Pastor Bruce Ball
CrossWinds Bible Church
Sometimes I try and picture Jesus walking on the same earth that I am walking on. In historical terms, He was here just a few short years ago. I can understand that by using intelligence, but when I try to use my heart to actually understand, I just can’t seem to do it very well.
I would like to think that if I were with Jesus and He was talking to me, I would listen to every word and soak it all in like a dry sponge, but then I realize that I am just a human like his disciples were. Much of what Jesus told them fell on deaf ears.
As we read in 1 CORINTHIANS 2:14, anybody can hear spiritual words, but only the spiritual of heart can understand them. Before Pentecost, the disciples were mostly unspiritual men trying there best to catch what Jesus was giving them. I am sure that on many occasions, they probably looked at each other and scratched their heads and said, “What did He say?”
Jesus spent 3½ years in almost constant companionship with those men. He was with them physically, but it was not until after Pentecost that He was really with them – spiritually. It was not until the promised Holy Spirit came and indwelt in them did they really understand the concept of what Jesus had been telling them. That is why Jesus said we have to be born again of the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is actually unintelligible to the person who is not born again. It cannot be understood at all unless one has experienced the Holy Spirit. See, the Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit. It only makes sense that we need God’s Spirit before we can understand the things of God.
There will always be those that do not believe in God. Some of those people will be of the mindset that they are not sure and they see no reason to spend the energy trying to find out about God. Then, there are some who are actively trying to do everything they can to deny God; to destroy His church; and to persecute or harass Christians.
Then, there is the people referenced in ROMANS 11:5. God says that there is a ’remnant’ of believers, chosen by His grace that still populates the earth. There will always be a remnant of those who truly follow Jesus Christ. These people are the ones that have the responsibility to pray in these last days for others to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Many Christian leaders and pastors have forgotten something very important about God’s Word. The entire plan of salvation, as outlined over and over again in the Bible, has been put forth in such a simple way that even small children understand and respond to it. It is what I call ’the Pharisees Complex’ in mankind that makes us analyze Scripture to the point that hardly anybody understands it. It is this worldly need of ours to be in charge; to be on top of things; to be the boss; the need to be smarter than God that enables us to scare everyone else away from God’s Word.
Some think that the American church has become so focused on pleasing the community around us that we have failed to properly please Jesus, the Head of the church. They feel that the church, in its quest to become bigger and bigger, has diluted the truth in the bible to an almost inaudible whisper while doing other things that delight those within the church.
Did you know there are big churches that have installed Olympic sized swimming pools and professional sized basketball courts in their church “compounds”? I know that this will draw more people to the church, but my question is: For what purpose do they come? Do those people come to hear God’s Word or do they come to play?
There are churches that actually have Starbucks franchises in them so people can come and drink coffee in courtyards and coffee shop type rooms rather than being bothered by going into the sanctuary to worship the Lord God. I wonder what God thinks about those people? I wonder what God thinks about those church leaders who do such things?
In ROMANS 8:28, we are told that God will use everything for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, so I know that God can use a swimming pool or a Starbucks to introduce Jesus to new people, but I would be very careful just accepting these things as okay for everyone.
There are some who don’t care one way or the other; they just come to church so they can pretend they are righteous Christians. Never mind that their heart and their thoughts are not Godly. Never mind that they are involved in other things the rest of the week that would not get God’s approval. But there they are, week after week, going to church and ‘doing’, but unfortunately, their ‘doing’ is for themselves, because it certainly is not to exalt God.
Have you ever noticed how many different denominations emphasize something from the Bible more than they do something else in the Bible? Many of them do that. That is nothing more than selective belief. For instance, in many churches all they preach or teach on is God’s love. You never hear about anything else. Well, God does love us very much, and we are very blessed to have such a loving and compassionate God who truly cares about us, but there are other sides to God, too that need to be taught and preached on.
God hates sin. God will allow you to make your own personal choice on where you want to spend eternity. These are other sides of God that are all too often not brought up in church. This is but one example of how many churches, and many Christians, ignore parts of God’s Word entirely so they can focus on another part of His Word.
Today, we are talking about the true worship of God Almighty. Ancient Israel thought that worshiping God was just what they did in the Temple. God finally said He’d had enough of their sacrificing of bulls.
In JOHN 4:23, we see that God wants us to know that worshiping Him is not something we do, but it is something we are.
You are probably asking yourself what all this has to do with the Holy Spirit, right? It has everything to do with Him, because the Holy Spirit is not something on the outside of your body, or something that is near you physically. The Holy Spirit is on the inside of your heart. The Holy Spirit is dwelling in the deepest parts of your inner heart and in the farthest reaches of your mind. The Holy Spirit is part of who you are.
