Congregational Revival | 03.09.2021 | Central Christian Church

[Music] so [Music] [Music] grieving church welcome to our church-wide mid-week service right now let's all prepare our hearts as we go to god in worship worship team please okay uh welcome guys so uh for worship today we'll be singing two songs the first song will be hallelujah [Music] [Music] of jesus and his word [Music] [Music] there we are [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] you [Music] we are made [Music] on that great day [Music] oh [Music] amen now we'll be singing our next song troubles come my way [Music] travels [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] you know that [Music] used to be so full of sins [Music] is [Music] [Music] amen hi good evening everyone i'm denzel from dns ministry and i'll be praying for us today let us now bow our heads to the lord in prayer dear lord thank you for this amazing opportunity for the church together together as a congregation to hear the word being preached today but it is truly great that you have allowed the church to embark on this journey of revival together as one body god please be with our preacher ed anton as he speaks your message speak through him and guide his words help us as a church to put our distractions aside keep an open mind and be receptive to the lesson today help us to be deeply impacted and put all that we learn into practice and be brought ever closer to achieving congregational revival lord i pray that you can help us have a smooth and amazing service and be with all of us today in jesus name we pray amen thank you worship team and denzel for kicking off tonight's service right now we're going to be hearing from ed anton for those who are not with us the last time ed spoke to us a month ago about communal repentance today he is joining us once more to preach to us about congregational revival so without further ado let's welcome ed anton hey it is a joy to be with all of you and uh it was terrific a month ago the spirit of this group is really a ton of fun and eagerness and godliness it's been a joy to work with leadership in the singapore church to see their deepest desires for nothing but jesus to be glorified through all that you are doing through these efforts of communal repentance communal revival and of course when we turn to the lord and come to him and align ourselves with him that the great hope is of course that he would be the one who does revive us and that happens of course and it happens through the holy spirit we're going to talk a lot about that today but as we as we do so let's let's jump back into the old covenant to see that this was always god's plan that he had in mind i'm going to pray and then we're going to jump into ezekiel so uh get ready to turn to ezekiel i'll i'll get my presentation going right after this prayer dear god thank you that you could gather us together have this technology that allows us to be one with another that your spirit is uh not just simply a concept but as first corinthians 6 says that your spirit is among us thank you god now who are we to be a people to have you you among us and in us and through us and guiding us do so god do so all the more help us to be receptive to resist none of your guidance but to align ourselves with it to know the power of perfect alignment with you in jesus name amen okay so um look look with me now over to um ezekiel chapter 36 and uh we'll get this going one second okay i think we're good um and and so here is a kind of an intense visual of a heart of stone and imagine the lament of god looking upon his people that he had tried to cultivate deep relationships one after another through prophets through priests through kings through love and and nonetheless hearts became callous it's a phenomenon that's not just reserved for old testament times it happens in my heart through different seasons it happens in my my bible talks small groups hearts i can see that again and again it happens even throughout an entire church where it's just a bit of a callousness that comes upon us and so god does say in ezekiel 36 24 for i will take you out of the nations i will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land i will sprinkle you i will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean i will cleanse you from all impurities and from all your idols i will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you i will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws then you will live in the land i gave your ancestors you will be my people and i will be your god what intimacy what relationship what connection what clarity it's always been god's great heart cry as he looks at us his people now or israel his people then to want to do all that he can and ultimately he says i will there will come a day when i will actually give my holy spirit it's going to be in a new covenant but there will be a day when that occurs it gives one more visual that's kind of powerful in ezekiel it's right after this in ezekiel 37 just kind of scroll on down if you're an electric bible or move on down uh to chapter 37 i'm gonna read a little bit from that it says in verse one the hand of the lord was on me and he brought me out by the spirit of the lord and set me in the middle of a valley it was full of bones he led me back and forth among them and i saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley bones that were very dry he asked me son of man can these bones live i said sovereign lord you alone know then he said to me prophesy to these bones imagine if that were your ministry and how uh ridiculous and perhaps fruitless you would think that would debate and many times i've had that feeling or something close to that feeling of my goodness our our team ministry has ended up in a place where they're just kind of scoffing right now or our our older marrieds have endured a lot of hits with their kids and they're just so grieving right now that it seems as if any word or any charge is is just going to be felt by them as burdensome and repulsive rather than honoring insignificant we all find ourselves in weird places right now on after almost two years of just terrible pandemic conditions conditions that are just terrible for us as disciples because we just thrive on being together and having spirit really moving in and among us but nonetheless dry bones dry bones all around and yet ezekiel is called prophesied to them and he says dry bones in verse 4 hear the word of the lord this is what the sovereign lord says to these bones i will make breath it's the same word as spirit in the hebrew i will i will make spirit or breath enter you and you will come to life i will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you cover you