I was trying to win his approval or favor. It's not grit. All right, so he continues. He said, he jumps to Abraham, and he says, so also, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announce the gospel

[Campus Pastor]

in advance to Abraham.

[Lead Pastor]

All nations will be blessed through you, so that those who rely on faith

[Campus Pastor]

are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

[Lead Pastor]

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as is written. Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law. Clearly, no one who relies on the law is justified before God because the righteous will live by faith. The law is not based on faith. On the contrary, it says the person who does these things will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who's hung on a pole. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might. Might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Now, let me just say this.

[Campus Pastor]

Many of you, when you read, like, through the Bible and you do your devotions, you get to Galatians 3, you're kind of like, there's a lot there that I don't understand. I'M going to go to the next chapter. You know, you're like, there's a lot

[Lead Pastor]

of Abraham and this and that.

[Campus Pastor]

And, okay, you're trying to figure out.

[Lead Pastor]

All right, I want you to understand what Paul was doing here. These people thought, like, the law was the answer. And he goes back before the law,

[Campus Pastor]

and he goes to Abraham, and he

[Lead Pastor]

goes to relationship, and he goes to Genesis 15 is really what he's referencing, not Genesis 17, where Abraham was circumcised and every male in their house was circumcised. He goes to Genesis 15, which is where Abraham is living by faith. And he says, this is where it's at. This is the thing. You gotta understand. It was never the law. It was never gonna be about the law. It was always faith. And the relationship that God loves is a relationship that is built on faith in him, that trusts him. In the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, you say, God, I trust you with my salvation, but I don't trust you with my finances. I'll take care of it on my own. God, I'll trust you with my salvation, but I'll take care of all my worries. Matter of fact, I'm gonna worry day and night about my worries. Cause that's what I do. And I'm gonna take it and I'm gonna take control. And God's like, no, trust me. Trust me in your worry. Trust me in your fear. Trust me in your diagnosis. Like, have a life of faith with me. And so Paul's saying it goes back to this life in faith, that Abraham, Genesis 15:6. Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. And Paul's saying, guys, it's not about the law. It's about faith. That's the type of walk that God wants to have. And one thing I keep thinking about our walk with Christ is how little we have faith, really, that we step out in faith. We're like, I'm doing this. I'm stepping out of faith.

[Campus Pastor]

And you're like, well, we don't do that very much.

[Lead Pastor]

Or, I'm gonna give this in faith. I'm gonna trust God in faith. We don't do that. And the defining character of God's people has never. He never wanted it to be law. He wanted it to be faith that we trust him, that we take him at his word, that we believe that what he says is true. That even if our reality around us is not aligning with what he's saying over us, we'd rather align with him

[Campus Pastor]

than what's going on around us.

[Lead Pastor]

He's like, that's the type of life that pleases me, that honors me. That is a life of faith. And so Paul's Tom, like the law, law could reveal this stuff to you, but it could never produce. The law could reveal things. And so he continues, he says, for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as is written. Cursed is. Everyone is not committed to everything written in the book of the law. Clearly, no one who relies on the law is justified before God because the righteous will live by faith.

[Campus Pastor]

All right?

[Lead Pastor]

The law is not based on faith. On the contrary, it says the person who does these things will live by them.

[Campus Pastor]

All right?

[Lead Pastor]

And so he's saying the law was good. The law was good. It exposed how bad we were. It exposed our need for a savior. Like some of you think, like, he's really mad at the law. He wasn't mad at the law, but he was like, guys, the law was only there for a little season. The law was only there to show us how bad we were. The law could show us everywhere. We came short because no one can live up to it. But the law could never produce in us what it needed, what God needed for it to produce in us. He said it could point out the problem, it could reveal the problem, but it could never solve the problem. All right, I'll give you two examples. In modern day things, you got smoke detectors in your house, right? Smoke detectors, you know, they there for you, and if they go off, they're letting you know that there's something in the house. Like there's smoke. And so if you're sleepy in the

[Campus Pastor]

middle of the night, we had some dysfunctional smoke detectors. We did some remodeling and didn't cover up the smoke detectors and the paint. Like one in the morning, beep, beep. You know, so I go reset that thing. You know, I had to go to the garage and get a ladder. I'm up there pushing the button. Beck and I back sleep. Beep, beep. It just go. So I just took it off the ceiling. I unplugged it, and then the next one went. And then about three in the morning, Beck and I said, we're going to stay at a hotel in Egan. And so we just got out of the house.

[Lead Pastor]

There was no fire, but it was letting us know that we did not

[Campus Pastor]

do the remodeling correctly.

