Ours For the Asking

Introduction

It sure is nice to start meeting again.

Next week is our grand reopening and Father’s Day

I had hoped to have a grand party, but that’s still allowed, since it would involve food.

But, we can still celebrate and when we can we’ll have a great a party.

I’d like to continue the series on the Holy Spirit that we’ve been for the past several weeks

We talked about who the Holy Spirit is, how Jesus and the early church relied on the Holy Spirit, last week we saw how we can be filled with the Spirit.

Today I’d like to talk about why we have such a desperate need of the power of the Holy Spirit and yet, we struggle with this everyday.

Let’s look again at a verse that we’ve looked at before in this series - Luke 11:11-13

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

God is the ever-watching, merciful Father, who loves to give if we just ask

One thing I’ve learned and still learning is when you become aware of your great need and God’s great willingness you become a person of great prayer.

A lot of us have a real problem maintaining a disciplined prayer life.

We want it, we desire it, but we just have a hard keeping it up.

You work on self-discipline, you pray for it, you read books and do everything you can to keep it up.

The reason we have such hard time with prayer is at its core its a gospel problem.

We don’t pray because we are either unaware of our need or unconvinced of God’s willingness to help.

When you finally believe those two things, prayer becomes just like breathing.

Do you ever think about breathing?

That’s the way prayer becomes.

Today, let’s look at the connection between prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Can we make this verse our prayer as a church

Habakkuk 3:2, “LORD, I have heard the report about you; LORD, I stand in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these years; make it known in these years. In your wrath remember mercy!”

I want to show you that every spiritual awakening begins with intense times of prayer

Secondly, 5 things in the Bible that the Holy Spirit does when He come, which are things that only He can do.

Connection Between Prayer And The Power Of The Holy Spirit

Briefly want to point out that every spiritual awakening is connected to an intense time of prayer.

For example in the OT, the dedication of the temple, another high point for Israel, begins with this heart-rending prayer by Solomon, and God sends down fire from heaven and fills the altar with his glory.

Solomon then tells the people that God has said to him, “Whenever my people wander and my blessing is removed, 2 Chronicles 7:14–15 … if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.”

When does God show up? When people pray.

In the NT, we “… and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, [22] and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove” Luke 3:21–22.

When the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost, Luke makes sure to note where the church was an what they were doing: “And these all with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” Acts 1:14. They prayed in this place for 10 days, and the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost.

Acts 4, they were dealing with pretty intense opposition. So, they got together to pray: “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.” Acts 4:31

We see that in good times and bad prayer is important to see God work in our lives, to see revival.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, an early 20th century theologian, said, “The inevitable and constant preliminary to revival has always been a thirst for God, a thirst, a living thirst, for the knowledge of the living God, and a longing and a burning desire to see him acting, manifesting himself and his power, rising and scattering his enemies.”

“Our problem,” Lloyd-Jones said, “is getting to a place where we realize how absolutely impotent we are. At first,” he says, “we persist in thinking that we can set the situation right. We think if we just write a new book; preach some better sermons; start some new mission works; adopt a new program—this will stem the tide of the enemy. But we come to realize at long last that it’s not working … at least not effectively to stem the tide and save our children or our community …“And then we remember the promise, that when the enemy comes in like a flood, it is the Lord who will raise up a standard against him.

He’s referring to Isaiah 59, Standard means that the battle is going the other direction.

Think of the Christian’s experience like a battle, and the enemy floods in … we try and try and we win a battle here and there, but nothing repels the enemy

He continues, “And so we throw ourselves upon the mercy of God. It’s not so much an organized prayer emphasis as it is an act of desperation. And then, and only then, does the power of the Holy Spirit come flooding upon us and into us.”

“And he does in a moment, Lloyd-Jones says, “what incremental organization can hardly accomplish in half a century.”

Are we at a place in our church, in our community, in our lives that we need God working?

We don’t need better strategies and programs, or another scholar or athlete who will be an outspoken Christian.

All those are good, but we need something much more.

We need an outpouring of the Spirit of God who can accomplish in a moment what it would take us a half a century to accomplish.

Wouldn’t you agree, we need a great move of God today.

5 Things The Holy Spirit Does When He’s Present

He convicts

“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:8–9

The Holy Spirit makes eternal realities real.

He makes sin seem distasteful.

He makes Jesus and His righteousness seem beautiful.

He makes judgment seem imminent.

