Years ago they used to call car rally enthusiasts - "Car rally enthusiasts".
Today they’re simply called "petrol heads".
Well there has never been such a great time for petrol heads - Wow!!!!!!!
With Colin McRea - Carlos Saines or Richard Burns burning around corners at breakneck speed - with jumps over moguls that would have destroyed a car years ago and with on board cameras and incredible commentaries not to mention the computer generated backup images - Petrol heads have never had it so good.
But here’s an interesting technological fact for you. If the car runs out of oil it will still stop if the car runs out of Petrol it won’t go - and if the wheel nuts are loose you are likely to have the wheel fall off.
Petrol heads get really disappointed with that sort of thing.
We are in the middle of a series of sermons based on Romans chapter one from where I have been attempting to extract key elements that Paul reveals that help us to foster good Christian fellowship.
So far we have been looking at the numonic F.A.I.T.H
Faith.
Today I want to look at the letter ’H’ on that numonic which is the last letter of faith.
H is for Holy Spirit.
Our fellowship is to be in the character of the Holy Spirit who indwells Christians.
What I want to talk about today in particular relates more with Galations chapter 5 and verse 22 rather than Romans chapter 1.
In fact the thread which I am using to tie this into Romans chapter 1 is
RO 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-- 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Holy Spirit played a critical part in the life and ministry of Jesus -
If we want effective Christian relationships we can be assured that the Holy Spirit needs to be present in our relationships.
That is where the rally illustration comes in - Without petrol - oil or wheel nuts the rally simply wouldn’t happen - without the Holy spirit the church simply can not happen either.
Many years ago now we ran a series of seminars called the Life in the Spirit seminars.
It was a very carefully prepared seminar that helped Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to grow in the Spirit.
But one of the concerns that I have subsequently had about these seminars is not about what it taught of the Holy Spirit but rather what we missed out - or rather neglected in emphasis.
What we emphasised was often the evidences of the Holy Spirit and also salvation.
But an equally important matter of far less exciting or of sensational interest is the fruit of the Spirit.
If we go back to the passage in Romans chapter 1 and verse 4 we read of Jesus
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Spirit of holiness released Jesus in power - after Jesus’ baptism we find him being released in power into the world At his baptism we are told the spirit of god descended upon jesus like a dove.
Just as a rally car is able to move in power through the oil - fuel and wheels so the Christian is empowered to do the work of God through the Holy Spirit.
All the things I said in the last few weeks depend greatly on the Holy Spirit moving in power in our lives -
Let’s consider an example of the Holy Spirit moving in power in a believer -
Welshman, Ree’s Howells was a man greatly used of God throughout his whole life.
One night, Rees Howells and his friends were returning from the village, they passed a group of woman who never came to the meetings. They could tell by their voices that they had been drinking. One of the party exclaimed, "Where is the power to change these people?" There and then the spirit gave it to him that he was to pick out the ringleader of those woman, who was a notorious character and a confirmed drunkard, and pray her into the Kingdom by Christmas Day!
This was something new He had seen many drunkards converted, but the Lord had worked through his personal contacts with them; in this case, however, he had no connection with the woman and the Lord told him that he was to use no personal influence to reach her by way of the Throne. It would be a real test of strength. Could the Holy Spirit through him use the power of atonement to break the devil’s dominion in her life and fulfill the Saviour’s word in Matthew 12:29, about binding the strong man and stealing his goods? He saw that if he could get this one visible proof of the devil’s defeat, the Holy Ghost could apply the victory through him on a large scale.
To do this the Spirit gave him John 15:7 "If ye abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." It would all depend on his abiding.
I cannot share the full story but here is the outcome:-
The weeks that followed, as he "gave prompt obedience to the Holy Spirit in all things," were times of wonderful fellowship’ until by the end of the sixth week the Spirit told him the abiding was complete and the victory assured.
"I was abiding now without being called to abide, walking in the position , and the Lord told me that I could now expect to see this woman make a move."