[Lead Pastor]

All right, but if your smoke detector

[Campus Pastor]

goes off in the middle of the night and there is smoke, okay?

[Lead Pastor]

I mean, if there is Smoke. It's telling you there's a problem, but it doesn't put the fire out. You gotta go get a fire extinguisher or call the fire department. But it did its job. It said, trouble, trouble, trouble. And then you responded and something else stopped the trouble.

[Campus Pastor]

X ray.

[Lead Pastor]

X ray would be the same thing. When you go to the doctor, you're like, hey, I got something. I think there's something wrong here. They do an X ray scan, an mri, something, and. And then they come back with a report. Oh, yeah, we can see it right here. Right there.

[Campus Pastor]

And you don't go, thank you. That's all I needed to know. I just needed to know there was a problem.

[Lead Pastor]

You're like, what are we gonna do about that? We got the X ray right here. The X ray shows you the problem, but the doctor solves the problem, okay? And they're like, we're gonna do surgery. We're gonna do something. And so Paul's trying to tell him, like, do you understand? That's what the law did. The law was like a smoke detector saying, you're falling short. You're not living up God's way holier than you think he is. The X ray said, your heart is corrupt. There's sin. And it showed us all that, but it didn't solve the problem. And so Paul's like, I like the X ray. I like the smoke alarm. I like that. The law did that and it showed us to us, but it didn't solve the problem. And he's like, what solves the problem?

[Campus Pastor]

And he's like, jesus did.

[Lead Pastor]

Jesus solved the problem, okay? So he paid the price. And he's like, now the law served its purpose. It got us to this moment now where we understand Jesus paid the price. He fulfilled the law, and now we get his righteousness imputed to us. Like, this is incredible. We solve the problem. And then he says in verse 14, key verse, Christ, he redeemed us. Christ redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles. That's us, through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. That's really big. That one verse is really big. He's like, abraham had faith, and then Jesus, the law, came in and showed us how bad we were. And then Christ paid the price for our sins. And now we've got the promise of the Holy Spirit in us. Guys, if you're a Christian, you have the power of the living God living inside of you. You have the Holy Spirit in you. Like that, that's. It's like, drop the mic right there. I mean, this is the thing. The Holy Spirit was never an afterthought, by the way. The Holy Spirit was never an afterthought. The Holy Spirit was always part of God's promise. Joel prophesied about the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel promised. He said, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. He said, I'm gonna put my spirit in you. And so he's saying, we need to thank God that the Holy Spirit is in us. And now as we try to get to the finish line, the Spirit is in us. The Holy Spirit is in us. And that's what helps us get to the finish line. The power of the Holy Spirit. And Paul's just saying the law was like a guardian. That's all it was. It was just a guardian. And he used that term there. And a guardian was somebody that watched over a child and protected them and helped them make decision wise decisions. And they steward this responsibility until the child came to the adult age. And then the guardian said, I'm done,

[Campus Pastor]

I'm done, I'm out.

[Lead Pastor]

And Paul said the law was the guardian. It got us to Jesus. And now that Jesus is here, let's not worry about the law, okay?

[Campus Pastor]

Now

[Lead Pastor]

none of this is wrong again,

[Campus Pastor]

like the things that I was saying that we do. But we start looking at different disciplines as like almost like they did the law.

[Lead Pastor]

And so I want to talk about how do we walk in with the Spirit? All right, so we've got the Spirit,

[Campus Pastor]

Holy Spirit's in us. We're supposed to live by faith. We're not supposed to be bound by law, but we're gonna be formed into his image.

[Lead Pastor]

So how do we cooperate with the

[Campus Pastor]

Holy Spirit to get to the finish line?

[Lead Pastor]

All right, what's real practical?

[Campus Pastor]

I wanna give you some practical things.

[Lead Pastor]

First thing is daily yielding. Daily yielding. That's how we cooperate, that the Holy Spirit gets us. We gave our life when we said,

[Campus Pastor]

lord Jesus, I give you my life.

[Lead Pastor]

I surrender my life. I turn from my sin and I turn to you. I trust in you, Lord. And then each day now we say, I give you my life. I daily yield to you, Holy Spirit. Today I yield to you. My day, I yield to you my plans. I yield to you my will. And you daily yielding helps you to be in true cooperation with the Holy Spirit in you to get you to the finish line. And I gotta say that I'm convicted

[Campus Pastor]

by that because I feel like many days I have my agenda, my agenda. And I'm like, lord, I hope you like it. Cause I planned it yesterday. Needs to be daily yielding. All right, here's another way that we

[Lead Pastor]

cooperate with the Spirit to get to the finish line. We are beholding Christ.

