Spiritual Gifts: The Spirit

That it seems the churches that are growing significantly, particularly in other countries, but also in this country. Why is it that those churches seem to have a strong emphasis on the work of the Spirit?

why is it that when I go to Ethiopia to work with the church that Joshua's Way works with why is it that that church is having 500 to 700 converts every month they're desperately anxious to have more pastors because they are a church a week is a church a month is being born in that country, is it because that church has a strong emphasis on the power of God's spirit and the work of his spirit? Beta Mengistu, who was the sort of the human founder of the Gubai Xavier Church in Ethiopia, was called by a pastor in the United States and asked to come speak to his church and explain what's happening and how it is that the Gubai Xavier Church is growing so rapidly. He wanted Beta to come and tell him the techniques, the programs they had put in place, the methods they were using. And Beta Mengistu's response was this, save your money. I don't have an explanation.

I can't come and give you a method. I don't have a program that's doing it. we preach the gospel, we pray for God's Spirit to open people's eyes and change their hearts, and it's happening.

To be sure, there are some churches who emphasize the work of the Spirit who have gone to sometimes unbiblical extremes, but remember the church at Corinth where God's Spirit was greatly at work. They had their own set of problems. But let's also be careful that we don't overreact and quit emphasizing the necessity and importance of the Spirit of God. So this morning as we begin, you already know where we're headed. We're going to talk about the Spirit. So let's ask the Spirit to be with us as we begin this morning.

Lord we come before you acknowledging our own insufficiency our own weakness we want to think we're strong we want to think it's our ingenuity we want to think it is our methods and our programs and our budgets that really are affecting change in people in the world, forgive us, forgive us for our pride, forgive us for our arrogance. May we humbly bow before you and acknowledge, not by our might, not by our strength, not by our ingenuity, but by your spirit and by your power, will significant change be effected on this earth. Amen.

You know we have started a series called God's Plan for Changing the World. And our role in it. This is the second in the series. My microphone keeps turning on me. We started last week and we asked the question, How does God intend to change the world?

And our first answer was this. the world through the church. And we began to talk about the significant and important role that the church plays in the transformation of this world. Secondly, and today, it's by the church through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

And I think you've got a blank in your hand out there, don't you? Transforming power. And I hope I left the blank, the P blank, power. Because we're going to really emphasize today the power of the Spirit.

Let me give you just some basic facts about the Holy Spirit. We've got one Sunday to talk about the Holy Spirit. We could take a year, but I'm just going to emphasize some basic facts very quickly. Basic facts number one, the Holy Spirit in Scripture has personality, has personality, the characteristics that persons have.

It may be because when we were little, our mamas and daddies told us there were no such things as ghosts, that we've had a hard time relating to the Holy Ghost. and I'll use the term Holy Spirit maybe to get away a little bit from that notion of those things that really don't exist, the ghost but the spirit is a real person that has personality. If you read the scriptures, he, the spirit is referred to as not as it but as he and he speaks, he hears, he has a will, the spirit makes choices he does things that people do and those descriptions of characteristics that people have like having a will making choices making decisions having feelings don't grieve the holy spirit and there seems to be a sense in which the holy spirit can have feelings all of these are evidence is that this is a real person, a real personality. When we talk about the Spirit, we don't just mean God's influence, we mean a real personality. Now, there are many segments of the, quote, Christian world that deny either the Trinity, which we're going to talk about in a moment, or the reality that there is a separate personality called God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

I'm telling you, the reality of Scripture is, the truth of Scripture is, that this is a real person that has personality. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is deity. Deity. I have given you a number of Scripture references that I hope you will take time after this class to read, but let me just highlight a few reasons that we say the Holy Spirit has deity. In certain parts of Scripture, the word God and the words Holy Spirit are used interchangeably.

You remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira? They lied to the apostles about selling their possessions to give to the church. They said they'd sold them all and they had not. And Peter says, you've lied to God. And then in a moment he says, you've lied to the Holy Spirit.

And so he uses God and Holy Spirit interchangeably. The Holy Spirit was present at creation. We are told that the Holy Spirit is eternal. Certainly sounds like deity. And we are told that the Holy Spirit regenerates.

