People of the Spirit
YAFI 2025 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsOnce we have been born of the Spirit, we are called to wlak in the Spirit!
Notes
Transcript
So, this one time I was at a festival in Morden Manitoba. My family had gone there as Dad was the drummer for one of the bands. I remember being at one booth at this festival, and I looked across the road, and there was this other booth that said “atheist club of…” I can’t remember.
Have you ever had one of those ideas that was not quite fully formed, but just formed enough to get you into trouble? I had one of those at that moment. “I should go over there!” And do what? I hadn’t gotten that far, but I worked up the nerve as a 17 yr old Christian to go over and talk to them.
But I had forgotten what I was wearing. I was wearing my t-shirt that says “full of the Holy Spirit.” So the one guy spots me and goes “full of the spirit? what kind?…”
I literally didn’t know what to say. I think I stumbled across a feeble comeback, and eventually left. Oops.
Debate club I don’t think would be my jam.
Have you ever stopped to think about what it means to be full of the Holy Spirit? That could be a strange term to anyone, even those who have heard it many times. Here’s another one; “Born again.” What does that mean?? We’re going to talk about that today.
YAFI
Question: Is salvation the same as being born again and filled with the Holy Spirit?
Good question! Being born again and Spirit filled are different, but they work together!
Big idea: Once we are born of the Spirit, we are called to walk in the Spirit
Today we’re going to look at different stories in the Bible and see what it means to be born again, and then filled with the Holy Spirit. I think as we talk about these things today, there is going to be space made for the Holy Spirit to move. Can I encourage you to allow God to grow you, or maybe even speak to you about being born again, if you’ve never experienced that? I think God is reminding us that we are people filled with His Spirit, and to live in that.
Born Again
Born Again
As we consider that once we are born of the Spirit, we are called to walk in the Spirit, our first aspect is that we must be born again. What is born again? Perhaps the best way for us to start is with a definition of what salvation is:
“Salvation means to receive the Spirit, to be forgiven, reconciled with God and others, born again, and liberated from sin and darkness, transferring the believer into God’s kingdom.” (PAOC Statement of Essential Truth, 2024)
This is a quick “overview” statement that you can find in our statement of essential truths as a church and fellowship. Notice that part of being saved is this concept of being born again. To understand this better, let’s turn to John 3:1-8, where Jesus introduces the idea of being “Born again” or “Born from above.”
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Here we meet a man named Nicodemus, who is a Jew, and a teacher of Old Testament law to the Jews. He’s a religious leader, and well-regarded. He meets Jesus at night, probably because he wants to keep this meeting secret, and admits to Jesus that He is a great teacher. He’s got respect for Jesus, yet is still in unbelief over who Jesus really is.
Then Jesus breaks his little religious box by telling him he must be born again. This phrase born again could also be translated as born from above. Why does it break Nicodemus’s boxes? Because Nicodemus is a Jew, and he believes that to be saved and see eternal life one needed to be part of God’s people Israel, and keep the law. Jesus turned it upside down, saying that it is those who are born from above, who are born again that receive the promised eternal life and salvation. This blew Nicodemus’s mind. It shattered his “boxes.” He was still thinking earthly - not spiritually - when he asks Jesus how someone can be born a second time? How is that physically possible?? It’s not, of course, but Jesus wasn’t teaching a second physical birth. Rather, someone must be born of water and the Spirit. This could be said as water, that is the Spirit (Cornerstone, Horton). Why? Because that which is earthly brings forth only of its kind. therefore, to be spiritually renewed you must be brought forth by the One who spiritually renews.
While Nicodemus is marveling and struggling to believe this, Jesus makes something clear: Just like you can see the wind and hear the wind, but cannot control it, so it is with the Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit controls the process of salvation, not you. So Nicodemus, don’t try to tell God how people should be saved, but accept His plan!
So, what is born again?