[Campus Pastor]

And that means to have an active, attentive gaze at Jesus. That means to have active relational engagement with Jesus. Active engagement. Like it's relational and it's not just like I leave Jesus at church on Saturday or Sunday, but I'm in an active relationship and I behold Christ and I think about how good he is and how amazing he is. And again, I don't think we do that enough. I'll never forget when I did my internship in Calcutta, India, and I was with Mark Buntain, probably one of the greatest missionaries that I've ever known in my life. And we were at dinner and we

[Lead Pastor]

were talking about all the other things

[Campus Pastor]

in the world that were going on maybe 10 minutes, maybe 10 minutes. And all of a sudden Mark goes, hey, guys. He goes, jesus has been too good to us to not talk about him for over 10 minutes. He said, let's all talk about how good Jesus is. And again, at that moment, I was just like, I'm not even sure I'm saved. I just. He just wanted to behold Christ and he wanted, you know, that's how we work with the Spirit when we're in this relationship. And if I could just share for us. If you go to your soap, Scripture observation application prayer. If you're unfamiliar, go to our website, two chapters a day, or we're in psalms, like, now you're gonna get a few more. If you go to that. And you're like, okay, God, I'm gonna speed read this out of here, write down my thoughts, pray a quick prayer, and outta here. Okay? That's not beholding Christ, but when you go there, you're like, Jesus, what do you wanna show me today, God? How do you want to reveal yourself today? I'm reading Psalms. I don't even understand some of them sometimes, but, you know, I. How am I gonna. How am I gonna behold you and have active, attentive gaze towards you and be more in love with you at the end of this, that. That helps you to walk in step with the Spirit and to be formed in his image? All right, here's another one which is walk in step with the Spirit. That's a moment by moment sensitivity. The Holy Spirit is in you. And you will feel moments of conviction. You'll feel Grief, you will feel just moments like a direction. You might even feel like, speak up. Now's your time to speak. And you are formed into Christ's image. And you get to the finish line. Working with the Holy Spirit by walking in step with the Spirit every day and having that moment by moment sensitivity. Another thing is abiding in Christ. What does that mean? Talking to him, not just about him. Okay. Some guys are like, yeah, me and the big guy, we got this understanding. I'm like, I don't think you really talk to him because you probably wouldn't call him the big guy. I'm just saying. But it's active. Some of us with our faith, we act like we're museum directors. Well, Jesus did these amazing things back then. And Jesus was incredible. And Jesus ascended, and Jesus.

[Lead Pastor]

And he feels like he's out there,

[Campus Pastor]

