The Holy Spirit Renews Purpose-1

This week we will celebrate the 4th of July.

The 249th birthday of our country.

And this nation needs the BIBLICAL Jesus more than ever!

Notice that I said, this country, WE, need the Biblical Jesus.

Not the syncritized versions that many Americans embrace.

A Jesus blended together from Buddhism, islam, paganism, witchcraft and fables.

A Jesus made up by Bible-illiterates, narcissists, and those who want to make God in their image.

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians in

2 Corinthians 11:3–4 (NLT) But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.

Too many today proclaim a “different Jesus.”

An Anonymous writer wrote:

“Too many Christians want a manageable, domesticated Jesus who makes no demands on their time, money, words, social life, and sexuality. In the midst of this great and growing deception, God is looking for uncompromising believers who are committed to proclaiming the truth of the gospel and NOT the counterfeit Jesus of Western Culture.”

Another Anonymous writer said:

“Too many of us have constructed a “god in a box,” a god whose job is merely to pander to our needs, desires, and ambitions.”

Bert Farias, writing in his book: The Real Jesus said:

What we behold is what we eventually become.

Farias says: When we behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror (this means, at least in part, to behold Him in the mirror of His Word and by the Spirit’s unveiling of Him to your spirit), we will gradually be transformed by the Holy Spirit into that same glory and reflect the brightness of that image out to the world.

That is in accordance with

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) So all of us who have had that veil removed [read about that veil in the verses prior to these] can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him [like Jesus] as we are changed into His glorious image.

Still another Anonymous writer said:

When we see Jesus as He is, glorious and worthy of our deepest loyalties and affections, deserving of our total focus and supreme attention; We will catch fire inwardly and burn with holy fear, and a holy hunger for the Word will grip our hearts, and we will proclaim Him as He is.

May the Holy Spirit refresh and renew our sense of purpose as we reach out to a nation gone mad.

A nation willfully deluded and oppressed by Satan.

May we, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, proclaim Jesus as He really is

The REAL Jesus, the Biblical Jesus.

Jesus told His disciples in …

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.””

Around our homes is our Jerusalem.

This country is our Judea.

All of the different cultures, ethnicities and languages are our Samaria.

Our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria needs to hear about the REAL Jesus, the Biblical Jesus.

And the Holy Spirit has been poured on us to do just that — tp proclaim the Biblical Jesus.

Some caricature of Jesus will not suffice.

As Dr. Michael Brown says: “We offer a motivational, pep-talk, feel-good, self-help, personal-empowerment Jesus rather than the Jesus of the Scriptures, and, in doing so, we damn our hearers rather than deliver them.”

No, on the 249th birthday of this country people need to hear about repentance, a turning away from sin, and a a turning to salvation that only comes through through Jesus the Christ.

Our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria needs to repent, acknowledge Jesus as Lord and be baptized in Jesus’ Name, like we will baptize Sawyer this morning.

A baptism that says we have died to our sins.

That we are raised in the newness of life that Jesus alone gives.

The Real Jesus

Yes, we must proclaim the Biblical Jesus.

After being beaten and thrown in a Philippian jail.

After God miraculously set him free.

After the jailer and his family were gloriously saved and baptized in water, we read in…

Acts 17:1–4 (NASB95) Now when they [Paul and Silas] had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.

The Apostle Paul proclaimed the Biblical Jesus, who is the Christ.

The Jesus who is, as the Apostles’ Creed says:

[I believe in ...] Jesus Christ, [God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth’s] only Son, our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born from the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead and buried,

descended to hell,

on the third day rose again from the dead,

ascended to heaven,

sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty,

from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead;

That’s the Biblical Jesus.

Most of us have heard the video of Dr. S.M. Lockridge as he tries to describe the indescribable Jesus.

Listen to it again…

That’s My King

Paul presented the REAL Jesus, and the Holy Spirit anointed his preaching and teaching and people were drawn to Him.

Paul presented the Jesus he knew.

The Jesus who interdicted him in Acts 9.

But Paul’s encounter with Jesus was not a one-off.

He kept having encounters with Jesus …

As he spent time in prayer.

As he searched the Jewish scriptures, the Old Testament, and saw Jesus on every page.

As the Holy Spirit led him to fresh revelations of who Jesus is.

That’s how WE can present the REAL Jesus ...

We must continually renew and refresh our relationship with Jesus.

If WE will seek Him in prayer.

We have an advantage over Paul — we have the writings of the New Testament — where we see Jesus in His earthly ministry, in His ministry in the Church and in His coming rule and reign in the millenium and the New heavens and New Earth — in the New Jerusalem.

If we ask, the Holy Spirit will lead US to fresh encounters, fresh revelations of Jesus.

Then, because we know Him, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit will present the REAL Jesus and those to whom we witness will be drawn to Jesus.

The REAL Jesus truly is irresistible.

Presenting a lost world with the REAL Jesus is what we are called to do.

ALL of us.

If we will as says:

1 Peter 3:15 (NASB95) … sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

Notice that before we make a defense to everyone who asks about the hope we have we first sanctify Jesus as Lord in our heart.

Everyday, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we set ourselves apart as yielded vessels for Jesus.

He rules and reigns over our lives — every moment of every day.

THEN we can present an accurate witness of the Biblical Jesus.

Responding to the Holy Spirit

The Jesus who said in…

Luke 19:10 (NLT) For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Jesus came 2000 years ago to seek those who were lost, but He has came to pursue you and me.

It reminds us of the great hymn, Amazing Grace.

Amazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost But now I'm found Was blind, but now I see

This beloved hymn was written by John Newton, a man who was a former slave trafficker.

“In 1748, Newton was captain of a slaving ship called the Greyhound.

The ship was in bad shape.

During a violent storm, it began to fall apart and take on water.

A crew member was swept overboard.

All night long Newton tried to keep the ship from going under.

And it caused him to think about the state of his life.

He knew he had run from God, hurt other people, and made a wreck out of his own situation.

Newton realized he might die in the storm.

And he wondered if God would be forgiving, even after Newton had rejected Him?

At last, Newton recalled what his mother had taught him from the Bible:

God loves to show mercy even to people who feel they are beyond redemption.

Newton asked for God's help for the first time in years.”

Through the Holy Spirit Newton was fully aware of the wretch that he was.

He knew where he had come from.

He knew that he was lost.

He needed to be saved from his sin!

He found the grace of God and that grace brought life to his spirit and he penned one of the most famous hymns of all time.

As the worship team comes...

If you would like to experience what John Newton did almost 300 years ago?

A relationship with the REAL Jesus,?

You can!

Turn to Him in repentance and surrender.

Repent of your sins and make Him Lord of your life.

Psalm 103:4–5 (NASB95) Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

Or maybe this morning you would like a renewed spirit, a rekindled relationship for one that has grown vold through neglect

within you today, you can have it.

All it requires is a simple prayer. One like this…

God, forgive me for my sin. I know it hurts your heart and disconnects me from you. Fill me with Your Spirit and empower me to live a life that is in line with Your will. Thank you for sending Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost. I once was lost but now I am found. Amen.

Altar call.

If you have truly repented of your sins and embraced the REAL, Biblical Jesus as Lord…

You will want to stay and witness Sawyer being baptized.

Witnessing a water baptism refreshes our memories of our own baptism and what it meant to us.

Sawyer’s baptism will remind you and refresh within you what Jesus did in your life.

About how you were buried with Christ in baptism — you died to your sins.

You will remember coming back up from under the water and how that was symbolic of rising to new life in Jesus.

It has been nearly 54 years since I was baptized in water.

But I remember it every time I baptize someone.

Closing prayer.