HOLY SPIRIT
[1]WELCOME: Good morning, if you’re new with us this morning or just joining us online, my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here at Cornerstone Church in Auburn, IL.
SERIES: Today we’re jumping back into our teaching series called THE CREED: WHAT WE BELIEVE and I have to say that this series has been a great series for me and I hope it has been for you. These short phrases that summarize what Christianity is all about have been used by early Christians all the way up to today. It helped them teach new believers what was true and what was false. It helped remind them of the powerful and good God who is with them and for them when they were hurting or doubting or feeling helpless and hopeless. But one of the things you may not know is that the Creed also walks us through the main points of the bible from Genesis to Revelation. And one way to think about the story of God is in three big sections: [2]
CREATION/INCARNATION/RECREATION: The first section of God’s story is [3]CREATION: In [Gen. 1:1] we hear God the Father speak “let there be light” and bang, the universe begins to spring into existence. Then we see the Holy Spirit in [Gen. 1:2] hovering over the chaotic and formless waters and is bringing order out of the chaos. Then we hear in [John 1:3] that all things are made through Jesus. All three are involved in creation. I love the way a pastor named Mark Moore says it...[God the Father is the Architect, the Spirit is the Engineer, and the Son is the Builder] The Trinity all working together to lovingly plan, create, and sustain this new universe and all the life within it. [4]And then they place humanity in it and give them a choice. Trust God to guide them in what is good and what is evil, and they will enjoy not only being in relationship with Him as well as being given responsibility and authority over this world. [5]Instead, humanity makes the choice to try and play the role of God themselves. They want to be in control. They want all the blessings and no boundaries. They want to decide what makes them happy apart from God. And rejecting and rebelling against God and trying to find happiness, fulfillment, and our purpose in anything or anyone other than God is called sin. From that point forward every relationship is broken; with ourselves, others, this world, but most importantly our relationship with God is broken. When you separate a plant from its roots, it is impossible to thrive or even survive. So, the Trinity goes from Creating to Saving. Part two is…[6]
INCARNATION: God the Father sends God the Son to save us from our brokenness. And as we talked about a couple of weeks back, through the power of God the Holy Spirit Jesus is miraculously CONCIEVED by a Virgin named Mary. We couldn’t get to God, so God came to us. We couldn’t fix our brokenness, so God came to do it for us. And we see from the time he was born he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Fast forward to the BAPTISM of Jesus about 30 years later and we see God the Father saying he is pleased with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit visibly resting on Jesus. Jesus wasn’t receiving the Holy Spirit for the first time. It was to show people that Jesus is the one that God had promised in [Is. 42:1] And throughout the life of Jesus we see the Holy Spirit at work. It says that Jesus was FULL OF THE SPIRIT. He overcame TEMPTATION by the power of the Spirit. He HEALED people by the power of the holy Spirit. And we are told that God RAISED Jesus by the Power of the Holy Spirit. And as we have heard in the creed, once Jesus was raised from the dead, he ascended to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the father, from where he will come to judge the living and the dead. Which leads us to part three of the Creed and the story of God…[7]
RECREATION: I believe in the Holy Spirit. Six words that are absolutely crucial to understanding the part of the story of God that we are in right now. So, here’s what I’d like to do before we go any further. I’d like to pray, then I’d like for us to repeat the creed together and then we’re going to listen to what the Holy Spirit has to tell us through Scripture today. So let’s pray…[8]
Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, soft hearts, and hands and feet to act. Reveal truth, Convict of Sin, Comfort Sinners, and help us to see and love Jesus. We pray all these things in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen. [READ CREED] [9-18]
(TEACH) LOVING JESUS & LIVING LIKE JESUS (God)
