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Sunday, November 30, 2008
TITLE: Precautions
About The Spirit TEXT: Ephesians 4:29-5:2 Did you all have a good
Thanksgiving? Did you eat well?
Well, I decided I start today’s sermon with a story about food.
Back in the 15th
century, bakers would bake their rolls, buns and cakes etc. … …in 3
rows of four --- and then sold them batches of a dozen. These days we have machines that measure the dough and run it through
ovens (standardized) … but back then, baked goods were
all fashioned by hand,… … and some bakers found they could make them smaller (and make more money) …without
the customer being any the wiser. After all - who could tell the difference? Well, enough
people apparently could tell that…… lawmakers in London passed laws standardizing the weights of baked goods
Any baker who violated those standards faced stiff fines and jail sentences …so bakers often took the precaution of throwing in an extra roll or cake... …to make sure their customers
got the amount required by law Man shall not live
by bread alone |
Thus - to this day,
if a baker advertises a baker’s dozen: you get 13 rolls.
Why
do Cowboys wear High Heels? Jeff Rovin
APPLY: Bread (in its various forms) has always been a
kind of a foundation for civilization.
That’s reflected by the fact that Jesus spoke of the idea that Man shall not… …our basic
prayers of God should be: give us this day our daily bread.
The society of the
15th century trusted their bakers with a special/ precious commodity
But the bakers abused that trust.
And as a result – laws were enacted that made it clear… … there was a penalty for anyone
who misused that trust.
The Bible
tells me God has entrusted you & I w/ a very special gift/ a precious commodity
When we became Christians – God placed His Holy Spirit inside of our hearts…
… No one else has the honor of His presence in their lives like we do.
And because His Holy Spirit is such a special gift…
…God
gets a little upset when people misuse that Spirit
Here in Ephesian 4 we’re told that we must be careful not to “grieve the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” It’s a
gift from God. He’s
yours as a seal/guarantee of your salvation… Don’t grieve Him… don’t abuse Him.
Apparently, this is pretty serious
stuff. ILLUS: Back
in the book of Acts, a couple of Christians (Ananias and Sapphira)… … saw how much praise others were receiving for selling
their property … …and then giving the money to help poorer Christians. Sooo, they sold some property and gave a portion of the proceeds to the church for the poor. Now, the church didn’t require them to sell their land…And even then, they weren’t
req’d to give all the money from the sale to the church Well,
the next day the Apostles called Ananias in to ask him about his gift Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so
filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for
the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?
What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When
Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Ac 5:3-5 The bakers of the 15th century - they only faced fines or
jail time for their deception Ananias lies to the Holy Spirit – and he drops dead. That would make me think twice.
This all leads me to believe that I want to be VERY
careful not to grieve the Spirit of God. I may not drop dead because of grieving
Him… ..but I’m pretty sure the consequences would be really uncomfortable.
So, the question is… why was God so upset with Ananias
and Sapphira?
What was it about their actions that bro’t this harsh a punishment?
They abused
the God’s trust in them They’d tried to manipulate the church in order to get their
way They
tried to fool God’s people into believing they were more generous than they were… … so that they could
receive honor they didn’t deserve.
…or tries to manipulate the
church to their own advantage… that’s real dangerous. Here
in Ephesian 4, we find something slightly different
Look with me to Ephesians 4:30 – Here
we are warned … And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
How do I avoid grieving God’s Spirit?
Verse 31 & 32 continues:
Get
rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to
one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
ILLUS: I once read of a church where there had been a split. Something had
happened years before that got everybody mad at everybody else… …
and folks literally chose up sides…. One group sat on one side of the sanctuary, and the other sat on the other. Can you imagine what
it would have been like to worship in a setting like that?
It must be a very uncomfortable atmosphere. What Ephesian 4 is saying is this: when we allow bitterness/rage/anger/etc.
to dominate our lives … we create an uncomfortable
atmosphere for the Spirit to live in… grieve Him In Galatians 5 we’re told to “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is
contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other...” Galatians 5:16-17 So… how would I know if I’m not living by the Spirit? Well Galatians continues: The acts
of the sinful nature are obvious: … (among other things) hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions…” Galatians 5:19-20 You see, this kind of mindset grieves the Spirit because it proves we’re ignoring Him We’ve been given this marvelous gift; this precious piece of
God - called the Holy Spirit and… …when we allow hatred and bitterness and anger to crowd Him out…
… it’s as if we’ve abused the trust God placed in us when He placed His Spirit in us Underneath the target
was a picture of Jesus....
A complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled
picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced out.
The teacher then
said these words, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto Me." (Matthew 25:40)
That’s how serious this issue of hatred and bitterness can for us. Now… a lot of people can get me angry. They’ve hurt me/ they’ve abused
my trust/ they’ve done things I can’t stand And – what’s worse, they may never ever repent of the wrong
they’ve done me. You mean I have to forgive them/
let go of my anger towards them? Yes. If I don’t want to grieve God’s Spirit within me. Yes. ILLUS:
Voice of the Martyrs tells of a young slave boy named Damare. He had attended a church service in his country... and was caught by men
who hated Christianity The men nailed his knees and feet to a board and was left to die. Miraculously he
survived and told the Voice of the Martyrs that … he forgave his cruel tormenter because Jesus
was nailed and forgave him. … because he’s a powerful reminder to me … … that most of the grievances
I can have towards others are fairly petty That
boy understood the power of Paul’s words: “… be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 Ephesians
4:26 tells me "Be angry, and do not sin do not
let the sun go down on your wrath " I’ve got a right to get mad once in a while… it’s
a natural emotion… Ephesians tells us “Go ahead, get angry once in while… but
do not sin” And how do I know if I’m sinning in my anger?
Answer: If I allow the sun to go down…and I’m still angry. I’ve sinned. - If the person I don’t
like enters a room… and I leave because I don’t like them (haven’t)
- If a conversation comes around to that person’s
name…
...and I want to tell people what a terrible person that individual is… (haven’t) - If their
name comes to my mind in my prayers…
- … and I would find it difficult to pray for God
to be kind to them… (haven’t)
- If I wouldn’t be able to talk civilly to them/ shake their hand (haven’t)
Now why should God be so concerned about that?
Why would it grieve His Spirit when I allow my mind to be dominated by anger & bitterness? Well… LOOK AGAIN to Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And
walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
aroma. You see… the Spirit was given to
me so that I could be more like God When you & I learn to forgive others who sin against us… we are imitating God In a sense – every time
we find a way to forgive others their sins against us…
… we imitate what Jesus did for us…
… and we are offering a sweet smelling aroma up to God
But, this actually goes even further than
this.
You see, God tells us He want us be imitators of Him… … because He wants to use us as a tool God
to use to reach others. When He wanted to
reach mankind in order to change their lives… He sent Jesus. And when He wants reach into the lives of people around
us & change them… He sends… US And the more we
learn to emulate Jesus’ forgiveness of us to others… …
the more powerful things we can do for God through our lives CLOSE:
Melvin Newland tells of a missionary had served for many years in the jungles of New Guinea. Someone asked him "What was it like? Tell us what you found there."
"Found? I found a mission field that looked more hopeless than if I had been sent into a jungle of tigers." "What do you mean?" "The people there were so fierce and
degraded that they seemed utterly devoid of moral sense. If a mother were carrying her little baby and the child was crying
and wouldn’t stop, she would throw it into the ditch and let it die. If a man saw his own father break his leg, he would
just leave him to suffer by himself. They had no compassion whatever. They didn’t even know what the word meant."
"Well, what were you able to do? Did you preach to them?" "No, not at first. I thought
it better to show them my faith by my works! When I saw a baby crying, I picked it up and consoled it. When
I saw a man with a broken leg, I sought to mend it. When I found people distressed and hungry, I took them in,
comforted and fed them.
"Finally they began to ask,
`What does this mean? Why are you doing this for us?’ Then I had my chance. I preached the Gospel, and many of them
came to know and love Jesus, too."
Our objective - as Christians - is to do the unexpected. To show the love of Christ to people
who don’t deserve it. Not in ways that are calculating and contrived…
… but in a way that actually reflects to love God has shown us… So that those we forgive might actually ask “Why are you doing this for me?”
