Ghost Stories
Pt. 4 - Ghostly Gains
I. Introduction
Open with Campfire Scene - (Lights Dim)
I have an announcement to make. Did you know that for the last 12 years if you have attended Passion Church you could have received a 25% discount at Walmart on any of your purchases and you could have played golf free once a month at Pebble Beach, and been treated to an all expenses paid vacation to Hawaii every year? OK, we know those statements are not true. However, if you are a part of an organization and discovered that there were benefits afforded you that you didn't know about or failed to access it would upset you. In fact, if I discover an organization or subscription service or insurance policy has promised benefits for its members and I haven’t enjoyed those benefits I would demand them. I think this is the major issue for us as a church when it comes to the Holy Spirit. Because of confusion, misuse, abuse, what we have classified as weird we have at times failed to access or embrace the benefits of the Holy Spirit. So let's make sure we look at the membership manual and see the benefits of having the Holy Spirit in our life and maybe also address or deal with some of the confusion that causes us to miss all the benefits. However, there are some Ghostly Gains we need!
Text: Acts 1:8 (NIV)
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.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (NIV)
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Galatians 5:22-23 (TLB)
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
So, for our discussion today I want to talk to you about the benefits of the Holy Spirit. They are clear and they are not confusion or weird. I would say in many cases they are however missing. There are some other benefits that could be listed but I want to focus on the 3 main items/groups of benefits and then make a couple of statements that I hope will help us.
Benefits (Ghostly Gains - Not mentioned in order of importance just in order of mention in Scripture)
1. Power to witness.
2. Gifts of the Spirit.
3. Fruit of the Spirit.
We need power to replace excuses with effective!
I want to submit to you that we desperately need you to embrace and encounter baptism in the Holy Spirit because we need you to have power to witness. I want you to stop just a moment and think about the group that is gathered on the Day of Pentecost. They were probably all outgoing, extroverts right? Bold? No fear? No timidity? Remember this is the same group that ran and hid during adversity at the end of Jesus' life. Even the bravest denied. On the Day of Pentecost we hear from the extrovert . . . Peter. But I want you to notice that after the Day of Pentecost Scripture tells us in Acts 17 that these men (not man - singular - men plural) turned the world upside down. The collectively changed the world. All of them, with different personalities and demeanor were effective! It was singularly because of the power of the Spirit in their life that caused them to be effective witnesses. We need you to encounter the Holy Spirit so that our natural timidity, fear, shyness will no longer be an excuse to not witness. The Holy Spirit can operate through anyone regardless of their natural tendencies. And can I say we need EFFECTIVE witnesses today! Sometimes we have witnesses that aren't being effective. They are bold but they are ineffective (guys on corner)! Even the most outgoing person needs the power of the Holy Spirit to be effective today! Too many of us are power less because we don't have the Spirit empowering us!
We must make room for Gifts and Fruit!
This is where people get nervous. So let me cover a couple of items. For many the fear of the gifts causes them to tend to only focus on the fruit. Others only focus on the gifts and forget about the fruit. I want you to hear me clearly . . . this is a both and not either or. Without gifts we are incomplete. Without fruit we are incomplete. In a second when I tell you why we need these things I think you will understand that we must have both.
There are basically two camps that you typically find in churches. All gifts or all fruit.
I think the fear/confusion comes in because we have a lot of Pentecostals running around who speak in tongues but never operate in wisdom knowledge discernment faith healing or any other gift or they operate in other gifts as well but never exhibit any fruit. Let me stop for a second and address tongues - Hear me clearly tongues is a significant benefit to say the least because we are told that the most unruly member of our body is our tongue so the Holy Spirit is flexing his muscles when the tongue is controlled. Paul understood the significance of this gift and he said that he wants us to speak in tongues. However he also makes it clear that he does not want to us to only speak in tongues. He knew that praying in tongues allows us to pray mysteries. The Spirit prays what we don't know to pray. I believe entirely that you can make the case Scripturally that it is the first evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Tongues may be the loudest and sometimes most obvious gift but that doesn’t mean it’s the only one. My contention to those who have grown up in Pentecostal settings is that too many are only tapping into one benefit. We speak in tongues but we never operate in other gifts and we often fail to operate in kindness or live in joy. Let's not become so consumed by one gift that we forget/ignore the others and certainly not become guilty of forgetting that all the gifts are usually hard to embrace if we are not also exhibiting fruit!
Then the second group is all about fruit. Largely I think this group exists because they are afraid of or can't wrap their mind around gifts - and a lot of the time that stems from a fear of tongues. This fear has caused you to dismiss other gifts! I challenge you that if you only focus on that one thing and dismiss everything else then you risk missing out on benefits that you need. The fruit is necessary and important, however, without the gifts we are missing a vital component needed in the body and in life.
If we are part of an organization and fail to access all the benefits we are missing the full benefit of being a part. If we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to help us experience power, gifts and fruit then we are not getting all the benefits afforded to us.
Why is that an issue? Why can't I just live saved and make it to heaven? We desperately need gifts because Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians that the gifts edify the body (edify, exhort and comfort). So, if we don't have the gifts in operation as a body we can't build, encourage or comfort one another the way we should. So, to put it simply without the gifts of the Spirit in action as you interact with one another we become a social club gathering only for exposure. We need the fruit in place because the fruit is causes us to stand in direct contrast to our society. That is why Paul in Galatians preceeds the list of fruit with a list of what the world acts like. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. The fruit of the Holy Spirit makes us stand out in that type of environment. In fact, Jesus tells us that we are to learn to rightly judge people by their fruit (you will know them by their fruit - false prophets) we will be known by our fruit (not gifts)!
Without spiritual gifts and their exercise there can be no authentic church life and without the fruit we have an identity crisis.
Gifts to step in and fruit to stand out.
So I want us to lay aside fear. I want us to focus on all the gifts and all the fruits. I want us to move to this position - All. We want it all. We want it all. Why? What do you have to offer if not through the Holy Spirit? Can I offer you healing without Him? Joy without Him? Wisdom? No on my own I am powerless to help. So I need Him.
Illustrate -
Cake Pop or Entire Cake
Dixie Cup or Big Gulp
My point is why settle for fruit if you can also have gifts? Why settle for gifts when you can also have fruit?
Why settle for one gift when you can have them all?
Let's refuse to settle for a cake pop when we can have the entire cake or a dixie cup when we can have the big gulp!
