Spiritual Growth is Impossible Without the Spirit of God

[Music] and to book vaccin chapter 1 we find starting in verse three and a speaking of Jesus Christ the now resurrected Christ and says he also presented himself alive after his sufferings by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God and being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which he said you have heard from me where John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now and so Christ made it very plain that they were to stay and it was obvious that approaching was the day of Pentecost another day of Pentecost which to each of us has great significance and a great deal of meaning I'd like to focus today on one aspect of this day and it actually was sort of an interesting revelation I believe not only to the servants of God but also in many ways to what was taking place in a religious community among the Jewish people we read in chapter 2 of verse one says when the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all with one Accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind the sound you would hear and a strong gust of wind that was what they heard and it filled the whole house where they were sitting so it wasn't as if it just simply happened and apparently passed through quickly it literally filled the room then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one set upon each of them so individually each one of them had above them this as it were a tongue of fire and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as a Spirit gave them utterance now as we read on we know that this was a tremendous witness to those who were present but all at once in a very public manner because this became not only a matter of conversation became a you might say a situation that continued and of course it continued into the founding of and the beginning of the Church of God but as this took place we read in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 28 excuse me chapter 23 and verse 8 that there was a leading group of a sect of the Ferris Jewish people the Sadducees that this had to be an incredible shock - and it was not something they wanted to believe notice here in Acts chapter 23 and verse 8 Paul Paul had found himself between kind of a rock and a hard place because of accusations and he realized that the audience was divided and he took advantage of that division and the division was in doctrine and their understanding in verse 7 of Acts chapter 23 it says when he had said this a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees now what he said was I am a Pharisee verse 6 the son of a Pharisee and concerning the hope of the resurrection of the Dead I am being judged so he changed the focus and yet at the same time that was his hope and you can read that later in chapter 24 when he publicly appeared but the problem here and the reason there was a dissension it says verse 8 for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection but they also notice this and no angel or spirit wasn't just a matter of the promise of the resurrection they denied they actually denied a spirit world and one of the things that God has made us very aware of and it's very important we are aware of it is that there is a spirit world in the book of Ephesians we find that this world is something we cannot ignore in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 2 and 3 God says he's brought us out of or called us out of the world that has a spirit that has a great influence in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 2 it says in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works and the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath just as others but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and so God called us he separated us from that world and it's important understand when we think of our calling that we've been called out of a spiritual influence in the book of Ephesians in chapter 6 Paul said as he concluded his letter to the church and Ephesus for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore and it tells us that with strengthen US is having your waist girded with the truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith which with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and it's interesting because what he also tells us is that God has equipped us to deal with the spiritual influences of the world about us and if we look in the world about us we see Satan's influence and the degradation of society it seems like it's just accelerating and in many ways that strengthens us to realize what we have but I think it also should help us spiritually to understand how to be more effective in our calling and how we react to what God has given to us notice in Ephesians chapter 2 again going back to verse 4 in faison's chapter 2 starting this time as I ended before I'd repeat but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so God has literally given to us and created for us a different environment he's put us within a body and it's a spiritual body he made a service very aware of the fact that what the difference that took place is that now indwelling in them was the Spirit of God we also read then as we go back to Acts chapter 2 in Acts chapter 2 and verse 37 because the reaction to what God had done was one that convicted and cut to the heart of many people as they heard God's servants being inspired by the Holy Spirit who explained to them what had happened and what had taken place and so in Acts chapter 2 and verse 37 now when they heard this because what God servant said to them verse 36 therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ so when they heard this they were cut to the heart said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do and Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as it was a gift promised it was a gift that Jesus Christ spoke of and it's a promise that the Bible shows in verse 39 the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call and as we continue to celebrate God's holy days during this year we know that we will be led through the fall holy days and of course we realize on the eighth day that last great day that God's love and that calling and the access to God's holy spirit that promise is going to be fulfilled for everyone for every man woman and child but that promise is a promise of the Spirit of God dwelling in us that promise is something that totally changes our life if we take advantage of and understand how God is working in our lives and that's my focus today is to understand how is God working in us and to really take advantage of that sometimes we can get because we are reflection blood we're physical human beings we need food we need air we need to sleep at night we can grow tired and as we get older we begin to have aches