with skin i'll put breath in you and you'll come to life then you will know that i am the lord so i prophesied as i was commanded and as i was prophesying there was a noise a rattling sound and the bones came together bone to bone i looked and tendons and flesh appeared on them skin covered nope but there was no breath in them then he said to me prophesy to the breath prophesy son of man and say to it this is what the sovereign lord says come breath come spirit from the four winds and breathe into the slain that they may live so i prophesied as he commanded me and breath entered them and they came to life and they stood up on their feet a vast army then he said to me son of man these bones are the people of israel they say our bones are dried up and our hope is gone we're cut off therefore prophesy and say to them this is what the sovereign lord says my people i'm going to open your graves and bring you up from them i will bring you back to the land of israel then you my people will know that i am the lord when i open your graves and bring you up from them i will put my spirit in you you will live and i will settle you in your own land then you will know that i am the lord i have spoken and i have done it declares the lord and we know that christ did exactly this for us that he he came to establish the new covenant that he endured all so that we could be cleansed so that we could be a holy vessel in which the very holy spirit of god could not just dwell but to to work and work with great great power this is the honor that is that is ours we've entered into this this new covenant that was only a hope for them and it's it's an amazing power that we have in the holy spirit and one that can often be overlooked or mistaken we we're natural people not supernatural uh but yet we are but we make sense of things from the material world and not the supernatural world and it's always helpful to remember who we are and what animates us what gives us life what gives us hope why we're why are we even effective how is it that we have been able to be made so different what was that crazy power that took me from dead in sin to alive in christ how was it that i went from the ash heap of being just a self-consumed a shallow empty suit of a man to being one that is filled with a love and a compassion of of christ i want to rearrange my life at many many turns to do nothing but but his will how could how could all of this happen it's the very holy spirit of god and sorry there are the dry pones but as we as we look at the spirit of god for us in in this new covenant it's described pretty powerfully in ephesians many other places but in in ephesians 1 verse 17 paul says he's kind of having a prayer for the church as he begins the letter he says i keep asking that the god of our lord jesus christ the glorious father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so you may know him better i pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and and i love this phrase is incomparably great power for us who believe what power is that he says that's the power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms so he calls this this power this power that raised christ this power that will resurrect all of creation this power imagine a power that could redo everything but this is the power that we have and it's called incomparably now if if you were to come visit me here someday uh i would perhaps maybe take you on a tour of our area one of the things that's interesting here is that we have the world's largest navy base and on that navy base they're at different times five or six aircraft carriers there's some 30 nuclear submarines uh all of them with unspeakable powers among them but if we just walked past one aircraft carrier we looked up and saw that it's ten stories tall that it's filled with six to seven thousand soldiers never mind that it's got 20 f-18 fighter jets in addition to all the tomahawk missiles all of them capable of of destroying nations if not earth and here we are next to this massive thing that can also travel it at 30 miles an hour that's like 50 kilometers per hour uh how could this massive thing be driven by all of this power and all of that power it is we're so puny looking up at this whole thing it says that his power his holy spirit power that is ours is incomparable meaning it can't even be compared to any other power even this this massive aircraft carrier is not even worth comparing to the power that is in you and me as we walk past it and we're in alignment with such such amazing power from god but when we but we're in alignment with that it's it it is powerful it's you know think of like a train or locomotive and there are tracks that are of course laid down for that locomotive and when when we are aligned perfectly with those tracks the power of that locomotive sends us down those tracks hurdling being able to bring about thousands and thousands of tons of of cargo over mountains through valleys but it has to be aligned with the tracks if that locomotive with all of its power decides to veer off the tracks well then it loses all of its power it's interesting that in ezekiel god says in verse 36 this promise that the holy spirit will come to us soften our hearts why so that we will obey his decrees so that we will align ourselves perfectly wonderfully with his path when we're aligned with his path and filled with his power my goodness there's nothing nothing that can can stop what what we intend to do persecution will be will be nothing but a bit of a fly on the windshield as as we just keep going uh doing his amazing will but the the big point in all of this is like how how is it that we can that we can kind of get back to realizing the depth of this power and jesus gives us a little bit of a hint at it as he's at the last supper in john 16. there in john 16 as he's with his disciples he says very true in verse 7. very truly i tell you it is for your good that i'm going away or to your advantage the esv sets it is your advantage that i go away um that's interesting if i'm jesus's disciple at the last supper and i'm thinking whoa whoa whoa things are getting intense right now everybody's wanting to kill you and maybe even us uh the guards are bearing down the romans are getting suspicious how is it going to be good if you're gone how is that better or advantageous jesus says after that unless i go away the advocate or the helper or the holy spirit is who he's referring to unless i go away the advocate will not come to you but if i go i will send him to you and look at what he'll do when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin righteousness and judgment this idea of of convicting that that word that jesus used he uses a lot of other times