Study

How To Be Spiritual

Ben Stuart
6 Days
Introduction
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

How to be Sure You're Following the Spirit of God

Day 4

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Day four, and we're taught that when we put our faith in Jesus, God sends us a new resident in us, Jesus.

How do we know He is leading you?

1. He is consistent with scripture.

2. He is contrary to the flesh. He begins to uproot ways of thinking and living that no longer fit in the child of God’s life. He then plants new ways of living and thinking into your life.

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

James 1:21

Today, Ben Stuart shows us two other ways we can know we are being directed by the Spirit.

He is community-centered.

He is also Christ-exalting.

This week, we challenge you to ask the Lord for specific life changes you can make to follow the spirit and deepen your unity with the saints.

Summary

We learned last session that you could know the Spirit of God is in you because He begins to uproot ways of thinking and living that don't fit in a child of God's life anymore. And He plants new ways of thinking and living in your life, He doesn't just leave a void.

The Spirit pulls up what we do that's contrary to Him and plants what is consistent with the Word. He gives us a desire to know Him through the Scripture.

Here are more ways to know the Spirit of God is in you.

The Spirit is community-centered. Therefore, so are we. Ephesians 2:18 talks about how we are in one Spirit before the Father. We've been knit together for His glory. He loves the community of the saints.

When people often say they are spiritual but not religious, they are trying to say that they want a dimension of spirituality in their life. They don't want to be tied down to the obligation of serving a community. It's the outworking of rampant individualism into a spiritual world.

In Ephesians, Paul goes on to say that when someone has the Spirit of God in them, they are diligent to preserve the unity of peace. It takes patience and tolerance to love a real human being in front of you. Paul says to the Corinthians that God poured out different gifts on each of us for the common good. Again, He loves the community.

You are Christ exalting. Beware of a spirituality that focuses so much on the Spirit. The Holy Spirit likes to put a spotlight on Jesus and bring all He's done into focus. How do you know the Spirit is directing you? You want to make much of Jesus.

What's next?

What does it look like for you to diligently preserve the unity of the Spirit? To be woven into a community where you can exalt the Son of God together?

  1. Ask the Lord what specific life-changing decisions you can make to follow the Spirit deeper into a community of the Saints.

Scripture References

14May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,
16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
7Then the
Lord
God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
5Jesus answered,
“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
6
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit
gives birth to spirit.
7
You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You
must be born again.’
8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
22And with that he breathed on them and said,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
4But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
6Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “
Abba,
Father.”
7So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4Jesus answered,
“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’
”
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
7If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8Jesus answered,
“It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’
”
9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.
10For it is written:

“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you

to guard you carefully;

11they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

12Jesus answered,
“It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’
”
13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4Jesus answered,
“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

7Jesus answered him,
“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’
”
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10Jesus said to him,
“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’
”
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
12At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness,
13and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
14
He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
13for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Ben Stuart
Ben Stuart
Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.