Can anyone remember how we used to communicate with other people by writing letters? I saw on the news on Friday that the post office want to put up the cost of 2nd class mail.
Apparently less people are sending letters than ever before, so they want to charge more because they deliver less.
Today we rely on email and text messages to communicate with others much more than traditional posted mail or snail mail as its called.
Before text messages, before email, the three fastest ways to communicate information were:
Telegraph - Morse Code.
Telephone - Verbal Communication. and
Tell a woman.
Well those were fast, ways to communicate but today we have Text Messages, Facebook and Twitter.
Messages appear in real time on our computer screens, our mobile phones, iPods.
Today through the power of the Internet we can have friendships with people around the world.
Does anyone use Twitter or Facebook?
How do you use it? What do you say?
Is there something more you could use it for?
If you are my friend on Facebook you will know that most days I post, verses from the bible, thoughts, links to Christian Music Videos and words of encouragement to other people.
On my Facebook account I have a number of “friends” that I have never physically met - some of them are friends of friends that have been encouraged by what I have written to other people.
Others have become friends after listening to our Podcast. It’s amazing the lives that God is touching.
I get a lot of feedback on what I post, some people comment so that others can see what they say to me and others send me messages that others can not see.
And strangely some people even re-quote what I post to their own group of friends.
Last Monday Evening I spent quite a while in prayer.
I spent time some time praying for various situations, things that I knew about from talking to people in the real world, things I knew about from communicating with my online friends and things that God just placed in my heart.
And as I prayed, I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to post some verses from the bible and some words of encouragement.
Then I prayed a little more and then shared more things that I felt God wanted me to share with others.
Some of the things God prompted me to write I did not feel were directed at specific friends, but I felt that the Spirit was guiding me to share certain things for a reason.
On Tuesday morning 3 of my friends contacted me, one from Australia asked how I knew what was going on in their life.
They had not shared with anyone an issue they were facing and were amazed that the words God had led me to post had spoken comfort and encouragement and direction to them.
The second person was someone in the USA that said, they had been praying that God would speak into a specific situation in their life they felt that God had answered via a specific music video I had shared. They were pleased it had spoken into their life when they needed guidance.
Then I got a message from another friend which simply said, Thank you, you can stop putting things for me on Facebook now, I get the message.
Isn’t God wonderful - 3 different people, three very different situations, and God spoke to each of them.
God used typed words of encouragement to bless, direct and encourage these people and I praise Him for doing that.
Then Tuesday afternoon 2 more people contacted me because the Lord had spoken to them through the words He had prompted me to write.
One wrote, today God has taught me that I’m beautiful no matter what anyone tells me. God has taught me He has a plan for me. When the Holy Spirit moves—He really moves!
The other wrote something that warmed my heart even more: The Holy Spirit is doing something amazing in me today.
Pray that He will continue to keep my eyes, ears and heart open to hear what He wants me to hear and do what God is calling me to do.
Please continue to pray that I will be the person God has called me to be.
What a prayer, what a desire, what a goal to have in life.
To be the person God has called you to be.
And that got me thinking. Yes dangerous, I know.
You see I believe that the Holy Spirit does do amazing things in people today.
I believe that right now He is doing stuff in each of us, to refine us, to change us, to bless us.
What I started thinking about was, what if instead of becoming the person God has called me to be, I had become the person I desired to be?
What kind of person would I be today if the Holy Spirit had not led me?
Where would I have been this morning if I had chosen not to allow the Spirit to lead me?
If God were not guiding you according to His plan and His purpose who would you have followed? Who would have been you role model?
What would you be like if you could become anyone you could want to be?
Would you be a scientist or an artist?
Would you be a musician or a mime?
Would you be a best selling author or a teacher?
Would you be a butcher, baker or candlestick maker?
Would you have been like Arnold Schwartznager or would you have been like Rodney Trotter from Only Fools and Horses?
If you could become anyone would you be willing to become the person that God has called you to be?