That very night, with a thrill in his soul, Rees saw her in the open meeting for the first time, and he told the devil, "Now I know that the Holy Ghost is stronger than you, you have been bought to naught at Calvary."
She began to come to the cottage meetings. A great number of people became onlookers as they had heard of the prayer. It now was a case of praising before the victory, and in the remaining weeks before Christmas the Holy Spirit did not allow him to pray for her. "It was a conflict with not praying," he said, "so the adversary pressed on us the need of prayer; but it would have been a prayer of doubt. "During that time there was no outward sign of repentance in the woman.
Christmas morning came, and the word he had was, "Go up and possess it. "I had a chance of experiencing what men like Moses went through in telling a thing beforehand," he said.
"Not a single doubt came to my mind that day and how strong I was! I was praising the Lord all day. I would not look at my Christmas cards or presents, for this was my Christmas gift!"
When the time for the meeting came, the woman was there, but a lot of people had bought their children; there was plenty of noise, and in no sense the kind of atmosphere which would influence a person to repent. But in the middle of the meeting "down she went on her knees and cried to God for mercy. It was a victory beyond value, and she is standing today."
Clearly this is an example of the Holy Spirit moving in power.
Often times I have seen God move in such ways in a persons life.
It has been said that George Muller began praying for 5 of his friends. He prayed 5 years before the first one was converted; for the next one he prayed 10 years; for the third one 25 years; for the fourth nearly 50 years. The last one was converted after 52 years, at George Muller’s funeral. George Muller was faithful, even unto death.
But in order to see such incredible effects on an ongoing basis it seems to me that we need to be demonstrating in our lives the fruit of the Spirit.
How do we get the fruits of the Spirit that are so important to us if we are to be of ongoing use to God?
In a sense in this sermon I have the microscope down on Christian fellowship but in order for us to have "Christian" fellowship we have to get this correct and that is why I digress a little.
I would like to share a second illustration from the life of Rees Howell to consider how he gained the fruit of love for a particular situation and then I would like to consider how we can begin to demonstrate this fruit in our lives by following a similar process.
A woman had died of Turburculosis - she had left their Father and four children Things came to a crisis when the father went away and left the children. Mr Howells first thought was that he would make himself responsible for them, as a guardian, and pay a woman to go to the house to look after them. That was more than many would have done, but the Lord said to him, "It is a father that they need not a guardian, I am a Father of the fatherless, but I cannot be a Father to them in heaven, so I must be one through you.":
He had to face up to what that would mean - to make a home with them and earn enough to keep them until the youngest was of age. It would mean fifteen to twenty years of his life going, and all the hopes he had of one day taking the Holy Spirit to the world. Moreover, they were not his children and he did not have a father’s love for them, and there was nothing in him that wanted to do it.
It was on this that the spirit challenged him.
He was to take the mother’s place now in caring for her four little ones. There was no answer to that, and he dare not question the authority of the Holy Ghost in his life.
"But," he said, "you must have God’s nature to love other people’s children as your own." So he told the Lord, "I am willing for You to be a Father through me, but I cannot do it unless You love them through me, so that they are not like adopted but begotten children. And to do that, You will have to change my nature."
Really, Rees never thought God could do it, but He did! One night by his bedside he found God’s love pouring into him --- His love for the Fatherless. There were no bounds to it. It went out towards these four little children - nothing now could stop him going to live with them. He felt that they had a claim on him. He put it this way, "Any child without parents has a claim on God to be a Father to him, so these four orphans had a claim on the Holy spirit who was to be a Father to them through me." But divine love could not be limited to four, He said, "I felt I loved every little child in the world that had no one to look after it. It was the love of God flowing through me."
The reason I wanted particularly to share this illustration was to demonstrate how The gift of the Spirit - in this case love - brings an extraordinary and profound depth to an otherwise limited and ordinary emotion.
There was a moment where Rees Howell felt God’s love pouring into him.
