Pastor Brodie Kalamen | The Discipline of Being Spirit-Led | June 29th, 2025

Which uh leads us to our topic today.

It's the last Sunday in June before we hit July.

How many of you are looking forward to July?

Yeah?

I know some people are already out the door.

They're on the they're they've always already started traveling.

I know some people families have already come into Kelowna.

We uh live in a beautiful place, one of the most beautiful places in the whole world, in my view.

How many of you would agree?

Yeah, that's right.

And you and I get to be here, and that's what what an exciting place to be.

Um, today we're going to talk about the importance of being spirit-led.

Spirit-led.

Being spirit-led isn't about uh being weird.

It is I want to get that out of the way first and foremost.

As soon as soon as people start thinking about talking about the spirit of God and spiritual things, they think about things that are just kind of like out there and a little fuzzy that are out there.

It's not about what's unknown or the weird, it's about being willing, willing to listen to God, willing to do what God tells us to do, and willing to obey.

The spirit-led life is not chaotic, it's disciplined, it's relational, it's responsive, has everything to do with actually coming into a relationship with God, providing spiritual discipline in your relationship where you come to him regularly and you learn about his heart, and then you learn how to respond to God.

Walking, the Bible says, you begin to live in the spirit, walk in the spirit, live in the spirit until it becomes natural in your lifestyle.

We live in a world that is uh addicted to noise, and there is so much going on in the world that is in competition for your attention.

You've got opinions and social, you've got news and trends, you've got all these uh all these per areas and big tech and big companies that are trying to get your attention.

And even though those things may be trying to lead you, your your life in terms of uh where it wants, where you are to go, um, if you're not intentional, you'll spend your time reacting to the loudest noise and the loudest voice instead of to the right voice.

And so we have to learn how to filter out the noise, to learn how to hear the Spirit of God, and filter out all the other distractions that are in the world.

Now, as we come into summer, how many of you know that there are more distractions?

What do you want to get?

Ice cream.

What kind of ice cream?

I don't know.

Let's look at the 500 different flavors we can have of ice cream.

It's not just like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and how of you how many of you remember tiger?

Tiger like the licorice and orange ice cream.

I don't even know how they made that, but it was genius when they made it.

Um, some every person is led by something, and some are led by impulse, what they're feeling right now, some are led by security, some are led by culture or crisis, some people are led by uh convenience and comfort, but as Christians, we're not to be led by any of those things.

Our life is to be led by the Spirit of God.

We're supposed to be listening to the word of the voice of God and being led by His voice.

The Spirit-led life isn't about a hype or a hustle or an energy, it's about hearing God and obeying.

So it's not as complex as some people would make it to be, but just as it's not complex to be uh married particularly, you can be married, you could go find someone, uh go and have a ceremony, get married, be living together in a home, but that doesn't make it a relationship.

Just because there's a union, just because there's a connection, just because there's proximity doesn't mean there's relationship.

Relationship requires investment.

And so it's more than just a feeling.

We know that there are people who've been led by feelings, and this is where I think the spirit of God has had a bit of a uh run in its reputation.

And some people are like, the Lord was telling me, the spirit of God was telling me this or that, and they were just led by the spirit, and some people then have this sense that, well, the spirit is kind of weird.

It's like, no, let's just be clear.

There are people that are weird, and some people who are weird blame what they do on the spirit of God, and so we need to be clear that the spirit of God isn't weird, the spirit of God leads us, and we need to make sure and ensure that we are being led well.

Being led by the spirit doesn't mean we we look for uh you know look for messages in the clouds, it means we're spiritually grounded.

To be led by the spirit well is to be spiritually grounded.

It means we're relationally connected.

If I'm walking by the spirit, I've got, I understand the word of God, I understand the message of God, I've got people around me who are checking in on me and assessing what they what I think God is speaking to me.

I there's accountability and structure.

And it's about being internally directed by what God is telling me to do and how He's working along with me.

Being led isn't about feeling, it's about formation, it's about forming that voice.

The Bible says that the shepherd, you know that you're not led by the shepherd's feeling.

It doesn't say, you know, my sheep feel me.

It says, my sheep hear my voice, know my voice, and then are led by me.

So it's not about feeling as much as it is about knowing God.

Second Corinthians chapter 13.

2 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

This is one of our caption uh scriptures today.

Verse 14 says this the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And the reality is that in the church we talk a lot about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How many of you know that God's grace has been there for each and every one of us?

Covering our sin, helping us deal with the sin problem that we all had.

It's amazing grace.

We know the grace of God.

A lot of times that in the church we talk about the love of God.

