THE BREATH

THE BREATH

KEY PASSAGE: John 20:19-23 (NASB)

Welcome

I want to welcome everyone to our Sunday morning worship service, including our first-time visitors.  First-time visitors, please stand so we can see you and recognize you, and let us welcome our online viewers. We are glad to have you with us today.

Tithe and Offering

We are told in the Bible that God loves a cheerful giver. I want to say again that your tithes and offerings to this church allow us to advance the kingdom of God and share the good news of Jesus Christ. Remember, we give to God because God gave us the best gift, His Son, Jesus Christ. We give to God because God first loved us by giving us His Son, Jesus. Ushers, please pass around the offering plates so we can collect our tithe and offerings. For those who will be online, by mail, and through the church mobile payment service, please follow the directions on the screen on how to give.

Announcement

Please look up on the screen as we make our announcement. Every Wednesday is our church's weekly Bible Study at 7:00 p.m. Our new member class is on Saturday, March 2nd, at 10:00 a.m.; if you are interested in joining the church, we have a sign-up at the back of the church, so please be sure to sign up for the new member class. We also have your annual giving statement at the back of the church for pickup. Please be sure to pick up your annual giving statement, and again, I want to say ”thank you” for your generous gifts to the church and not only that but also your faithfulness to God.

Declaration of Faith in God

Let us stand and say together the Declaration of Faith in God.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Let’s pray.

LORD, we come to You because we have come to the end of ourselves and know You alone are mighty to save. You alone have shown us the power of grace and the paths of grace. We can trust You like no other. Meet us here today, in the midst of our joys and sorrows, our to-do lists and our wish lists, and lead us in the way everlasting. Praise be to Your name for Your bountiful gifts, and we acknowledge them with thanksgiving and present our gifts to You in joy and praise. Thank you for the privilege of giving. To Your name be all the glory and honor. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

For those of you who are not familiar with our series. We have been talking about “The Names of The Holy Spirit.” And this morning, I want to talk about the Holy Spirit as the Breath. The Holy Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as the breath. Let me put this another way: the Holy Spirit is precisely the oxygen of God, the Breath of God. Many scriptures bring this out, but when you understand that the Holy Spirit is your oxygen and your ability to breathe, it means the Holy Spirit is your ability to live. And not just to live but to live according to God’s purpose and plan. Life and death are tied to our relationship (connection) with the Holy Spirit because that is the relationship we have to breathe.

SERMON EXPOSITION

The descriptions of breath are often used to convey spiritual essence and power, including the aspects of the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 20, we read these verses beginning with verse 19. “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then, the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this (hear is our word for today), He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

In verse 22 of our text for today, we are told that Jesus breathed on them (Jesus breathed on His disciples), and then what happened? They received the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew word in the Old Testament for the breath of God, the Spirit of God, is “Ruach.” The breath of God hovered over creation and brought life out of chaos, according to Genesis chapter one (1). John chapter 20, verse 22 reminds us of Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, when God breathed life into the first man or Adam. Genesis 2 verse 7 says, “God-breathed,” He “Ruached.” “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

The Ruach is the breath of God that gives life. Watch this; let me expose you to some deep theology. The breadth of God in the first creation meant physical life, and the breadth of Jesus Christ in the new creation meant spiritual life.  Let me talk about Nicodemus’ encounter with Jesus for a moment. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, verses 5 to 8, He said new life comes from this breath of God, the Spirit of God. Jesus said in John chapter 6, verse 63, that “this Spirit of God gives life.” The New Testament word is “Pneuma,” from which we get the English word pneumonia. It has to do with the ability to breathe. That is why when you are sick and go to the hospital and have a problem breathing, the doctors and the nurses put you on an oxygen breathing tank.

So both the Old Testament word "Ruach" and the New Testament Greek word "Pneuma" are designed to let you know that the Spirit of God is tied to your ability to breathe, that is, your ability to live. Without the presence of the Spirit of God, guess what? You are DOA, dead on arrival.

