What Spirit Are You? Part 4 Holy Spirit Series Series

What Spirit Are You?

Part 4 Do you have the Spirit?

JCC 09.05.10 am

Read 1 Cor 3:1-23

Paul is speaking not to the unbeliever, but to those in the Church who have made a commitment to follow Jesus

He acknowledges that they have Jesus has their saviour, but definitely not has their Lord

He calls them babes

These were Christians who have no victory over the flesh

They are carnal, immature and weak in the faith

Natural development and growth in physical and spiritual

Need to grow in maturity

As we grow, we come into maturity, a perfect man

The first words of a baby are exciting

Evidence of growth

Then they begin to sit up on their own, toddle, walk then run

Leading to independence

Communication is on a higher level when they are mature

If after 15, 20 years they are still in the baby stage, then something is wrong

The Christians at Corinth weren’t able to take the meat of the word

The evidence was in the manifestation of envy, strife and divisions

Are you not carnal?

It isn’t all about you

Or your opinions

If you refuse to recognise the whole body of Christ then you are shallow minded

You are carnal and thinking only of yourself and your own needs

Paul asked them, ‘who is Apollos?’ ‘Who is Paul?’

You shouldn’t identify with people but with God

Stop looking to certain people as though they are your sustenance

Look to the Lord

We are all supposed to be building here

Paul goes on to ask, ‘Why are you creating divisions?’

Division comes when people are carnal

We need to recognise that we are one of three natures:

PP1

Taken from Watchman Nee

• Outermost man

• Outer man

• Inner man where God dwells

The outermost or natural man is in darkness

Satan has blinded their eyes to the truth of God

God must open their eyes to the truth, this must be how we pray for such people

He is bound and blinded to the things of God

There is no harmony between the outer and inward man

They want opposite things

The outer doesn’t want to submit to the inner

This hinders him in his spirit

Distractions stop him moving in the Spirit

The outer must be broken

PP2

Soul = thoughts, emotions and will

Outermost = physical

The one who works for God should have had the inward man released

It must break through the outer man

So the difficulty is not others around you but you yourself

Are you not proud?

Are you not jealous?

These are of the carnal nature, the flesh

If we never break through, then we cannot serve affectively

John 12 except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit

Grain is surrounded by a shell and so are we, the carnal nature

We must break out

If the grain doesn’t break out there will be no wheat

He who loves his life shall lose it, he who hates his life shall find it

Which one are you?

Not which one do you think you are, but who you honestly know you are

So how do you allow this life to come to the forefront if you have it

Remember you cannot have it at the forefront if you don’t have it in the first place

Stop fooling yourself and examine your life

You may have a religious spirit

You feel quite at home in church and doing church things, but you are still in your darkness

If you don’t have the inner man ruling, then Jesus cannot break out of you as you have him trapped within by your own will

You tie his hands and imprison him

He will never impose himself over your will

If your will be done, then his will, will not be done

If we have a church majority of people who want their own will to be done, then God cannot flow through the church

According to Watchman Nee, ‘The Lord employs two different ways to destroy our outward man; one is gradual, the other sudden. ... It would seem the Lord usually spends several years upon is before he can accomplish this work of destruction. ...In some...(he) is able to accomplish this work after a few years...others...after ten or twenty...in others...the work still unfinished.’

He goes on to say how God wastes his time with some and how they hinder the work of the Lord

These are the ones who will not change

They are stubborn, proud and think they are right and everyone else is wrong

Watchman followed this by saying: ‘We can preach by using our mind, we can stir others but using our emotions, yet if we do not know how to use our spirit, the Spirit of God cannot touch people through us.’