Being born again means to be spiritually renewed, regeneration, or being made new.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Now you are born of God, which means you are a changed person.
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
We often have used this term to ask if someone is saved, because it is an essential part of salvation. Not only is our legal standing before God changed from guilty to not guilty, but there is a heart transformation that takes place. Now a person is made new in Jesus, confessing and believing in Him as Savior. They are born from above - a work of the Holy Spirit making someone new.
Why do we need to be born again?
Jesus is pretty clear with Nicodemus: You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is something we are already a part of here. Yet we look forward to it in eternity to come! Want eternal life? You need to be saved by Christ. Thereby you become part of God’s kingdom and an heir of eternal life. How does this happen? When you are born again. Remember what the Bible says about our state before Jesus:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We were dead, so we need to be made new again. We need spiritual renewing. We need to be born again. This comes through Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit to place in us a new heart.
Who is it that are born again?
The gospel writer John, in the opening of his account of the life of Jesus, said this about Jesus:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
It is interesting that right before this we read that He came to His own, but they did not receive Him. He went to His own people, but many would not believe. Yet for all who do receive Him and believe, He makes them children of God. Heirs of the kingdom, and re-born from above. Similarly 1 Peter says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Now we have a living hope! Now we are made new and alive in Christ.
Of course, someone is not totally perfect when born again. Instead, it is the first step on a journey with Jesus that lasts for however long you have on this earth.
Now, here’s where it gets good:
(Transition thought) - - - Being born from above is not an end in itself. It is only the first step toward living in the Spirit. - Horton, S. M. “What the Bible Says about the Holy Spirit,” p. 115.
Maybe a great way to illustrate this is with my kids. (I know, those poor pastors’ kids are always becoming sermon illustrations. You can think about your kids though. First, we are born. Small, fragile, holding much potential yet not much of it yet realized. What must happen? We must grow! When Jon was born, he was this tiny little thing weighing just 6lbs, 14 oz. Now, just over three years later, he’s more like 30 pounds and can walk, talk, express himself, form opinions, etc.
The way God has ordained things to work is that we come out of the womb ready to grow, and we spend the rest of our lives growing physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Hopefully all that is forward, positive growth.
So it is when we are born again. This is not the end, but the beginning of life with Christ!
Remember…
Big Idea: Once we are born of the Spirit, we are called to walk in the Spirit.
First we see we must be born of the Spirit. Now, let’s turn to the idea of being filled with the Spirit and see how this is part of the growth in the life of the Christian.
Spirit-Filled
Spirit-Filled
The second part of our question addresses being “filled with the Holy Spirit.” What does that mean?
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a Biblical concept! Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit during His earthly ministry:
You are witnesses of these things.
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
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.”
From the Father, through Christ Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church. What happens? They begin to speak in other languages, and tell people about the gospel! Peter, using Joel 2:28-32, shows us that the time for this new empowering is now;
“ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
So what is filling with the Holy Spirit? It means to live in the Spirit’s dynamic, empowering presence. Now you experience the gifts of the Spirit, are empowered for witness, and see miracles happen.
Here’s what we need to understand: being filled with the Holy Spirit was normal for the early believers. You get saved, and you’re filled with the Holy Spirit and experience this dynamic empowerment. Boom: Normal experience. In our world today we think that it’s just pentecostals that want to be baptized and full of the Holy Spirit. Can we drop the distinctions for a while? It was NOT some Pentecostal, or crazy out-there Christian thing. It was normal for the early church. Yet this somehow got dropped over the last 1900+years of church history.
“Christian life came to consist of conversion without empowering, baptism without obedience, grace without love…. evidence little or nothing of the work of the Spirit in their lives. Cheap grace, Bonhoeffer put it.” - Gordon Fee.
