His Power Within Us Series

It was Christmas day, and a woman’s teenage son had given her a Christmas gift. She was surprised because she knew he didn’t have much money to buy a gift, but she smiled and opened the brightly wrapped box. Inside the box she found two AA batteries along with a note which said “Gift Not Included.” (Reader’s Digest 1/95 p. 127)

One of the frustrations for young parents is buying Christmas gifts for their child and putting them under the tree - and THEN their child opens it on Christmas the toys don’t work! And why won’t they work??? – there’s no batteries inside. So, they go rummaging through the “drawer” looking for batteries. And if they can’t find any they have to wait until the next day because nobody’s open on Christmas. They have a gift for their child, but it has no power. It won’t work because there were no batteries to power the toy.

Now, the Bible tells us we have a GREAT GIFT from God. The gift is Jesus, and He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and was placed in a manger. We have salvation… because Jesus died and rose from the grave, and because of Jesus, we have a new life. But in order to live that new life to its fullest, we need to have HIS power in our lives. And that power comes from the Spirit.

You see, we were never intended to do this Christian thing all by ourselves, and that’s why Jesus said He would send us a HELPER. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17

You see… the Spirit of God is our HELPER. He was given to us to be kind of like our power source. The Spirit becomes the power that HELPS us to live for Jesus.

For example: Galatians 5:25 tells us that we need to WALK in the SPIRIT. We need to spend time praying to God and reading His word and hanging out with fellow Christians. And if we walk with the Spirit this way, He begins to change us. And when the Spirit changes us, we’ll begin to reflect the fruit of the Spirit. So, when we do it right - when we focus on walking with God’s Spirit - we won’t even have to think about it, we’ll just naturally become known for our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23

You see, the presence of God’s Spirit living inside of us changes us. And that Spirit is a reflection of what Adam and Eve lost when they were kicked out of the Garden. They had WALKED with God and TALKED with God. But when they sinned… they lost that

But now - through Jesus - we’ve gotten that closeness with God BACK.

Now, this sermons series is entitled “God With Us”, and it’s based on the verse from Matthew 1:23 that says “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

And when I began working on this series – the first sermon focused on the idea that God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. God spent quality time with them. And I believe that THAT IMAGE (that God wanted to be with Adam and Eve) was the motivation for the words of an old Gospel hymn that speaks of being in the Garden with Jesus. Sing it with me:

“I come to the Garden alone, while the dew is still on the Roses. And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. (Verse) And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there none other, has ever known.”

Now, that hymn was talking about the closeness WE can have with Jesus. And I’m convinced that imagery was borrowed from Adam and Eve’s experience. They walked with Him and they talked with Him, and THAT’S what I want to do!

But I was a bit shocked to find that there are preachers, teachers and theologians that had a problem with that idea. They didn’t believe God wanted to be around us.

On the internet I found at least 2 theologians that (rightly) pointed out that Genesis doesn’t actually SAY that Adam and Eve communed with God - that they walked and talked with Him. And therefore (those theologians boldly said) God probably didn’t do that. Those theologians spoke of a God who was THERE in the Garden, but He didn’t really want to spend any time with Adam and Eve, because essentially – God kept His distance.