What does Tribe teach about walking in the spirit?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on walking in the Spirit starts with how human beings are actually put together. Brian Hunter opens the series by describing people as three-part beings: body, soul, and spirit. The body is the earth suit that engages the physical world. The soul carries the mind, will, and emotions. The spirit is the deepest and most durable reality of who a person is. Brian's framework, which he calls the master, the manager, and the mover, maps those three parts onto a medieval household. The spirit is the master, the soul is the manager, and the body is the worker who carries out instructions. Before a person is saved, the spirit is dormant and the soul runs the house on its own terms, whether that produces obvious sin or tidy religious behavior. Brian is direct that none of it has eternal value: "Dress it up however you will with religious bedazzlement. He sees right through it."
When a person is saved, the spirit comes back online and the right order is restored. The Lord speaks to the spirit, the spirit instructs the soul, and the soul directs the body. Brian uses a mountain bike to show why this matters practically. On flat ground a person can stay in one comfortable gear indefinitely and feel fine, but hills are coming, and the best time to downshift is before the climb, not during it. Walking in the Spirit is that downshift. He makes the case using Deuteronomy 13 that God can even allow a genuine sign to come through a false voice specifically to test whether his people love him more than they love the miracle, which means the ability to hear clearly is not an advanced topic for serious Christians but a basic need for anyone who will face hard seasons.
The series also traces what this looks like in practice through the story of Ruth and the festival of Shavuot, showing that following the Spirit's lead looks like Ruth following Naomi, following Boaz's workers through the field, and doing what she was told rather than charting her own course. Brian closes the series by connecting Pentecost back to God's seven yearly family traditions, arguing that God's people are meant to rehearse these rhythms now so that when the remaining events unfold, they will recognize what is happening rather than losing their footing.
Taught from Romans 8:1-16 · Galatians 5:16-18 · Deuteronomy 13:1-5 · John 15:1-8 · Deuteronomy 16:9-12
The passage taught · Deuteronomy 16:9-12
9 You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks.
10 You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you.
11 You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are among you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- June 9, 2024 The Festival of Shavuot Brian Hunter walks through Deuteronomy 16, the book of Ruth, and Acts 2 to show what it actually looks like to follow the Holy Spirit rather than your own instincts.
- May 20, 2024 Why It's Important to Walk in the Spirit Brian Hunter walks through why walking in the Spirit matters more than religious effort, using Scripture, honest conversation, and a mountain bike analogy to make the case.
- May 19, 2024 Why is it Important to Walk in the Spirit? Brian Hunter walks through why walking in the spirit matters more than religious effort, using Scripture, cycling analogies, and honest conversation with his congregation.
- May 13, 2024 The Master, the Manager, and the Mover What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? A Wyoming church explores how body, soul, and spirit work together and what it looks like to let God lead.
- May 12, 2024 The Master, The Manager, and The Mover Brian Hunter walks through Romans 8 and Galatians 5 to explain what walking in the Spirit actually means and why your flesh keeps fighting for control.