Re__ Re-member, Re-turn, Re-embrace Pt3 - Let me introduce myself.
Remembering, returning and reembracing the Holy Spirit • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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GREET EVERYONE-
If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.
Our Vision:
We Desire see every follower of Jesus well equipped and fully deployed on the mission of Jesus.
What mission? - This questions leads us to articulate His mission for His church in a simple way.
Our Mission:
Is to engage people into a multiplying relationship with Jesus!
WELCOME-
If this is the first time you have ever been to a worship gathering of the church or it has just been a really long time.
And the reason this is the first time or the first time in a long time is becasue you not really sure you believe the same as other people do.
Ya know we may not all believe the same, but we all struggle with the same fears, temptations, fears, insecurities, and doubts.
Reality is you have more in common that you might think.
And all of us are really glad you took the risk and came to worship this morning.
LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND
Open it to the Gospel of John chapter 14 and verse 16-17 today as we continue in our sermon series
RE---
In this series we are Exposing SOME of the things that God says in His word about the Holy Spirit.
What I pray happens to all of us is that we will
Re-member The Holy Spirit and his working in our life.
Re-turn to the Holy Spirit in our knowledge and activity as the God that has taken up residency in our bodies.
Re-embrace the Holy Spirit and the person of God that is actually with us and the one we have recieved in God saving us.
NOW If you don’t have a bible or simply would like a new one!……..
TRUTH -
ENGAGEMENT –
There are some very interesting ways to get to know someone here in our modern world.
There used to be a time when if you wanted to get to know someone you had to actually get and take the time to spend time with them to get to know anything about them.
And to really get to know someone that is very much still true -
You really don't know someone until you spend time with them.
But there are some initial things that you can possess now a days to get to know some basic information about them.
in our modern world.
On of them is a Resume
A little history - The Word is French and it means to summarize -
Divinchi is credited with the first resume - IT was a letter sent to a prospective employer. way back in the 1400
Here is something interesting - the resume was not really used in the modern culture until about 1930.
When you get a resume - What do you usually learn about them?
Well a Resume usually contains some information about them in the section called the BIO
The Bio is the section that has Biographical information.
And that includes the Objective of why you have tis Resume and are getting to know this person.
Then in the later section there is a section outlining the past job experiences and in that are displayed the different skill sets that those experiences required.
Now a days there are also - Internet Resumes where not only do you get to hear about the Bio, Objectives, Past Experiences but you also can see a demonstration of current Skill sets.
And all of that is really good if you are thinking that you are going to hire that person.
Because if you hire that person it is likely that you will be spending a lot of time with them.
of course that varies from job to job and person to person.
The other thing that ya know you always want to know in any sort of Job interview situation is “tell me whats not on the paper”
Here is the other thing - A person may have an implacable resume and bio on paper.
But until you spend time with them - that is when you really get to know the person.
TENSION
Here is something interesting to understand form the scriptures - The Holy Spirit has a Job, He has a bio and He has a Resume.
Here is the phenomenal thing -
He works 24-7-365 -
Time off is a foreign idea to Him and
He always has and always will have only One kingdom that He works for.
HE’s not changing Jobs
Here is the Amazing thing -
The Scriptures are a collection of literature that God, specifically the Holy Spirit, use 40 different guys with paper and ink and spent over 1500 years revealing it to these 40 guys.
It is the complete written revelation of God to mankind and unveils to us the Redemption plan of God from the beginning of all creation.
Namely Jesus Christ!
And Woven all through this divine collection of Literature, That has Christ as its central character and salvation its theme - what we will find, woven into the narratives and poetry and wisdom and prophecies is a revelation of the Person of the Holy Spirit.
His resume if you will?
Biblical Resumes of God the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit are called Theologies.
This What I want to do is to let The Holy Spirit Introduce Himself to all of us. In order to form what we think about the Holy Spirit
Our theology is So important -
What we think and believe is a direct indicator as to how we will act or allow ourselves to act.
Our theology - what we believe will always impact how we act.
