#
#February 24, 2013
Troy First Assembly
Text: Romans 8:1-17 – Focus on verse 14
Subject: the Holy Spirit
Title – Spirit Fed and Spirit Led
Pastor Darrell has told me that there is a real spirit of revival in this church and my message today is a message of encouragement for you all to continue in that spirit of revival.
I want to share with you about how, especially in these last days, the church needs to rise up and seek continually to walk in or be led by the Spirit.
Are we a Pentecostal Church?
Do we rely on the Holy Spirit to accomplish the things that God has called us to do?
Are we led by the Spirit?
14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Most Christians think that being led by the Spirit is a difficult thing. I hear people say often that they are reluctant to be used in the gifts or they are cautious about this or that because they are afraid that it isn’t the Spirit leading them but the flesh – so they do nothing. But look at verse 2 in Romans 8.
…because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Are Christians always Spirit led? No! There are so many different ways that we can be led and deceived.
Many are led by the head…
you can be led by your circumstances. Isn’t it funny that people just let the circumstances of life dictate to them which way the Spirit wants to move them? If my financing comes through for my house I guess it’s God’s will that I have a house. If it doesn’t then I guess it wasn’t His will… No, God really doesn’t work that way. It is either God’s will or it isn’t. Were you led by the Spirit to look for a house? Did God point out the right house for you? Were you confident that it was His will for you? You see, what verse 2 talks about “the law of sin and death” that is not just talking about sin. It is about operating according to the sinful nature –the natural man. Doing what seems right, or what makes sense. Sometimes what the Spirit wants for us doesn’t make sense in the natural.
Some are led by their negative confessions- their mouths - they say things about their lives that is contrary to what God says.
The best way to walk in the Spirit is to be sure of God’s will for your life and the best way to know God’s will is to be grounded in His word. Ephesians 5:17-18 deals with that.
17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is…
18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Would God, by His Spirit, have told you in the Word to understand what God’s will is if He wasn’t able to make His will known to you? We can know God’s will by the written logos word and by the rhema word spoken to the spirit man. Then once you hear from the Spirit, you must be willing to walk in whatever He tells you.
Turn over to the Book of Acts. 1:8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
We see in the book of Acts the stories of the growth of the early church. Miracles at the hands of the apostles. Much of the early parts of Acts take place in Jerusalem. Was the early church being led by the Spirit? We know that the apostles were. Miracles, healings, salvation, prophetic words… but the “church” never got beyond Jerusalem. Where was it supposed to go? Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
The first car I remember my mom and dad having was a 1952 Oldsmobile. And as a kid I remember sitting behind the steering wheel while the car was parked and pretending that I was driving. And you now, as hard as I tried I couldn’t turn that steering wheel. Because the car wasn’t moving. And that was what was happening in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit was wanting to use the whole church but the church was stuck. It wasn’t going anywhere. The Holy Spirit was saying, “Come on. Move! Go, so I can give you direction. Finally it came to persecution to get the church to move. Philip went into Samaria. The Holy Spirit moved him down to Gaza and then took him away to Azotus. Paul was moving in the wrong direction. He wanted to go into Bythinia and then Asia, but the Holy Spirit steered him in the right direction. He was moving – not staying still.
Romans 8:5
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.
Lord Your will be done in my life and not mine…
What is required for you to be led by the Spirit?
1. You have to be spiritual… 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
2. You have to be willing… 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
3. You have to have faith… 2 Corinthians 13:5, 5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Hebrews 11:6, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
You can say you have the faith to be Spirit led but if the Spirit leads and you don’t go how does that work for you? The Spirit is saying, “Come on man. Get in, start the engine and at least pull away from the curb… Give me something to work with…”
“But what if it’s not the Spirit…?”
15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
That word “testify” or “bear witness” means to testify jointly or to corroborate by concurrent evidence…
That verse does not say that the Spirit testifies to our spirit, but that He testifies with our spirit…
He speaks in order to lead us and our spirit man says, “Oh yeah. That is so right… I’m going where He is going.”
OK, so how do we get to the point where we can be Spirit led all the time.
It is a matter of priorities.
1. Read the Word and believe every word of it by faith.
Is this the word of God? I said, is this the word of God? Is it truth? John 17:17, Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Is the Holy Spirit called the Spirit of truth? Then won’t He always line up with the Word which He Himself has written?
2. Pour godly things into your life. Whether we want to admit it or not the church is being decimated by anti-biblical thought from our pervasive society. Even those in the church are being swayed by doctrines of demons because they pay more attention to what the world says than to what the Word says.
3. Listen for his voice. 1 John 2:27, As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
4. Be willing to do what He says… James 1:22-25, 22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
Piano…
Romans 8:17, Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…
Do you want to be Spirit led? Then you need to be Spirit fed.
Right now the Spirit is leading someone to put aside the sinful man and come to God to be saved…
Right now the Spirit is leading one into a deeper relationship with him – one where you can simply trust every word the Spirit is saying to you today…
Right now some is making a decision that you will set aside what seems right in the natural and trust what God says about your life, your sickness, your situation…
Right now the Spirit is telling someone “With God all things are possible…” and “all things are possible for him who believes…”
Right now faith is rising up in someone to just believe the impossible and to receive a miracle from God…
Receiving from God requires knowing His will and submitting to it. Then asking according to His perfect will… 1 John 5:14-15, 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Where is the Spirit leading you today?
Salvation?
Power through the baptism in the Spirit?
Healing?
Blessing?
Deliverance?
Get in, start it up and pull away from the curb. He is leading you to places you have never been before.
