The Lord

The Lord

KEY PASSAGE: 2 CORINTHIANS 3:13-18 (NASB)

Welcome

We welcome you 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. And thank you for joining our Sunday Worship Service.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

LORD, we know You are good, always have been, and always will be. We have always been on the receiving end of Your goodness, kindness, and grace, and we would be lost without it. We desperately want to reflect Your goodness and grace but are easily confused and deceived. Show us what You want us to be and how we get there. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen.

Tithe and Offering

The Bible says we are to be cheerful in our giving because we understand that God is our source. One way you know you are growing in your faith is when you give with a glad heart in response to the goodness of God. Giving to God should be a joy, not a job. As we give God our tithe and offering, we may be inspired as good stewards of the Lord to give cheerfully to help our church share the good news and make an everlasting impact in our community and around the world. Ushers, please pass around the offering plates so we can collect our tithe and offerings. Please follow the directions on the screen on how to give.

Announcement

Please look up on the screen as we make our announcement. We will resume our monthly staff meeting starting on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at noon. Good Friday Service is March 29, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. Please be sure to sign for the Seven Words on the Cross. The spot fills up very quickly, so please be sure to sign up. Our church’s weekly Bible Study is at 7:00 p.m. every Wednesday. If you missed the new member class and 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.

Declaration of Faith in God

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

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Cell phone batteries today last longer than ever because manufacturers have done a pretty good job in research and development, but even the best cell phone will eventually run out of battery power if it doesn’t get recharged. Yesterday, we had a training session with David at the church. David is responsible for audio, visual, and lighting (AVL). During our training session yesterday, one of the brothers’ cell phones ran out of battery.

And you know, trying to show concern and to be friendly (to be a nice guy), I told him I had a charger in my car. And I would be happy to borrow you my charger so you can charge your phone. The phone needed to be connected to a power source to be charged and for the battery to have life. Today, I want to talk to you about why Jesus’ followers need to stay connected to the Holy Spirit to overcome the power drain of everyday life, which is full of ups and downs.

SERMON EXPOSITION

If you will, kindly open your Bible to 2 Corinthians 3:13-18. We will read two verses today, verses 17 and 18. So, let’s read starting with verse 17. “17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Verse 18 says three words I don't want you to miss. Paul says, “But we all,” so this applies to you and me, where you are, how you are, and to transform you from where God wants you to be. Let’s go a little deeper. God’s transforming work through Christ is intended for all believers so that we live in spiritual victory and freedom.And I want you to remember this: we are in the freedom business because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

In verses 17 and 18, he says repeatedly, “The Lord is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord.” So, the name of the Holy Spirit we want to focus on today is the name of the Lord because he says, “The Spirit is the Lord.” Now, the Lord refers to Jesus Christ, and in this passage, Paul describes the Spirit, the Holy Spirit’s function, and His character (identity). Paul has placed great emphasis on the fact that Christ is the central figure in the Old Testament through his preaching of the gospel. In verse 17, he further reinforces this truth by stating, “Now the Lord is the Spirit.”

We all know that Jesus Christ is physically in heaven; Jesus is not physically on earth. But He is spiritually in you if you become a Christian. So the Spirit is the Lord who is physically in heaven but is spiritually in you. You have spiritual Jesus living and operating inside of you, and spiritual Jesus is in you by means of His agent, the Holy Spirit.

So, if you have the Holy Spirit, you have Jesus operating in you because (Watch this) the Lord is the Spirit. At the end of verse 17, he says, “Where the Spirit is, there is liberty.” Other versions say, “Where the Spirit is, there is freedom.” Liberty means release from anything or anyone holding you unlawfully (illegally) hostage. So if you are being unlawfully bound or held by something or someone, by some habit or circumstance, by some attitude or some action, the reason you have the Spirit, who is Jesus, inside of you is to release you. To free you from what is holding you back or holding you down.

You and I, when we were born, picked up from our parents not only our skin tone and type and racial identity, and hair texture, and the other things that are part of the physical DNA, but they also transferred to us a sinful nature. A nature that is prone to rebel against the standard of God. It is built-in, known as indwelling sin; it is inside your human nature that has transferred it to your damaged soul that manifests itself by the activity of your body. The question on the floor is, how do we address the infection we all have?

So there is a release mechanism operating inside of you: “For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” How does this Spirit begin to release you from the infection we all have? How does it start to set us free? "By transforming us," because verse 18 says. He says, “We are being transformed.” God has never started a project He did not finish. And if God has started on you, you can be sure He will sanctify you wholly (entirely) as you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out(spirit, soul, and body).