Good theology is important - IT can very much lead us to live lives that reveal the true character of Jesus, in the bible and make Him known
Just like bad theology can point us in the wrong direction.
and the Theology of the Holy Spirit is important - Bad theology of the Spirit can lead us to being ineffective for the Kingdom, and live striving after things the Holy Spirit actually opposes.
Something you will hear me say often is that we will all have spiritual experiences -
But not all spiritual experiences are Holy.
and it is the Bible, combined with the Gift of discernment that tell us the difference.
So with that lets get to know the Holy Spirit.
UNPACKING
We will Start with His Bio
1st off the Holy Spirit is a person -
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
So right here The Holy Spirit is called “another helper” indicating there are other helpers.
The father is Sending this helper to us an so it is very easily summarized the the Father is a Helper.
Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he has journeyed with them for the past three years and helped them understand the Kingdom of God and what that truly means and so He certainly is a Helper -
And they are both defined as persons - Father - Son -
Jesus being the personal revelation of God.
So the Holy Spirit is a Person of the Trinity of God and a Helper.
He is in relationship with each person He dwells in -
Jesus said - “The Father will send the Helper - Who Later in chapter 15 Jesus says Specifically that is the Holy Spirit”
“Will be with us FOREVER!”
and He will Dwell with us and Be IN us -
In other words He will be existing (that is what dwelling means) and He will be in us - that has now moved to In-Dwelling - Existing IN us!.
SO the Holy Spirit is A person - Sent by the Father to be in relationship with God’s Children by existing inside their physical bodies.
This is why the Scripture says “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” The house of the holy spirit bought and paid for in full by the blood of Jesus.
He is GOD -
In acts there is this Amazing historical narrative in Chapter 5 -
We are a couple of years after Pentecost and the Assembly of the called out ones is still mainly in Jerusalem and Surrounding areas.
there were about 10000 believer at this time and they had effectually eliminated poverty. They would sell possessions and property and give it to the leaders and the leaders would distribute it to anyone who needed anything.
There was a Husband and Wife team that sold a piece of property and apparently miss represented the amount they sold it for to the leaders who at this time were the Apostles.
This is what Peter says as He is holding them accountable for misrepresenting what they sold the Property for.
Peter was speaking to the Husband first and Said
“Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit” and he comes back later in this same story and says “You have not lies to man but to God”
So Right here in this Story - Peter on of the Original 12 - Equates for us the Holy Spirit Being God.
3rd part of His bio is that He and the Father and the Son go together.
Jesus says to Baptize in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.
At the end of His letters to the Corithian Church Paul says:
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Grace of our master Jesus Christ - The Love of God the one who is Love and the Fellowship of, the company of, the be with us forever of The Holy Spirit.
So becasue He is God that is how He got His name - The HOLY Spirit becasue God is Holy and He is therefore Holy.
4th He is Eternal -
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
The Eternal Spirit - Ya know the reality is that the Eternal Spirit was God and With God and the Power of God form the Beginning.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Here are a few more parts of His Bio -
He has a mind
27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
He has Emotions
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
He has a will
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
He is All powerful -
6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
He is present everywhere
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
He is all knowing
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
He is obedient to the God the Father:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
So His bio reads that
He is A person
He is to be in relationship with those He indwells -
He is God -
He is in eternal relationship with the Father and the Son and as we know The Father is eternal.
He has a mind, will, emotions and is all powerful, present everywhere, and all knowing
He is in a loving, eternal, co-existing, obedient relationship to the Father and the Son.
In other words - He is God!
SO thats His Bio part now unto His work Experience.
and know this loved ones this is a short list - In the New Testament Alone there are over 210 individual verses that make reference to the Holy Spirit in Who He is or what He does.
We will just cover a few -
and I want to kinda Start from like a 30,000 foot view and then work my way down into the Scriptures.
I would like to start out with one of the creeds.
The Nicean Creed - is a creed of faith that Has been used to speak clearly the basic beliefs of what is and has been defined as historic and Biblical Christianity.
When the creed gets to the Holy Spirit it says:
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
That was originally written and published in the year 381
We then Move to the Statement of faith of the EFCA and Stonewater Fellowship.
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips, gifts and empowers all believers for Christ-like living and Christian service or ministry to the unbelieving world.