After you are saved.

The sign of being filled with the Spirit is that sin seems distasteful; eternity seems close and Jesus seems beautiful.

John Piper says that the sign of the fullness of the Spirit is quick and frequent conviction over sin.

He creates awe

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit fills the church and … “And fear (awe) came upon every soul …” Acts 2:43

On people inside and outside the church.

The Holy Spirit creates a sense of awe, fear, worship, before God.

Before God’s Spirit comes there might be knowledge about doctrine, but then He comes and that knowledge is swallowed up in this sense of presence.

In the OT, you see this recurring phrase whenever people were awakened, “the fear of the Lord.”

In the New Testament, you rarely see the phrase “the fear of the Lord,” which is odd, because it’s so important in the Old Testament.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7).

The Lord keeps His covenant with those who “fear” Him.” (Psalm 103:17).

Old Testament scholar John Murray says that is because the phrase “fullness of the Spirit” is synonymous to the “fear of the Lord.” They are interchangeable.

He transforms appetites

He gives people a heart, a taste, for the things of God.

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13

The Spirit births in us a desire for God.

A lot of people Christianity is a “have to” or a “don’t do” religion.

That shows they’ve never encountered the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God doesn’t just compel you to do what is right; He gives you a love for what is right so that you do it naturally.

Paul, in the book of Galatians, explains that the Spirit of God does in our hearts what the demands of the law never could. The law can tell you to do what is right, but only the Spirit can give you a love for what is right.

The Spirit gives you love, joy, peace, etc … which are things the law could command but not produce.

The way the Spirit does that is not by telling you a bunch of stuff you need to be doing, but opening your eyes to the glory of God and what He’s done!

We talk about repentance as a “change of mind about our sin,” as if we are primarily the ones changing our minds. GOD changes our minds; our tastes, so we can change on their own.

He manifests God’s power (1 Cor 14:25)

In 1 Cor 14 Paul gives you a description of the Spirit-filled service.

He says unbeliever comes into contact with the church and the Spirit of God is on the members and they are speaking supernatural words of insight and prophecy into him and “… the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” 1 Corinthians 14:25

Does that happen to unbelievers here? It should.

Do people coming into contact with you, with our church, and your having supernatural insight into their lives.

Knowing just what to pray and what to say in a way they say, “Only God could know my heart like that.”

Or you pray for them, and God answers your prayers in a way that people say, “Wow. God was in that.”

They realize His presence is upon you.

He empowers the church (Eph 4:10–13)

Paul says in Ephesians that in the Holy Spirit God gives gifts to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” Ephesians 4:10–13.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to help one another really know God.

In a Spirit-filled church, everywhere you turn you are being spoken to, and ministered to, by Jesus.

You can’t go anywhere without encountering the voice of Jesus.

How would you like to always be in the presence of Jesus?

To always have His voice of re-assurance; His counsel; His guidance and help and mercy surrounding you?

That’s what happens is in a Spirit-filled church!

Holy Spirit turns people into the eyes and ears and mouth and hands of Jesus.

It’s Coming

Those are the 5 things. I want them all for our church and you

That life-giving presence, whether we’re talking about in our church, your family or in your personal ministry, comes only through intense prayer.

I believe that God is ready to move in our lives, our church, our community, and our nation.

He has brought us to our knees

He has brought people into an awareness and desire for something better that what we’ve got.

In fact, I think He’s already moving and we just need to join Him.

We need to be praying

Will you join with me praying for ourselves, community, and nation?

Let’s start on Wednesday with a Zoom prayer meeting.

I’ll put the link on our Facebook page, email it to you, and link on our website

You just have to click on the link and follow the instructions.

We need to realize that what we need is not a new program; better ministry; not even a new strategy.

We need God to raise up a standard, banner, or battle flag against our enemy

We need to cry out to God

We need to realize that He hasn’t changed and

We need to call out to Him.

Jonathan Edwards, the key figure in the 1st Great Awakening in our country, said that at first a few sermons were preached; a few mission efforts were organized … “(Then) God in so remarkable a manner took the work into His own hands, and did as much in a day or two that, under normal circumstances took the entire Christian community, using every means at their disposal, with the blessing of God, more than a year to accomplish.”

Let’s make this our prayer today from Habakkuk 3:2, “LORD, I have heard the report about you; LORD, I stand in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these years; make it known in these years. In your wrath remember mercy!”

Prayer

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Hab 3:2.