1. Discovering God's Power for Life Change
Notes
Transcript
Me:
Me:
Welcome to the launch of our brand new sermon series, Outside In. This series is a part of a bigger spiritual growth campaign we started last September, called Core52. What we have been doing is examining, one by one, 52 core verses that make up the Bible. Today is core verse 37! If you would like a guidebook to jump in a join us for the rest of the journey, I discovered and extra book. Talk with me after the service and it’s yours if you want it.
This new sermon series we are launching will focus in on four core verse from the NT book of Acts. The book of Acts is really an adventure novel of how the Holy Spirit moves the Kingdom of God to help outsiders become insiders. I would encourage you to begin a read through the Bible journey through the book of Acts. There are 28 chapters, and that works out perfectly for reading one chapter a day throughout this series. Here are the four relevant topics in this series: The Holy Spirit, The Ascension of Jesus, Baptism, and lastly Racism. Don’t miss out, and I know that you will find them to be very helpful!
So when I went off to college, after about 7 to 10 days, I started to feel homesick. Typically when I was away from home it was at a week of camp....so 7 days was normal. But at college, 10 days it started to set in and week two was really tough. I missed home. So, I drove to the nearest gas station, pulled up to the pay phone and made a collect phone call to my mom. Just hearing her talk, and encouraging me…gave me that little shot of confidence I needed to press forward. It wasn’t too long after that, that I was able to go home for the weekend. As much as I enjoyed going home, I quickly realized that they had moved on with their lives…and I needed to as well. But here is what I slowly realized is that my parents supported me no matter what, and were always there for me, and that gave me the confidence to strike out on my own.
Because of the love and support from my parents, I felt confident and empowered to begin to be more independent.
You:
You:
There are a lot of Christians, maybe even you, who feel this insecurity or uncertainty about how to live this new life that Jesus has offered. Or maybe there is this continual burden of dealing with brokenness or sin, and it’s this never ending cycle of yuck that we just can’t shake, and we wonder if things will ever change. Maybe, there is this nudge you are feeling to be doing more, or living a life on mission and you’re just not sure you can do it. You don’t know if you have what it takes.
If you are feeling these things, just know, it’s normal. Jesus’ very own disciples experienced these same feelings as he prepared to leave them to carry on the mission. They had doubts, they were uncertain if they could carry on the mission and they most of all were not very confident in their abilities.
Here’s the thing, Jesus had a plan to empower his followers to not only experience life change, but to also live a life on mission. Let’s see what he has to say.
God:
God:
If you have a Bible or device, go to the New Testament book of Acts. If you have the YouVersion Bible app, go to Events. Look for Iowa City Church, and all the sermon notes and Scriptures will be there, along with a reading plan through the book of Acts. So check it out!
Acts is the second part of a two part set written by the only non Jewish author of the Bible. This is truly written by and insider who put his faith in Jesus and became an insider. His first book you know as the Gospel of Luke. Acts is the continuing journey of how the early Jesus followers, empowered by the Holy Spirit lived their lives on mission.
Luke picks up with Jesus being resurrected from the dead and spending time with his disciples…40 days to be exact. As his time with his disciples begins to come to a close, we get these instructions from Jesus.
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.”
When he left, Jesus didn’t want his disciples to scatter. There was going to be a big gift opening party to take place in Jerusalem. God the Father had a gift. What is this gift? Well we get a clue in the next sentence. It’s the Holy Spirit.
This corresponds with what Jesus told his disciples on the night he was arrested.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
The word advocate can also be translated as helper. So Jesus is leaving, and now God is going to help Jesus followers by putting his helping Holy Spirit in them. Jesus even describes it by comparing it to John the baptizer’s baptisms. It’s an immersion in the Holy Spirit. God knows that for the Kingdom to spread to outsiders, there needs to be an assistant who can scale to more then just a few. Jesus did have limitations. One man can only disciple a few. But with an invisible spirit who can empower any and everyone, anyone can experience life change and become a disciple maker. That is something that can scale.
However, the disciples get a bit sidetracked.
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.
I appreciate the fact that Luke puts this in here. Much like you and me, we get distracted with our own agenda. The disciples do that same thing here. Jesus puts that to rest. Don’t worry about it! The Father will do what he needs to do when the time is right. Let’s stay on mission. Then Jesus says this, our core verse for today:
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.”
There’s so much good stuff in this core verse! First word to highlight: “power”. This Greek word for power is where we get the word, dynamite.
The Holy Spirit wants to move with power in your life. To do powerful, life changing things. Some of you are like: I’m not seeing it, I’m not feeling it. The strongest thing I’ve ever felt from the Holy Spirit was a little shot of static electricity! If you skip ahead to Acts chapter 2, you see that as the disciples are hanging out in Jerusalem, praying…the Holy Spirit does come on them in power…and they do some amazing things. Do you know why? It’s because the disciples did what Jesus told them to do. I know, it sounds simple, but they were obedient to Jesus. They stayed in Jerusalem and boom! The Holy Spirit moved on them in power!