So as we begin to look and unpack some of what the Holy Spirit does we must ALWAYS remember that first thing that the Holy Spirit does is Glorify Jesus Christ.
Here is what that means - The Holy Spirit of God first and foremost reveals Jesus to the everyone. He points to our eyes and minds and hearts to Jesus.
And not just any Jesus, becasue there are a few Jesus’s out there.
But the Jesus of the Bible - The Jesus that was as present in the History's, described in the wisdom and poetry, predicted in the Prophets, Revealed in the Gospels, transformed the world in Acts - Explained in the Letters and foretold of in the Revelation.
That is the Jesus that the Holy Spirit will point us to.
So 1st thing He does is Glorify Jesus.
Here are some more -
He speaks to us when we are in situations that are difficult while we are bearing witness to someone who has power
12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
He will council us, teach us, and remind us of Everything Jesus said
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
He Empowers us to be a witness for Jesus Chist and live out the great commission of making disciple of Christ from among the lost.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
He sets us free form Sin
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
He Facilitates our intimacy with God and our abiding in Christ
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
He Convicts us of our Sin, our Judgement and what Righteousness really is.
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
He gives us rebirth, new life and makes us new creatures and renews us.
He is the Catalyst of our salvation.
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
He fills us with Hope
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
He intercedes for us before the very throne room of God.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
He Distributes and empowers Gifts to all believers for a single purpose - For the benefit of all every one. That is what the Scripture says - The Common Good!
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
He Transforms us into the image of Jesus and in that change fruit comes.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Loved ones - This is but a glimps into who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does.
Remember that this is the God that is with you and in you and empowers God life changing work in you That is for you and Gods life changing work through you that brings change to the people around you.
STICKY POINT AS THE WORSHIP TEAM COMES
Loved ones - one of the things that we mentioned this mornings is that the Holy Spirit speaks and he does so sometime through other people.
One of the things that you may not know about working as a pastor for a church is that there is a burden that is constantly in your shoulders.
and when I say that there might be many many things go through your thoughts as to what those might be.
Prepping sermons -
Meeting with team leaders and coordinating efforts of the other ministry teams, my kids and family things like that.
And listen all of those are important and that can certainly be a weight.
But loved ones, as I have journeyed with Jesus over these past 6 years or so as the Planting/Lead Pastor of a local church there is one thing that has grown heaver and heaver as a burden that is constantly with me.
and that is this : Are you truly saved?
Here is what I mean by that - AS I look across the room and think about those who are watching on live stream, It has become a growing burden in my sold that there are some who have considered yourself to be a christian.
Every time when the census or any other form comes into you life with those check boxes on them that as you to check one that indicated what religion you are you check Christian.
and you claim christ - but you have claimed the name of Jesus in vain.
You might be saying this very moment: Wow Pastor, that is really kind of uncomfortable.
and yes it might be - But if I was burdened with the condition of your soul and weather or not you were headed to a christless eternity in hell for ever and ever and I did nothing about it or said nothing to you, how loving would I really be.
I love the way Spurgeon put it - If there going to Hell Father let them step over our dead bodies to get there.
Here is why this is an ever growing burden. and Although I do not know because I do not live life on life with all of you I think it is very possible because of the statistics in our culture that we do not live in a statistical bubble.
Here is the weight - nearly 70% of Americans will claim that they are Christian. Yet here are the numbers -
46% of people who claim to be evangelical Christians do not believe that Jesus is God in the flesh.
nearly 90% of protestant Christians have only shared their faith with another person once or less in their lifetime.
Biblical Illiterate is at an all time High and yet 70%
Prayer in the corporate assembly of the Church is almost non existent.
Some of your staff and I went to the Efca district conference this weekend and we heard from a professor at DTS who had moved form Iraland to come and teach at the seminary just a couple of years ago and HE said that the most difficult time was that His family went church shopping and out of the 17 churches that they visited there were only 3 that had a time of praying together as a church.
They had found one that Had a Corporate prayer time and they are members but it took them nearly two full years to find one that prayed together.
