Changing the Climate – Part 6 of 8
INTRODUCTION TO THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Over the past couple of months I have been talking about the need for us to change the climate we are surrounded by. The key portion of scripture I have been using is from Acts 1:8
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Jesus left His followers with the responsibility to witness the Gospel message to the ends of the earth. This was a huge responsibility – AND WE HAVE THAT SAME RESPONSIBILITY TODAY!
This responsibility is not just mine alone, it is not just for the evangelists amongst us, it is not just for those in full-time employment in the church… … IT IS FOR ALL OF US!
But Jesus has not left His followers with this great responsibility without giving them the ability to fulfil the task. And this scripture from ACTS 1:8 is THE key to the answer to the challenge ahead for us.
I am convinced that we have misunderstood and misapplied this scripture to our lives …… to such an extent that the reality of the truth of this has been lost and stolen from us.
I am convinced that when you are baptised in the Holy Spirit, the main result is not just to make you feel tingly all over, or make you laugh, or cry. The main result is to empower us to become witnesses – which does not mean that you then have this uncontrollable urge to run to a street corner so that you can begin ‘witnessing’.
The Holy Spirit empowers you so that you can then begin to truly live a life of one guided and directed by God Himself; so that your old values are replaced by new ones; and so that your life will now show the victory that Jesus won on the cross is now yours to live TODAY.
Scripture abounds with exhortations concerning our new life in Christ and our belonging to a new set of guidelines and a new order – one that is not dictated to by circumstances and the things that this world throws at us or one that has the enemy running riot through our lives.
I do not want to be the tail anymore – I want to be the head!
I want to walk on that Highway of Holiness.
I want to see those streams in the desert.
I want to live abundantly and not just exist.
I want to have that confidence that God is TOTALLY in control of ALL things.
I want to KNOW that all things WILL work together for good, because I love God and am called according to His purposes!
I want to be as excited about God as I would be about getting a hole in one at golf.
And as I was putting this message together, I felt the Lord say there are some people in this congregation that want this too but there are others who do not believe that God wants this for them.
2 CHRONICLES 29 Here is the account of Hezekiah.
As soon as Hezekiah became king, he began to reform things back to how they should have been. He started to put things into right order again.
· He immediately opened the doors of the temple,
· He repaired the doors,
· the Levites were consecrated,
· he re-established a covenant with God,
· he restored worship in the temple,
· he re-instituted the Passover,
· he destroyed idols,
· he re-established the bringing of the tithe into the temple.
And it says in 2 CHRONICLES 31:20-21 And thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah; and he did what was good, right, and true before the LORD his God. And every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and he prospered.
Have you come to realise that life is full of ups and downs? Have you noticed that no sooner do you seem to pull yourself out of one hole that you can very often fall into another!
When this happens, the enemy has a field day. This is when he will challenge your faith, poke fun at you, and in as many ways as possible attempt to drag you down.
Hezekiah experienced exactly the same. Look at the start of CHAPTER 32
2 CHRONICLES 32:1 After these acts of faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, and thought to break into them for himself.
The NIV translates it as after all he had done so faithfully.
The MESSAGE translates it as after this exemplary track record.
Can you relate to that? Despite your faithfulness, despite your commitment to the Lord, despite doing this or that with pure motives ……… something happens – the enemy attacks, sickness happens, the car breaks down ………
My Bible tells me of many things I am because of what Christ has done for me. It tells me
· who I am in Christ;
· it tells me of my sainthood;
· it tells me of my adoption;
· it tells me I am a temple;
· it tells me I am righteous and holy;
· it tells me I have been forgiven; it tells me I am a son of God;
· it tells me that the one who lives in me is greater than the one who lives in the world;
· it tells me I am an overcomer;
· it tells me that as long as I seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness that all my needs will be met.
· IT TELLS ME THAT GOD LOVES ME.
And even though there are times when I do not feel that these are being outworked in my life, I CHOOSE to believe what the Word of God says!
But do you know what the Bible doesn’t tell me. It doesn’t say that I will never have struggles, or trials or strife, BUT IT DOES SAY THAT MY HEAVENLY FATHER IS GREATER THAN ALL OF THOSE.
Either the Lord is in control or He is not! You choose!
Joshua’s challenge to the children of Israel before his death was to ‘choose this day whom you shall serve.’ And I place that challenge before you today.
It says in Hebrews 4:12, that the word of God is LIVING and ACTIVE, and SHARP and PIERCING. The word of God is able to reach into your heart and change you – IF YOU ARE WILLING TO ALLOW IT TO!
It is all too easy to sit and list but God requires more of you.
We must ACCEPT the word and ACT on it.
We must BELIEF the promise and make them ours.
I want us to do something a little different this morning. I want us to be participators rather than spectators. Too often despite our best intentions we can come to church to be entertained instead of come to worship the Lord. We can sit and hear the word of God preached but not apply the truths to our own lives.
It would totally shock me to see soldiers heading into battle without everyone of them having a gun or rifle to shoot. And when they are at war, I’m sure that the rifle would NEVER leave their side, regardless of where they were and what they were doing. PLEASE BRING YOUR BIBLES TO CHURCH.
I’m going to read out some scriptures, turn to them and tell me in a VERY short sentence what it means.
Eg ROMANS 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ………… this means I am COMPLETELY forgiven and made righteous in and through Jesus.
ROMANS 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life………… My life can be totally different now that I am a Christian.
(Rom 8:1 NASB) There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
(1 Cor 2:12 NASB) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God,
(1 Cor 2:16 NIV) "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
(1 Cor 6:19-20 NASB) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
(2 Cor 1:21-22 NIV) Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
(2 Cor 5:21 NIV) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(Gal 2:20 NASB) "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.
(Eph 1:3 NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
(Eph 1:4 NIV) For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
(Eph 1:5 NIV) In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
(Eph 1:6-8 NIV) ………… In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
(Eph 2:4-5 NASB) But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
(Eph 2:6 NIV) And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
(Col 1:13-14 NIV) For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Col 1:27 NIV) To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
(Col 2:10 NKJV) and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
(2 Tim 1:7 NASB) For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
(Titus 3:5 NIV) he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
(Heb 4:16 NIV) Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
(2 Pet 1:4 NIV) Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Now I was unsure as to how to finish this message this morning. It all depended on the response of you as we went through these scriptures. I got really excited as I was searching for scriptures to include and as I am sure many of you know, there are many, many others I could have used also. But what these scriptures tell me is that when I allow God to fully reign in my life, and not attempt to second guess Him, when I fully trust in Him to take care of all things, HE DOES.
I may not fully understand why some people seem to have everything thrown on top of them and others don’t but what I do know is that God is in control.
In times when I struggle, this scripture often springs to my mind.
(1 CORINTHIANS 10:13 NASB) No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.
So I want to offer an opportunity to come before the Lord this morning. A couple of weeks ago, Chris showed the video clip from the movie The King and I. We saw that small child push past the important people the King was talking to, sit on her father’s knee and whisper in his ear. Today, come and do the same to your heavenly Father.
