Called by His Spirit

Intro:

Which apple would you choose? I’m assuming that you are making your decision based on the color of the apple. When it comes to choosing a church, there are many flavors and they may look very different.

But what many of you didn’t know is that one of these apples is fake. Here I have a fake apple. Which one would you choose? One is fake, it may look like an apple. Only one is good for you. The other one has the appearance of being good for you, but if you ingest it, I imagine that it wouldn’t be. One of them was pulled from a growing and living tree. The other of them is man made.

When it comes to your walk with God, do you have the real thing? How do you know? How do you know you were not just manipulated into calling yourself a Christian. An eloquent speech, an emotional song brought about Or maybe you weren’t manipulated, but how do you know that you haven’t began following a man, rather than the Lord?

The Corinthians were choosing their flavor of Christianity based on what looked good to them, based on what pleased their ears, what preacher was most eloquent. They chose a Christianity that pleased them intellectually, borrowing from the man-made Greek-Philosophies of the day instead of staying rooted in the gospel. Just as Adam and Eve chose the fruit that would give them “knowledge of good an evil,” so the Corinthians were trading the true wisdom that we have in Jesus Christ for a Christianity that was philosophically pleasing.

The Real Thing is marked by the Spirit of God

Paul wants the Corinthians to be reminded of how God worked in their lives when they heard the gospel, responding to God’s movement, not a man-made gospel. He wanted them to think about how they had drifted away from the real thing.

Paul wants the Corinthians to be reminded of how God worked in their lives when they heard the gospel, responding to God’s movement, not a man-made gospel.

READ 2:1-5

SUMMARIZE PASSAGE: This passage emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

The saving message and the saving power both come from the Holy Spirit.

v. 4 He wanted their faith to be based on the powerful working of the Spirit

V. 6-10 He says that He does speak a wisdom among the mature. He is saying that those who are mature in Christ recognize that the gospel is the supreme example of the wisdom of God. It was previously unknown, a mystery, or secret, but it has not been revealed V. 10 True Wisdom was revealed to the apostles by the Spirit

V. 10 True Wisdom was revealed to the apostles by the Spirit

Who is the Holy Spirit?

-The 3rd person of the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God, but three persons, each of them are fully divine.

-He, not an it. He is a Counselor, a Comforter a teacher, He is grieved when we sin (). He indwells every believer.

The Holy Spirit...

revealed God’s thoughts. v. 10-11

If you want the real thing, you want to know what God thinks about life. What does He think about sin? What does He think about salvation.

He revealed the Wisdom spoken of in verses 6-9 to the apostles.

Are any of you tired of peoples’ opinions. What does God think?

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. JFK People express their opinion without even thinking.

Don’t you want to give something solid.

In the 1970s, no one questioned whether eggs really were the heart-attack risk nutritionists warned us about. Now, of course, eggs have become such a cherished food that many people raise their own laying hens.

COConut oil - good for you? bad for you? Don’t eat it.

Even things that seem the most sure are not so much.

Parents, Fathers…give a good foundation to your Kids. Help them to know God’s thoughts.

A rather obscure but important study conducted by the Swiss government published in 2000 revealed some astonishing facts with regard to the generational transmission of faith and religious values. In short the study reveals that "It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children."The study reported:

"If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. Only a quarter of their children will end up not practicing at all.If the father is irregular and mother regular, only 3 percent of the children will subsequently become regulars themselves, while a further 59 percent will become irregulars. Thirty-eight percent will be lost.

inspired God’s Word. v. 12-13

to the apostles

2 Timothy 3:16 HCSB

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

Matthew

Aren’t you thinkful that lawyer didn’t write the gospel? or as a professional legal document.

BE IT KNOWN, THAT THIS DAY, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PURSUANT TO MY POWERS UNDER ARTICLE II, SECTION 2, CLAUSE 1, OF THE CONSTITUTION, HA VE GRANTED UNTO

I. LEWIS LIBBY

ALSO KNOWN AS

"SCOOTER" LIBBY

A FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL P ARDON

FOR HIS CONVICTION in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on an indictment (Docket No. 1:05CR394) charging violations of Sections 1001(a)(2), 1503, and 1623, Title 18, United States Code, for which he was sentenced on June 14, 2007, to a total of 30 months' imprisonment, two years' supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

I HEREBY DESIGNATE, direct, and empower the Acting Pardon Attorney, as my representative,tosignagrantofclemencytothepersonnamedherein. TheActingPardon Attorney shall declare that his action is the act of the President, being performed at my direction.

John 3:16 HCSB

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

THE REAL THING IS ALWAYS ROOTED IN THE SPIRIT’S MESSAGE. EXPRESSING GOD’S THOUGHTS IN GOD’S WORDS.

What you hold in your hand is a precious thing.

Illuminates our minds. v. 14-15

Perspicuity- The doctrine does mean that

Scripture is clear enough for the simplest person, deep enough for highly qualified

readers, clear in its essential ma tters, obscure in som e places to people because of

their sinfulness, understandable through ordinary means, understandable by an

unsaved person on an external level, understandable in its significance by a saved

person through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and available to every believer

whose faith must rest on the Scriptures.

Even though you can understand it, it brushes against your nature in such a way that you despise it.

Before

We want a message that says we can save ourselves...

We want a message that tells us that we are good enough...

We want a message that says that our good outweighs our bad...

We want a message that makes us the judge, not God, to where we are in control of our own destiny.

Instead we are told that every human being is a sinner, their destiny is to be separated from God in a place of punishment forever. We are told that we can’t save ourselves and that we must rely on another.

to all believers. God sought you out by His grace.

1 Corinthians 1:18 HCSB

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.

John 6:44 HCSB

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

John 3:14–19 HCSB

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God. “This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

John 3:9–15 HCSB

“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus. “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. “I assure you: We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven? No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven —the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.

John 3:7–8 HCSB

Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

John 3:30–35 HCSB

He must increase, but I must decrease.” The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms. The One who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. The one who has accepted His testimony has affirmed that God is true. For God sent Him, and He speaks God’s words, since He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands.

John 3

John 3:

John 6:9-18

John 3:1–8 HCSB

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.” Jesus replied, “I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “But how can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked Him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?” Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Is God’s presence with us?

Have confidence that your faith came from God, not man-made manipulation.

Don’t idolize or be divided over people, programs, or preferences, recognize that it was His message and His Spirit’s drawing that brought you to Christ.

Pray for those who need Jesus.

Recognize that all of your salvation is by grace.

Main truths:

God’s grace is needed to be saved. Not only in providing salvation, but also with our choosing salvation.

The message was simple, the manner was unimpressive, yet the Spirit does the work.

Ministry dependent upon the Holy Spirit gives confidence to those who believe. They know that it is not manipulation.

The Spirit reveals the mysteries about Christ (in the Scriptures) but also reveals spiritual things existentially in the human heart.

The unbeliever does not understand the things of the Spirit

Main Practical applications:

How do we get men involved in church? The Spirit must do it.

Pray.

Praise God for His Salvation.