and pains and and sometimes even our younger members have health issues that they have to deal with another we live in a world where we're exposed to in many ways the impact of Satan's influence we're exposed to the results of sin and we're not immune from it we live in this world we often are touched by it but we should be motivated by those experiences but we need to be motivated not so much physically but to understand spiritually what God is doing because what God is doing is spiritual it's not going to sustain the physical notice in the book of Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 the Apostle Paul wrote and made a very simple but very direct statement about the physical that which we see and it's amazing what we're beginning to see we're beginning to look out into the universe and realize that truly the stars of heaven are like the sands of the sea it's far more than I think man ever anticipated when we look with the tools that we have to understand not at the great and expansive level of our universe or the stars in heaven we see at night but even within the very structure of our body I've found it very interesting to and saw this on YouTube and saw several sites and also did some reading that in each of our bodies is a cell and now those cells literally the human body has approximately based on scientific estimates about 30 trillion but it needs cell you have DNA you've probably seen pictures of it sometimes it's like a coil and you see the various lines drawn across it because the DNA carries in a in a sense the code of our body who we are physically that is in this flesh and what we don't realize is that in each cell wrapped in a very tight coil if you see if you see illustrated by drawings you simply see lines but if someone has posted or you see at the result of extreme of magnification a picture where they've kind of untaken and taking the coil and pulled it out or seen a part of it it really looks like fuzzy yarn but if you take the the DNA of one cell and you stretch it out it's actually over six feet long and yet it's physical it's something we can see with the eye if you take the but the cells of your body if you are the average and I'm not sure if that's determined by size and weight but what I have read is that the average human body has about thirty trillion cells and if you take that and you multiply it six feet by thirty trillion the DNA lineage if you were taking stretch at all in one continuous line for each of us the length of that is thirty four billion miles and that's almost hard to imagine it's illustrated at various sites by how long it would take to travel to Pluto and how many times you could go back and forth or in other words it's try to illustrate in a way that even then our mind doesn't really comprehend and so we're just learning about things but yet its physical it's a tool that God uses we read here and second Corinthians chapter four verse 18 says while we do not look at the things which are seen I think it's that's part of what I want to impart today and so we're careful about what we look at and what we focus on but at the things which are not saying because our focus needs to be in the spiritual things in relationship to our salvation a relationship to our understanding of the things we're taught we need to look under spiritual things brethren as they touch our lives and our heart who we are the inner man the man that literally is being built through the Spirit of God which God describes as we yield to him and we use his spirit as a new creation says for the things which are saying our temporary so everything we see with our eye it says those are temporary and as we keep God's holy days we know that at the conclusion and the eighth day or is the end of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ a time of salvation for the great numbers of people who have never heard of the name of Christ all of that is wrought through conclusion by the end of this present world this age and the Bible speaks of a new heavens and a new earth and it obviously makes it very plain that the life we have and the life of what is about us is immortal it's not temporary it's forever he goes on to say and this is an interesting statement so what we see is temporary the world about it is temporary the homes we dwell in our physical body all of this is temporary but the things which are not seen so what we don't see the forces the powers that we do not see and it's interesting because even those who study space and they try to measure it and understand all of the forces that are employed the number of years ago I read on a Nassau site that what we can measure accounts for only between five and at the very most 10% at all of the energy that we see in our universe 95 or 92 95 percent of it is been labeled basically as dark matter and yet that's the great preponderance of the force and the energy that we see even just physically it's dark matters what we don't see we can recognize that we can recognize it by what it's doing what's happening and I think that's important to understand spiritually God opened the doors to the reality that there is a spirit world and of course that was actually something the Sadducees had difficulty dealing with I'll not turn to it but you'll find that the preaching of the Resurrection was very upsetting to them you can read that and at the book of Acts in Acts chapter 4 and the first few verses of that chapter but the reality was is that to God's people he opened up the understanding that it's through my spirit this is how I'm going to change the world this is what's going to give you and and to each of us that God has called each of us will have within us the Spirit of God as Abba gadelle and of course that took place to God servants who were there on the day of Pentecost and has continued and will continue as we go forward in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 9 we see illustrated what God does actually by the calling of the Apostle Paul God struck him down and how he was physically dealt with actually in many ways reveals to us what happens when God literally gives us his spirit and has separated us now as a part of the body of His Son Jesus Christ so we read in Acts chapter 9 and I'm going to pick up the story here as what transpired we find what God gave instruction to his servant and a Nyhus and he followed God's instruction and in verse 17 it says then Ananias went his way and it entered the house and laying his hands on him he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me those he'd been said specifically because what God had done and what had happened to the Apostle now what had happened to Sall if we go back to verse eight we find that in verse seven it says and the men who journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no one and the voice he heard was the result first