THE DOVE

Tithe and Offering

Let’s go ahead and collect our tithe and offering. Giving to God is not an event but a part of our worship experience. Your giving is a testament to your faith and love for God. So, as we give to God today, let's give with a cheerful heart because it brings glory to God and helps our church share the good news. Ushers, please pass around the offering plates. Please follow the instructions on the screen on how to give.

Welcome

We welcome you to our Sunday Worship. We are glad to have you with us today. We also welcome all who join us online. Please greet some folks around you and welcome them to worship.

Announcement

MEN’S BREAKFAST is canceled for this Saturday. Men, we will meet in May for our Men’s Breakfast. So, to all the men, please come next month so we can fellowship, spend time in God’s Word, and get to know one another.

Our church’s weekly WEDNESDAY NIGHT CONNECT BIBLE STUDY is the foundation of our spiritual growth. And we meet here every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. This week, we will be studying Luke chapter 18. Please join us as we connect with God and each other through DYNAMIC DEVOTION, and RELEVANT TEACHING.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray that You will open our eyes so that we may behold the wondrous things from Your Word according to Psalm 119:18. I also pray that You help me to speak faithfully and allow us to hear Your Word as it grows in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory. Amen.

Declaration of Faith in God

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

SERMON INTRODUCTION

We are getting close to finishing our sermon series on the Names of the Holy Spirit, and today, I want to draw your attention to another name or symbol of the Holy Spirit. The name of the Holy Spirit we will be studying today is The Dove. According to the Scripture, when John baptized Jesus, it says, “The dove came from heaven and rested on Him,” and of that, he spoke of the Holy Spirit.

So, to speak of the Holy Spirit, last Sunday, we saw Him as the Living Water; this time, we can talk about Him as a Dove. It is interesting in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which talk about Jesus having this dove come and rest on Him; Luke, the physician, says something very interesting that Matthew, Mark, and John don't say. Luke says in Luke 3:22, “The Holy Spirit came down in bodily form as a dove.” The other Gospels don't say that.

So, there was a physical representation or symbol of the Holy Spirit, like a dove. Last time, we saw the Holy Spirit come as Living Water. This time, Luke says, He came in bodily form like a dove. That tells you that sometimes, the way the Holy Spirit ministers, his particular ministry to you, based on what you need, based on what you are going through, or what he has to give, he does so in bodily form; that is, he comes in a physical feature.

So when we talk about the Holy Spirit, yes, we are talking about this unseen or invisible person of the Godhead (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit), but he will often show up through a physical expression. You never know how the Holy Spirit will manifest himself, but one of the ways he does is in bodily form. This is why the Scripture tells us not to turn strangers away but to entertain strangers. You can be turning away an angel of God unbeknownst to you.

SERMON EXPOSITION

So, the Holy Spirit is becoming even more real because our need for him is greater. Now, the question on the floor is, why would the Holy Spirit come like a dove? Let’s go back to the Old Testament, starting with the book of Genesis. One of the early mentions of the dove in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 8.

In Genesis chapter 8, verses 9 through 12, Noah, a man of God, a man of vision, a man of integrity, and a man who desires God’s presence. Noah was the VIP of his day – vision, integrity, and God’s presence. Noah is on a big boat because the world is flooded. It has rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and Noah needs to know whether the rain has diminished. So, Noah sends a dove, but the dove returns to the boat, meaning there is no place to land. He sends out the dove a second time, and the dove flies back because there is no place to land.

But this next time, Noah sends out a dove, which returns with an olive branch in its mouth. That means that vegetation has begun to arise. There are trees and olive trees, which means that the judgment is over, and now it is time to be released to a renewed life and a new beginning.

So, when the Holy Spirit showed up and came as a dove when Jesus was baptized, here it is: he was renewing something. He was bringing heaven to earth. And God wants you to experience a little bit of heaven while living here on earth.

The world has been overwhelmed by water and a flood, but the good news of the dove is that the negative is over, renewal has come to the world, and new life is to be experienced. You want the Holy Spirit as a dove in your Christian life because he wants to let you know that what is ahead of you is better than what is behind you. All the negative things of the flood are now over.