and it's it's often the word to expose or to bring about a uh a deep reproof a correction that also opens our eyes and flings us into repentance and helps us to realize where we've been but where we're going and who we are and whose we are and what we are meant to always do and the holy spirit does that but in order to do that he's he's got to help us to to be exposed with regard to our sin and also our righteousness because a lot of times i think i'm pretty good but the holy spirit is going to be ah you you need to understand where you're really at uh and and even judgment itself i think you know a fear of the lord that helps me to desire to be aligned fully to him and so the holy spirit does do that and the holy spirit's been doing that i pray even as you all have been having a time of allowing the spirit to do that to you communally and individually my goodness when the spirit can kind of course correct us in this way with conviction and we end up back in that perfect alignment back on the back on track with god then the power of the locomotive the incomparably power of the holy spirit is is really then without hindrance in in our lives it's it's so wonderful i i've had a few times even since a month ago when we came together where i've had a brother sit down with me and just talk to me about my holiness i had probably only a week or two after our last gathering been been at a breakfast meeting with a bunch of brothers and i was casually joking and referencing in an old movie uh that came out in 1980 and it was a comedy and there was some some silliness in the movie that was not holy but i was laughing about it and it was not holy and you know later a brother pulled me aside and thought you know i know it probably feels like tiny little steps and small things compared to what other things are little by little by little i've seen that you just embraced the world you've embraced a in adoption of wanting to have your own desires tickled and and indulge yourself and it's become entitlements and suddenly it's become the new normal where holiness is not yours i don't see you being distinct from from what normal other people in the world are all about and it's it's time for you to have a wake-up call and i thought oh and even in the middle of it i could feel the holy spirit working and i can recognize that well this is this is a life-changing moment that's going on here and and i did quickly just quickly like you know rearrange anything that i was going to look at and you know remove anything questionable align myself with just being fed in my soul for falling it's been so amazing but at the same time too our bible talk our small group had had another big hit and we had some big issues and while we were there we were talking about what should we do where should we go it's interesting that a young man that had just moved to our church didn't know that i had done any studies on repentance or communal repentance and said you know when i was down in the church in georgia we went through a a sacred sacred assembly and it was all for communal repentance and we were able to express godly sorrow together and i thought wow you really got it um but it was fun for me to step back and let let him be the one that was the initiator of all of this for our small group and so we had decided then and there that we would all talk to one another and help one another personally to come to a place where we were desiring alignment personally in our lives because yes we'll we'll do it communally as a group but it feels a little bit like lacking integrity if i'm trying to claim it for our group but i haven't really seen it happen in my own life so we did we were like okay we we need to be back with whom we need to be for god and it was amazing that all in one week's time and this was all just last week as a matter of fact um that we did we talked with one another about our personal repentance and then came together for a special sunday afternoon after church came together for hours of of first reading through revelation two and three and seeing the love that we had left and seeing the lukewarmness that had settled in over our group and the family that used to be so vibrant and loving and connecting uh being something that we would just sort of show up not really had been something that we just began to neglect and we were thoughtless when it came to all things family and community in christ as well as even the mission you know there'd be maybe 5 out of 10 of us that would kind of head to the military base and knock on doors and invite people to the bible study but but even that you know we weren't we weren't concerned about those that didn't show up and when we when we went we just started kind of doing it out of routine rather than like let's pray and be amazed that we're going to be used by god to connect people to know all of these things that it had just become kind of like humanistic and it just felt really wrong and we laid it out we we could see the the communal dynamic the communal sin and then one after another we all took ownership and we all apologize to one another as well as ask we do we ask each other for forgiveness and cheer every every person tears connection resolution amongst ourselves and then pray to god one after another pray to god confessing in a sense the same thing that god has i have undermined your your body your community uh by by my contribution to it and everybody was so insightful it was so amazing that they could all be so insightful about it uh only through the holy spirit could that have been the case but there we were and and then just last night we we brought we brought all of our um our contributions and our sins and our our contribution to the communal sin to a bonfire and we we gathered at one of the homes where we where we used to be family really family by the way we also had visitors at this too uh two visitors came as we were doing this and we took wrote down on on paper all that we had shared on sunday and we burned it in a bonfire in the backyard and just hugged together and prayed together and sang together had family time together resolved then what what are we going to be what are we going to be together and put in place some spiritual disciplines some routines and rhythms that would be ours as a as a community as a family as a small group uh of of like encouraging one another daily really helping one another not be pardoned by sins deceitfulness also making sure that we understand the honor that is ours to go to the naval base and evangelize and help people to know jesus christ that we that we do that with significance and and with an awe that that comes with being used by the holy spirit and to be aligned again with it that that track of the holy spirit