Open your Bible to Job chapter 33, verse 4 says, “The breath of God is the Spirit of God.” It reads, “The Spirit of God has made me,  and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

So, He combines the two. The breath of God is the Spirit of God; the Spirit of God is the breath of God. So when God exhales, it is the Spirit of God working. God doesn't just exhale; He exhales life because the Spirit gives life.

One of the problems today that we have is because people, Christians, are not breathing the Holy Spirit. We are not experiencing the life of God like it was meant to have. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer, and He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. Now, the non-believers can't breathe the Holy Spirit because they don't have the Holy Spirit; only believers have the Holy Spirit. Alright.

But believers have been given a personal internal oxygen tank, and we have been given the life of God to breathe God’s life within us, outside of us, and around us because the Holy Spirit is the life of God within us. Psalm 104, verse 30 says, “All of creation exists, and all of creation is renewed in its life because of the Spirit.” So even non-Christians don't know this truth, but they benefit from the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit brings life to the created order. The Holy Spirit brings life to the orders of creation. So then, even living your physical life is tied to the work of the Holy Spirit even when you don't have a spiritual life.

So, non-believers don't know this, but they even have all the reason to praise God because they can breathe physically. But you and I get to breathe physically and spiritually because one of the names of the Holy Spirit is the very breath of God. In our passage for today, there was a problem. Jesus had died at Calvary. Jesus has risen from the dead and comes through a closed door in His resurrected body. When the resurrected Christ came through the door, verse 19 says, “They were assembled (huddled) together for fear of the Jews.”

The disciples of Jesus were afraid that those who had killed Jesus were now going to kill them, too. So, guess what? These men huddled together because of their fear. These men could not breathe, and we are living in a world today where there is a lot to be afraid of in our human existence. We are afraid of disease and sickness, we are afraid of our health breakdown, we are afraid of racial conflict, we are afraid of cultural conflict, and we are afraid of abuse. Well, they were afraid, and they could not breathe. Have you noticed that it takes a little work to breathe when a person is afraid? Breathing can affect your emotions. But Jesus shows up, the resurrected Christ, and watch this: He brings with Him oxygen. He brings with Him the breath. He brings with Him life.

Watch this: Whenever the supernatural touches the natural, the message is always “Peace” or “Fear not.” The sermon is always “Peace” or “Fear not.” Jesus’ word to His disciples now, when His deity touches their humanity, is “Peace.” Jesus’ word to you is the same because when God speaks, He never stutters. His word to you is “Peace” and “Fear not.” This peace comes from being justified by your faith through our Lord Jesus if you are a believer, which gives us peace with God.

So, let's look at this closer (let’s go a little deeper). Jesus comes, and His disciples are afraid. In verse 19 of John 20, He says, “Peace be with you,” twice.  What is Jesus doing? He is bringing down the fear temperature. He is bringing down the emotions of the disciples. Now watch this: you have the person of the risen Christ and the word of the risen Christ. What does it mean? Jesus imparts the life of the Holy Spirit to calm the disciples’ fears. The Word of God is the Word of life, and the Word of God gives life.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired of God." The Greek word here means to breathe out or to exhale. The Bible explains this in Second (2) Peter chapter 2, verses 20 and 21, which says, "No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation, but men spoke from God as the Holy Spirit carried them along.” Scripture was borne along by the Spirit of God, and so the Word of God is the breath of God; it is the voice of God in print. It is the Trinity, it is God, it is Jesus, and it is the Holy Spirit based on the Word that is teeming up to give you life.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION

And like a Xerox printing machine, what the Holy Spirit does is He Xeroxes the truth of the Bible onto your heart. So, guess what? You have put your heart on a Xerox machine so that God could lift the words of the Scripture off of the page because of your relationship (connection) with Jesus so that the Word of God is in your heart; it is being manifested in your heart. In other words, the Word of God has become an experience for you.

Let me tell you what the job of the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit's job is to turn the book given by a living Author who has written a living document and to animate it in your life so you breathe again. So that you are experiencing the reality of God operating within your life. So that you can experience heaven while living on earth. The Bible says in Galatians chapter 5, verse 25, “If we live by the Spirit, we need to walk by the Spirit.” If we live by the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit is the life source that every believer has, then the Holy Spirit must become how you walk.