That’s our objective and our goal To let God’s Spirit work inside
of us so that He can work in the hearts of others too
Sunday, November 23, 2008
TITLE: The Provision
TEXT: John 7:37-39 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams
of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were
later to receive...”Jn 7:37-39 It’s
interesting that God would use water to symbolize His Spirit ·
In the beginning (when God created the Heaven’s and the earth) water’s
@ all there was ·
It wasn’t until the 3rd day of creation God caused “dry ground”
to appear (Gen. 1:9) To this day - about 70 percent of the Earth is covered by water. Water
was one of the main elements God used in creation; For example: Water makes up 75 percent of your average trees…
…
and 75% of your average chicken and 80 percent of a common pineapple. Then
of course… there’s you·
Water comprises more than 60 percent of your body, · 70 percent of your brain, ·
80 percent of your blood · and nearly 90 percent of your lungs. And water – on our earth - is seemingly everywhere. The total water supply
of the planet is estimated at 326 million cubic miles. If all
of the planet's water was poured onto the United States… …it would create an ocean 90 miles deep. That’s a lot of water …. BUT NOT ALL OF IT is useful to us. Fully 97 percent of the Earth’s total
water supply is salt water found in oceans and seas. Most of the remaining 3% of fresh water can be found frozen
in glaciers & ice caps; Philipp Harper (pause…)
We COULD NOT
exist without water…And yet… most of the water on our planet is inaccessible to us. (pause…)
Like I said … it’s interesting that God would use water to symbolize His Holy Spirit. APPLY:
The Bible tells me that God is omnipresent – Like water He’s everywhere. In
fact, there’s no place that we could go to get away from His Spirit David wrote: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your
presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise
on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will
hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7-10 And yet… that Spirit isn’t accessible
to everyone.
Jesus teaches us that ONLY those who believe in Him… … will have this fountain
of living water within them. “… if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”
Romans 8:9 God’s Spirit is everywhere… but Jesus tells us only we have access to
it. And
just like water, God’s Spirit has been given to us so that our thirst can be satisfied. In John 4:13-14 Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never
thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." In John 6:35 Jesus declared, "I
am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. And in our text this morning Jesus stood in the Temple courts
and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me
and drink” John 7:37 . And at the very end of our Bibles, Revelation 22:17 declares: The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him
who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take
the free gift of the water of life. So, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is given – in part – to satisfy our thirst. So, what kind of thirst does God’s Spirit satisfy?ILLUS: Robert
Louis Stevenson was one of the greatest authors of his age. He wrote numerous short stories and poems But
he’s best known for his novels (Treasure Island; Kidnapped; Strange case of Dr.
Jekyll & Mr. Hyde) Many of writings are still required
reading. But most people are not aware of the depth and strength of the
faith he had in God. As a child, he was raised in Scotland in a very strict Calvinist home. But once he began attending college, he rebelled against the teachings of the church. He called Christianity "the deadliest gag
and wet blanket that can be laid on a man," … and adopted
a thoroughly worldly lifestyle. He called himself
a "youthful atheist." But, as he grew older, he began to have (as he
described it) "doubts about his doubts." He came to see that for all its claim to wisdom… …the world had no satisfying answers to the deepest questions of life.
And thus, because the world couldn’t satisfy the thirst in his life… he
returned to God. Later Robert Louis Stevenson would write, "There is a God who is manifest for those who care
to look for him." And he described
his own religious outlook as a "cast iron faith." In John 14:16 Jesus promised “And I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (the Holy Spirit), that he may abide with you for ever”
KJV One of the ways that He comforts me is in prayer life “… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Even when I can’t find the words to express my emotions…
… God’s Spirit steps in and “intercedes” for me
… He understands my sorrows and difficulties and communicates those directly to God The Spirit of God supplies me with things that you couldn’t BUY with
moneyYou can’t obtain
these blessings by being famous or well-connected. The high, the mighty, the rich, the powerful in this world… they have nothing on us. …because the
Spirit of God satisfies our thirst… … and fills us to overflowing with the blessings of God. (pause…)
Now… if that’s all true… then why don’t more Christians have those
blessings in their lives? Well, here’s the deal. In order to enjoy the blessings of God’s Spirit… we need to let Him do His thing. Galatians
5:16 says that we should “… live by the Spirit…” Galatians 5:25 teaches us “Since
we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” In order to rec’ the blessings from God’s
Spirit… we need to let Him work inside of us. ILLUS:
One man told of the time that he sat on the bank of a river. He said “I picked up a solid round stone from the water and broke it open. It was perfectly dry in spite of the fact
that it had been immersed in water for centuries.” Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) In the same way… there are Christians
that sit right in the middle of Spirit filled churches… …
but they never let Him do anything in their lives. …
they never open their lives up by living and walking in God’s Spirit. So… how do I do that?
How do I live my life in God’s Spirit/ how do I walk
in God’s Spirit You might even ask “How do I fill my life with the Spirit of God?” I’m glad you
asked. Turn with me to Ephesians 5:18-21 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead,
be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. In other words, there are three things
you can do to open your heart to the Spirit’s leading 1.