like in the past, versus, oh, I was praying today. And the Lord convicted me on this. And man, I just, I had to apologize about this. Cause this morning in prayer, he just spoke like, like that's abiding in Christ where you're talking to him, not just about him. Okay, here's another thing that helps us to get to the finish line by moving with the Spirit that Paul said. You have the spirit of God. He's in you. Okay? Worshiping and praising invites the Holy Spirit in a deeper way into your life. There's just a manifest presence of God that happens as we're worshiping, as we're praising. Some of you could feel it in the room at this service. Like, you just feel in this, like something was happening and the Holy Spirit is being invited into our life to do more of the surgery that he needs to do. Remove things, add things, convict us of things. But that worshiping gives us a greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to help us to abide, to walk in step to do these other things. All right, here's another one. Being in the body of Christ, when you're part of the church, and you really are in the church, not just a part of the church, you're in a small group, you're serving, you're doing these other things. Because here's what happens. The body helps to correct you in things that are blind spots. And you're in the body. And so you're trying to say, I started in the Spirit, Spirit's helping me. Now I want to get to the finish line. I. And one of the things that the Holy Spirit wants you to do is to be in the body of Christ, to be an active part of your Church and be in community where people have the ability to speak to those blind spots and to say things. And all of a sudden you're like, I never thought of it that way. I didn't know that. I was just talking to. Actually I was praying for a couple in Indonesia. I preached at an incredible church in Indonesia. It was. They rent the largest nightclub in Bali. And it's like full on nightclub. And they rent it. It reminded me when we started City Campus at the poor house and it was just incredible. And at the end, I was praying with this couple. I preached the message speed of unity. They said, we're in agreement with everything except for one area of our life. They said, would you just pray over us? And I prayed over them. And I just said, hey, you know, maybe God would use a mentoring couple in this body to speak to you. You've been asking God for almost a year in this area. Maybe he wants you to go to a couple that's down the road ahead of you, a mentoring couple. Maybe he placed you in this church so you could talk to someone and they could help point out this blind spot or else at least help and guide you. And they're like, that would be a great idea. That's what that. God helps us to walk in step with the Spirit through the body of Christ. Two more things. Repentance helps us to stay in line with what the Holy Spirit's doing because the Holy Spirit convicts us. That's what the Bible says. The Holy Spirit convicts us. And when he does that, we repent. And when we repent, we're back in step and we're more sensitive to what the Holy Spirit's going to do. And so we repent. We say, God, I felt that. I am sorry for that. And I don't know that there's enough repentance of the things that we're doing. But if we repent more, I believe we'll be walking in step with the Holy Spirit. The last one is this serving. And you say, serving, Serving. That's gonna help me, like, walk in step with the Spirit and get to the finish line. It will. And here's why. Serving is not just what you do in the church. Some of you think, like, well, we do this. We do this. No, that's part of it. But part of serving is this. You get stretched beyond your capacity, and then you need the power of the Holy Spirit. And then the Holy Spirit says, oh, here's how I'm going to stretch you. Here's how you're going to be Dependent upon Christ. I'll tell you what, you want to be dependent upon Christ. Lead your first small group. And you're like, I don't know what to say. You want to be dependent on Christ? Step out and do something outside your comfort zone of serving. And you need the Holy Spirit to show up. You just know you can't do it in your own strength. And that's how Christ forms us into his image, by stretching us. So some of you are missing that part of getting to the finish line of what the Holy Spirit will do, because you haven't found a place to serve. If I was you, I would rush to find the place to serve. And then I wouldn't just stop there. I would keep stretching and saying, God, keep stretching me. Keep helping me to be formed in your image. These are some practical ways. Now, Galatians 3 closes with four declarations in verse 26, 27, 28, 29. I want to hit these super quick. He says, you are sons of God, you are clothed with Christ. You are one in Christ, you're heirs according to the promise. You are sons of God, you are clothed with Christ. You are one in Christ, and you are heirs according to the promise.

[Lead Pastor]

Paul does this.

[Campus Pastor]

He actually goes back to Genesis chapter three, to the fall of man. We don't know that until we study it. And he literally is saying, when. When sin entered the world, you lost God as your father. We were separated, and now in Christ, your sons and daughters. He said, in Genesis, we sinned and we covered ourselves. And now guess what? You are clothed in Christ.

[Lead Pastor]

It's been taken care of.

[Campus Pastor]

He said in Genesis, we turned against each other.

[Lead Pastor]

After sin, people betrayed brother against brother. We turned. And he says, now what? In Christ, we're one.

[Campus Pastor]

We're unified.

[Lead Pastor]

He's like, connecting the dots. He's closing the math problems and showing us. And then he says, in Genesis, we lost our inheritance. We were kicked out. And he says, and now in Christ, we're heirs to the promise. He's like, do you understand what Christ did? He fixed everything, going back to when everything was broken and the law just showed us how broken we were. And now that Christ is here, live differently. Live differently. And the way he ends Galatians 3, we should be head held high, like, I'm a child of the King. I'm covered in Christ. I'm unified with people all around. I'm in the body. And you know what? I have an inheritance. Heaven is mine, and my life is gonna be lived differently. I get Christ. Beautiful, beautiful thing. And he Says like now, as you're trying to live and get to the finish line, don't do it by law, do it by the power of the Holy Spirit, who now gives you a new identity and not only gives you this new identity, he gives you the power to get to the finish line. The power of the Holy Spirit will get us to the finish line. Let's work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. And as we go from here today at all of our campuses, let's, like, live like sons and daughters in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's live in step, in cooperation, being formed in the image, realizing we got saved by grace, we trusted you in faith, and now we're gonna live in faith. Thank you for the grace that helps us grow, and thank you for the Holy Spirit that's forming us into your image and getting us to the finish line. So, Lord, I just pray right now that as we look at those things, we are sons and daughters, we have been clothed with Christ, we are one in Christ, and we are heirs according to the promise. I pray that we'd live differently now. Help us to live differently after seeing Galatians 3 like this.

[Campus Pastor]

Thank you, God.

[Lead Pastor]

Thank you for the law that pointed out how broken we were. But God now, thank you for grace. Thank you for grace. Thank you for the Spirit in us. And I pray that that would be a revelation for our congregation. The Holy Spirit lives within us. Wow, what a joy. What a joy to have that strength,

[Campus Pastor]

Lord Jesus, in us, to be formed in your image to get to the finish line. And may we live differently because of that. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and amen.