I have you an olive branch. Let me tell you what an olive branch is. An olive branch is a branch of peace. And so, the coming of the Holy Spirit as a dove lets you know that conflict has ended and peace is on the horizon. According to Psalm chapter 55, verse 6, doves come to bring you rest. "O that I might have wings like a dove so that I could fly away and be at rest." The Holy Spirit wants to give you rest.

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, we are helpless. The Holy Spirit is here to give you rest when evil people or spiritual enemies oppress us or when troubles of the world bring fear. We often wish to find rest and relief; the real solution is only seeking the Holy Spirit, and he will rest upon you, especially in your hour of greatest need. You want the Holy Spirit to encounter and to be in a dynamic fellowship with this third member of the Trinity because he can give you rest in the midst of chaos.

Is anyone here today who sometimes wants a quick escape from an emotional, physical, circumstantial, or relational scenario? You see, you and I live in a world of chaos, conflict, doom, and gloom, and the list of what we experience goes on and on. But the good news is that a member of the Trinity called the Holy Spirit is sensitive to what we experience.

The Holy Spirit is a delicate (sensitive) member of the Trinity, but watch this; stay with me. The Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity who has been placed on earth to work with all believers now. Another thing about the Holy Spirit is that he cannot be changed. The Holy Spirit reacts quickly to things emotionally.

So, why do you need to know all that about the Holy Spirit? Open your Bible to John 14:17. Jesus said, “But you know the Holy Spirit because He remains with you and will be in you.” Aha, this is what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is alongside you and, at the same time, within you, and he is aware of (sensitive) what you experience. So, if you are unhappy, you will make the Holy Spirit unhappy. If you are sad, you will make the holy Spirit sad. If you are frustrated with life, you will frustrate the Holy Spirit because he is in and with you.

Some of the emotional ups and downs we experience as Christians involve feeling what the Spirit is feeling inside us. The Holy Spirit is called holy because he is pure, which means he is unmixed, exclusive, and separate from evil. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 4, beginning with verse 25. “Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. Be angry, and do not sin.” do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”

Watch this: in verse 30, he brings up the name of the Holy Spirit again when he says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The Holy Spirit is sensitive and easily grieved. You can grieve the Holy Spirit because he is inside of you and with you.

Let me quickly share two things you must know that grieve the Holy Spirit. “Unwholesome (harmful) words come out of your mouth.” You grieve the Holy Spirit with your tongue when bad stuff comes out of your mouth. The Holy Spirit is grieved when you use unwholesome language designed to tear folks down and not build them up.

That means the Holy Spirit is listening to your vocabulary because unwholesome words make him sad. You cannot get rid of the Holy Spirit because you are sealed with him. He says, “The Holy Spirit is locked in you.”

Ephesians 5:4 puts it this way, “Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.” Christians are not supposed to tell dirty jokes or talk like the folks that are in the world. So every time you use profanity, every time you cuss, every time you tell dirty jokes, every time you take your tongue, and you use it as an illegitimate weapon, the Holy Spirit reacts, and you grieve the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is watching your mouth, and the devil is also watching your mouth.

Illustration

Both the Holy Spirit and the devil listen to your talk, and when the devil sees the unlawful use of the tongue, it becomes an open door for the devil to invade life. And so, one of the reasons we cannot get over stuff, especially our past, is that the Spirit in us is crying and grieving, and the devil is happy.

The devil is happy, and the Spirit is crying. As a result, the Spirit does not work in our lives because we are letting the devil’s tongue control our speech, thoughts, and actions. Once that happens and the Holy Spirit shuts down on you because he has been grieved by you, me, or our church, then the reason he has been given to us is not working and functioning.

When you hurt another person, the Holy Spirit is grieved and saddened because he is sensitive. The Holy Spirit, according to Isaiah 63, verse 10, says, “But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore, he turned himself to become their enemy, and he, God, fought against them.” So watch this. When the Holy Spirit is grieved and saddened by your speech, actions, or how you treat others, the Bible says, “God stops working for you and starts working against you” because he is too sad inside you.

First (1) Thessalonians 5:19, a familiar verse that most of you know, says, “Quench not the Holy Spirit.” Quench is a picture of a fire that you pour water on to quench and put out. One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs is to convict you when you are off track.