And the love of God is so incredible and so important that we know that we're so loved that Jesus said that the Father would leave the 99 to find you, the one.

And that there's no place you can go where his hand can't reach out and bring you home.

And he's like the proud father who's sitting on the chair waiting for the son's return, that at the moment that there's that return back home, he's going out and ready to embrace.

We know the grace of God, we know the love of God, but are we familiar with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit?

And sometimes this discipline is a little bit more nuanced, and because it's nuanced and it's not as clear as the grace of God and the love of God, and not as general, uh, it becomes something that we just leave to each other to kind of fall figure out and follow up on.

We say, okay, how does this fellowship of the Holy Spirit look?

What does it look like?

How is it practiced in our life?

That's why this idea of waking up and saying, okay, fellowship, connection, uh, conversation with the Holy Spirit needs to be a part of my daily discipline.

Devotions become a part of that.

Connection with God.

Grab your coffee, sit down, and connect with God before anything else happens during your day.

Your child, your thought is, I'm gonna connect with fellow, I'm gonna fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

Now, this might sound foreign to you, it might sound familiar, but if it feels foreign, then realize that it's uh it's an issue that we're dealing with in society, in with in culture today, because uh there's a lot of disguise of being led by the Holy Spirit.

There's a lot of this um, there's a lot of uh interpretation of what this looks like.

And instead of it being and and manipulation of it, for example, a lot of people think, well, if you have really great content, then um then you're following, you're being led by the Spirit of God, but that but there's a lot of content in the world today, but there's not conviction in the content, it's not there.

There's something missing in bit in it.

There's lots of hustle, but there's not the holiness.

There's lots of charisma and excitement, but there isn't the character.

So instead of looking at the content and the charisma and looking at the hustle that people bring to the table, we should be looking for the the presence of God, the holiness of God, the the um the character of God, the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

And that should be what we're looking for, but we instead we we look at what's perhaps most popular, what's most trendy, what's hitting the top of the the channel instead of actually looking at the the the substance.

And this is the conviction of Holy Spirit living is that we look at the the core of what it means to be led by the Spirit of God.

So the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is a partnership, it's a companionship, it's communion with Holy Spirit, it's connection to a Holy Spirit.

It's not a casual walk, it's a daily walk with the Holy Spirit.

And so this becomes uh, and it starts with knowing first who the Holy Spirit is.

So, Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew, his name is Ruach.

Would you say that?

You gotta say it like a Hebrew.

Ruach.

You gotta like roll that that sound.

And the Hebrew word for spirit, it means wind, it means breath, it means uh that life that comes from God, and it's the breath, the Bible says, that covered the earth.

It's the breath in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 that says that when the world was empty and without form, darkness was over the surface of the deep, the spirit of God, the ruach of God, was hovering over the waters.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Now, when you hear wind and you hear the ruach, and you hear it's a wind and uh it's a breath, you might think of it as something like uh uh light and gentle, but in the Hebrew, it's actually the sound of like you would experience if you were by a battleship or by a cruise ship, that when they let off on the horn and you feel that impression on your chest, when they hear you hear that horn sound and you feel that explosion in your sp in your body.

That's the ruach of God.

That's that power punch, that's that sense that that God is in the house.

And when you're fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit, when you're connecting to the Holy Spirit, there are times when you feel the wind of God and and and I'm looking for during worship.

I'm I'm looking for it when I'm waking up, I'm looking for it when I'm in the car, I'm sensing it, I'm saying, Lord, where are you?

And I'm waiting on that that blast, that horn that's just like I feel in my chest that makes it feel like you're alive.

The blast, it's like uh I I'm a hunter, so I know what it sounds like when a gun goes off.

Bam! And you just feel it, you just feel it.

You know something in the atmosphere has changed.

If I was to pull out my rifle in this room, this will be the clip that goes viral, right?

If I was to pull out my rifle in this room and fire off around, you would feel it.

What would happen in this room?

The sound, like I'm not talking about it being aimed at any, I'm saying just the gun going off.

You would feel it, and you would immediately you would you would you would be shook from the inside.

It's not fear, it's about experience.

That's the ruach of God that comes when the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, you see, the world loves the grace of God.

Tell me I'm forgiven.

Amen.

Tell me I'm free, tell me I'm I'm loved.

They love the love of God.

Tell me I'm loved.

And it's like, wow, I'm free.

There's grace and there's love and there's all this beauty of God, but then there's also the punch that comes when you're in his presence.

And that ruach of God is what changes, who shifts you, transforms you into who God has called you and I to be.

From a girl to a woman.

It shifts you from your from childish thinking to uh to adulting.

You know what I'm talking about.

