Sermon Title and Text for August 6, 2006
Title: “When the Spirit is Hot”
Text: Luke 4: 18
Focus: “… Spirit of the Lord is upon me …”
When the spirit is hot a person is transformed, a person is transfixed, and a person is translucent.
One of the most misunderstood aspects of the Triune Nature of God is that of the Holy Spirit. We have little problem with accepting God the Father as the creator. We have no problem understanding Jesus The Christ, as the son of the Living God, as companion. But, we attempt to manipulate the reality of The Holy Spirit as the comforter. When we need comfort in the midst of trials we have urgency in calling upon the Spirit of the Living God. When we need renewal, we want the Spirit of the Living God to fall fresh upon us. But, when we are rowing our own boat, navigating our own way, the Spirit of the Living God is the last thing on our minds.
Or, we have an infantile notion or an untheological notion that the spirit of the Lord is here when we feel it in the atmosphere.
That on one shoulder is the devil speaking in one ear, and on the other side is an angel speaking into the other ear.
The truth of the matter is that good and evil is not external to you. It is internal.
That’s why Paul says in Romans 8:14 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I want to do is not the good I want to do; no the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
This struggle forces us to be careful when we are so easy to cry out that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. But God want us to have a spirit that is hot. Hot connotes the presence, the purpose, and the power of God. Because when the Spirit is Hot a person is transformed, a person is transfixed, and a person is translucent.
This struggle and wrestling with the Spirit of God is an ongoing dilemma. I would do good, but I do not. This struggle and wrestling with the Spirit of God takes on epic proportions we you realize that you like Jacob have to say that I will not let you go until you bless me.
Unfortunately, we sometimes let go by the sin that so easily beset us. Sin which is defined as missing the mark. Missing of the mark of the high calling which is found in Christ Jesus.
We miss the mark as it relates to the Holy Spirit in five ways:
Quenching - I Thessalonians 5:19 – Quench not the spirit (KJV). Do not put out the Spirit’s fire (NIV).
Resisting - Acts 7:51 Stephen speaking to the Sanhedrin Council [the same council who had judged Jesus Christ and was now judging him], you stiff-necked people…you always resist the Holy Spirit.
Grieving – Ephesians 4: 29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Lying – Acts 5: 1-11 The story of Ananias and Sapphira in conversation with Peter concerning a parcel of land that they had sold to give the full proceeds to the church. They held back a portion for themselves. Peter first asks Ananias how much did they receive from the sale. And he lied. Peter says to him: “How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?” And he dropped dead. Not knowing that her husband has died, Sapphira encounters Peter and he asks her, how much did they receive for the sale of the land. She tells him the same amount that she and her husband had agreed to say. And she dies.
Blaspheming – Matthew 12:30 Jesus comes out with some of the strongest language you will hear. “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come.”
So we miss the mark in those five ways by sinning against the Holy Spirit:
quenching,
resisting,
grieving,
lying,
and blaspheming.
The Good News is that this text provides us with three insights on what to do when the spirit is hot within us.
1. We must be transformed is when the presence of God comes upon you and life then has a line in the sand. A point of departure where your life is not the same anymore. When you become a new creature and old things are passed away.
2. We must be transfixed is when the purpose of God becomes so all consuming in your life that as the old Negro Spiriture would say, “no turning back, no turning back” It when you place your hand to the plow and refuse to look back. Transfixed is when you have so experienced the purpose of God that you like Abraham go looking for a city whose building and maker is God.
3. We must be translucent is when you experience the power of God and its power eliminates the dark spaces that was once in your life. My family and many of you will understand, “it when we would sing, this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine, this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. All in my home, everywhere I go, this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.
When the spirit is hot in your life, you will be transformed, you will be transfixed, and you will be translucent.
Some of you know you have heard the spirit of God speak to you and you have quenched, you have resisted, you have grieved, but you know it is the voice of Jesus speaking to you and tugging at the heart strings of your heart.
Our song of invitation says:
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give,
The living water thirsty one, snoop down and drink and live.
I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life giving stream.
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived
and now I live in him.
The doors of the church are opened.