In other words, God does not want you to visit the Holy Spirit just because you have Him; God wants you to walk with the Holy Spirit, that is, living in reliance on Him. That is why the Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” This doesn't mean you should get on your knees every 24 hours a day and pray. It means to operate all of your life in consultation with the Holy Spirit.

So when you are rolling with the Holy Spirit, you are rolling with Jesus, and when you are rolling with Jesus, you are rolling with the Father because these computers are networked; they are all hooked up together. But the one operating in you now on behalf of the Father and the Son is the person of the Holy Spirit, and it is His job to enable you to breathe, that is, to operate with spiritual life. And when He gives you the ability to operate with spiritual life, He speaks peace to you.

So it is time for you to come alive. And that is based on the breath, but not breathing sometimes (intermittently), breathing the Holy Spirit as you connect it with the Word of God. The great fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19) was that when it hits you, it will create inflammation (infection), and if it gets bad enough and hits the lungs, you can't breathe; you lose the ability to breathe.

So, the U.S. government (United States) called on places all over the country to retrofit their manufacturing factories to produce more ventilators. It does the breathing for folks who can’t breathe on their own. Do you know what the goal of the ventilator is? To save lives. The ventilator is there for folks who can't breathe to save their lives.

Faith Appeal and Call to Action (Conclusion)

You and I are living in a world today with a spiritual virus, and it doesn't matter who you are, where you live, what your color is, what your culture is, or what your economic status is, and it hits everybody everywhere, so you lose hope, and you give up. And you lose your life, and it doesn't matter whether you are a churchgoer or not. But God has a ventilated system, a ventilator, and guess what? He has manufactured more than enough. Enough for everybody who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.

In fact, God got this ventilation system so sophisticated that it is not one operating outside to put a tube on you; God has built it inside of you to breathe for you inside out. So even though you have this fearful situation in the culture, this fearful situation of evil, this fearful situation of circumstances, inside of you is a Holy Ghost ventilator, and He wants to do the breathing for you. And if you will connect the risen Christ with the Word of God, watch this; so that God breathes on you, you will hear Him say to you, regardless of the circumstances out there, “Peace be unto you.” You can calm down now because the Holy Spirit is the air you breathe.

Every athlete who competes in professional sports in a high-altitude environment knows how important breathing is. Breathing can be easily taken for granted until you desperately need it. If you were to walk up the Rocky Mountains, you would have to work a little harder at breathing because of the high altitude.

Well, life has an altitude. The stresses, the pain, the sorrows, and the struggles we go through can sometimes make life and breathing challenging. But that is where the Holy Spirit comes in because what the Holy Spirit does is He gives you the ability to take a breath even when the heights of challenges are difficult; the Holy Spirit gives you the breath of peace because when Jesus breathed on His disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit, He also told them, “Peace be with you.” So, guess what the breath of God does in the work of the Holy Spirit? It allows you to breathe peacefully, even in the midst of chaos. So, I challenge you to breathe the Holy Spirit so you can live in peace because that is the kind of life that the Holy Spirit offers to all those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God bless you.

Altar Call

If you are here today and those watching this live stream, please ask yourself two questions. Have I personally met the risen Christ? Has Jesus Christ changed my life?  Today, Jesus changed people's lives, and the Holy Spirit is the agent of change. And that same transforming experience can be yours if you go to Jesus and accept Him as the Son of God who died for your sins. If you do that right now, Jesus will come into your heart and give you eternal life, which means you can live tomorrow. Go to Jesus right now, and ask Him to come into your heart and forgive your sins.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

Our God and Father, You see our hearts and our desires are not hidden from You. We are encouraged by our wonderful experience of Your goodness and mercy. We are encouraged and strengthened by the work of the Holy Spirit. We know that we are nothing and can do nothing by ourselves. O God, our Savior, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, do not turn Your face away from us as we seek You daily, but as You kindle in us the desire to seek You more. Lord, hear our prayers, help this young church to grow in the wisdom, knowledge, and power of the Holy Spirit, and show us mercy. For Your glory, we ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. God bless you, and we are dismissed.