was really so remarkable um and again a beautiful week um as as we've kind of turned this corner but there's something else that is this power of the holy spirit that i don't think we always appreciate and uh we can find it over in ephesians five and again much of everything that's going to happen here those dry bones are only going to become the great army of god through the holy spirit the the dry bones of our small groups are only going to be animated and kind of head back out and make their way through any obstacle including coven including block downs but all of that is nothing when we have the holy spirit really behind us and animating us and we recognize that too that it's so easy to kind of make excuses when you're not spirit driven you only have your own flesh and your own steam to go on but we have something more in ephesians 5 speaking of the holy spirit paul says to them therefore verse 17. therefore do not be foolish but understand what the lord's will is and then there's this really interesting phrase do not get drunk on wine that leads to debauchery but be filled with the spirits speaking to one another psalms hymns songs from the spirit sing and make music from your heart to the lord always giving thanks to god the father for everything in the name of our lord jesus christ so i read down to the verse 20. so somehow this idea of being filled with the spirits it's also the idea of the word of god dwelling in us richly but filled with the spirits is somehow similar to but different from getting drunk on wine and that when this happens we tend to then connect with one another through psalms hymns songs from the spirit we sing and make music in the heart and there there's a comparison but yet a contrast here of drunk unwind filled with the spirit uh now unfortunately i have a long history of uh before christ and i became a christian at 29 of being drunk on wine drunk on a lot of things uh but but wine certainly and i actually had four drunk and disorderly arrests uh one in london one in philadelphia one in florida and one in virginia uh during that kind of run-up to finally knowing jesus christ so i have a little bit of an insight by the way on what happens when you're drunk with wine and what's interesting is some of it sounds like verse 19 where i begin to you know kind of give thanks all the time to everybody and i was a happy drunk apparently i give thanks i'm singing i'm singing all the time singing i am an awful singer some of the arrests were a result of me standing on tables and singing and uh having no inhibitions though is the one thing that happens there where you're like i love you man i'm so thankful for you and let's just sing and uh it's uh it's unfortunate and it's in it's debaucherous and in the big difference though when you're uninhibited on wine and perhaps uninhibited in the spirit because i think this is a connecting point is that wine leads to debauchery but spirit leads to jesus all things you just be jesus you're more jesus than ever before why i'm just more debaucherous uh and so what that i kind of turn off my inhibition so what did i kind of shut down my prefrontal cortex um what what what benefit is is is that if all of it does is lead me to something ugly but when we can do that with the spirit where we can be uninhibited uninhibited aligned with the will of god and then let the spirit run wow the power that happens when that happens you know there's another verse that that kind of speaks to this a little bit too that's interesting and it's over in acts 2 starting in verse 15 where peter again they've they've prophesied about jesus they've been so excited he's alive he's alive and they're saying it for the first time on the southern steps of the temple at pentecost everyone is coming to know jesus crowds are gathering in the thousands upon thousands to hear these men speak of this resurrection of jesus and some began to really lean on their words but others began to scoff and scoff and begin to even kind of mock them saying that hey verse 15 that being to say that these these people are are drunk verse 13 says somehow ever made fun of them saying ah they've had too much wine again part of that i've always thought is well maybe it's because they began speaking different languages and people you know didn't know what they were saying so they just kind of dismissed it as just you know drunks saying gibberish but uh if i had somebody speaking russian or lithuanian and i could understand it if you heard me bust out mandarin and you could understand it all of a sudden like you wouldn't think oh it's he's he's drunk even though it is nine o'clock in the morning here where i am right now um literally but but i think that i don't think that's the reason by the way as those group of men were up on the southern steps and everybody was watching them i i think it was something else i i think it was just how uninhibited they were not in any way concerned about what the crowds thought what the chief priests thought what the authorities might have been wanting to put on them but they were just so unrestricted in their love for each other and their excitement to share jesus and think about times where i know this has happened to you all because you're such a just a fun great group you've probably been in a restaurant haven't you you've had a group there maybe you're gathering just for fun or after a conference or at a birthday party and and people walk past your group and you and you realize that they're looking at you shaking their heads and they're thinking those folks are drunk they're drunk back there it it always happens it always happens to us it's really funny that that here we are just again unrestrained in our affections and love and exuberance one for another uh that people end up thinking that when we're together and really excited in this way that we got a bunch of drunks i think that's what was happening in x2 that's what happens when ephesians 5 takes hold and that we are filled with the spirit rather than drunk online because then we're unrestrained and we just become more jesus when we're unrestrained it doesn't mean that we're louder all the time it just means that we just love deeply in in love without limits when when that occurs there is a contemporary of of jesus named philo of alexandria who wrote around the same time this is something interesting he goes now when grace fills the soul that person rejoices and smiles and dances so that to the unenlightened he may seem drunken is that interesting that this this rabbi even recognized that when you're so enamored with all things god that the rejoicing and the smiling and the dancing and the singing and the giving thanks that to the unenlightenment you may seem drunken and he