Let’s talk about the Holy Spirit's role, function, and character for a moment in the life of a believer.

The Holy Spirit is the liberating presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, (Watch this), bringing spiritual transformation to believers. Spiritual transformation begins when God brings us into a new relationship with Christ. From this point forward, the Holy Spirit links us to Christ, bringing freedom and deliverance due to our connection to Him. The Holy Spirit transforms us and makes our actions and attitudes, as well as our character and conduct, more like Christ Jesus.

Let me put it another way. The instrument of spiritual transformation is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent of the Lord because He uses the Word of God to change believers into the image of the Lord. This point is very important for you to understand because the Spirit does not bring about transformation apart from the Word of God. The Holy Spirit also moves us forward in our faith through stages, from glory to glory, and that often happens through the trials allowed in our lives. This is why we must learn to look at our trials as an opportunity (prospect) to take the next step in our spiritual growth and development. And I want you to remember that the Spirit who convicts us is also the Spirit who consoles.

God’s goal is not external reformation or an infection management program. God’s goal for every believer is spiritual transformation. The only way you know that you are growing in your Christian life is that you are changing into the image of Christ from glory to glory.

If you are not changing, it means you are not growing, even though you might be shouting a loud amen or hallelujah and falling on the ground during church service. Until there is change, what he calls transformation, spiritual development is not occurring because the infection is still operating because you are not changing on the inside. In First (1) Thessalonians 5:23, he says, “You are transformed from your spirit to your soul, to your body.”

Let's review this: the anointing the presence of the Spirit invades your human spirit. The Holy Spirit, when you are converted, invades your human spirit. Your human spirit sits inside your soul.

Watch this. As the Holy Spirit amplifies the human spirit. It penetrates the soul and begins addressing the infection of indwelling sin in our souls. When the infection of indwelling sin is addressed by expanding the Holy Spirit in your human spirit, the soul gives new data to the body. When the body gets new data from the soul that is being corrected by the presence of the anointing, the Holy Spirit that has invaded the human spirit that is now dictating to your soul, that means you are doing new things with your body. You are changing on the outside because you are being transformed on the inside. This is the key to beginning the process of becoming better, becoming different, and becoming free. There must be a move from the inside out, not the outside back in.

And in verse 18, he says, “But we all,” “with unveiled face.” Let me talk about how you must approach this issue. You must approach your need for spiritual transformation with an unveiled face. When a woman gets married, not so much today, but in years gone by, in the old days, they would always have a veil over the bride's face. Paul says, “The reason in the Old Covenant that even though they read the Bible, they weren't changed is they had a covering over them.”

But what does that mean if you come to the Lord, who is the Spirit with an unveiled face (with an uncovered face)? A willingness to be fully exposed. To be fully exposed. You can't come to God acting like everything is alright when you know it is not. You can't go to God faking it to make it. You must take off the pretending that you do at work, the pretending that you do by yourself, the pretending that you do on the job, the hidden part of you that nobody knows but you. When you come to God, Paul says, “You got to remove the veil off your face because I know you are playing if you are talking to me with a veiled face.” You have to remove the cover-up.

The moment you come covered up, it doesn't matter that you read the Bible. It doesn't matter that you are praying or in church because you are doing a cover-up. Paul says, “You must come with an unveiled face.” “When you come with unveiled face,” he says, “You are to come looking (beholding), as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord.” You must come clear, clean, and honest to God, with no camouflage.

Okay, let me take you a little deeper. James Chapter 1 talks about the mirror. Verse 23 says, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.”

Okay, here we go with the mirror. Verse 24 says, “And once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately has forgotten the kind of person he was, but the one who looks.” Watch this: “But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does.”

Stay with me. He says, “If you want to be transformed,” have your soul saved, have the infection dealt with, “You must come to God with an unveiled face, and you must come to the mirror, the Word of God. But don't come like a man who looks at his face and turns away.”

The Greek word for man is the word "male." Don't come like a male. Don't come like a man. To put it another way, if you want to be transformed, (watch this, here it is), come to the mirror like a female, not like a male. A male will look, see, and turn away; females don't look, see, and turn away. Females hang out in the mirror, stay in the mirror, and meander in the mirror until they get it right. If the soul is going to be changed, you must come to the Word with an unveiled face, and when you come there, don't be like a man who wants to read the Word and hang out there a little bit. How long? Till you see your face in it. Till you see you.

