Sermon Illustrations

The power of the Holy Spirit is not just for salvation, but for sanctification, a process that is slow and gradual. The difference might look like this: You can take ten gallons of gasoline and release a tremendous amount of power and energy by just dropping a lighted match into it. It makes a dramatic one-time impact. But there is another way to release the energy in that gasoline. Place it in the fuel tank of a new Honda, designed to get 30 miles to the gallon. The high-tech engine will use that ten gallons of gasoline to take a person 300 miles or more.

(Troy Borst, Slow and Steady, 5/28/2003, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/13337/holy-spirit-attributes-by-troy-borst)

Point: Explosions may be spectacular, but the sustained, controlled burn has staying power. You don’t want to be a flash in the pan, you want to make a difference in this world over time. You want to last for the long haul. You don’t want the Holy Spirit to just save you for heaven, you want him to use his power to sanctify and transform your life. You want him to use you in this world for kingdom purposes not only in one powerful instance where he brings just you, one person, to salvation. You want the Spirit of the Living God to continue to dwell in you and conform you to the image of Christ.

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