finally goes on to say they are not drunk although they are in in a sense they are that they are drunken in that they are not restrained um whoops something that happens when we are uninhibited or if you this is a by by the way a functional mri image fmri and they put people into the the mri machine when they're sober they put them in even when they're drunk one of the things that they realize when people are drunk is that the glucose is not firing off in the front part of their brain in other words there's no activity there very little the red areas are where glucose is firing the blue is where it's dormant and that where there is drunkenness uh the kind of executive thinking the the uh cost-benefit thinking the prudent thinking of the prefrontal cortex shuts down which then just leaves you unlimited in some of the things that you might do and again with wine you know what that heads down a path of debauchery what if it's not wine what if it's the spirit of god the spirit of god who created the universe what if we don't block that with our best thinking you know i think thank god i had um i had that kind of thinking and and that i really did uh have at times in my life before christ in pre-frontal cortex probably kept me from being arrested another five times that would have come my way so it's it was important for me to have that pre-frontal cortex but that that is also a pre-formal cortex that in a lot of ways it's pride and it's how do i look how am i being perceived is this right is this going to serve me best in the long run it's long-term thinking it's delayed gratification it's all all there with the prefrontal cortex but but maybe when jesus needs to be just simply unleashed within me i need to let that go being together with other people helps that to happen because then the spirit is working among us and in acts uh chapter four uh in the midst of severe severe persecution the disciples began to pray and prayer is such a big part of revival verse 27 of acts 4 says indeed herod and pontius pilate met together with the gentiles and the people of israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant jesus whom you anointed they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen now lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness that was their prayer stretch out your hand to heal perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant jesus after they prayed the place where they were shaken meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the holy spirit and spoke the word of god and boldly the word of god with boldness that's what happens when my inhibited prefrontal how do i look pride is removed and nothing is left but the tracks in front of me that are clearly the will of god they've been made clear because the word of god dwells in me richly the parallel to ephesians 5 18 is in colossians 3. the word of god dwelling within me richly i see the path i realize what it is i am no longer putting on the breaks through my own inhibitions but now unrestrained boom i get to live for jesus and it's there's nothing like it and you know we as a a church have been really trying to become more keenly aware in everyday journal at the end of the day how was i led by the spirit today how did i resist the spirit today but then we thought that's not enough we need to actually actually ask communally how were we led by the spirit today how did we resist the spirit today there's something important that happens when you consistently have that kind of keen awareness because it does then cultivate a in anticipation of the holy spirit the spirit of christ that would that would work through us but but here's the good news that that started coming as we really began to talk to one another about getting out of the way so that the spirit can work so that jesus could work is that the stories the experiences that we had you know normally if i'm you know meeting someone you know i'm kind of kind of like this hey hey here's here's an invitation to church here's where we meet uh maybe if you can come that will be great that's about it uh it's it's not inspiring uh i i you know but that's in my flesh that's my restrained approach but when i'm really like filled with the spirit and unrestrained it's amazing like the one thing i notice is that the word jesus comes out of my mouth a lot more a whole lot now do you know much about jesus would you like to know more about jesus we gather together before that i think you actually should be able to gain those inside everybody needs to know this jesus he's astounding i don't know what you're gonna do with him yeah but you at least need to know come on come come along and help help to learn about jesus and suddenly the the depth of the talk is so amazing i don't need the prop of a card i just have the spirit and i have love and i have connection and i have the tracks that are so clear before me and the power of the uncomfortable power of the holy spirit driving all of this uh the good news that has been flowing back not just of evangelism by the way but just even people being loved in the fellowship or out of the fellowship you know instead of me just having talks with the guys about sports or certain things that just make it feel like we're bonding suddenly it's like how you have you been you know what i i've never expressed fully like just how deeply i love you it sometimes just feels like there's never a right time and plus we're guys and it feels weird but i do i love you and i respect when i see you i get like a just an excitement in my chest and my heart skips a beat and i'm like oh my goodness you're here i mean it's so great seeing everybody but but to have this connection with you and just thank the lord that this is the life i have have friends like this and connections like this and people that have rearranged their lives and overcome so much to serve jesus and the honor that i have to be with you and have the spirit flow through us my goodness this is really living thank you god so think when conversations are like that in the fellowship when connections are like this outside the fellowship when we're led by the spirits and in in not kind of resisting the spirit because of my pride that's usually why i resist because of my prayer how am i going to look i was just going to be how many sound if i start saying this to a brother right now it's no way to live though there's no way once once revival and renewal has captivated us we align ourselves completely with the tracks on which we're to go the spirit is now this locomotion of driving us down this track there's nothing like that uh let me encourage you encourage you all please to to stop sharing here let me encourage you all please let let nothing especially our