Accountability: Taking Action

Introduction

We have been taking our time with discovering and defining our responsibilities before the Lord. We know that there will be a day when we shall stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and be judged as according to our works while we were here in this life. We have spoken about how God is Sovereign, meaning He is over EVERYTHING and can do as He pleases because He is holy and perfect. We spoke about what responsibility is in regard to who we are and framed some of those responsibilities as Christians according to God’s Word.

Today I would like to start the discussion about taking action. It is one thing to know what your responsibilities are; it is another thing entirely to act on those responsibilities. Everything we have been talking about in the preceding weeks has led up to this portion or has laid the foundation if you will for what God has for us today.

The Bible clearly tells us that we are to do SOMETHING in the face of evil...

Ephesians 5:16 ESV

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

But how do you make the best use of your time? Remember that in previous weeks we stated that we cannot just go running around doing the first thing that comes to mind or be driven by our emotions.

Did you know that there are people out there right now that are purposefully trying to get you riled up? I’m talking about the enemy using people to push your buttons so they can get you to react to their insanity!!

Romans 12:21 ESV

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Doesn’t it seem as if, more and more, the absolute craziness of this world is crowding in on you? many of us have felt a tug in our hearts to do something, but what do we do without sounding just as radical as the people rioting in the streets? Remember, we are representing Jesus and the Kingdom of God, not just ourselves. The people outside these doors are representing themselves and whatever cause suits them at any given time. (Ever evolving)

One of the craziest things I see Christians do is get mad at people that aren’t saved for doing things that spiritually blind people do!!!

1 John 3:8 ESV

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Romans 12:17 ESV

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

How do we get started? How would God have us to proceed from where we are at this given moment right now? We all have to start somewhere right?

For those of you that thought that just showing up was going to cover the bases, wrong.

For those of you that thought that you aren’t skilled or knowledgable enough to even get started, wrong.

For those of you that think that you get to pick and choose what you will or won’t do for the Lord with Him still considering you to be a faithful follower, wrong.

For those of you that think its a good idea to find a cause that ticks all of your personal boxes, sign up for it, and then expect God to get on board, wrong.

What is I told you this morning that there is a way to take action in a biblical way that God would not only approve of what you’re doing but He will bless you and anoint you to do it in a way that you could have never imagined or done in your own strength? How many would be interested?

And for those that may already be feeling like, “Man, I have wasted so much time doing things other ways!” I want to start out by saying that you shouldn’t count it as wasted time. Those are life lessons on what not to do in the future.

Nothing is wasted in God’s economy, if you will allow the Holy Spirit to show you some things, even your failures are lessons toward your future victories in Jesus!

Be Baptized In The Holy Spirit

Love Like God Loves

Passionately Pursue Ministry

Trust God With The Details

Be Baptized In The Holy Spirit

I want to start here this morning because I believe for every single Christian that has ever lived because my next statement has been true since the very day that Jesus gave the command for His disciples to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Christian Church was in its infancy and Jesus commanded that they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING until after they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

I have a great concern in my spirit that we have forgotten or walked away from some of the only things that made our fellowship great to begin with. I’m here to tell you this morning that living for God was hard when I first got saved, I needed help. It was only after being baptized in the Holy Spirit that I could feel the fire of God pressing me forward in the things of God.

Prior to that, I knew I was saved because the heaviness of my soul was gone. The Holy Spirit bore witness with me that I was a son of the Living God.

Romans 8:16 ESV

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Jesus let His disciples know that their power while He was with them was through Him, but as He was returning to the right hand of God, He would send them another “Comforter”.

John 14:16 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

John 14:26 ESV

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The word Helper here is paracletos in the original Greek.

Paracletos is the designation of the Holy Ghost (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; R.V. marg., “or Advocate, or Helper; Gr. paracletos”). The same Greek word thus rendered is translated “Advocate” in 1 John 2:1 as applicable to Christ. It means properly “one who is summoned to the side of another” to help him in a court of justice by defending him, “one who is summoned to plead a cause.” “Advocate” is the proper rendering of the word in every case where it occurs.

John 15:26 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 16:7–11 ESV

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

It is worthy of notice that although Paul nowhere uses the word paracletos, he yet presents the idea it embodies when he speaks of the “intercession” both of Christ and the Spirit (Rom. 8:27, 34)

Romans 8:27 ESV

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:34 ESV

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Obedient Disciples

It should be a point of interest for us today that not every Christian or every believer at that point followed through. Some started out with the intention of obeying, but when the Promise of the Father did not immediately descend, some departed.

Acts 1:4–8 ESV

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 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.”

Acts 2:1–3 ESV

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.

Who Is The Holy Spirit?

Genesis 1:1–2 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Acts 5:3–4 ESV

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”

The Necessity of The Holy Spirit

For Salvation

John 20:21 ESV

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

For Possession

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

For Sanctification

John 16:13 ESV

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

For Knowledge

1 Corinthians 2:9–12 ESV

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

For Power

Acts 1:8 ESV

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.”

Micah 3:8 ESV

But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

For Protection

Titus 3:4–7 ESV

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

For Vision

Acts 13:1–4 ESV

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

For Gifting

1 Corinthians 12:4–11 ESV

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

For Final Redemption

Romans 8:9–11 ESV

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

God is no respecter of persons

Acts 10:34–35 ESV

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.