Title: Only by the Holy Spirit
The content is always Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday. The disciples who received the promise of the Holy Spirit received the Holy Spirit. Thus, the early church began with the Holy Spirit. The Galatia church also began with the Holy Spirit. But they did it in the flesh. “Are you so foolish? have you begun with the Spirit and now finish with the flesh?” (verse 3). Here, there is a clear distinction between the method of doing it by the power of the Spirit and the method of doing it by the power of one's own flesh. How are you, who have received the Holy Spirit, doing God's work? We must begin with the Spirit and end with the Spirit.
1. Let's begin with the Holy Spirit (verses 1-4).
But most of us do it physically. Because we do it in the flesh, we are in trouble. Moses, too, experienced failure when he started doing God's work in the flesh at the age of 40. But later, when I did it by the Holy Spirit, I had amazing success. Let's start with the Holy Spirit.
2. Let us end with the Holy Spirit (v. 5).
We must not begin with the Spirit and end with the flesh. The Galatian church, which started with the Holy Spirit, did it with the flesh. Rather, like Moses, we started with the flesh, but we must do it with the Spirit. Like Peter, we failed physically, but we must succeed in the Spirit.
We fail because we do not do it by the Spirit, but by the power of our own flesh, like the Galatian church. When God uses it once, he thinks that he used it because it has good things for us, and he begins to look for the reason in the flesh. “It is not by force, not by power, says the LORD of hosts, but by my spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). God allows us to fail until we surrender that our body cannot do it. However, if you rely on the Holy Spirit through faith, God will work.
The Lord continues to give us the Holy Spirit (v. 5). I hope you will receive the Holy Spirit that comes through faith. I hope you will receive it and live by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope you always look at what God did on the cross of Jesus. I hope you will observe God working in you by the Holy Spirit. I hope that you look forward to God's great and great work through you in faith. Start with the Spirit and live by the Spirit.