own lives get in the way being the body of christ the spirit dwelling among us using us leading us no resistance on our part no restraints no inhibitions well we can really begin to to focus on that life is filled with joy you don't have to be an extrovert for this to be the case you don't you don't become louder you just become warmer you just align yourself but it's been the experience of person after person uh as they've been more keenly aware of communally connecting and seeing renewal and revival of us all as we come together more intensely and connect with others more fervently and more effectively because it's not us it's the it's the holy spirit in order for that to be the case we've got to get out of the way we got we all got we all got challenges we've all got problems we all care deeply about those things by the way but but nonetheless there's something bigger than us when we're connecting to that oh my goodness there's no joy like it and it puts all of our other problems into a better perspective i pray i pray with all that and i've been praying for you all um that you can know this and that you can rally together around this may god be with you as you move forward in the spirit to completely transform singapore as well as all the world that you'll unpack from that thanks thank you so much ed for doing the lesson for us even though i know that you have to go to a cafe to do this i guess you're preaching the word very boldly to many people who are at the cafe right now that's brought a lot of visitors for tonight's lesson thank you i really appreciate you reminding us about jesus power cannot be compared to the greatest thing we can even marvel on earth and we have we have this great power that raised jesus from the dead and this same power that we have in the holy spirit is actually the voice that we should be listening to to convict us of sin righteousness and judgment like what you said and this holy spirit in us is there to help us to be watchful that we do not adopt the word as a new normal like what you said but to allow this powerful holy spirit in us will help us to be sensitive uh to be sensitive to be aligned to god constantly we need one another in this congregation to have any dry and dead bones revived like what you mentioned in ezekiel um and i really want to thank you so much for sharing with us on how being filled with the holy spirit is like when our prefrontal context is not inhibited at the in the sense of because of our fear and it will not have a hold on us hence we can be bold for god the question left for us right now to consider is do we allow the powerful holy spirit in us to uninhibit us for uh from our fear and to be bold in our love for god and for one another amen i'm convicted by even just ed when you shared about how a brother just pulled you aside after uh you know the humorous exchange and stuff uh and talk to you about how you're slowly embracing the world and becoming undistinct and just how soft your heart was just to respond to that you know allowing the holy spirit to convict you um i need that i need my brothers and sisters in church to do that for for me for one another so that our hearts may be soft so that we may like what you said be a line on your tracks and with god and run under power of the holy spirit ed i'm inspired by what you shared about your group how you guys had a great time of just reading prayer confession i long for us to do the same as well so that we too may be unrestrained uninhibited in speaking about god to one another and to our friends in speaking love to one another and to our friends so i'm glad that we share the same holy spirit and i look forward to all of us being uninhibited and unrestrained in the same way thank you so much ed anton for your sermon tonight so right now we'll have a time of question and answer jadison you'll be taking over yeah yep okay thank you ed for preaching to us today uh right now we'll be having the q a segment uh right so if you have any questions please feel free to uh ask them in the q and a box at the bottom of the screen okay so uh we have one question so the question is how do you follow the spirit's leading so it's you know it's always difficult because it's really trying to be sensitive and i think it only begins to cultivate when i again it's it's helpful to know that um but the parallel passage to ephesians 5 18 is found over in colossians 3 where that phrase be filled with the spirit is then equated with let the word of god dwell in you richly and and you know as we stay in our word stay in our word we begin to realize what is our reason for being what is my purpose here on earth and it becomes clear from scripture and you get to realize okay this is where the spirit is leading but if i were to look through the book and backs and see what it is that the spirit does it's it's extraordinary it's never ordinary uh and it's a agent for deliverance and for change uh and and so as i kind of bump into wherever i may be and i think about well how how is it that the spirit would would want me to engage here i would become more like christ and maybe the simple i mean i know it's overly simple but the the old what would jesus do idea is really not too far from that if jesus could be here what would what would that be and jesus says we'll do even greater things and i think the only chance that we have to do even greater things is that the spirit of christ god guides us through so but by the way it also is helpful to review and i i think the idea of journaling review reflection of looking through different times and wondering did i did i follow the spirit or did i resist the spirit and it's just me and my journal i'm not reporting this to a group of people but but when it's that intimate time of me with god really reviewing did i was i led by or or did i resist the spirit that also begins to help course correct me so that the next time the next time and the next time i'll perhaps be ready to know the experiences that god would have in store for me these supernatural incredible experiences that god would have for me uh so both this may be in pray through anticipate being jesus to the world as a as a disciple of christ but but then also review and that those two things tend to really get us i think more and more aligned thank you ed uh all right we have another question is the holy spirit only for disciples to correct their partners can the members have this same holy spirit and correct their discipler too well sure i mean the fellow that helped correct me the other day was what was someone that i was mentoring and he was whoever it may be uh especially when it's clear that it is because the word of god dwelling in them richly uh there's a big difference by the way between