THE HOLY WHO? HOLIER THAN YOU! I have to admit that when it comes to the Holy Spirit, I don’t’ think the churches I grew up in did a very good job of teaching about who he is and what he does. If I could turn my experience into a song it would be singing “praise father, son, and (whisper) Holy Ghost.” It’s like, we know he’s real and we know he’s in the bible, but we don’t want to be weird. So, we talked about receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism, but then we pretty much forgot about him. Then I had an experience where a group of people started talking about experiencing spiritual gifts and how we needed to have those experiences as well or we couldn’t be sure we were really saved. [19]So, my experience was either The Holy Who? Or the Holier than You! And neither is acceptable. We risk either living lives with no power or living lives that repel others from Jesus and don’t honor him. So, I want to give you two main things that I believe the Spirit was sent to do. The first is…[20]
· THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL ALWAYS POINT US TO JESUS This is what Jesus himself said about the Holy Spirit. [21-22][Jn. 16:12-15] Jesus says that wherever the Spirit is, he will be pointing people to Jesus and bringing him glory. I heard it said this way, the Holy Spirit does not draw attention to himself. He doesn’t put on a show of power to prove that he’s working. No, the Holy Spirit wants Jesus to be center stage. It’s like he’s standing behind us with a spotlight saying, don’t look at me, look at Jesus. See how amazing he is? See how loving he is? See how forgiving he is? See how perfect he is? I love the way that a pastor named Albert Mohler says it. “Where you find a bold, biblical, urgent, accurate, enthusiastic, joyful, and life-changing testimony of Christ, you can rest assured that the Holy Spirit is vibrantly at work.” When you see a person and a congregation deeply in love with Jesus, you can be sure that the Holy Spirit is present. So how does the Holy Spirit bring about this passionate love for Jesus? I have found that…[23]
o THE HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKS THROUGH SCRIPTURE: Jesus called him “The Spirit of Truth” and says that the Spirit would “guide you into all truth.” When most people think about hearing from the Holy Spirit, they think of some powerful experience where they either hear an audible voice or get an incredibly strong impression of a question or phrase that gives them direction. And I believe that can and does happen. I have had those experiences. However, I also know that those experiences need to be tested to be true alongside other things the Holy Spirit has said before. And the Holy Spirit has been kind enough to have these truths collected together in what we call the bible! [[24]2 Peter 1:20-21] We hear that the Holy Spirit is behind the writing of the Bible. That when we read the bible, we are actually listening to what the Holy Spirit wanted to be written. The bible itself is a gift of the Holy Spirit and it is one of his favorite ways of speaking. So, let me say this as clearly as possible…
▪ [25]HEARING THE SPIRIT SPEAK REGULARLY IN YOUR LIFE MEANS OPENING YOUR BIBLE REGULARLY. And here is something that I didn’t learn in my church background. [26]We don’t read the bible primarily for information or application, but for communication and transformation. Too many times we start reading the bible with, okay what does this say about what I’m going through, what do I need to do because of what I read, how will this make my life better. And when we read the bible, we make it about us. But the way the bible was intended to be read was by opening it and asking “Spirit, what do you want to say today?”, “Spirit help me see Jesus and love him more by what I read.” “Spirit, speak to me and help transform me.” And the same Holy Spirit that spoke through the Prophets and the Apostles will use the bible to speak to us, and not only speak, but will help us understand what we’re reading. And when you start doing this, don’t expect it to happen immediately. You need to…
◊ GIVE IT TIME: We’re told that that the habit of reading our bible is a lot like sowing seeds. You don’t usually see the results immediately. Sometimes the Spirit will point out a word or phrase immediately. But more often than not, it will happen in the quiet after you finish reading, or later in the day when the Spirit will use that word or phrase when you get into the middle of something. Or it will happen later in the week when that circumstance arises. The point is, even if you don’t immediately hear the Spirit speak, keep opening your bible, asking the Spirit to speak, to show you Jesus, and keep planting, and the more you do, I promise the more you will start to hear him speak. So the first thing the Spirit will do is to help you LOVE JESUS, and the second thing…[27]
● THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL HELP US TO LIVE LIKE JESUS! Let’s read [Jn. 14:15-17] [28]Right before Jesus tells his disciples that the Holy Spirit is coming to live in them, he says “If you love me, keep my commandments.” There are 1,050 commands in the New Testament. If you put them under categories, there are 800 categories. And Jesus said if you want to live like me and show me you love me, then follow my commandments. If you have ever tried to be good enough, or to clean yourself up it usually leads to two things. Pride or Despair. You either end up deceiving yourself and thinking you’re better than you really are, or you end up hating yourself because you realize just how impossible it is to truly be good and to fix yourself. A pastor named John Calvin said that our hearts are “idol factories”. We’re constantly taking things and people and making them into gods in our lives. Hoping they will make us happy, hoping they will give us purpose, hoping they will define us. And simply trying harder won’t fix us. We need new hearts! God promised to do this for us when he said through a man named Ezekiel [29-30][Ez. 36:26-27] When we give our lives to Jesus, we are promised that we will be given…[31]
o A NEW SPIRIT, A NEW HEART, & POWER TO LIVE LIKE JESUS. Instead of our REBELLIOUS & SELFISH SPIRIT, we will have the Holy Spirit living in us that is devoted to Jesus and pleasing him. Instead of a HARD HEART that loves the wrong things we’ll be given a new SOFT heart that loves what Jesus loves. Instead of a WEAK HUMAN SPIRIT that is unable to overcome temptation, we have the MIGHTY Holy Spirit who helped Jesus overcome temptation and will do the same for us. Jesus called this process “being born of the Spirit” and one of his followers named Paul said we are “new creations”. WE ARE NOT ON OUR OWN TO OVERCOME SIN AND LIVE THE WAY JESUS COMMANDED US TO! WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS POWERFUL AND HELPS US TO LOVE GOD AND OTHERS AND PRACTICE SELF-CONTROL. [32]When the Holy Spirit came, we entered into part 3 of the great story of God. CREATION, INCARNATION, AND RECREATION. Where what was broken is being made new again. And the Spirit starts by…[33]
▪ RECREATING US TO BE LIKE JESUS. He does this by helping us LOVE JESUS by seeing him clearly through scripture, teaching us, and then giving us the power to LIVE LIKE JESUS. To over come temptation. To live with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. That’s not just a list of good things to do, that is a description of what Jesus was like and what the Spirit will make us like as well. We will look and live like Jesus, by the power of the same holy Spirit that dwelt inside Jesus because the same holy Spirit is alive and working within us as well. And he continues to help us live like Jesus by giving us the Communion of saints as we’ll talk about next week. As he recreates individuals, he also recreates communities into the body of Christ. This morning I want to close with two practical next steps.
(APP) REPENT & RECEIVE, SURRENDER AND BE FILLED (You)
[34]REPENT & RECEIVE: Right after the Disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirt, the Spirit began pointing them and others to Jesus. They said Jesus is God, and your sin, your desire to be God, your desire to find happiness in anything and anyone other than God is the reason that he came. Your sin is why he died. And it says that they asked, what must we do to be right with God? What must we do to be forgiven? And “38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for [Acts 2:38-39] He said not only will you be forgiven of your sins, but you’ll receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will turn you into a new creation. The Spirit will help you live differently and give you the power to do what you couldn’t do on your own. If you’d like to know more about getting baptized…[35][Check the Card] If you have already give your life to Jesus and been baptized, the for the rest of our lives we will go through the process of…[36]
● SURRENDERING & BEING FILLED There is a difference between the initial indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the life-long process of being filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the daily process of surrendering our own desires and asking “Spirit, what would you have me do today?” “Spirit, what are you up to around me?” “Spirit, what do you want me to hear today?” as we open our bibles. Or a big one for me is “Spirit help me, I’m facing temptation, give me strength, I can’t do this on my own.” “Spirit, give me wisdom.” Do you find yourself continually praying for help? Do you find yourself continually turning to the Spirit and saying “I give you control”? And when that happens, our lives are like a sailboat. Surrendering is us doing our part and recognizing that without wind we will go nowhere and do nothing well. And the Holy Spirit is often compared to the wind of God or the breathe of God and when we surrender our lives, the wind is able to fill us, blow into us, and send us and use us to do what we couldn’t on our own.
● AND WHEN WE DO, WE GIVE THE SPIRIT PERMISSION TO RECREATE US AND TO MAKE US MORE LIKE JESUS.
Spirit move! Bring hearts to Jesus. Bring surrender! Help our lives glorify Jesus! Come Holy Spirit and have your way! Amen.