If we are having troubles on the outside of our lives, it is because we need to be reformed on the inside of our bodies. That is where the Holy Spirit comes in. But, before we can rely upon the Holy Spirit to do things for us, we need to know who He is and how to have a very intimate personal relationship with Him. We always talk of having personal relationships with God and with Jesus, but all too often, nothing is said about having a personal and deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. We are going to talk about that today.
It seems like every time I talk about the Holy Spirit to Christians, there are always a bunch of them that want to run back to the day of Pentecost, when the disciples came out of the Upper Room after receiving the Holy Spirit and started talking in tongues. They seem to want to tie the Holy Spirit down to only talking in tongues.
I have been in churches that really like to talk in tongues. I have seen a pastor stand up by the pulpit with the choir director and the pastor’s wife and all of them look at each other and carry on a conversation in tongues. They would ask each other something and then they would answer the question. This is not what the Bible gives reference to when it speaks about talking in tongues.
In ACTS 2, it tells how the disciples received the Holy Spirit. Then, they came out of the Upper Room and started boldly preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. It says that many spoke in tongues and people of other languages heard and understood. This is not the same thing most tongue-speaking churches do today.
When they spoke in tongues at Pentecost, they only did so because the Holy Spirit empowered them to do so. And the only reason He did that was so that people of other languages could hear about Jesus, too. So, now we can understand that they spoke in tongues to ‘get the news out’ as quickly as possible, and the only way they could have done that is with the power of God’s Holy Spirit. What kind of results did they have? The Bible tells us that about 3,000 people heard, understood and accepted Jesus Christ that day!
These people have focused on one aspect of an entire scenario to the exclusion of everything else. I would rather we look at everything that is offered and then understand each item in its true context.
The Holy Spirit has always been. So has Jesus. So has God. The first four words of GENESIS 1, in any Bible translation are: ‘In the beginning, God…..’ That shows that God has always been. In verse 2, it says that the earth was empty and dark and the Holy Spirit of God hovered over the waters. That shows that the Holy Spirit has always been, too.
In JOHN 1:1, it says that in the beginning was the Word (that is Jesus) and the Word (that is Jesus) was with God, and the Word (that is Jesus) was God. In verse 2, it says that He was with God in the beginning. This shows that Jesus was at the beginning, also.
In GENESIS, when it says God, it uses the original plural form. That plural form is ‘Elohim’ and that means “more than one”. We see the Trinity at the beginning. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. All unique and all one.
In having a relationship with the Holy Spirit, we must first understand that He is also God. He is one-third of the Trinity. And, He is as real as the person sitting next to you right now. The only difference is that you can see the person next to you but you cannot feel him in yoru heart. You cannot see the Holy Spirit, but you can feel Him in your heart.
I tend to be a rather emotional person as some of you know, but I do not just want an emotional relationship with the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to base my entire relationship with Him on the highs I feel when He makes Himself full in me. I want to base my relationship with the Holy Spirit on a dependence on Him. And, the only way I can do that is to understand who He really is and what He can do for me.
· ACTS 1, our instigator. He gives us God’s instructions.
· ROMANS 8, our helper. He helps us pray by doing it for us.
· ACTS 20, our warner. He warns us of danger.
· JOHN 14 & 15, teacher. He will teach us all things and remind us of everything.
· ACTS 13. our guide. We are sent on our way by the Holy Spirit
· LUKE 10, source of joy. ‘Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit …..’
I have heard people who only focus on the power of the Holy Spirit, but I don’t want the Holy Spirit so that I can have power. I love Jesus Christ with all my heart and even though He left us 2,000 years ago, His presence still lives on in me through the Holy Spirit. I want the Holy Spirit because He is part of the Godhead and He lives in me. He gives me fullness.
It might be better explained by telling you about the city slicker who bought a farm, and on that farm he had a cow. He went into town and asked the owner of the feed lot what he should feed the cow. The feed lot owner sold the new farmer some feed and told him to feed the cow one time a day.
A month later, the new farmer comes back to the owner and says the cow won’t give milk; that she is all dried up. The owner asked the farmer if he had been feeding her once a day with that feed he sold him. The farmer said he had. The owner then asked if the farmer had gone out and milked her every day.
The farmer said he had gone out every morning and got enough milk for breakfast. He said he didn’t want to take it all because he would be wasting it. The owner explained that if the cow isn’t milked totally every day, she will stop making milk and go dry.
That explains how we are to receive the Holy Spirit. We cannot take “just enough”. We have to take all He has to offer, or we can’t take any at all. If we tried to just take enough to get us by in certain situations, pretty soon we would find that we have stopped taking anything at all from Him and we would find ourselves dry, spiritually speaking.