Surround yourself with songs that glorify God. (S. Gospel/Contemporary/Heavy
Metal) 2.
Learn to give thanks for everything in your life 3. Find ways to serve/submit to others in your life Now you don’t
have to surround yourself with songs that glorify God You
can entertain yourself in any way you wish…
… but you will miss out on some of the blessings of God if you do it that way And you can live your life moaning
and groaning about all the things that you don’t have… …
and all the things you believe you should have had …
and all the troubles and challenges of your life
You don’t have to be thankful for anything
But w/o learning to be thankful… you’ll have one less reason to be happy Worldly people celebrate
Thanksgiving only once a year… … but Spirit-filled Christians celebrate Thanksgiving
every day of their lives. And lastly,
you don’t have to submit to anybody else in your life You
don’t have to honor your parents/ love your wife/ respect your husband
You don’t have to serve your boss as if you were working for Jesus
You don’t have to pray for that politician you don’t like
You don’t have to… well you get the idea. My point is this – “walking in the Spirit” req’s me to think differently than others around
me CLOSE:
After WWI - Lawrence of Arabia brought some of his Arab friends to Paris with, He showed
them the sights of the city: the Arch of Triumph, the Louvre, Napoleon's tomb… … but none of these things impressed them as much as something they saw in their room. What really intrigued
them was the faucet in the bathtub of the hotel room. They
spent much of time in turning it on and off. They found it amazing
that one could turn a handle and get all the water he wanted. Later, when
they were ready to leave Paris and return to the East, Lawrence found them in the bathroom with wrenches trying to disconnect
the faucet. "You see," they said, "it is very dry in Arabia. What we need are faucets. If we have
them, we will have all the water we want."
Sunday, November 2, 2008
TITLE: The Presence
TEXT: Ephesians 1:13-14 A 4 year old boy was visiting his aunt’s home.
She was pregnant with her first child
and she allowed him to place his hand on her belly and feel the baby kick. His little face scrunched and said, "How does the baby get out of there?" She wanted to keep it simple so she said, "The doctor will help." His eyes widened in amazement as he exclaimed, "You've got a doctor in there, too?"
To get that kind of help she needed to get into her car…
… drive down to the Hospital
… wait in the ER Room
… and then you have to wait until the BABY decides to come out It would be so much easier for the mother… if
the doctor WERE in there helping out. The Bible tells us that God believed our lives
as Christians would be so much easier…
… if He were inside us helping us out. Over the next few weeks we’re going to be talking about
God’s presence inside us Galatians 4:6 tells us “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his
Son into our hearts..." When we became Christians God placed His Spirit inside of our hearts You don’t have to go to a special building You don’t have to wait in
line You don’t
have to wait for… anything. You need God???…
He’s there right inside you. As 1 Corinthians 3:16 tells us “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple
and that God’s Spirit lives in you? Now Ephesians - chapter one - tells us that this Spirit was “Promised” Way back in the Old Testament God promised
that the day would come … …when God would put His Spirit INSIDE of His people In Isaiah (for example) God said “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and
my blessing on your descendants.Is 44:3 And in Ezekiel God promised “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in
you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you
and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 But in Old Testament God only hinted at what this
Spirit would do. When Jesus came, He not only promised that He would send His Spirit
… He even said what the Spirit was supposed to do. He said: “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26
And again He said: “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away.
Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict
the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” John 16:7-8 This was the Holy Spirit that had been promised. (pause…) Now, the reason the Holy Spirit was promised… …was
because God hadn’t ever given His Spirit like this. In John chapter 7 we’re told that Jesus said “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams
of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to
receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:38-39
You see… back in the Old Testament
God would place His Spirit on and in people to - guide them and
- strengthen them and
- teach them, etc.