And in fact, it was the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. All of those things are evidence that this Holy Spirit is equal in power and glory to God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is deity. Which means, leads us to our doctrine of the Trinity. A very complex doctrine in many ways.

is never used in the Bible. You will never read that word, but it is a theological word that describes the truth of what the Bible teaches. That there God is revealed in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And I've given you a number of references where the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are referred to as being part of this Godhead that we call the Trinity. Think of a lamp that has three light bulbs.

How many lights are there? Well, in one sense, there's just one. There's one lamp. But in another sense, there are three lights because there are three separate bulbs in there. giving its own light, same wattage, same power, but performing their own functions.

And so we can see in that simple illustration it is possible for there to be three in one. There are three lights, but there's really one light.

Now, beyond that, it gets very, you know, it's hard for us to conceive this in its completeness. But to deny any aspect of the Trinity, the Father who sent the Son, who along with the Father sent the Spirit, is to cut an essential element out of the Christian faith. The Trinity is one of those non-compromised truths of Scripture. God is revealed in three persons. the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Now, what I want to do is I want to talk about how, there are many ways we could talk about the Spirit this morning, but here's how I'm going to do it. We're going to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus Christ. And then we're going to show that how the Spirit worked in Jesus' life, in many ways, He similarly works in our lives today. So first, the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. And that's where it's going to start to come down to be very practical for us.

So first, the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus. The Holy Spirit was present and involved in Jesus' conception. You go and read the accounts in Matthew and Luke of the birth of Jesus, and you will see that it was by the power of the Spirit That Mary conceived. And gave life. So at the very outset.

The spirit was involved in the life of Jesus. Secondly the spirit gave to Jesus. The assurance that he had a loving heavenly father. Do you remember when Jesus was baptized. There at his baptism.

the Spirit descended in a visible form so it was obvious what was happening but descended in a visible form and it was in the giving of that Spirit or in the pouring out of that Spirit that the Father affirmed that Jesus was in fact His Son and that the Father loved Him and was well pleased with Him. So in the life of Jesus the Spirit was the affirmation the assurance that He had a loving And heavenly father.

Next. In Jesus life. The Holy Spirit. Gave guidance.

When Jesus was led into the. Wilderness or the desert shortly after his baptism. Where he was tempted by Satan for 40 days. Do you remember that story? The text of Scripture says he was led by the Spirit into the desert.

And you see Jesus getting his guidance directly from the Spirit about what he was supposed to do.

Fourthly, Jesus was empowered for ministry by the Holy Spirit. Now I want to pause and make a real important point here. In my Christian life, this is a thought that came many, many, many, many, many years later and after much thought and study. It's probably obvious, but for me, it was a new thought process. It never seemed quite right to me to say that Jesus was fully man, which is what the incarnation is, God.

He was fully God, but he became fully man. And the sense seems to be from Scripture that while he was God, he voluntarily empties himself and sort of sets aside his godness to become one of us. Now, he could have called on that God power any time, but he came voluntary to live like you and me. So he was fully man.

Well, is that true if he could do all those miracles? Was he really fully man if at any second he could do those miracles? And weren't those miracles proof he wasn't just a man?

Well, how would it be possible for someone who is fully man to do all that Jesus did?

Well, I submit to you that Jesus, while he was on earth, lived fully as a man. and that the power he displayed was not the power of God the Son, but it was the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And that the miracles that Jesus performed on earth were performed by a man, but a man empowered by God's Spirit. so he was fully man but he could do amazing things through the power of God's spirit because he had a life fully obedient the father had poured out the spirit for him and on him and it was through the spirit he did those miracles now is there scriptural evidence for what I just said I think there is we are told the book of Luke is a great place to go to begin thinking about some of this after Jesus was baptized by John, Luke tells us in Luke 4.1, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan to go out into ministry. And he returned to Galilee, Luke 4.14, in the power of the Spirit. When Jesus stands in the temple in Luke to give his first public address in Luke, he stands up and he says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind.

How is he going to be able to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind? How is he going to be able to heal those who are blind? It's going to be because the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. We are told in Luke 10, 21 that Jesus had joy in his life through the Holy Spirit. And in Matthew 12, 25 to 28, Jesus himself explicitly says that he drives out demons not by his power as God the Son.