Let’s face it, you are who you are, for a reason today you are you because you are you.
But, are you, all the you, you can be today?
Are you allowing the Spirt to work in you today?
What would your life be like if you allowed yourself to fully be the person God wants you to be?
What differences would there be in your life tomorrow if you allowed the Spirit to work in you today?
This morning as part of our Fresh Fire series I want to encourage you, to challenge you, to examine where you are where you really want to be.
The verse I want you to focus on this morning is
1 Corinthians 2:10-12 (NIV) which says: “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”
The NLT translates this verse: It was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
For so many people in the world today there are times in life that nothing seems to happen everything is boring without sense or meaning.
So many people want to be someone else simply because they feel their own life is empty.
Be honest, in your own spiritual walk, have there been times when you have complained that everything is the same, no growth and no direction, yet when you have felt the Spirit prompt you to do something, you have chosen not to?
Maybe there have been times in your life when doubt has stopped you moving forward.
Stopped you from allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life.
Maybe there have been times when you have asked why?
Maybe there are times when you have refused to ask yourself why?
So let me ask you why, from our text, let me form a question for you from the bible verses we have read
Why when, We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us - why do we choose to accept less than God has freely given us?
Why do we spend so much time desiring to be like someone else and ignore who God is calling us to be?
How can we move past the feeling that something is wrong and allow God to work in our lives today?
How can we have greater joy in our lives?
How can we be satisfied?
How can we be the people that God has called us to be?
The simple answer is we must allow the Spirit to work in our lives so that we can become the people God has called us to be.
Do you allow the Spirit to work in your life?
Are you thankful for the blessings God has freely given you to enjoy everyday?
When was the last time you thanked God for the beauty of His creation?
When was the last time you thanked God for what He is doing in your life?
When was the last time you thanked God for what He provides you with everyday? Your bed, your food, your clothes.
When was the last time you thanked God for His love, His grace, His Mercy?
When was the last time you allowed the Spirit to work in you and through you for God’s glory?
When was the last time you thanked God for the work of the Holy Spirit in your life?
When was the last time you asked the Spirit to work in your life to help you be the person God has called you to be?
It is true to say that God knows your past, God knows your today, and He knows your future.
You know your past, you are living in your today, and I’m sure you have a hope for your future.
Does your plan for the future align with God’s plan for your future?
Actually, does your plan for today align with God’s plan for you today?
So often we try and prepare for things in our own strength, and too often we wonder why things didn't go according to our plan when we never stopped to find out what God’s perfect plan for us was.
The past, the present and the future belongs to God and we need to be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into our destiny.
We must be open to the leading of the Spirit.
Are you willing to become the person God has called you to be by allowing the Spirit to work in you today?
Are you willing to give control of your life to God?
Are you willing to allow the full power of the Holy Spirit into your life, in your home, in your family, in your workplace.
We will never experience the full joy and contentment that God wants us to have if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.
We all need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.With His power our life can become a blessing to others.
With His power others will see and experience the love of Jesus Christ through us.
Today, do you consider your life to be a living witness for Christ?
Today, would you allow the Holy Spirit to help you share the truth of Jesus with others?
Friends, you may look at others as role models, as people you aspire to be like, are you wiling to be the person God has called you to be?
Are you willing to allow God to use you to bring glory to Him?
Are you willing to open your life to the Holy Spirit and be a blessing to people you meet?
Remember we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
As Christians we received the Spirit who is from God and not of the world, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God
So that we might use the gifts and talents God has given us, so that we can be the People that God has called us to be.
God has called us to communicate the truth with others, are you sharing the truth?
You can do it verbally, you can do it in the written word, you can do it on Facebook or Twitter, but are you doing it?
Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you today?
Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you today to become the person that God has called you to be?
Let me encourage you to become the person God has called you to be.
Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you today.
Share the Good News of God’s Saving work in your life.
Allow the Spirit to help you become the person God has called you to be.