Many of us have been hit by the Holy Spirit’s trying to hold us back, and we are pouring water on the Holy Spirit. To put this another way, we hush the Holy Spirit, turn the alarm off, quench the Holy Spirit, and pour water on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit creates a burning desire within us, a discomfort about our actions and reactions.

The Holy Spirit was seen as a dove on Jesus to mark his purity and gentleness, and he came down like a dove from heaven to show that he descended from heaven alone. Doves are very sensitive and pure, and they desire a peaceful environment in which to live. They retreat quickly, they react quickly, and you can't do anything about it if you are a Christian because you have been sealed until the day of redemption according to Ephesians 4:30. And so you may not be a delicate (sensitive) Christian, but you carry feelings (sensitivity) inside of you and with you because that is what the dove is.

We will close our message for today by looking at James chapter 4. In the first ten verses, James talks about our relationship with God. He talks about our unanswered prayers and wrong motives in the first three verses. “And you have not because you ask not or when you pray, you have the wrong motivation."

James complains. So, what is the problem? He comes to verse 4, and he says, “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.” James is writing to Christians because in verse 5, he says, “Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate and that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.”

When the Spirit sees that you love the things of the world, the system headed by Satan that leaves God out. And so, many Christians today are enemies of God. Many Christians are living in spiritual conflict with God.

God is jealous that far too many Christians today are messing with the Holy Spirit because of their commitment to the things of this world. God is jealous of you, which leads to you not hearing the voice of God and not seeing God at work in your life. God is not interested in opportunists. Folks who only come to church because they want something from God but don’t want a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is not interested in folks who want to benefit from Him but don't care about the relationship.

So, what do we do as Christians to get back on track? Let me help you. In verse 7 of James chapter 4, we are told to “Submit to God and resist the devil, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts; you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and let your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you.” If you and God are not close or used to be, guess what? God has not moved. So James says, “Come close to God, and He will come close to you. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

Faith Appeal and Call to Action (Conclusion)

In closing, the most significant issue today is drawing near to God. Drawing near is more than going to church every Sunday. Church, by the way, is essential, but it has its place in our relationship with Jesus and walk with God. The church cannot replace a daily desire for you to draw close to God, a daily experience and encounter with God. Drawing near to God on Sunday morning during worship service is not enough to fill us up with the presence of God. So, I challenge you, me, and us collectively as a body, the church, to draw near God and no longer leave Him out of our everyday lives, decision-making, choices, and goals so that He is now included in all of life. And God promises us that if we come to Him and acknowledge Him, He will draw near to you, me, and us and give us a fresh experience of His Spirit in our hearts, minds, and souls.

Altar Call

Now, to receive the Holy Spirit, which we talked about in our sermon today, you have to be a part of God’s Kingdom. To be a part of the Kingdom, you must become a Christian. There is only one way to do that: by coming to Jesus Christ by faith for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life. It is free, and it would cost you nothing. Jesus promises to give that gift to anyone who comes to Him for it by faith. That is, you trust Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Jesus died on the cross for your sins and in your place. The Lord Jesus Christ wants to enter your life and forgive you of your sins so you can start your life again with Jesus at the center of your life. And use you until He takes you to heaven. Jesus wants to do all that just for you, but you must come to Him first and receive it. Will you right now come to Jesus simply by act of faith and with a simple prayer and say, Lord Jesus, I need a Savior because I am a sinner. And so today, I choose You to be that Savior and entrust my eternal destiny to You.

For those who are already Christians, I urge you to reaffirm your commitment to Jesus Christ. This is the core principle of Holy Communion: a time of renewal with Christ. It is not just about being a local church member but about being a citizen of heaven first. So, today, I invite you to recommit to Jesus to make Him the center of your life again.

Let’s Pray.

Benediction

My prayer for everyone, Lord, is that we draw near to You and follow You faithfully. That this week, each of us will find rest in You and follow Your command. May Your Holy Spirit give us peace and fill our hearts, minds, and souls. We thank You for a powerful time in Your Word and in Worship. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you so much for spending time with us. We will see you next week at 10:30 a.m. Until then, have a great week, and God bless you.