He says, I drive out demons by the Spirit of God. So I'm going to argue that fully man on this earth, he was still able to do those miraculous acts because he was fully obedient to the Father, and the Father had poured out his spirit upon Jesus, and through his spirit, he did those miraculous acts. And you can go study on me, and if I'm wrong, come back and talk to me later. But I think I'm right. Number five, in Jesus' life, the Spirit was the source of his resurrection.

1 Peter 3.18 and Romans 8.11 explicitly say, Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit of God. So, from beginning to end, the Spirit was a powerful influence in the life of Jesus. Now, how about ourselves?

First, the Holy Spirit is involved in our conception.

Now, don't get me wrong. Your mama was not overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit to conceive you in the first instance. You're not like Jesus in that sense of conception. I know some of you have grandiose thoughts about yourselves but don't get out of line so what I mean that the Spirit is involved in our conception I am saying that the Spirit is involved in our second conception in the new birth that we have in Christ and I want us to read a couple of verses here John 3, 5-6 so if you have your Bibles as we talk about ourselves, read a few verses here. John 3, verses 5 and 6.

Which says,

I tell you the truth. no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit flesh gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to spirit you should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again the wind blows wherever it pleases you hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

Unless you are born again, and the literal born again is a good translation, but that same Greek word can mean born from above. Unless you are born from above, you cannot understand the things of the kingdom of God. You've got to be born both of water and the Spirit in order to be able to inherit eternal life. And being born of water, I think, is physical birth. Your water breaks, right, ladies?

You're born of water. That's the first birth. And then you're born of the Spirit. And it is the Spirit that gives us birth from above. It's that spiritual birth, that regeneration.

So the Spirit was involved, for all of us who are in Christ, the Spirit was involved in our conception, our second birth, our birth from above. And apart from the Spirit, you would not have been born again. The Spirit acts first. What did you have to do with your first birth when you were born of water?

you didn't.

And you didn't have anything to do with your second birth either. In the first instance, you were made alive through the Spirit. You were regenerated. You went from being dead in sin to alive so that you could then hear the message of Christ, understand it, and respond. One, regeneration by the Spirit preceded your putting your faith and trust in Christ.

So, yes, you have a role in salvation. You put your faith and trust in Christ. But you were only able to do that because your spirit, by the Spirit, had first been made alive to understand the message of Christ and respond to it. Everybody with me on this? Okay.

Secondly, the Spirit gives you assurance that you have a loving, heavenly Father. Every believer has the Spirit of God, and I've given you some references there. And the Spirit assures us that we have a loving, heavenly Father. Let me just read a few verses to you, and you listen. Romans 5, 5.

God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given to us. Romans 8, 15 to 16. You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit, capital S, of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

And Paul in Galatians 4, 6, Because you are sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. Have you ever, through the Spirit, sensed deep in the core of your soul that God loves you? That down deep in a way that you almost can't describe, you knew you had a heavenly Father who loved you?

my guess is not everyone in here has because my guess is not everyone in here is a believer I hope I'm wrong I have sensed God's affirmation one poignant memory that I will never forget and I've told the story just the other night to a small group that was meeting at Joshua's Way. Louise and my son Caleb, who at the time was about nine years old, and my daughter Kate, who was about seven years old, were on a trip driving to Rhode Island to see Louise's brother, who lives there. It was a beautiful day. Things were going great. And I plugged in a tape to listen to it as we were driving, and it was a tape by the National Christian Choir.

and they began to sing a hymn. And it was the hymn, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing. My great Redeemer's praise.

And as they sang, deep in the core of my being, I knew God loved me, and he was with me. And tears began to roll down my face.

I wasn't under any particularly emotional distress or anything at the time, but just the affirmation, I think really through God's spirit, that I had a loving Heavenly Father, and how I wanted to have a thousand tongues to sing, just tears began to roll down my face. Caleb looks at me and he says, What's wrong with Daddy?

And Daddy couldn't talk.

and so Mama did a little explaining. And I hadn't said a word to Louise, but she knew what was going on. Have you ever had that sense? If you haven't, come to Jesus. Let the Spirit be poured out upon you so that you will know that you have a loving Heavenly Father.

the spirit guides us he guides in many ways he guides by showing us our sin and our need for righteousness that's found in Christ he guides us by teaching us helping us to remember things about scripture bearing witness in our hearts and minds disclosing the truth to us. This Spirit guides you and me each day if we will listen to His leading.