It wakes you up to the reality of God and the world around.

Now in the New Testament, the Spirit of God is called the pneuma of God.

It's where we get the word pneumonia from.

The breath of God.

And it's uh a wind, it's a breath, but it conveys like this invisible line.

It's a it's like an undeniable presence of God.

It's like the wind in a sail.

You can't see the wind, but you know it's having an effect.

Jesus, when he tried to express this, he said, You try and get me to define this is probably one of the more challenging messages to preach because talking about Holy Spirit is not about a text.

It's not about um, it's not about something that's cerebral, it's spiritual.

So we have to understand it, but we also have to experience it for us to fully understand it.

And so Jesus, even when he was explaining it, he said, you can see the the wind, uh, or or you can't see the wind, but you can see the effects of the wind, and you can see the trees and the and you can see the leaves moving, and you know it's there, and it's having an effect, but it's an invisible force, but it's in movement, and all you're to do is just like the sail.

Learn how to set your sail to be able to capture the wind of the spirit, and when you learn the art of being like filled, being filled with the spirit, the scripture says it's like it's like a your belly, it's like rivers come rushing up out of your belly, it become rivers of living water, and it's like you just get into the flow.

And I know flow is a very trendy word right now.

I've got to find my flow, gotta find, you get in that flow state.

Before that, there was the pneuma of God.

The pneuma was the OG flow, it was the original flow, and it was the first flow that out of your belly will flow rivers of living water.

And you don't, you just walk and you just begin to pour out and refresh and bless and and uplift and resource and counsel, and there's wisdom, and there's peace, and there's the gifts of the spirit, there's joy.

You walk into a room, it's like joy comes with you.

You walk into a room, and the fruit of the spirit is there.

So there's the power of the spirit, the ruach of God that shifts an atmosphere.

How many of you need an atmosphere shifted?

You walk into a room, there's sickness, you shift it.

You need the spirit of God.

You walk into a business and it's struggling, it's there's can there's tension or a relationship or a battle that's going on.

You need the ruach of God, you need the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

He comes in like a hammer and sets everything in, it shakes it up.

And then you also need the pneuma of God that comes in and just brings refreshing and life into a space.

The Spirit of God is part of the Trinity.

God the Father, he loves you, God the Son, He saves you, and God the Spirit, He lives in you.

It's something that we cannot neglect or cannot reject.

We cannot afford to live as a church experience on the love of God and the grace of God and reject the Spirit of God.

We know that we're loved, we know that we're saved.

Now what?

We have the Spirit of God in us that actually lives in us and now has an effect through us to others who need it.

John 14, 26 says, the helper, the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.

The Holy Spirit is there living in you.

And he's like chat GPT, he's like your counselor, your spirit, your GPS, your your guide.

He's like, what do you need to know?

I've indexed it all for you.

All things natural, all things spiritual.

What do you need to know?

I I'm I am the Spirit of God.

I am that that spirit that understands the deep things of God.

And I'm with you.

Isn't that exciting?

The Spirit of God, the fellowship of the Spirit is a beautiful discipline.

We do this, we come here to tap into the Spirit of God to get to, and I hope you come filled already, and you come to join with others as we see what God is doing, and we see what God uh can do.

What the Holy Spirit does in you, the Holy Spirit reveals God's heart to you.

He reveals God's heart to you.

In John 14, it says, I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper.

He's the Spirit of truth.

He reveals God's heart.

He brings clarity when things are confusing.

He comforts.

In every situation, he becomes that comforter.

We can go to him directly and immediately and say, Holy Spirit, I need your comfort.

I need your help.

I feel alone.

I need some you with me.

The Holy Spirit is there.

He's our convictor.

When he comes, he convicts the world concerning sin.

He's there, he's convicting.

And not to like shame or condemn.

He's there to lift up, to convict you, to actually steer you in the right direction.

How many of you need like the shepherd's rod at times tapping you?

You're going off track.

It's like I saw the other day a girl walking with looking at her phone and she was walking right into a pole, like right to a pole, and I just kind of like bump bump.

Like, hey, I what are you doing?

I just saved you from like walking into a pole.

You know what?

People are walking with the like their heads down and they're just not paying attention.

And it's just like that conviction is there to be a support and just to be a guide, to help, to keep you out of trouble.

The Holy Spirit forms Christian or Christ-like character in you.

Galatians 5, 22, 23 tells all about the fruits of the Spirit that come, they're the fruits of the Spirit of God.

You don't grow fruit by by just trying harder.

You grow fruit by being directly connected to the source.

To the source.

When I look at this video of uh the church in Pinatepa, I know those pastors.

