When the Spirit of the Lord Moves Upon Your Heart

The Holy Spirit of Christmas Past: When the Spirit of the Lord Moves upon Your heart…

Intro: Reactions to the supernatural. Scrooge final scene

As you are.

After the visit of all three Spirits, Scrooge had a choice in how he respond. He chose to respond with a changed heart and a changed life.

I want to look at today how we respond to the working of God’s spirit in us

So we are going to be looking at the Christmas Narrative and see through several individual’s.

Mary, Elizabeth, Zachariah in Luke chapter 1.

The Holy Spirit is at work in this passage through all three of these individuals,

and I want to look at the response that comes out of them.

Because their responses to the Holy Spirit is the same kind of response that we can expect today.

If we all took turns sticking our fork in the light socket; we would all do a little bit different dance.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, there is a response.

I’m not necessarily looking for the weird stuff the Holy Spirit makes us do.

Although I do think that there are manifestations that are a response to our human body not knowing what to do with the very real, powerful presence of God

Some of that stuff can be individually beneficial and life changing

But I want to look at the things that would be a benefit to others

stuff that the work of the holy spirit that he would like to accomplish through us, as we encounter HIM

I think we can get that out of the Christmas Narrative here. So don’t worry, I’m not going to be talking about crying, or laughing or falling down, or those kind of things.

Which again, are sometimes a normal, human response to the divine God. I’m not trying to say those things don’t exist or don’t have value. That’s just not what I’m focusing on.

I’m focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit that God wants to wants to do....Through…Us

Let’s start by looking at one verse: There’s alot of verses in Luke chaper 1. There's 80 verses, and I’m going to try to not read all of them, but I am going to read alot of them. Let’s set the scene;

Mary is coming to visit Elizabeth after the Angel Gabriel visited her. Part of the message to Mary from the angel had to do with Elizabeth and the was proof that what the angel had told Mary was true was the sign that Elizabeth would be pregnant. So Mary goes immediately to visit Elizabeth.

Luke 1:41 NASB95

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Main idea: The moving of God's Spirit will cause the life within us to kick. The Spirit moves us

Baby kicking in Mommy’s tummy

There is a reaction or response to the moving of God’s Spirit.

Three responses to the Holy Spirit we will

The Holy Spirit will make us:

See- Confirmation

Sing- Worship

Speak- Prophecy

The Holy Spirit will make us:

See- Confirmation

confirmation and discernment as a part of that

It’s amazing how the work of the Holy Spirit brings confirmation to God’s word

That’s what is going on in Luke chapter 1

The Holy Spirit is bringing confirmation to God’s word

The Holy Spirit will move us to:

Sing- Worship

It will move us to sing, which leads us to worship

and we see Mary’s song and Zachariah’s song in this passage, which are expressions of worship to God

The Holy Spirit will move us to:

Speak- Prophecy

Inspired speech by the power of the Holy Spirit

you can get all three of these through the Christmas story in Luke chapter 1

The Holy Spirit will make us See

See- Confirmation

(Luke 1:39-45

Luke 1:39–45 NASB95

Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! “And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

You see confirmation all over this.

That there was a seeing…and a confirming…and a discernment that THIS is the work of God

a. Particularly For Elizabeth (there is a confirmation for her)

She was too old, her husband isn’t talking, she’s six months into this

We read the story beginning and end, and we sometimes forget the middle

When all of the sudden Mary shows up, and there’s this immediate recognition that God is in this

i. Baby leap

ii. Filled with Spirit

iii. Recognition of God's son

Confirmation brings encouragement

Confirmation brings faith and belief

Elizabeth comes at the end and saying that she believes

b. For Mary

i. "The mother of my Lord" Emmanuel

ii. Fulfilled Luke 1:36-37

Luke 1:36–37 NASB95

“And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

iii. Side note: value of unborn life

Next week we are going to be focusing more on Mary:

The Lord causes the impossible to happen,

Elizabeth’s words here are a confirmation of what the Angel told her.

She even confirmed that the baby insider of her was Immanuel- God with us

Luke 1:45 NASB95

“And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

c. For us

i. The Lord fulfills His promises - believe

Confirmation leads us to greater faith: to believe

There’s a lot of wasted belief at Christmas time. Believe. in stuff that’s not real. A false narrative.

But you know what? there is a very real God, with very real power, very real presence

who knows us, and sees us , and wants us, and loves us

That’s what we believe in

ii. Discernment (recognition of Jesus in others)

The Spirit will bring discernment, this recognition

can we recognize Jesus in others

In this passage, we literally have Elizabeth recognizing Jesus in Mary

Physically Jesus is IN Mary

Guess what? Jesus is IN you

It’s amazing, how many of you have experienced that in life where you meet a fellow believer and there’s this instant camaraderie, there’s and instant recognition?

You might not be pregnant, but there’s something inside of you that recognizes the presence of Jesus. It’s a beautiful thing.

iii. Others can bring confirmation to God's word to us

Now there is such a thing as personal words

a personal word should confirm what God is already working in you

Don’t go changing your entire trajectory in life because some guy comes up to you and tells you that God told me that you’re going to be a gymnast.

Don’t quit your day job and start training to be a gymnist

However, how many times have you had a sense that God said something

when all of a sudden, someone comes along that says something that confirms what God has been speaking to you

God will do that for us

Other’s will confirm God’s word to us

It could have even been something I said up here

It’s amazing to me how often someone will speak up in Sunday school and say “Pastor said .....” and I will have no memory of saying that or sometimes I even remember what I actually said,

but I don’t correct them, because more often then not, the Holy Spirit was talking through me to that person and was confirming something that He was already doing in them.

