Let the Spirit of God Enable You To Effectively Communicate (Isa 61:1-11)
Contrary to certain assumptions you do not have to be perky and pretty like Katie Couric and receive a $20 million salary before you can be an effective communicator. Consider Howard Henricks who has taught at Dallas Seminary for 55 years. He is the anti-thesis of a perky, pretty or publicly correct version of a media hero.
Introduction:
Have you ever wondered how the Holy Spirit is working and willing to do in your life?
Phil. 2:13,14 – It is God (The Spirit) who is a work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Illus.: “The Boy Who Believes in the Holy Spirit Isn’t Here”
A children’s catechism class was learning the Apostles Creed. Each child had been assigned a sentence to repeat. The first one said, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” The second child said, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son…” When he had completed his sentence, there was an embarrassing silence. Finally, one child piped up, “Teacher, the boy who believes in the Holy Spirit isn’t here.” What should we do?
John 16:7-10 – “If I go away I will send the Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) who I will send to you to be in close fellowship with you. When He comes He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God and about judgment).” (Amplified Bible)
Isaiah 61:1-11 (Precedent setting sermon of the Lord Jesus in Luke 4)
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
5 Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
6 And you will be called priests of the LORD; you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.
8 "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
Twenty Works of the Holy Spirit:
1. Enlightenment.
Isaiah 61:1
Eph. 1:17-19 – I pray that the eyes of your heart (Seat of your affections) would be enlightened. So that you may know what is the hope of your calling, what is the glory of your rich inheritance and what is the exceeding power for those who believe.
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news
- The Holy Spirit works in us to change us into agents of good news in the bad news world.
“There is help for the helpless, rest for the weary, love for the broken hearted. There is grace and forgiveness, healing and mercy. He will meet you wherever you are. Cry out to Jesus.
Mark 16:14-15
14Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
JFK said in his inaugural address, “Some people see things and say why. I see things and say; ‘Why not?’”
African proverb – An elder can see things sitting down that a young man cannot see having climbed the tallest tree.
2. Encouragement.
Isaiah 61:1
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted
- We become healing ministers.
- We stop any habits or mannerisms that add to suffering.
- We minister to the number one disease of all people – discouragement.
In his book, None of These Diseases, Dr. S.I. McMillan says, "Medical science recognizes that emotions such as fear, sorrow, envy, resentment and hatred are responsible for the majority of our sicknesses. Estimates vary from 60 to 100 percent."
One patient was told by his doctor, "If you don’t cut out your resentments, I may have to cut out your intestinal tract."
John 14: - Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Believe in God, believe also in Me.
3. Escape.
Isaiah 61:1
To proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners
- Only the free have the ability to release captives! Many live in bondage to fear, anger and selfish desires.
In God’s Smuggler, Brother Andrew tells in the first couple of chapters the story of his early life. One section of which dealt with his hell-for-leather days in the Dutch army in Indonesia. While serving in that area, fighting against President Sukarno in the late 1940s he bought a young ape, a gibbon, which took to him, and Andrew treated him as a pet in the barracks. He hadn’t had the gibbon for many weeks before he noticed that when he touched it in some areas around the waist it seemed to hurt him. So he examined the gibbon more closely and found a raised welt that went around his waist. He carefully laid the animal down on his bed and pulled back the matted hair from this welt until he could see what was causing the problem.
He discovered that evidently when the gibbon had been a baby someone had tied a piece of wire around his middle and had never taken it off, as the monkey grew larger the wire became embedded in his flesh. Obviously, it must have caused him a great deal of discomfort. So that evening Andrew began the operation, taking his razor and shaving off all the monkey’s hair in a three-inch-wide swath around his middle. While the other boys in the barracks looked on, he cut ever so gently into the tender flesh until he exposed the wire. The gibbon lay there with the most amazing patience. Even when he obviously was hurting him the gibbon looked up with eyes that seemed to say, "I understand," until at long last he was able to get down to the wire, cut it, and pull it away. Instantly, as soon as the operation was over, the gibbon jumped up, did a cartwheel, danced around his shoulders, and pulled Andy’s hair in joyful glee to the delight of all the boys in the barracks. "After that, my gibbon and I were inseparable. I think I identified with him as strongly as he with me. I think I saw in the wire that had bound him a kind of parallel to the chain of sin and guilt still so tight around myself-and in his release, the thing I too longed for."
--James S. Hewitt, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 68.
4. Exchange.
Isaiah 61:3
To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair
- Have you traded your sorrows for the joy of the Lord?
The great Scottish Bible expositor Alexander MacLaren once wrote: ‘we may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor?”
Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you.”
5. Establishment.
Isaiah 61:3-4
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
- The Holy Spirit wants to rebuild in you all that life on earth without Him has destroyed.
- We need to be a consistent people. (Dependable)
Psalm 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
6. Exaltation.
Isaiah 61:6-7
6 And you will be called priests of the LORD; you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.
- Not only will you get restored, you will get more than you lost!
- God is working to make you a better person than you dreamed possible.
Promotion comes not from the east or the west but God is one who puts up one and puts down another.
Do not seek great things for yourself. For behold I will bring evil upon all flesh. (Jeremiah)
Joel 2:24-25
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 `I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten
Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
I Chron 4:9,10 – Jabez called on the God of Israel saying O that you would bless me indeed and that you would enlarge my coasts. That your hand would be with me that it may not do me harm. And God granted that which He requested.
7. Example.
Every where people are looking for role models.
I. E. James Kennedy – Evangelism Explosion and modern Christian media productions.
Isaiah 61:9
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.
- Do all who see you know the Lord has blessed you?
There are three kinds of Christians:
(1) Row-boat Christians—struggling in their own power; stop to rest for a while, only to find that the current has taken them back where they started.
(2) Sail-boat Christians—let the wind do all the work; enjoy the high moments, But what happens when the doldrums come?
(3) Steam powered Christians—take the water of the Word and combine it with the fire of the Holy Spirit and there is constant power no matter what the conditions!
8. Excitement, Enthusiasm, Exuberance, Ebullience, Effervencence (Phil. 4:4)
9. Evangelization – (Rom 1:16)
10. Envisioning (Matt 9:36-38)
11. Equipping (Eph. 4:11,12 – Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers)
12. Empowering (Phil. 1:9-11)
13. Exchanging (Eph. 4:28-32)
14. Enriching – Col. 1:9-11
15. Expanding – Rom. 15:20
16. Engaging – Luke 19:10
17. Expositing and Exegeting – 2 Tim. 2:15
18. Elevating – The Glory and the lifter of my head
19. Exuding the fruits of the Spirit – Gal 5:22,23
20. Edifying – Rom. 12:9-21
21. Exporting – Acts 1:8
22. Enabling – Phil. 4:13 – Capabilities to complete all of the will of God using supernatural abilities endued upon you by the Spirit.
Song – Spirit of God descend upon my heart. Wean it from earth through all its pulses move. Stoop to my weakness. Mighty as Thou art. And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
