Fresh Fire: Presence, Prayers & Power
Do you like gadgets? I love gadgets. I think it is safe to say that if you took away my Computers, iPod, iPad and iPhone for a day I would find it difficult to survive without going crazy.
The ability to communicate is important to me.
The other day our internet connection stopped working while I was trying to send an email to someone.
I tried switching my computer off and on.
I switched the broadband box off and on.
All I got was a little red flashing light that told me what I already knew - the internet connection was not working.
I phoned my internet service provider.
And they did some checking and told me that the problem was someone had switched off the power to a specific circuit at the exchange.
And that they would get it switched back on asap.
Broadband is a wonderful invention.
Built to do exactly what it was intended to do.
But broadband is useless without power.
Broadband needs external power to operate.
And its true to say that there are many occasions in our lives when our own power isn’t enough for us to operate.
There are occasions when we need to experience the power of God in our lives.
There are occasions when only the Supernatural Power of the Holy Spirit is able to make a real difference in our lives, in our families lives, in our community.
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When we trust in Jesus as our personal saviour, when we give our lives to Christ, the Bible says it is like we are born again.
God gives us a new mind, heart, and conscience. We have a whole new nature inside us.
And the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence inside us.
Remember how the Duracell Bunny had a source of power that lasted longer than any other....
Well nothing lasts longer than the power of the eternal God.
And by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in us and through us, we are empowered to serve God, every moment of our lives.
Do you ever feel like you have been unplugged?
Does it sometimes feel like your Christian life is not working the way you think it should?
The problem is not with God but with us.
We were not recreated in Christ to run on our own power, but so often we try to do stuff in our own strength.
We need constant help from God.
We need to be willing to draw from the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to work and function properly.
In our homes we have different gadgets and electrical items and each one was designed differently to accomplish a different task.
Your fridge keeps stuff cold.
Your washing machine washes stuff.
Your iron makes your clothes lovely and smooth.
And your TV entertains you for hours with stuff that you wonder why you bother to watch it.
Each item is different, all run from the same power source.
Likewise in the church each of us is designed for a slightly different role.
God has given all of us talents, abilities, skills and gifts.
Each of us is different.
But every single one of us is designed to be empowered by The Holy Spirit
If you feel like your not operating properly, if you are always saying to yourself
“there must be more to the Christian life than this” than maybe the problem is you have not allowed yourself to be fully plugged into Holy Spirit Power.
This month our Fresh Fire theme is the Holy Spirit in Supernatural Power -
The Power that brings life and light to you and those around you.
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This morning to focus our attention I want us to look at a couple of verses from the old testament and 2 verses from the new testament
In Exodus Chapter 25, God gives Moses specific instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle. God also gives Moses specific plans for the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, the table, and the lampstand.
Exodus 25:31-32 says “Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand--three on one side and three on the other.
As you entered the tabernacle or Holy Place on the left side was a golden 7 branched candlestick. It was the only light that was shining in the tent.
Through the Bible we see that the number 7 means FULL or COMPLETE.
Maybe your thinking, what has the tabernacle and a 7 cupped candle stick got to do with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible in 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that if you are a believer your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
And in the book of Revelation the candlestick is a symbol that represents the Holy Spirit. Revelation 3:5 says From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the sevenfold spirit of God.
When we receive Jesus as our personal Saviour, we all receive the Holy Spirit within us. We each receive a light within us.
As the temple of God we have the Holy Spirit shining within us to reveal truth and to lead us forward into righteousness.
The Holy Spirit fills us, leads us and empowers us.
As we come into the presence of God it is so important for us to remember and acknowledge the importance of the Holy Spirit in this process.
So How does the Spirit help us?
1st there is the Light of God’s Presence – making God known to us.
It is the Holy Spirit which draws us to Christ for our salvation.
Once we are saved, the Holy Spirit continues to bring us into God’s presence.
The Holy Spirit acts as our counsellor and comforter and makes known to us God’s love and God’s plan.
Jesus said it this way in John 16:13-15,
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’
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When Jesus ascended. Physically He was gone, but the disciples clung to His promise to send them the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. The disciples had with them the continual reminder that Jesus was alive, victorious & with Father God.
And the Message that Jesus is alive continues to be the Spirit’s message today.
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In the tabernacle, the lamp stand stood beside the table of bread in the tabernacle. The bread is a symbol that represents the word of God.
Both the Spirit and the Word work together in changing and transforming us.
As we grow in one we should grow in the other.
We cannot separate the Power of the Spirit and the Power of the Word.
If you want to experience Fresh Fire in your Christian life, the fuel you need is the Power of the Word and the Power of the Holy Spirit.
The preacher Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said
“Nothing is more dangerous than to put a wedge between the Word and the Spirit, to emphasize either one at the expense of the other. It is the Spirit and the Word, the Spirit upon the Word, and the Spirit in us as we read the Word.”
Or as Derek Prince puts it:
“If you have the Spirit without the Word,
you blow up.
If you have the Word without the Spirit,
you dry up.
If you have both the Word and the Spirit,
you grow up.”
The Holy Spirit helps us in knowing God’s love and plan better in our lives.
The Holy Spirit also helps in us communicating our mind and heart to God.
The Holy Spirit acts as our translator – communicating the real desires of our heart and mind to God.
We may say one thing to God using our voice, but the Holy Spirit sees and says what is in our heart.
Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
We may say one thing to God using our voice, but the Holy Spirit sees and says what is in our heart.
When we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit knows precisely what we need and prays in a language the Father perfectly understands.
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The Holy Spirit empowers us to love God and to also serve Him.
The word Paraclete that is translated as Comforter or advocate in the context of the Holy Spirit is a vigorous term.
Literally, it can mean “with strength.”
Jesus promised his followers “The Strengthener” would be with them.
With the Holy Spirit inside us we can do all the things that God calls us to do.
The works Jesus Himself did, were by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And you and I, if we are born-again believers, have within us, this morning, all the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:12 Jesus said I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
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Why don’t we see this Holy Spirit power at work in us?
Is it because we think that we do not need His power?
Is it because we do not want His Power?
Is it because we are afraid of His Power?
Do we only move and operate at a spiritual level that can be met by our own strength?
If we want to experience the fresh fire of the power of the Spirit in our life,
we need to be willing to tap into the endless reserve of Holy Spirit power.
We need to be willing to draw on God’s strength.
Every day the Holy Spirit give us spiritual power feeding us, cleaning us, from the inside out.
He keeps on working in us - because that’s what He does!
When we are saved the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts.
But, sometimes we fail to see the Holy spirit in us because we simply have not understood what it means to be full of the Spirit.
To be full of the Spirit does not mean us getting more of God but God getting more of us.
To be full of the Spirit does not mean us getting more of God but God getting more of us.
We need to choose to follow the prompting of the Spirit in our life. Rom 8:5 reminds us that Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
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Let me encourage you this morning.
Allow the Holy Spirit to empower your life.
Allow the Light of God’s Presence to shine in your life
Allow the Light of the Spirit in your Prayers –
Allow the Light of the Spirit’s Power to strengthen you.
Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you that you might be both blessed and a blessing to others.