And remember, God can use you to confirm his word to others.

reminds me of the song Words by Hawk Nelson

Let my words be life, let my words be truth

I don’t want to say a word, unless it points the world back to you

The part of the work of the Spirit that moves us, He moves us to worship

Sing - worship

to testify who He is, and what he has done for you

We can get that from:

John 15:26 NASB95

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

Discussion from the woman at the well

John 4:23–24 NASB95

“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

a. Mary's song (Luke 1:46-55)

Magnificat (latin liturgical term for this passage)

means “magnify the Lord”

Worship is partly seeing the bigness of God, like a magnifying glass

it makes things bigger

when we focus on the Lord, we see how BIG he is, how great he is

and that’s really what is coming out of Mary’s mouth here in this Holy Spirit moment: this song that comes out of Mary

Let me just highlight some worship words as we go through:

Luke 1:46–55 (NASB95)

And Mary said:

“My soul exalts the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

“For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;

For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

“For the Mighty One has done great things for me;

And holy is His name.

“And His mercy is upon generation after generation

Toward those who fear Him.

“He has done mighty deeds with His arm;

He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.

“He has brought down rulers from their thrones,

And has exalted those who were humble.

“He has filled the hungry with good things;

And sent away the rich empty-handed.

“He has given help to Israel His servant,

In remembrance of His mercy,

As He spoke to our fathers,

To Abraham and his descendants forever.”

i. Glorify (magnify)

ii. Rejoice

iii.Recognizing God’s Presence and care for us- “He has had regard”

iv. Action towards us (greatness) done great things

v. Mercy

vi. Faithfulness (Generation after Generation)

Recognizing God’s Miracles once again (Done mighty Deeds)

vii. Justice

scattered proud, brought down rulers, exalted the humble

viii. Help

ix. Promises (as he spoke to our fathers)

All of these words are words that can inform our worship and they come out of Mary in this moment.

I just want you to see that the Spirit will move us to Worship.

We can see that echoed again with Zechariah:

b. Zechariah song

(Luke 1:67-75

We looked at part of Zachariah’s song last week. Specifically the prophecy portion concerning John.

All of this is kind of prophecy. Worship is inspired by God

there is overlap between worship and prophecy

I want you to see that, but as we separate them

Zechariah is easier to separate.

the first part is more worship of God

the second part is more prophetic, which is the part we focused on last week

as he talked about all of the things that would be the ministry of John

Luke 1:67–75 (NASB95)

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

And has raised up a horn of salvation for us

In the house of David His servant—

As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—

Salvation from our enemies,

And from the hand of all who hate us;

To show mercy toward our fathers,

And to remember His holy covenant,

The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,

Might serve Him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

i. Praise “blessed be the...” other translations say praise be to the Lord God of Israel

ii. Redemption, salvation, covenant, rescue

iii. This work of the Holy Spirit in us,

He Enables us to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days

Pretty awesome thing to stand on

Every day, His Spirit is going to help us live for Him

Romans 12:1 NASB95

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

c. Our song

We talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit

we need to remember that the person of the Holy Trinity called the Holy Spirit can help us be Holy

?Want to know what One of the most amazing thing that the Spirit will enable you to do?

is Obey Him

ii. Worship isn’t just a song we sing but a life we live

Yes, it happens on a Sunday Morning, but it is also what happens on a ~MONDAY~ morning

all our days

Speak - prophecy

The idea of the Holy Spirit bringing inspired speech

as pentecostals, you know we talk about that

I’m not going to focus on speaking in tongue or jump into Corinthians and the idea of prophecy

In Relation the Holy Spirit is referred to the Spirit of Prophecy

Revelation 19:10 NASB95

Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

What comes out of our mouth is all about Jesus

and what Jesus is saying

and what Jesus is doing

and what Jesus wants

God can use us, and we see that

Prophecy is Inspired Speech

there are two basic forms when defining prophecy

Forth-Telling

Saying what God has already said: in his word or to an individual

This is the most common form of Prophecy

we talked about that earlier when we talked about how the Holy Spirit Confirms what God is already doing

Fore-Telling

The idea of predicting the future or declaring something that is yet to come

this is where our minds go when we hear the word prophecy

revelation by God of something that is coming

being revealed by God what is coming

(Luke 1:76-79

Luke 1:76–79 NASB95

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

A lot of the time, Prophecy is not about a new word, it’s about a now word.

It’s what God wants to say in this moment.

We covered that last week, and the Holy Spirit can move in us in that way as well.

I love in our services when the Holy Spirit speaks to us through Prophecy or an interpretation of Tongues, Which we know from Corinthians is basically the same thing.

The gifts of the Spirit aren’t just for a cooperate setting. The reason Paul addresses that in Corinthians is because there was issues that he needed to address.

Sometimes we stop there, and we miss how the gifts of the Spirit are available for every day life.

You look at the life of Jesus, and his Apostles used them in their everyday life. They were on their way to places, they were in their work places. they were on the streets.

And God is looking for an anointed people who don’t just know how to use the gifts of the Spirit in a Church building and know how to follow all the rules.

But also know how to operate in the gifts, and speak the word of God in their homes, and in their families, and in their work places, and to the strangers that they meet.

That’s the move of God and the work of His Spirit.

c. I challenge you This Christmas

i. May we prophecy

ii. May we worship

iii. May we receive confirmation

Let’s let that life of the Spirit kick in us as the Spirit moves among us.

Conclusion: let's spend some time believing for the work of the Holy Spirit - confirm the presence of Jesus, bring worship from His people, and to inspire the words from our mouth.