Now to return to our Christian fellowship - there are in our small church a vast variety of types of person with a variety of social - interest class and every kind of category you might imagine -
Some of us love football others love crocheting - some are business people - others care givers - some are strong characters others easy going and so on.
Normally out there in the world we wouldn’t find the kind of mix we have here -
The natural tendency may well be for us to drift apart especially if we only have limited fruits of the human spirit to share out of.
Sooner or later we can lose our joy - our love our gentleness and so on if we are operating out of the human spirit.
But God adds the extra dimension in such an incredible way that we can simply become "best friends" with the most unlikely of souls in the worlds eyes.
Consider for a moment the group of followers that Jesus had with him - they were from a wide and varied background - but they were bound together by a common bond that was enhanced by the Holy Spirit.
Listen to these descriptions of the disciples by Peter Marshall - undoubtably he is taking some poetic lisence but there is probably some degree of accuracy as well.
God Put together a rough man who’d lived a rough life - When provoked he is liable to burst into profanity, and his vocablury is lurid
He would not be your choic3e
The nexzt lot are brothers
They too have a fishing occupation inclined to go for the best price - their attitude irritates the others - They are not modest men.
They are boastful and through cupped hands they like to shout taunts to they other fisher men on their nets.
They have earned for themselves the nickname "the sons of thunder" becuase they are always rumbling about something.
They have little patience with people who cross them, and they would be inclined to call down the fire of heaven to burn them up.
Get rid of the objectors!
That’s their motto.
Their Mother had taught them that if you want to get on in the world you have to push.
They would want to be in the chief place.
They think they belong in front.
If they became disciples of Jesus, they would naturally want to be his chief lieutenants - one on his right hand and the other on his left.
If we took time to hear all the testimony from people who know them, our verdict would be unanimous that James and john would simply not do.
So let us pass to the next candidate -
There is a wild gleam in his eyes - and no wonder.
He is a leader of the underground.
In todays world he would be a terrorist.
He seems to be the fanatical type, impatient and nervousa.
See he cannot keep his hands still his fingers clench and unclench.
His eyes dance at the thought of the messiah, at the head of a liberating army, driving the hated Romans into the sea.
This young man might be too dangerous.
He is highly inflamable material.
He is likely to become violent, and his impatience will burn him up;
He is a great risk - a very great risk
We could not take a risk on Judas the Zealot
We dare not
Note the next guy - At least he is cautious.
This man might have it in him but no.
Can you imagine him as a member of the apostolic band?
Aslways advocating delay;
This is not the time will be his theme song.
"Let’s wait and see" will be his advice.
But the Kingdom of God is a venture of faith - not of doubt.
It is a matter of perception not of proof.
How could thomas possibly fit into the picture?
The next person is sold out to the army of occupation and is collecting taxes for ythe roman government.
He has devised his own particular racket and it is making him enemies and rich as well.
But that’s not all.
He has a mind like an adding machine.
He has been counting money all his life.
Money and evidences of wealth alone impress him.
That’s bad enough but there’s worse to come.
He is a geneologist.
He is one of those men whose passion is family trees.
He will bore you with long recitals of the best gfamilies -
Where they came from -
Whom they married
]
How many children they had
And whom they marrried and so on and on
Can you imagine a traitor as a friend of Jesus?
A statistician - a man who made a God of Money?
No Levi or Matthew would be rejected -
What about Andrew?
Does anyone know about him?
I have heard it said he has n0o personality - whatever that means/.
I know that he is Peter’s brother but I know of no good reason why he should be chosen.
There are still others Bartholomew Thaddeus
Philip and another James and a man called Simon from Canaan.
They are all interested in becoming disciples - joining the close fellowship around Jesus - but I know of no particular reason why they should.
Yet these are the very men whom Jesus chose to be his disciples -
I feel sure that you wounld not argue with me if I suggested that these men had more influence on the course of human history that any other dozen men who ever lived.