like really desiring a a greater good uh correction uh and maybe just complaining um complaining is not uh necessarily the same thing here of being being really reproved and corrected and exposed uh and so i think we're gonna be really aware of what what am i doing right now am i just kind of dumping or complaining for am i really uh likewise desiring this greater holiness and this uh greater sanctity uh and effectiveness to to be jesus to the world and to one another thank you ed okay uh we have one more question what are some common things that you have noticed that prevents the holy spirit from moving in people's lives and what then are some good ways to address these things that hinder the holy spirit in our lives so a couple a couple things for me anyway and i you know also hearing the joy of others as they begin to align with this but for me i i think we've kind of already touched on it but it's two big ones fear and pride fear and pride uh fear of oh my goodness can i can i do this fear of how am i gonna be viewed and then that flips quite quickly to pride how am i going to be viewed are people going to still respect me i want people to like me do i really want to kind of do this or um even the fear of how am i going to come across am i going to be thought weird in fellowship that i'm loving this deeply right now and also fear of will this burn me out uh you know am i not practicing proper boundaries if i love this deeply and i bring this meal and i and i spend this time really trying to find out how my brothers and sisters are doing and connect with them so i think all of those things this idea that i i think we've probably spent a lot of time here in our church on boundaries and uh some of that has honestly has backfired on allowing the holy spirit to work um so but we've all recognized that too and we're so much happier being unrestrained uh you know our boundary a lot of our boundaries were honestly a little bit self-driven rather than spirit driven and the the other thing is that individualism in the west is is really big uh the idea of criminally doing jesus is pretty foreign and it does seem that a lot of the kind of great moments like acts 4 or even events in my life happen when the spirit is flowing among us and not just kind of in us uh in in that that connecting of one with another uh seems to be very very helpful uh for for me to be clearly experiencing the holy spirit uh i've had a lot of prayers this week nothing like the the prayer time that we had at our sacred assembly uh last sunday nothing nothing close to that um uh and i think it is there's something about being in the community of the saints and the spirit being among us as well as in us thank you ed uh when you said that pride really gets in the way of the holy spirit uh moving leading you in your life i can relate to that you know there are times where i mean uh when i want to reach out to someone i'm thinking of it and then you know i i feel his response i feel how they will view me and you know i i just stopped doing that completely so thank you for sharing that next question do you ever feel exhausted when pursuing holiness i feel exhausted most of the time when i know the good i ought to do and i don't do it that's what exhausts me um and then i make a big list of all the other good i ought to do and i'm not doing it uh but when i actually do it i actually take a step into holy spirit activity it's like what was what was i dreading why was i dreading this now that i'm now that i'm engaged oh my goodness this is exactly what i need you know what i needed this i needed to go get advice about my parenting i was dreading it i was dreading it i was dreading it and it was depleting me the dread of it depletes me not the actual activity of it the actual activity of it often is is rather refreshing because that's what repentance does is it brings refreshment and i've got to trust the word rather than the latest podcast that i listen to on psychology and self-care thank you i like that answer okay uh next question can you help to explain luke chapter 11 13 the verse reads if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give the holy spirit to those who ask him you know it's uh fantastic i actually just preached on that verse last sunday uh of uh luke 11 1-13 and i love this passage i really do love this passage of god inviting us to just just bang on his door bang on his door until he answers because we're his children only children can have that kind of relationship with a with a father um and that we are to trust that you know what if if we ask god for the holy spirit that's not going to be something bad for us right if your son asks for a fish you're going to give him a snake he asked for an egg is he going to give you a scorpion and and even though earthly dads would never do that how much more will our father in heaven when he gives you the holy spirit in in great measure or fuller measure however that's going to be um it's it's not going to be a snake or a scorpion it's going to be something wonderful and in short you may end up persecuted as a result but that's fine too you're still getting a hundred times as much in this present age but but uh it is interesting that all of this asking seeking knocking praying uh that is involved in chapter one and bring it over to matthew six right ask and uh it will be given to you seek and you will find knock in the door will be open to you for what it's all vague well luke luke 11 makes it clear this is all about the holy spirit why are we asking why are we seeking why are we knocking it's all for the holy spirit now um does that mean that we don't already have the spirit with within us no that is the guarantee of the new covenant that because of the perfect sacrifice of christ we have a once for all dwelling of the holy spirit ephesians 1 chapters chapter 1 verses 12 through 14 tells us that this holy spirit that was in us is a guarantee and a seal um it doesn't come and go it's not like samson wondering did the spirit leave to the spirit come back that's old covenant spirit coming upon you to do a miracle we have the spirit dwelling deep in us and among us permanently as a guarantee as a seal so when jesus is now saying he's saying to old covenant people by the way in in verse 13 that he may be saying to them hey when the new covenant is made clear you pursue it with all of your asking your seeking and your knocking uh because it's going to be made clear to you by my disciples one day that there is a new covenant and man could get after it with gusto i think that's the now of course luke wrote this 30 years after the covenant began and maybe he's also saying to us that there are um fillings and measures especially communally and by the way