Fresh Fire: The Difference - The Holy Spirit in the Church and in You
When you think of church what do you think of?
Do you think of the building?
Do you think of the worship service?
Do you think about what we do?
Or do you think about who we are?
Let me ask the question in a different way:
Do you come to church or
Do you ‘do’ church? or
Are you church?
See the bible clearly states it’s us, it’s the people who are the church, it’s not the building, its not what we do, It is who we are.
How we think about what church actually is, affects how we behave, it affects how we act and it effects who we are.
If we see the church purely as a building then it’s something that we can just visit on occasion.
If we seen church as the services, or the ceremonies, or the way in which we do things - then we can choose not to fully participate.
If we see ourselves as church then that means we have to think about who we are, how we behave and what we do - 24 hours a day - seven days a week
If we are church then we don’t stop being church because we’re not in a church building, we don’t stop being church because we don’t feel like getting up and going to the morning service, we can’t stop being church because God has called us to be church, His Church, His people when we accepted Jesus as Lord, when God forgave us for our sin, when we repented and turned to Him, we were adopted into His family.
Over the last nine months, as part of our fresh fire series we have been thinking specifically about the Holy Spirit, who the spirit is, how he works in our lives, the difference He makes to our lives, and the difference we can make in other peoples lives when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us.
This month we are looking at the Spirit in the Ministry of the church.
Maybe we should retitle this month as the Spirit in the Ministry of YOU.
You are the church - and your ministry is important, Having the Spirit in your ministry is vital to being the church God has called us to be.
Your ministry can make a difference in the life of your family.
Your ministry can make a difference in the life of your friends.
Your ministry can make a difference in the life of your community.
Your ministry can make a difference in the life of our church.
So how can YOU make a difference?
First - let me start by saying it’s not about who YOU think you are…
Yes you are important to God.
Yes you are valuable to God.
Yes you are loved by God.
Yes you may have gifts or talents that someone else does not have.
But its not about how important, or valuable, or gifted, or talented you think you are…
It’s all about what you are willing to allow God to do with your life,
it’s all about how willing you are to be used by God to bring others to Christ,
It’s all about how willing you are to live sacrificially.
It’s all about how willing you are to be led and guided and empowered by the Spirit of God.
It’s not about who you are, it’s about how open you are to serve the God who loves you and cares for you and has a perfect plan for you.
It’s about allowing God to use you to make a difference.
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If you think about it, throughout the Bible there are people that God has used to make a difference.
And rather than just picking the strongest,
the wisest, the beautiful - God used many that, by the standards of the world, could be consider failures.
God uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect purpose.
Someone wrote this list about people God used:
Moses stuttered.
David’s armour didn’t fit.
Hosea’s wife was a prostitute.
Jacob was a liar.
King David had an affair.
Solomon was too rich.
Abraham was too old.
David was too young.
Timothy had ulcers.
Peter was afraid of death.
Lazarus was dead.
John was self-righteous.
Naomi was a widow.
John Mark - rejected by Paul
Paul was a murderer.
So was Moses.
Jonah ran from God.
Miriam was a gossip & bigot
Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
Elijah was burned out.
Martha was a clean freak.
Samson had long hair.
Noah got drunk.
And Moses had a short fuse and so did Peter, Paul… and many others
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says this “God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”
Serving God from the heart is what makes the difference.
Allowing God to work in you and through you may not make you a superstar in the eyes of the world - but it will allow you to shine for Christ.
It will enable YOUR ministry to make a difference in peoples lives.
It will bring glory to God.
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When Jesus chose His disciples - they were not the smartest, strongest, or most eloquent.
But He chose them.
They were ordinary men that Jesus knew could make a difference.
And Jesus has chosen you.
He has chosen me, He has chosen us - ordinary men and women to make the difference. To be church.
And we don’t do it on our own, we do it with God’s Spirit working in us and through us.
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So what is your ministry, what gifts or talents has God given to you?
What is it that He is calling you to do?
What will the Spirit enable you to do?
What is God asking you to do for Him as part of this church?
As a church, we believe in every member ministry, it’s biblical, we are all equal in God’s sight, He loves us all the same, and He calls each of us to be active for Him.
Practically and spiritually we can be active for the Lord.
Let me ask you again what is your ministry, what gifts or talents has God given to you?
What is it that He is calling you to do?
What will the Spirit enable you to do?
What can you do that is valuable to God’s purposes for us as church?
Let me give you a practical example: Setting this room up for worship on a Sunday Morning.
When you come to this building, you expect the chairs to be in place, the carpet to be hoovered, the toilets to be clean.
This building being ready when people arrive is an important witness to others that we care.
Does anyone know who normally makes sure the building is ready for church to arrive?
How often have you arrived early and offered help to setup the building?
Little things can have a big impact on what happens here…
Would you volunteer to do the chairs,
or to operate the computer,
or to prepare the communion meal,
or to stand at the door and welcome people as they arrive...
Some of the little things that won’t happen without someone doing them?
Let me give you a spiritual example, something as simple as regular attendance,
If someone walks into a building that has people in it they will assume something is happening there,
that there is a purpose in being there,
that the activities that are taking place inside have some meaning for the people that attend them.
But if someone walks into an empty building does that send the message that nothing important happens there …
If someone walks into a prayer meeting
and only a handful of people are there
and only a couple of them pray,
what does that say about the importance of prayer, what does that say about the power of prayer?
OR what about the last time we had a new person visit on a Sunday morning...
did you smile at them?
Did you say hello?
Did you engage them in conversation?
Did you care that they were here?
Or, were you too busy doing church to be church?
Did you invite them to sit with you?
Did you talk with them before the service?
Did you talk with them after the service?
Did you find out about them or did you tell them about you?
People who visit a church want to feel welcomed, they are looking for people who are friendly.
When people come to this church for the first time are they welcomed?
Are we friendly to visitors?
Will they feel a sense of family here?
Will they sense that there is something about us that makes a difference?
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Are you the one that can make a difference?
Are you willing to make a difference?
Will you allow God to use you in the ministry of the church?
Will you allow God to use you in the ministry of YOU?
Ephesians 2:10 reminds us “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Friend, you are God’s masterpiece.
You have been called to minister to others, to serve others, to bless others.
You have been called to make a difference.
Christianity does not exist in a bubble.
Southend Elim does not exist in a bubble.
You do not exist in a bubble.
All of us, at one time or another has hear the false thinking and sad philosophies of this world.
You come to this building on a Sunday, but for the rest of the week are you church to the people who don’t think like you do?
When you go to work or school, or when you spend time with colleagues, friends, relatives - are you church?
When you spend time watching TV, or updating Facebook are you church?
When you read, when you talk, when you send texts or emails, are you church?
You may go to places where people people mock God, ridicule Christianity or use Jesus as a swear word... are you church there?
Maybe you don’t feel very smart, maybe your not the most eloquent, maybe, in the eyes of the world, you are not very important, maybe there are even those who even see you as weak or foolish.
God can use you to make a difference.
God can use you to share the truth.
God can use use to serve others.
God can use you as a blessing to others.
It is the Spirit INSIDE of YOU that makes the difference to your ministry, to the ministry of the church
Will you allow the Spirit to use you?
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As we move into our time of communion let me remind you that we are called to be like Jesus.
Our example is Jesus. Philippians 2:5-11 says
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honour and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is the foundation of our faith.
His sacrifice is what has set us free from the penalty of Sin.
His death has brought us life.
His resurrection is our assurance of eternal life.
He has made a difference in your life.
Church - will you allow The Holy Spirit to work in YOU and your Ministry?
