Fellowship_pt1: Bearing Witness
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Fellowship_pt1: Bearing Witness
Fellowship_pt1: Bearing Witness
2 Corinthians
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Lets focus this morning on the “fellowship of the Holy Spirit”
There is a powerful change that takes place in our lives when we receive Christ...
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Through His Holy Spirit we are regenerated - made new!
This happens by a connection - His Spirit to our spirit.
Our spirit, dead, has been given new life (in Christ). We are not the same!
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Bearing Witness
Bearing Witness
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
(v17) “and if children, then heir - heirs of God and join heirs with Christ”
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
[PAYOFF] - Bears witness - “To show that something exist or is true.”
The Spirit “bears witness” that we are God’s children
Q: How do we know? What is the proof? The DNA test??
A: The Holy Spirit!
[ASK] Have you recieved the Holy Spirit?
[PAYOFF] - Through His Holy Spirit, our lives are completely transformed...
[TRANSITION] - According to , we are no longer the same.
We aren’t just different, we no longer belong in the same realm of Creation.
Transformed
Transformed
Transformed
Transformed
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
Flesh vs Spirit...
The flesh has it’s way and deeds.
The Spirit as well.
[NOW] it is a matter of living according to the flesh (with it’s fruit) or the Spirit (with it’s fruit).
[PAYOFF] - Through His Holy Spirit, our lives are completely transformed...
There is a time where Paul came across a group of Disciples. He must have noticed something about them...
and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
We don’t know what Paul may have noticed, or what stood out to him, but he must have recognized something was missing.
[PAYOFF] - When you receive the Holy Spirit, you are transformed!
Have you found yourself saying and doing things that you never imagined you could do? - That is the Holy Spirit at work in you!
I can look at many of us who have taken great strides since we first arrived here at Connect Church. - That is the Holy Spirit at work in us!
Led by the Spirit
Led by the Spirit
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
[PAYOFF] - When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are led by the Spirit!
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
[PAYOFF] - The flesh desires and lives one way, the Spirit another.
We don’t make decisions the same. We are led by the Spirit@
We don’t see things to same. We see in the Spirit!
We don’t respond in fear. We respond in the Spirit!
[TRANSITION] - We are now filled with power!
Filled with power
Filled with power
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
In Genesis - the Spirit hovered over the waters
In Job - “By His breath the skies became fair”
David, Samson, Paul, all by the power of the Spirit!
Day of Pentecost - 3,000 saved.
Some say the entire population of Jerusalem was 30K - that is 10%!
Forney’s population is 20K. 2K can be saved THIS MORNING!
Life to your mortal bodies - Life = Power!
Power over sin and darkness
Power over bondages
Power over sickness
Power over mindsets, attitudes, fear
Power over the enemy
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”
(With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:
“ ‘May his place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in it,’
and,
“ ‘May another take his place of leadership.’
Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
[PAYOFF} - We are His witnesses (WE BEAR WITNESS TO CHRIST) through the power of the Holy Spirit!
;8
Be filled!
Be filled!
[APPEAL] - Receive this gift! Be filled with His Holy Spirit!
“Don’t get drunk” - there are other things in life that can bring a sense of relief or retreat from troubles. They may even bring a sense of “lift” from the heaviness of life - an escape for a moment.
But those things only provide a mask - temporary and false.
However, the Spirit transforms with power.
Be FILLED, speaking life, singing with true joy and thankfulness - real lift, not just escape.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Don’t get drunk” - there are other things in life that can bring a sense of relief or retreat from troubles. They may even bring a sense of “lift” from the heaviness of life - an escape for a moment.
But those things only provide a mask - temporary and false.
However, the Spirit transforms with power.
Be FILLED, speaking life, singing with true joy and thankfulness - real lift, not just escape.
[TRANSITION] - So how does one be filled?...
Request
Request
Request
Request
[CONTEXT] - () “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened...”
“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
[PAYOFF] - Simply ask!
[TRANSITION] - Then...
Receive
Receive
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Again, the life-breath of God enters into man, through His Holy Spirit!
[PAYOFF] - RECIEVE!
This is not only a one time thing.
REMEMBER, the Holy Spirit bears witness with out spirit.
That is an on-going communion = fellowship!
Go there daily, throughout the day.
Go there NOW! This is a real, tangible fellowship!
(v.23) It’s mission critical - Jesus was sending them in His power.
Later we read this from Paul, same mission at stake...
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Respond
Respond
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
RESPOND - Respond to the power you have recieved. You are no longer the same...
You are transformed!
You are led by the Spirit!
You are filled with power!
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Take Away
Take Away
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
When you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive a seal, the deposit or guarantee of the inheritance of eternal life. So...
Request, receive and respond!
The Spirit is our guarantee!
The Spirit is our guarantee!
Fellowship with the Spirit daily!