all of this the um when when it says how much will give give to those it's all plural here and and there are times and seasons in our life like acts 4 31 where the spirit comes upon us uh and and we're able to have this beautiful kind of accelerant among us uh as as we come together as a body so i think it's both of those things i think it's jesus saying man when the new covenant comes you you ask with all that you got uh and then likewise for us as a community of christ reading this it's it's likewise man we ask with all we've got knowing that yes we already have the spirits uh for short dwelling within us and among us but uh how about to even a fuller measure that would enable us to align ourselves to do great things in the name of jesus thank you uh next question i really love this question how do we differentiate between someone following the spirit and boldly expressing his love for god and someone exaggerating being charismatic yeah uh that that's that's pretty terrific and i think hopefully i you know so back in acts 4 you you have um you have people realizing that wow these men are filled with the holy spirit verse 13 of acts 4 says when they saw the courage of peter and john and realized they were unschooled ordinary men they were astonished they took note that these men had been with jesus uh and a little bit earlier it even says that um filled with the holy spirit uh they begin to to talk and they're wondering what power is this you know i tend to think maybe i'm off in this but i tend to think that peter is an extrovert and john is an introvert you know john is the apostle of love his his letters seem to say that we don't we don't see john stepping up and saying a whole lot uh too often compared to peter of course and i don't i don't think you need to be an extrovert to to to be this way or or you need to change from being an introvert to be this way the the the person that i that i am or you are filled with the spirit is just simply warm warm you're just loving and connecting and selfless in in the minutes of all of your your you express yourself because you express jesus as love fully john does that peter does that they both do that peter may do it more loudly but but because you're flailing around in in dancing doesn't prove that you're filled with the spirit the idea that you're you're not holding back your love and your warmth uh and again what's the compass setting for me when i'm filled with the spirit it's not get louder it's just be more caring be more warm be more connected okay uh next question does the spirit work in non-believers well sure but but not in the same way not at all in the same way by the way because this the spirit is what regenerates us and and then uh comes to dwell within us because we've been made holy but the spirit is working in non-believers to convict them of sin righteousness and judgment uh 16 says that that will actually convict the world uh and as i said at that portion of the sermon this morning the spirit convicts the world and in john 14 15 and 16 the world is not believers spirit of course all the more so would would convict us because we're receptive to that work of the spirit uh we see that that working of the spirit because we are children of spirit children of life who are to have nothing to do with the sinful deeds of darkness ephesians 5 11 says this but rather we are to expose them uh so so we're used by the spirit to convict one another but in the world let me just go back to that uh the the spirit works in the world to bring about conviction uh throughout the old covenant we have a lot of people that don't seem to be in alignment with the will of god and yet they get kind of filled with the spirit even saul when he's trying to kill david has the spirit come upon him why to disrupt his plans and cause them to kind of get uh all prophesying and i think he's naked as well so wild things happen even on on unbelievers but but i think the chief ministry of the holy spirit in the new testament is to convict unbelievers of sin righteousness and judgment okay i don't think they're prophesying necessarily all right we have time for one last question um what are some clear signs that we are aligned to the holy spirit apart from praying and reading the bible how do we know we are genuinely led by the spirit and not our own spirit and uh sorry what are some practicals that we can do to be aligned with the spirit i i i think you know jesus is always the good test in this um we we can always create god in our own image and think man is am i behaving like god well if god is made in my own image then it's very difficult to tell because then if if i do that then i don't want jesus ever to evangelize i don't want jesus ever to reprove because i don't enjoy those things so i've got to make sure that i'm not defining this uh that i'm really allowing the bible to define this the bible lays out the tracts on which we are to run uh and when we look at us being followers of jesus we deny ourselves we take up our cross we follow jesus uh luke 9 as jesus calls us he calls us to to follow me go everywhere and proclaim the kingdom of god no longer live for yourselves but for him who died for you and was raised again uh it's it's all about that of living for christ um if again let me the person who asked that question the idea of mission wasn't even in the question and that honestly i'm glad i don't know who wrote it so i'm not like kind of coming down on you but there ought to be mission in that question because this is the holy spirit look at re read through the book of acts and see what happens when the holy spirit really begins to animate and direct the church uh it's not just to just have i don't know better worship together although that is wonderful um but but it is to come on go go help this world go help this world i i've i've got limited time let's let's go help this world and be unrestrained in doing so thank you ed okay uh for those who send in questions and we weren't able to ask them we apologize uh and thank you ed for preaching to us and answering the questions today we appreciate you for joining us church amen and i'm praying for you guys i really am pray for us too as we're going through communal repentance too but we're we're praying for you guys thank you bro and amen church we've come to the end of our midweek service may the spirits move our hearts and congregation as we reflect on this message thank you for joining us today and have a great weekend bye [Music] so [Music] [Music] thing down in five four three two one [Music] you

Channel: Central Christian Church SG

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Id: 7HQZtwomeNY

Length: 79min 53sec (4793 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021