He guides particularly through His Word that He gave us. This came from the Spirit. But we need to be attuned to the Spirit's voice as we live each day, as Jesus was attuned to the Spirit's voice. Look for guidance from the Spirit. Fourthly, it is the Spirit that empowers us for ministry.

Empowers us for ministry. And there are three distinct ways I think the Spirit empowers us. One, the Spirit helps us to avoid sin in our lives. You've been trying to quit that thing you shouldn't be doing, and you've tried, and you've tried, and you've tried. for you to give it over to the Spirit and ask the Spirit to help you to avoid it.

If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die, Paul writes in Romans 8. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. So Paul says in Galatians 5, 16, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. You need the power of the Spirit to be able to avoid sin Secondly, the Spirit gives us Christian character. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Christian character is the natural byproduct of the Spirit being in our lives. We need to ask the Spirit to help us to have those qualities of love, joy, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And as he gives us that empowerment, we then need to use all that we have to have those qualities in our lives. But it's first a work of the Spirit. I don't understand this exactly.

How does the Spirit make me more gentle when I ask him to make me more gentle? It's a mysterious thing. But somehow, somehow, when we seek the Spirit's help to develop this Christian character, He does it. He changes us. He makes us what we need to be in Christ.

It took me a long time to understand it. I gritted my teeth a long time and still do too often in this Christian life. trying in my own will and my own strength to be what God wanted me to be. And it finally dawned on me one day, I can't do it.

And I began to say, Jesus, through your spirit, help me to be more of this quality or that quality. And then I would work hard at it, but at root I would know anything I'm able to accomplish comes through the empowering of his spirit. Too many Christians are wearing themselves out trying to do it themselves. It's like the story, you know, of the supermans on the bus with the folks and the bus is stuck in the ditch and everybody's out trying to pick up the bus out of the ditch so that they can get the tire changed. And finally they realize they got Superman on board.

They get Superman to go lift the bus. Well, Christians in a sense are that way. We've got the greatest power available Ask for that greatest power to help us be what we ought to be. We should be asking. Specific gifts for ministry.

And we're going to talk in more detail about this the next couple of weeks. But it is the Spirit that gives us special, specific, spiritual abilities or strengths to help in the process of transforming this world through the church. And we're going to talk more about those over the next couple of weeks. But it is the Spirit that gives special spiritual abilities to His people. George Barna has done some surveys of the Christian world about spiritual gifts.

and a significant percentage of evangelicals don't even think God's spirit gives them special gifts or abilities. I'm going to tell you that's wrong. I'll give you those statistics next week as we talk about this. But if you want to be a significant part of God's work on this earth, then you need to recognize that God has given you some special gift, talent, or ability to be a part of that. And sometimes those gifts are very unusual.

Sometimes it's being able to do woodworking and be an artisan. The very first time we're told in Scripture that God's Spirit empowered someone for ministry, it was Bezalel in the Old Testament. And you know what the Spirit empowered him to do? It empowered him to be a part of building God's place of worship. Empowered him to do woodworking.

Empowered him to do works of art. Kind of unusual. We don't think of the Spirit empowering to do woodworking, do we? But he does.

and lastly in our lives the spirit is involved in our resurrection you know we're going to be resurrected one day the book of ephesians tells us that the spirit is the deposit that guarantees us that one day one day one day we will be resurrected resurrected. So just as Jesus was resurrected by the power of the spirit, we have been given that same spirit that is the seal or guarantee that we too one day will have full redemption. We will be resurrected. So you see the parallels, the spirit in the life of Jesus, the spirit in our lives. now here are my lessons for life for today

let's admit it we are weak but he is strong i think one reason that churches that emphasize the work of god's spirit are so dynamic are growing is they have started at first base and said, we know we can't do it, but we know His Spirit can. And we will pray for the power of the Spirit to be unleashed.

And in certain parts of the world, when God's people are praying like that and asking like that, He is doing it. we in the united states are too self-sufficient we think we are strong nobody can beat us we've got the biggest military the most money and we can do it ourselves and god will not honor that he will not share his glory he is going to get the glory for what happens and that's why That have zilch. No money. Very few resources. Places like Ethiopia.

