Untitled Sermon (2)

05-05-2019

Living with the Force

The Process

Welcome

Recap

Last week we talked about how Jesus said may the force be with you

See last week we actually went before that to explain to you how this whole thing works

Last week I pray you understand that salvation doesn’t happen apart from repentance of sin

You and I cannot come to Jesus without turning from our sin that is the repentance part

Then scripture says that the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us!

Church that only happens if we repent and believe that Jesus is the Lord

Then and only then does Jesus say to us may the Force be with you in essence

If you will recall last week we were able to see the Holy Spirit poured out on the believers like a violent rushing wind, and how it showed up in their lives by speaking in different tongues

We did note last week that if you and I repent of our sin and believe that Jesus is Lord and wait for a violent rushing wind or for the Spirit to show up in the form of speaking in different tongues then we might wait awhile

It doesn’t always happen like that

When the spirit landed on Jesus it was in the form of a dove!

We need to understand that when we repent of our sin and believe that Jesus is Lord the spirit comes and dwells within us

This week though I wanted us to move forward in our walks with Jesus

Hebrews 6:1 NASB95

1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

But what does it look like to grow in our walk

you are not to come to Jesus and then be done, you are to grow!

Jesus gives us some insight and a calling

rather than a call I believe we are given a command to live holy

1 Peter 1:16 NASB95

16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

See church this is how we are to live now as children of God

Remember God doesn't require you to fix this apart from Him, God isn’t saying that you have to be perfect and Holy without Him

Church we have people who are not coming to Chirst because they believe they have to have it all figured out

Church we are to repent and believe

We are to repent of our sin and believe that Jesus is Lord

That is the beginning of our relationship with Christ

That is salvation

Then after salvation we last we saw how we are given the Holy Spirit as a helper

We are given a helper because we were never designed to go at this Christian walk alone

We cant be like God on our own!

We need to help be made like God

That is what the Holy Spirit does for us

In the Christian walk the Holy Spirit continues to help make us Holy

Church because God commands that if we are in Christ and we are believers in Christ we are to be Holy because He is Holy

For us to be Holy

This may be a shocker, but you cannot remain or continue in Sin and go with Jesus

It doesn’t work

Now we understand that you won’t be completely Holy this side of heaven and this is called the sanctification process

the process of being made right and Holy

Colossians 3:1–5 NASB95

1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

Church as believers we are to put to death the things of this world

We need help doing that

that help comes from the Holy Spirit if you are in Christ

See church yesterday we took the girls to ride bikes

Emma doesn’t use training wheels

Lily started the day with training wheels but ended with no training wheels

Most parents probably can remember what that was like teaching your child to ride a bike without training wheels

See I remember her agreeing to taking the wheels off but then not wanting to get on the bike

She reluctantly got on and then would stop then got on and then would stop

Much like us after we come to a relationship with Christ

Because we don’t understand how the Holy Spirit works to help us!

I remember walking with her and running beside her

See church I was the Holy Spirit in that story, there is almost no way she could have or would have done what we were calling her todo

But she did it!

I remember telling her the entire time just to keep peddling

I wonder how many times I dismiss the words of the Holy Spirit because I think i know better

you and I can only do what God is calling us to do if we will listen and be obedient to what the Holy Spirit is telling us

He is there to coach us!

Church you cannot remain in sin, you cannot come to Jesus and be unchanged

We are changed because as believers in Christ the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and changes us!

We are different because we begin to set our things not on the things of this world but on the things above

WE do that because we have a relationship with Jesus because we repented of sin and believed that Jesus is lord

we are not setting our minds on things of this world because we want to be better people that is simply behavior modification

It is God inside us that helps set our minds on things above, but it is through obedience that we carry that out in our own lives

Church you cannot overcome the sin in your life apart from God and the continued refining process to continue to make you more and more like Jesus is only through a relatioship with Jesus

I hope you are understanding how this works

1 John 3:9 NASB95

9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

As believers in Christ

you cannot remain in sin and cannot continue to live in sin

we have people in the church today who along time ago prayed a prayer and someone told them they were saved

They grew up and continue to live like the world

That person church is not saved and is not known by God

We have people who think you can walk with Jesus and be a believer in Jesus and continue in sin

Church God is calling and commanding us to live Holy lives

You and I are to be set apart and you and I to be different than this world

When the world sees you they should see how good of a person you are they should see how much like Jesus you look like

Church it is not about being better people that is a by product of walking with Jesus

It is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that only comes from repentance of sin

Then the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and starts to go through our hearts and lives and gets ride of the worldly stuff and starts to replace it with Jesus

Church hear I am not saying that you and I need to be perfect but we should be being made perfect

That is what this walk is about it is about the process of being made holy with Jesus

But hear you have a responsibility in this walk as well

That means church you must start with a relationship with Jesus

then it goes to doing the things Jesus did

Wouldn’t you know he prayed, he knew scripture and memorized, he served

Those are the things we call the disciplines but if we are doing them out of our own power then we will only ever get what we can create then

But hear me church if we are willing to be obedient and lie Holy lives then we get life!

as we close this morning the musicians are going to come up

I want to make this clear

If you are hear today and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus meaning you can never remember a time in your life when you repented of your sin

then I would invite you to the front, there will be people down front who can open up the Word of God and show you how you can begin a relationship with Jesus

Or maybe you have a relationship with Jesus and this morning the Holy Spirit has used me to call you out in your sin and you are sitting there oh so uncomfortable because you are under conviction of sin

and you need to spend sometime on your knees down here at the altar repenting of sin this morning

as they begin to play you come