But for those in the NT, the Spirit was very powerful and active…
What we must understand is that the Spirit was the chief element, the primary ingredient, of this new existence. For early believers, it was not merely a matter of getting saved, forgiven, prepared for heaven. It was above all else to receive the Spirit, to walk into the coming age with power. - Gordon Fee
For us, we hear “baptism in the Holy Spirit” or being “filled with the Holy Spirit” and think of crazy Pentecostals jabbering nonsense from chandeliers. [hopefully people laugh]. Yet in the New Testament there were none these distinction. There were just people being saved and living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Can we maybe be willing to recapture that again?
Lets look at Acts again:
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God….
Now turn to Acts 19:
And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
Did you notice, the believers were saved, and then received the Spirit? In both of these instances they spoke in tongues too. Were they Pentecostals then? Hardly, rather they were Christians who knew the dynamic empowering of the Spirit.
Friends, we are people born of the Spirit, and now called to live in the Spirit! More important than timing is actually receiving the Spirit’s empowering! it was ultra important for the early church, and it should be for us now.
Does that mean we must always speak in tongues? Not necessarily, but let me ask you this: why not? It is not the only sign of the Spirit’s filling, but it is a sign, that clearly came to many in Acts. So, why not? It’s a gift, and we should seek it.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a normal part of being a Christian! But we must also note: It is not just a one-time deal.
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Did you see what happened?! The believers - those who had received the Spirit at Pentecost two chapters earlier - are now praying again for boldness! Wait, but I thought they had already been baptized with the Holy Spirit? They were, but it’s not just once and done! They sought a fresh infilling, and God gave with abundance.
So too, for us we should not think that God only fills us once. Friends, I believe it delights our God when His people - born again by the Spirit - seek fresh infilling of the spirit’s dynamic, empowering presence! That’s not bad, that’s good!
As it says in John 7 38
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
So, what if you prayed a new prayer today? What if you prayed:“Lord, give me more! Fill me up, even more than I already am. Bring a fresh infilling, a fresh moving of your Holy Spirit in my life, I pray.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Big idea: Once we are born of the Spirit, we are called to walk in the Spirit
Friends, we are called to walk in the Spirit! Why? because we are born of the Spirit! We are people of the Holy Spirit, empowered for these last days as we wait for Jesus Christ to return.
First we saw that being born again means spiritual renewal. You are born now not of flesh and this earth, but of God. Jesus says that it is those who are born from above - born of God who receive eternal life. This is the Spirit’s doing, through the atoning work of Jesus!
However, not only does the Spirit make us new, but Christ pours Him out upon us, just like the early church. Now it is a normal and right thing that we should seek the dynamic, empowering baptism and filling with the Holy Spirit! The early church considered it normal. Therefore, we can consider it normal too.
Your story will look different from mine. For me, I first experienced this dynamic infilling in a basement, during an online silent prayer meeting sitting on a pile of laundry. (It was the only quite space in the house!) For some of you, it may have been in a church service, a revival meeting, with a friend, or in your bedroom. Some may have spoken in tongue, some not. Some may have experienced that many years after receiving salvation, so may have experienced immediately after being saved. God is the author of each story. But the point is that we continue to seek fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, and ask Jesus - as functional Lord in this church - to empower His church more for service to Him.
Our mission statement is to “develop passionate Jesus followers.” In other words, we want to see people born again, and experiencing the dynamic filling of the Holy Spirit. Are you ready for this?
Maybe you have known Jesus as Savior and Lord for a long time, but you want to know what it means to live in the power of the Spirit! Seek God! The disciples in the upper room spent days in prayer waiting, and received. Look, if this is you, begin to continually ask God, and He will pour out His Spirit upon you like you’ve never known!
Maybe you’ve experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit here, and but you desire more. Again, seek God, and ask. He will pour His Spirit out upon you with abundance.
Maybe you want to know Jesus, but you don’t know Him yet. Maybe something is pulling at you right now inviting you to come and give your life to Christ. If that is you, you can do that right now! He is waiting for you, and He wants to pour out His Spirit upon you too.