But they were just like us.
The three years they spent with Jesus did something to them and in them.
The feul had been laid on the fire, but it was not lit.
The seed had been sown, but it had not been germinated.
All the possibilities of change in them had been created. But the changes had not yet happened
What did change them?
Not just the crucifixion
Not just the resurrection
But the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Not until these men were filled with the HOLY GHOST WERE THEY CHANGED.
NOT UNTIL THE SPIRIT HAD COME UPON THEM IN POWER WERE THEY CHANGED
SO THAT COWARDICE GAVE PLACE TO COURAGE
UNBELIEF GECAME A FLAMING FAITH AND CONVICTION THAT NOTHING ON EARTH COULD SHAKE.
JEALOUSY WAS SWALLOWED UP IN bROTHERLY LOVE
SELF INTEREST WAS KILLED AND BECAME A MINISTRY TO OTHERS
FEAR WAS BANISHED, AND THEY WERE AFRAID OF NO MAN ........... NO THREAT, NO DANGER.
And therein lies our hope.
We have not seen jesus as they did.
We never heard the sound of his voice or saw the sunlight dance on his hair or traced his footsteps on the sands of palestine.
But we have the same opportunity to be changed, because the same Holy spirit is available to us today.
Before I get to how I want to comment on a myth.
There is a myth around that would say that once you are filled with the Spirit you are changed completely - that the character does not degenerate.
It would seem to be supported by scripture -
If anyone is in Christ he/she is a new creation - old things are passed away behold all things are made new.
Just as a garden quickly degenerates to a wilderness without regular care so the Christian rapidly will degenerate into the old self unless maintained in the Lord.
Having said that :
We need to understand that a Chrisitan who has allowed the Holy Ghost to fill them is a very beautiful person.
When you yourself have begun to be a new person, then there is hope for your own particular weekness or lack. Whatever is covered up when you meet others whether it is private ambition or personal insecuries or lack are gloriously gone when the Holy spirit is allowed his way in us.
The thing is for us to have great fellowship Christian to christian - for God’s love to pervade our services and our fellowship - first we need to yield to God.
Just as we yield to God in salvation - that is we confess our sins, ask for forgiveness and yield ourselves to Jesus as our Lord - so with the Holy Spirit we need to openly receive him.
It is true that the Holy Spirit often comes in tremendous power as at Pentecost.
But the continuous indwelling of the spirit is not about the manner of His arriving but rather about his ongoing presence and work in our lives.
A few months ago the Queen of England was in New Zealand - but then she left - we could have gone and seen her but now she has gone to England.
We can write to her or phone Buckingham palace but the truth is she is now in England.
But she has left her representitive - the Governor General Dame Sylvia Cartwright - Her we can go and see -
Jesus was on earth but he has gone to be with the Father - he is in heaven and will come again we can contact him far more personally than with the queen - we can pray directly to him and he will listen - but also he has left his representitive - His name is Holy Spirit and he is God himself with us.
He does not live in Wellington but will come to live in you if you will invite him to do so.
One of the hall marks of whether the holy spirit is moving in your live is to ask how well are the fruits of the Spirit being exhibited in my life.
Remember what they are.
Galations 5 verse 22 GAL 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
To keep in step with the spirit we need to yield ourselves to His work in our lives.
In the pew this morning you will find a copy of these fruits you may find that one or two stand out in particular as fruits you would like to exhibit more.
Perhaps you have felt powerless to be as loving as you should - perhaps there is some area of goodness that you have a lack in.
What I would like you to do this morning is to mark on this sheet some area that you would like the Holy Spirit to help you in and then we will spend a time in prayer just asking God to fill you with the Holy spirit in that area of your life.
If you have never received the Holy spirit by the laying on of hands, and would like to can I encourage you to come forward for paryer here this morning.
Jesus once said:-
MT 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
MT 7:9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him
Let us take a moment to mark our sheets of paper.