I remember the first time my eyes looked upon Diana. She was a new employee at work, and for the first time in my life, I could not keep my eyes off someone. All day I kept glancing in her direction. Every time she would look up, I would quickly turn my head so as not to appear like I had been staring at her, and as soon as she looked away, I would go right back to staring at her again. This went on for several days before I had the courage to approach her and ask her out.
On that special day, I gathered up all the courage I had and went over to her. Now, I have no idea to this day what I was going to say, but what I did say was, “Are you ready for your test?” I panicked. I thought I was the biggest idiot in town! She smiled and when she looked into my eyes, I melted like hot butter. I knew this woman was very special.
We have been married for nearly 20 years now, and I can sit in the family room and glance over at her while she is in the kitchen and I still have those same feelings. I love her so very much, and I just want to be with her. That is how the blessing of the Holy Spirit in my life can be described: “Emmanuel”, which means “God with us.” The blessing the Holy Spirit gives me is that through Him, God is with me, too.
What happens when a holy God moves in with you? Have you ever thought of it that way? Let me tell you a few things that happen. First of all, your troubles just don’t seem to be so overpowering as they used to, and you start to see things in a more relaxed way, similar to how you looked at things as a young child: With wonderment and smiles.
In 2 CORINTHIANS 5, it says that old things are passed away and all things are new. When we have the Holy Spirit indwelt within us, we start to see the world around us for what it really is – sin. And as we sing, the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
If only Christians would pray for the Holy Spirit in His true context and forget about all this overblown passion and power desires. The Holy Spirit is there to help us, guide us and comfort us, not to just keep us on an emotional high that makes us display His love and power in immature ways.
If only Christians would pray for the Holy Spirit to come and live within us, to bring us closer to God Almighty and to lead us closer to Jesus. If only Christians would want to have a close and personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, too.
There are some churches that say that when the Holy Spirit descends upon them, they immediately get down on all fours and start barking like dogs at each other in the sanctuary, or they roll all over the floor and belly laugh. Now, I would be so bold as to say they probably do have a spirit that descended upon them, but I doubt very seriously if it is God’s Holy Spirit.
In 1 CORINTHIANS 14:33, we read that ‘God is not a God of disorder, but one of peace.’ We must understand that when we are in church and we are praising and worshiping God, He wants all the focus to be on Him so He can give you His principles and knowledge through the Holy Spirit. If someone is up front rolling around laughing or barking like a dog, you are going to be concentrating on him, not on God, and God does not want that to happen in His house.
In 1 PETER 1:13, it tells us to be self-controlled, and in 2 PETER 1:2; it calls for grace and peace to be ours in abundance through the KNOWLEDGE of God and Jesus, our Lord. God’s people must start understanding just how serious and just how Holy God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are.
God will not be used by us. He is not God because of us, but we are because of Him. It is time that we understand the pecking order, and the fact that man is not on top where we so much like to belong.
I want you to listen to the words of this verse as I read it. I want you to picture the peace, the utter joy and the absolute love in PSALM 40:8 –
‘I delight to do Thy will, O My God: Your law is within my heart.’
If only God’s children would drop the defenses. If we would only feel the desire to give our hearts to the Lord. If a person has the right heart, an open and loving heart, then when that person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and then gets baptized, that person will also receive the Holy Spirit in their lives as well. Those who have felt the Holy Spirit in His fullness will tell you that there is no feeling in the world as indescribably wonderful as the feeling of His presence within your heart. If only more people would crave to have that experience.
By simply giving in to God and becoming a baptized Christian, you will receive the Holy Spirit (God’s Holy Spirit) in you, and you will start to hate those things you used to love, and you will start loving those things you used to hate. You will start changing your heart.
It seems to me that too many people view evangelizing as being able to tell people what the entire Bible says about Jesus. In truth, evangelizing is just sharing with others what Jesus has done in your life through the Holy Spirit. Do you see the difference? One way is to do it with a schoolbook philosophy. The other way is to do it from the heart, but before you can do it that way, you must first understand it. And, you will never understand it unless you drop your defenses and let Jesus Christ into your life – fully as never before.
We are in the last days, and nobody knows how much longer we may have. It might be a thousand years, and it might be tonight. I have felt the Holy Spirit in my life. I want so badly for each of you to share it, too, but first, you must get real with God. You can no longer duck the issue or weave back and forth around it.
This morning, I have made you fully responsible to God for making a decision. If you choose not to make a decision, that actually is a decision you have made.
What you do with this informaiton is entirely up to you, but what you get for ignoring it is entirely up to God. God wants you to have Jesus in your life so that you can also have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Won’t you take this opportunity this morning to make a public stance for the Lord? Won’t you decide today to step out of the world and step into the joy of God’s presence? Your life will be the better for it and so will the lives of every person in your family.