They they've been with us for over 30 years, serving, blessing that community, growing in that community.

And that community has been has been uh had its challenges.

That community has had it, they've been under persecution in that community, and they've continued to stay there.

They continue to put down roots in that space and in that place because they believe that God has called them there, and the Holy Spirit has supported them and given them the ability to be a light in that place.

God brings you into those places.

You can you can fake a lot of things, but you can't fake fruit.

And I always look for fruit, and I want to warn the church, there's a lot going on in the world today.

There's a lot of stuff that you can get access to.

And you have to ensure that the the place that you know the people that you're laboring with, know the people that you're listening to, because there's a lot of good vibes out there that make you feel good.

But the reality is they don't carry the fruit.

They've got great charisma, but they don't have that character, they got great hype, and they've got great hustle, but they don't have the presence of God, the holiness of God in their life.

Always gauge something by its fruit.

Just ask, just be like, I just want to see the fruit.

The fruit matters.

Fruit matters, fruit matters, and just say, I want to see the fruit.

I want to know the fruit.

I want to know the past fruit, I want to know the present fruit, I want to see how it's looking for the future.

And check, check it, because you don't want to connect yourself to uh something that's not bearing fruit.

Transformation.

It's it's it's about transformation and not just modification.

That the Holy Spirit comes and he makes old things new.

It's about the transforming effect that God has on you.

Um the Holy Spirit empowers you for purpose.

Acts 1.8 says you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

And this word power, it's dunamis, it's like dynamite.

It's power that gets um explosive, it's mountain moving in its effect.

Uh, and I feel like there are times where we don't step into that space because how many of you know you got to be cautious around dynamite?

And sometimes it's too easy just to like treat it lightly, but dynamite can be incredibly effective when used properly, and we have to ensure that we're actually being led by the Spirit of God and using the power to make a difference in the areas that need to be made a difference.

And if there's a mountain in the way, we have to go to the Holy Spirit and say, Holy Spirit, we need you to do some work here.

Not by my might, not by my strength, not by my power, but by your spirit, Lord.

You can make a way when there doesn't seem to be a way, you can make a highway out of this mess.

You can do it.

It gives you the power to witness, to be that example to the world.

It gives you the power to endure.

And it's not just about highs, it's about being there, God being there with you in the middle, in the lows.

The Holy Spirit equips you with supernatural gifts, gifts for all people, gifts that are tools for each and every one of us.

Today, uh in our next steps class, we're doing a uh gifts assessment, just being able to help you identify naturally what those spiritual gifts are that God has given you.

And it's really interesting when people read it, that it's like it confirms in them, man, there's this gift that I've got.

I've always felt it, but I didn't know where it came from.

And I just want to tell you, each of you are gifted, and each of you have been equipped with this gift that's a tool to make the world a better place.

That God can use you, and and some of those gifts are simple, they're like craftsmanship, the ability to work with your hands.

How many of you know that that that's a good gift?

I love the fact that someone like knows how to build a strong foundation, they're crafted that way.

Craftsmen built this building, craftsmen put these put these walls up.

And and God's given gifts of craftsmanship, He's given gifts of people who are just gifts, gifted to give.

In order to give, you know what you have to be gifted?

You have to be gifted to be able to make money enough to be able to give that money.

God gives gifts of encouragement, of teaching.

God gives gifts of prophecy, people who can come and testify on the name of Jesus who God, who Jesus is, encouraging the church, building up the church, building up one another, lifting up each other.

There's there's a a list of gifts that God has given to us, and we need to recognize that gift and be able to exercise that gift and celebrate one another as they exercise that gift.

I love it when I see people working and living in their gift because sometimes your gift, like your gift is not my gift.

I I rated and I feel bad saying this, but my gifts, the lowest gift of mine and my assessment was mercy.

I'm a high justice person, like very high justice.

But when it comes to mercy, so you know where God had me working here at the church for about eight years?

Our house of mercy.

And I served at our houses of mercy, and I learned about the value of mercy.

I learned how to care for those who needed care.

I needed I learned how to love those that other people passed over.

And I learned mercy, but I knew it was a weak spot because my justice, I learned the the justice part of me was so strong that I was like, I need to, God knew I needed to learn that.

He had me in that place for that season.

There are areas in our life that we don't even know that God is wanting to work us, work through us to make us stronger, make us better.

So, what what do we do?

We actually uh follow God, Romans 8 14.

We are led by the Spirit of God because we're the children of God, and that implies that we're not in control.

If we're being led, it means someone else is leading.

And so we we don't become the guide, we become the follower.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God of God are the children of God, and we don't push out, uh, like we don't uh live our lives out loud, uh louder or or work harder, we allow the Holy Spirit to do his work in us.