A lot of folks read the Bible, but they don’t see themselves in the Bible. James says to abide in the Word of God until you see God talking to you. Not just talking about Abraham, not just talking about Moses, not just talking about David, not just talking about Solomon, but God is speaking to you.

You hang out in that mirror until you get exposed. Why? Because you see, no man or woman can see their face. You don't see your face. Can you look at your face? You can't see your face. You only know what you look like if you have a mirror. And guess what? The mirror tells you the truth. He says, “You must come with an unveiled face.” With the bubo in your eye and the hair messed up, you come with the raw reality of the infection of the soul, then you sit down, read, and meander until the Holy Spirit sees and lets you know that I am talking to you. I am talking to you about the things that keep you up at night.

What good is seeing that you are messed up in the mirror if you don't pick up a comb? What good is seeing that you are messed up in the mirror if you don't pick up soap and a washcloth? It was good that you saw it, but you still haven't changed. There is no transformation. But when the unveiled face meets the mirror of the Word, and you see it is talking to you, and a step of action is taken, transformation begins, and you will discover something. “You are being transformed,” he says, “into the image of the Lord.” Change is the proof of growth. He says, and you are being transformed into that same man.

Faith Appeal

God will put you through all kinds of things or allow all sorts of things to test you because when you pass the test, (here is some good news for you), you move to a new level of glory and spiritual transformation. Like Job (Job 23:10), you can say, “But He knows the way I take; When He has put me to the test, I will come out as gold.” And when you see God changing you and the Spirit of God doing His thing in you, you will almost welcome the test because you know something new is coming down the pipe.

Illustration

When a woman is pregnant, it shows. It is obvious. Pregnancy causes a change in appetite and a shift in feeling, temperature, and attitude. I mean, several things change in the woman’s physical life. Do you know why they change? Because life is growing on the inside and just showing up on the outside.

And you know how life got there? Through intimacy with her husband. There was an intimacy that produced life, and that life began to expand and change her. When the Holy Spirit entered you, there was a conception in your human spirit, and He wants your soul to get bigger, grow, and expand. He wants your soul to expand so that there is a birth of a transformed life emerging from you. May God bless you.

Call to Action (Conclusion)

When you stand on the Rocky Mountains (the largest mountain system in North America), which stretch some 3000 miles from British Columbia in Canada through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico in the United States, you can see that Jesus is indeed Lord of creation. You see the perfection Jesus brings about in nature. Well, the good news is that the same Lord can transform our lives so that we can be what He has created us to be, and He does that by means of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, as we exalt the Lordship of Jesus Christ, translates the benefits of His Lordship to us so that we can experience the transformation power of God, taking away the things that ought not to be part of us and placing on us all that the new nature is designed to bring about in us.

The same Lord who brought about the Rocky Mountains is the same Lord who can bring about a productive, successful, and impactful Christian life to those who recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ, activating the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, minds, bodies, and souls. I need this, and I hope everyone here today senses a need to see Jesus Christ on the pages of the Word of God so that you might grow and look more like Jesus.

Altar Call

Very quickly, all across this room and those watching this Livestream service. If you are here today in two groups, number one, if you do not know Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are bound by death and don’t have the Spirit of the Lord we talk about today. You are bound, and there is no freedom. You can’t get free without Jesus. And so, if that is you, I invite you to come up to the front so we can pray for you and lead you to Christ. Don’t leave here today and miss the opportunity to come to Christ. If you want to recommit your life to Christ and get close to God, you can do that today. Please come to the front so our prayer partners can pray for you.

The second type is this, and the second group is this. And that is, if you feel like you have been a little bit deceived, and there is too much of your life that is still caught in that old world, that old self. God has called you out today. It is clear, and you need to let some of that go. Give it up in Jesus name. He will help you do it. I want you to come to the front, and some of our prayer partners will pray with you and encourage you.

Father God, let it be so. Those who need to know You to be unbound and free in Jesus, Lord, and everyone who needs to fully commit, alive, letting the old go, and taking up the new in Jesus’s name. Let’s everyone here today be champions of Christ to the glory of Your name. In Jesus, we pray. Everyone says Amen.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Let’s pray.

Benediction

Holy Spirit, I pray that You transform and empower God’s people. Dear God, we thank You for Your Word, church, grace, and love. We commit this church and everything to You. You are our God. We are Your people. And so, Lord, move among us in extraordinary and supernatural ways in these final moments through Your Spirit, in Jesus' name. Amen! Well, thank you for being here today and part of this service. God bless you, and may the peace of God be with you. We look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday for Bible Study.