In the US where 70% of us claim christ we put to death thousands of Babies in the womb a year and we as a country are despised world wide for our immorality and here at home, it seem like every year the unbelieving world of our culture perceived the church as a corrupt organization rather that A holy People set apart for the Glory of God - Who’s life style is so supposed to be so different from the world that they are known for representing Christ and make Him known.
WHY? is this I have wondered and I believe that is is this framework of Salvation that we have some how adopted in evangelicalism.
And that Framework is based on this idea that a proper response to the Gospel is to invite Jesus into our hearts.
Should it not concern us that there is no represented response to the Gospel ANYWHERE in scripture of this superstition that the at the moment of our salvation the proper response to the Gospel is to invite Him.
Loved one Jesus did not come to the Children of Israel in gallaie, and say “the Time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has arrived, believe the gospels and invite me into you heart”
No Jesus said Repent.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
This is so important loved ones - Received Him How -
Received Him as an invited dinner guest that comes and goes?
Or recieved Him as King and Lord and Master of life - As one who is to be surrender to and submitted to?
As one who is given all authority?
As One who’s commands we follow becasue we love Him and we have seen and know that love He has for us and the Father that Send him and we rely on the power of the Spirit He sent to dwell in us to live the life that he came to give all of us.
You see loved ones that problem with this Idea of Inviting Jesus in to our heart is not only is it not in the Bible it has created in our culture this Momentism -
If faith in Christ ever becomes a question we are so apt to say to the person- Look back, Was there ever this moment when you invited Jesus into you life and were you sincere?
Yes I did that and I was sincere - An many of us at name times will say well if you were sincere back then the its just the devil dealing with you.
No Loved ones - The The Holy Spirit bring a conviction of Righteousness to someone who has claimed Christ.
And the proper response is “is there evidence of powerful transformation in your life - Is there Fruit?
Is the very power of God being powerful dynamic life altering fruit in your life?
Are the appetites in your life constantly and continually changing to the appetites of Jesus?
Do you grow in distast and hatred of sin IN your life more and more?
Are you more and more diligent in prayer?
Do you have a burden for the Lost?
To you find your self in a growing unsatisfying appetite for the Word of God?
Mostly - Do you desire in an every increasing way to experience God, To Know God, To follow Jesus closer and closer and do you experience the power of the Holy Spirit in an ever increasing, life changing, transformative way?
Loved ones I beg of you.
If you are in any way relying on the events of your past where you walk an Isle or said a sinner prayer as the Marks of you salvation - I beg of you and an ambassador of Christ.
Examine yourself!
Pleas please please make sure you are of the faith.
Ask your self hard questions before God!
Is there dynamic fruit? Are you appetites changing? Do you grow in your hatred of your Own Sin? Is prayer becoming more prominant? do you feel the burden for the lost? are you fascinated and captivated by the word of God in an increasing way? Do you desire God, Desire to Follow jesus, Desire the Life changing power of His spirit - all of these things in an every increasing way?
If these things are so - The scripture says - The Holy Spirit will confirm with your spirit that you are a child of God!
Loved ones my fear for you this mornings is that if you were to honestly examine your life as you claim christ in an honest self examination before God you may find that the fruit of your salvation is so small that you life doesn't look all that different from the world and you are still lost, dead in your trespasses and sin and have not been made alive in Christ, and you have not been saved.
IF you find this is you - I beg of you - Be reconciled to God - Repent - Turn your life over to the Lord ship of Jesus - Agree with God with your mouth that He is lord and master - Trust in your heart that God indeed did raise Him from the dead - Trust in the Gospel - Join in union with Christ - Receive the Holy Spirit.
All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live
All to Jesus I surrender
Humbly at His feet I bow
Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me, Jesus, take me now
All to Jesus I surrender
Make me Savior wholly thine
May Thy Holy Spirit fill me
May I know Thy power divine
Freely Surrender all to Him, for it is all to Him you owe, live daily in His presence, love Him and Trust Him, be filled with the Holy Spirit and Know His divine power. For He is our blessed savior.
Throw yourself, your life, your will and desires upon Jesus, repent, Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, receive the Holy Spirit and be saved.
PRAYER TEAM