And where is God's spirit being poured out? In places where they admit. Yeah, we don't have it. We don't have the money. We don't have the resources.

But we got God. And they trust in him.

Are we going to see revival in this country? Not until we admit we're weak and he's strong. to depend on him. Are you going to see growth in your own personal life spiritually? I will submit to you, you will not see significant growth until you admit you are weak, but he is strong.

Secondly, never forget, meaningful change in my life is at root a work of God's Spirit. So ask for help. The Spirit is there for a reason, to empower you, to help you. Ask for help. How many, don't raise your hands, how many have specifically stopped this past week to pray, through your Spirit, Lord, help me.

I don't know what to do here. Through your spirit, Lord, help me to minister in your name. Through your spirit, Lord, give me the words. Through your spirit, Lord, give me the wisdom. Through your spirit, Lord, give me understanding.

No, you're like me. You figured out how to do it yourself and you decided you would handle it. And it didn't work quite the way you thought it would. And there's a reason for that because you didn't go to the source of the power. You need to ask God's Spirit for help.

If this seems completely foreign and strange to you, so be it. I think when you talk about the things of the Spirit, only those who are indwelt by the Spirit will understand.

But I think this is reality in Scripture. If you are indwelt by the Spirit, you need to be asking Him to fill you and help you each day. Thirdly, let's not pray first for bigger budgets. Let's pray for Pentecost.

Everybody remember Pentecost? The Spirit was poured out in a powerful way on the disciples, and Peter began to preach. And on that day at Pentecost, 3,000 people were saved, and they didn't have a budget.

they didn't even have a building

not a worship center not an educational building they certainly didn't have a gym they didn't have their church staff put together they didn't have a van or a donkey to haul people in but they had the spirit

when will we recognize it's not another building that's going to change this community I'm not saying buildings can't be used in ministry don't hear me wrong but let's put first things first let's go to the spirit and pray for Pentecost fourthly not by my might but by his spirit that needs to be the resounding theme of our prayers and our lives Fifthly, live by the Spirit, always testing what you perceive by the revealed Word of the Spirit. Some people think they hear the Spirit and they begin to do very unbiblical things. So I'm going to say to you, pray for the Spirit to open your eyes, to guide you, but always test what you perceive you are being led to do against what the Spirit has clearly revealed in the written Word. That's where some churches that emphasize the role of the Spirit have gotten out of kilter. They didn't test what they were doing or what they thought they were being led to do by the Word.

The Spirit gave the Word for a reason, to keep us on track, I think. Sixthly, when you are alone, weak, tired, defeated, bruised, battered, afraid, Ask God's Spirit to help you cry out, Abba, Father. I have been more and more impressed in recent weeks of how much pain and hurt some of God's people are experiencing. Sometimes it's illness. Sometimes it's job uncertainty or job loss.

Sometimes it's marital difficulty. and there are a lot of people who have been beaten up and bruised by life. They're at their wits end. They don't know where to turn. And I will tell you, folks, I think God takes us to those desolate places sometimes.

When we get to the point, there's nowhere to look but up.

And that's where God always wants us to look. But sometimes he's got to take us to those lonesome places. So if you are there, look up. Ask God's Spirit to reaffirm to you that God loves you so that you can cry out, Abba, Father. And lastly, let's pray that the Spirit of God will change us, empower us, and go before us in everything we do.

How's God going to change the world? Through the church, by the transforming power of His Spirit. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we acknowledge our weakness and Your strength. forgive us that we have not sought you.

Forgive us that we have not relied upon you. Forgive us that we have wanted to get the glory because we figured it out or we were strong. I pray, Lord, for many who are hurting.

I pray that your spirit will reaffirm in their hearts that you love them. May your spirit wrap his heavenly arms around them, hug them tight, and may they know again with a fresh assurance there is a God in heaven and he cares and he's paying attention. We pray, Lord, that this church in this country will have its hearts and minds transformed by your spirit. We pray for Pentecost, and we pray it will start in the Christ Seekers class.

That people would have their eyes opened, their hearts changed.

Not by the words of the teacher, but by the power of the Spirit. By the power of the Spirit.

And then we would pray that that would spill over and out and through and around those with whom we come in contact.

For it is in the name of the Spirit that we ask this prayer. Amen.