Um, often when we think about the Spirit of God, it we think it's some kind of a chaotic space.

It's kind of what it's been been imaged as.

But the scripture says that when the Lord spoke to Elijah, it wasn't in the storm, it wasn't in a fire.

God spoke to Elijah in a whisper.

And when we learn to listen to the whisper, then we won't look for the noise.

We'll look for the we'll listen for the voice of God.

My wife, I can hear my wife or my kids in a busy room because I've learned to know her voice.

I'd be like, where's your wife?

I'm like, she's over there.

I've been listening to her the whole time.

I can hear her.

And you know it because you've got her voice.

You know who has an amazing way?

My daughter.

She can hear us in our house no matter where we are, through how many closed doors or walls.

It's just like she's learned our voice.

You learn the voice, and it doesn't matter what the distraction or what the noise is, you learn how to hear God's voice.

So, what does this look like?

It looks like getting up today, getting up tomorrow, getting up the next day, and saying, Holy Spirit, I'm ready.

Holy Spirit, I'm listening.

Holy Spirit, help me to learn how to how to connect with you and develop fellowship and a relationship with you.

And it's not about uh a band, it's not about a conference, it's not about busyness, it's not about uh something being wild, it's about being disciplined, and it's about learning about the fellowship of who God is and or fellowshipping with who God is for not just for your sake, but for his as well, for his sake as well, and for others as well.

Amen.

Amen.

Father, today we just thank you for your spirit.

Would you just stand with me?

Father, we just ask that you would still our mind this week.

You would still our mind.

We would learn, Lord, how to uh remove the distractions, remove the noise, and that we would begin to learn how to focus on your voice, learn how to listen, learn how to put everything aside so that we can hear from you.

Father, I pray today for each and every one in this room that they would uh have a fresh connection with you this season, that this summer would be a summer of spiritual connection, not just feelings, but they would come to know you for who you are.

They would come to know your voice.

They would come to know your thoughts towards them.

They would come to know their purpose and their gifting, that they would come to know the tools that you've equipped each and every one of them with.

Above and beyond the grace, the amazing grace, above and beyond the eternal love for us, we may learn and we may embrace the spirit-led life, and hear your voice clear and simple, that the ruach, the power, the blast, the shot of God would be in our spirit, but also the pneuma, the breath and the wind and the gentleness, the river that flows out of us, affecting everyone in our path, would be in our life today.

Lord, that we would embrace you.

If you're here today and you just want to receive that today, uh, and you want to receive that in a new measure, would you just raise your hand?

Would you just raise your hand?

We're not we're just gonna pray collectively today.

We're just gonna welcome Holy Spirit to come and fill us afresh, fill us new.

Paul prayed for Timothy.

He said he to breathe, he breathed on the he stirred up the gifts that were in him.

He blew on that ember that was in his soul, in his spirit, and he stirred it up towards a spiritual revival, a renewal, something life-giving inside of him.

Father, today we just speak life, we speak new hope, we speak new new abundance in terms of our life, Lord, that your spirit would bring deeper freedom, that we would be more free because of you, more free this year because you are alive in us, that we would know your freedom.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, there is liberty, there is there are chains that fall off, and there's life that can be experienced.

Today, Father, we thank you for that freedom that comes because of you.

Lord, that our lives would move beyond talk.

But you said the kingdom of God is not just talk, it's power.

It's power, Father, that this summer there would be mountains that we face that would be removed.

Ways that were blocked would be made open.

Lord, that new highways, new ways of functioning, new habits that would be formed, that would create life in each and every one of us.

And for our families, for our community, for our church, Father, we would know the life.

We would know the life.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

You said that it's the spirit that gives life.

The flesh does nothing, but the spirit brings life.

Lord, today we just hold open our hands to receive from you and we ask that you would pour out on us your spirit.

Just say yes to him.

Just say, yes, Lord, fill me, fill my life, fill this vessel with your spirit today.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

We just practice your presence today in this place.

Come fill our life, fill our life with your presence today.

Fill our heart, fill our mind, fill our soul, fill us, Lord, to overflowing today.

Fill us, Lord, in the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Father.

Thank you, Father, thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Less of us and more of you, more of you, more of you, the less we become, and the more you become, the more we become, the more we become truly who we were created to be.

Thank you, Father, for that spirit in us.

Thank you for your fellowship.

Thank you that we're not alone.

Thank you that you're here.

Thank you that you're to get you're with us.

We we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit today.

We receive your gift of fellowship and we just embrace it today, and we honor you in Jesus' name.