For example, when God wanted His tabernacle built… …He placed
His Spirit inside a man named Bezalel so that… … he would know exactly how to construct it and put everything together In the book of Judges, we’re told
that there were times when the Holy Spirit came upon Samson.. …
and when that happened… you better be in the next county…
… cause somebody was going to get hurt In I Samuel we’re told that the Holy Spirit came upon King Saul and his men…
… and when that happened they were able to prophesy. (I Samuel 19) BUT no matter how many times
God’s Spirit came upon people/ or was in people (whatever) …
nobody in the OT ever got what you and I have. … it had
not yet been given as it HAS been to those who have become children of God. Ephesians tells us that when
we became Christians we “… were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession…” No other people had ever had that privilege
But YOU have been marked You have been sealed God has placed His Holy Spirit inside
you to say – this man/woman belongs to ME ILLUS:
It’s kind of like when a couple gets married… …
and they hold hands/ light a candle/ exchange vows…
… and they exchange rings That ring declares to everyone else… this man/woman belongs
to me
They are my husband/wife… you leave them alone… cause
they’re mine now. And that Spirit declares to Satan better
leave you alone… cause you’re His now. His Spirit inside you is also His assurance that He’s coming back
for you. Ephesians 1:14 says God’s Spirit “is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession— to the praise of his glory. His Spirit is His Guarantee that – when He comes back…
He’s coming for you. ILLUS: I once
read the story about a woman who suffered from polio as a child. She said, "When my mother left me
in Sunday School I always asked to wear her locket. She thought I liked the locket,
but that wasn't it at all. I knew I wasn't worth coming back for, but I knew she would come back for her locket." By giving you His Spirit God is
telling you – I’ll never leave/ never forsake you… you’re mine
I will come back for you. So obviously… this placing of His Spirit inside of
us is a big deal to God. And I got to wondering… … why do
it this way? Why bother to put His Spirit inside of
us. God
could have marked us any way He wanted
Why put Himself inside us? Well… 1st – He wants us always to with Him. If our Faith isn’t on the inside of us… If our relationship with Jesus is
something that is only on the outside… … it might just … rub off ILLUS: about a year ago, there was a small controversy over the design of the new $1 coin. Apparently somebody had the idea that
it would be a good design to more the motto: “In God we
trust.”
… from the front of the coin – to the outside edge…
… thinking it would draw more attention there. But almost immediately, people began to complain. Coin experts had apparently realized that - if
the motto were on the edge of the coin… …it would be more likely to rub off over time. God doesn’t want our faith to “rub off” He wants His Spirit INSIDE of us … so that our bond with Him
doesn’t become some casual thing . … He wants our relationship with
Him to be intense and personal 2nd
– He wants to be with us all the time… because He knows we need Him This is a hard world And too often we feel like we’re alone in the decisions
and challenges we face
God never want us to believe we’re alone and abandoned ILLUS: A preacher once shared about the funeral he conducted for a man he’d baptized years before. The man
had been a pilot and often took his daughters up flying with him. The preacher said:
His daughters told me also that when Dave would
take them flying he would allow them to take the wheel and fly the plane. When his daughters became comfortable with the handling
of the plane, Dave even taught them to do loops. On hearing this, I asked them “did you father really take his hands off the wheel?”
And they said no. A
daughter was in the front seat flying the plane, but dad was in the back with his hand on the wheel. His daughters felt as if they
were flying the plane… … but ultimately their father was in control. That’s one of the comforts of God’s Spirit being within us…
… He loves us enough to give us the freedom to fly our own course…
… but because His Spirit is inside of us, we can have confidence…
…because God is still there with His hands on the wheel as well.
… He never leaves us or forsakes us… because He’s inside of us 3rd – He wanted to be inside us so that we’d realize our faith is more than
a “religion” Christianity is more than a religion… it’s life empowering relationship. You see all other religions are based on the idea… … that the
more rules we follow the more righteous we become. In
other words: Rules change us.
Rules make us better people And
to some degree that’s true. That does work… kind of But when God placed His Spirit within us He did so, so His Spirit could change us on the inside As God promises us through Ezekiel “…I will remove from you your
heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow
my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26b-27 ILLUS: One Sunday School teacher taught it to his class this way: He took a box of sand and mixed in metal shavings. Then he took a powerful magnet and began
moving it around under the box. Almost
like magic, the metal shavings were drawn to the power of the magnet… … and began to follow that magnet wherever
it led them. That’s what Galatians 5 is all about. It tells us that when we walk by the Spirit…
… when we allow God’s Spirit to guide our lives…
… then our lives change It
says, you know God’s Spirit is in control of your life when live a certain way: “… the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...” Galatians
5:22-23 So then…
how then do I get this Spirit of God?Romans 8:9 tells me if I don’t have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in me – I’m not saved. And Ephesians 1 tells me that the Spirit
is the mark/guarantee - of my salvation So, it would
seem that the Spirit is given to me when I first become a Christian That’s what Acts 2:38 says: When the crowd at Pentecost heard the first Gospel message - They believed that Jesus was the Son
of God.
- They
believed their sinful decisions were responsible for Him being crucified
- And they wanted to know what they had to do to be forgiven
Peter responded: “Repent and
be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive…
(WHAT?) … the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
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