Question: Is it possible that you haven’t experienced the power of the Holy Spirit because you haven’t done what Jesus is asking us to do? I want you to think about that as we take a quick look at what the NT teaches us about how the HS empowers us. It really comes down to two different areas, that the Holy Spirit empowers our lives:
The Holy Spirit in Us
We just don’t have the time to do a deep dive into these areas. But if you get a chance to look at the Core52 book it will go more in depth.
Conviction - The main mission of the the Holy Spirit is to point people to Jesus. To do that, that Holy Spirit is always actively engaged in convicting people of their need for Jesus, whether it’s exposing guilt or shame, causing aha moments of realization of understanding or nudging people to put their faith in Jesus. It that is what you are currently experiencing, that is the HS at work in your life.
Conversion - Is another way that HS working in us. The NT authors tells us that when a person devotes their life to following Jesus, they are given the indwelling of the HS. Even to the point where we are sealed…God is putting his seal on us as his through the gift of his Spirit within in us. Think of it as an engagement ring or better yet a wedding ring. It’s a sign of the covenant between a husband and wife. Likewise, the HS seals our covenant of conversion with God.
Sanctification - When you devote your life to following Jesus, God knows that your a work in progress. It’s all right! You’re not perfect. But he does give us the Holy Spirit to because the restoration progress from the inside out. Sanctification is a fancy word for making us holy. For anyone here who has done a restoration project you understand that it just takes time. You can’t take an old piece of furniture, classic car or an old house and restore it in one day. It just takes time, hard work and dedication. The Holy Spirit is the foreman leading the restoration of your heart. the biggest issue is for you and me to listen to our foreman and do the next project he tells us to do.
2. The Holy Spirit Through Us
Character - As the HS works in our lives and changes our inside, people are going to notice how your character changes. There is a transformation that slowly takes place. The NT letter of Galatians describes it as the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self control). Remember, these are not things that we fix in our own lives, these are instead the power of the HS being displayed in our lives as we follow the leading of the HS in our lives. As our inside changes, people see the fruit on that change on the outside. If you’ve ever seen a Jesus follower who is incredibly patient, kind or full of joy, you are seeing the power of the HS at work in their lives.
Guidance - Remember, the HS is on a mission to get people to Jesus. You are on the same mission. The HS is going to guide you on that same mission, whether it’s putting people in your life who need to experience the love of Jesus or maybe simply hear about Jesus…the HS is going to be your guide. If you ever find your self in a strange situation and are given the opportunity to share or demonstrate your faith, it’s not by accident…it’s the power of the HS.
Mission Support - When you devote your life to living on the mission of making Jesus famous and helping others become disciples of his, you are going to be amazed at how the power of the HS will be at work in your life. You will find exponential growth because the HS will be equipping you with tools, words, resources and gifts to carry out the mission. When you live your life on a Kingdom mission, you will experience the power of the HS in amazing ways.
Here’s the bottom line: God has offered us this powerful gift to not only transform our lives, but the lives of those around us. The only thing holding us back from experiencing that power is obedience. What is the next step the HS is asking you to take. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatian church I think says it the best:
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Do you want to experience the power of the Spirit? Keep in step with the Spirit.
Here’s what I want you to get this morning:
To experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, you must stay in step with the Spirit.
You:
You:
Here are some general areas where the Holy Spirit wants to empower your life:
Giving Your Loyalty to Jesus
Healing Your Brokenness and Guilt
Getting On The Path of Discipleship
Carrying Out A Specific Kingdom Assignment
We:
We:
Let me describe to you what this looks like in real life. There’s a guy named Bryan in one of my Growth Groups who told me this, and he gave me permission to share it. It really gives a good picture of what this being empowered by the Holy Spirit looks like. Over a year ago, Bryan was kind of at a point in his life where things were not going where he wanted them to go, it felt like he kept hitting dead ends. He came to the conclusion that he had never really tried God or reached out to him so he gave it a shot. His life started to turn around and he experienced God actually doing things in his life…to the point where he began to really believe in God. Not only that, he put his faith in Jesus and along with his wife Becky found our church. Last summer he approached me about being baptized and we did that here at the church. In his words, he said, something happened after the baptism. Stuff in his life, hurts, brokenness and sin began to surface. Things that he had to deal with. It has provided him the opportunity to deal with them and reconcile issues from his past. He’s also found this drive to learn more, to keep seeking Jesus, and to keep growing. He’s telling me his story and I’m just getting goose bumps because I’m hearing and seeing the power of the Holy Spirit displayed in his life! Here’s the amazing thing: That can be your story too…if you do the one thing the Holy Spirit is calling you to do.
To experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, you must stay in step with the Spirit.