of a bright light that shone around him from heaven and verse three then he fell to the ground heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul why are you persecuting me and he said this is really where we have to understand this is where we truly are when God begins to work in our life says who are you Lord now sometimes we don't really distinguish that because we live in a society where whether we're a part of a Baptist Church or a Catholic Church or we have no church we certainly have heard heard the name and know the significance of the name of Jesus Christ no Saul did but he didn't understand the identity and that's the point we need to recognize that we certainly heard the name in the case of Saul he considered the teaching of Christ as a heresy and he was going to put it into it and so he persecuted God's people the Lord said to him I am Jesus whom you are persecuting it is hard for you to kids kick against the goads you stub your toes it hurts so he trembling and astonished said Lord what do you want me to do then the Lord said to him arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do so we find here as we read before that those were with him they heard the voice but they saw no one when Saul arose verse 8 when his eyes were open he saw no one so he stood up and certainly he's blinded but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and he was three days without sight neither ate nor drank because he was a devout man but he was of the sect of the Pharisees and so he immediately turned to fasting he understood from knowing the Old Testament that that was a way to draw close to God that was the way to appeal to God so dropping back down to where we were before we find where Ananias had followed God's instruction and here is Saul and we find it says laying his hands on him that is on Saul he's he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit that says immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales and he received his sight at once and he arose and was baptized your brother that's what God does his holy spirit suddenly opens to us a completely new world and many times it's God it's very clear in the scripture in the book of John that leads us to that point but I think it's so important to understand the what God has brought us to as a point where literally our mind can be opened it's not a physical change it's a change that takes place of the mind and heart and what is given to us is sight it's the ability to see and understand things that we did not see clearly we may have known about them we may have even begun to really try to keep and practice and as we did I think God gives a certain level of understanding that leads to repentance it's a goodness of God that leads us to repentance but rather than we're to grow from there we have been given a gift that is intended to help us to grow and to change to become God's very children let's notice in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 that what we're given is understanding in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 the Apostle Paul again explains this and he tells us that the things that we come to see and understand of God in the world we live in it's a mystery verse 7 he says we speak the wisdom of God and a mystery the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the agents of our glory which none of the rulers of this age knew for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory but as it is written eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him that's why over the years God's ministry mr. Armstrong mr. Meredith and today mr. Weston they all encourage us to realize that it requires God's calling and although we can speak to others and encourage them and which we certainly should do if they have an interest in some aspect of the truth or our faith to realize this God ultimately that it's calling and working of them if it produces fruit if God uses us in some way that's that's good it's a wonderful experience there's the same time God's only using us and when we have that opportunity as the Bible brings out we should use it well we should be able to speak of the faith there's what convicted us what it's a part of our life it's not always brethren explaining every doctrine or being able to answer every question the Bible really is telling us to share was a part of our life with someone because they need to learn themselves they need to study if God is opening their understanding but that's what happened with us notice verse 10 but God has revealed them to us through his spirit not something that has to do with the physical because God intent is not to sustain the temporary world it has to do with the Spirit it has to do with that which will last forever that which is eternal for the spirit searches all things yes the deep things of God for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him you know sometimes when we have difficulty understanding something we're going to read God's Word it's so important we turn to God and ask him through his holy spirit to give us understanding to open our eyes to literally in a sense inspire us so we grasp and see the depth of his word and sometimes because I found many times in my life I've read through certain scriptures many times and and suddenly all at once I see something I never saw and I know that it wasn't my mind if it was my mind I would have seen it I'd been there so many times but all at once for whatever reason I recognized something and of course whether it's understanding or some aspect of what God is explaining sometimes it's just a little nuance but it's always inspirational when that happens so it tells us here as we read on even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God and it's very important understand and that no one includes us except to be through God's Spirit now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God so God's given us the spirit so that we would know so we would understand that's his intent that's his purpose these things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual that's what God wants us to do he wants us really in a sense to become really aware of and think about and understand the spiritual things that he's revealed to us not just to know about them but brethren to really understand and of course in that understanding to begin to realize how important each area of our understanding is it becomes a part of our life it becomes a part of our identity the spirit we have the Bible clearly tells us comes from the Father Sen John chapter 15 and there are many passages in the Bible to bring this out but I think it's important for us too as I go forward at least point this out and John chapter 15 verse 26 Christ said when the helper comes this is a promise he'd made to his disciples and the Apostles whom I shall send to you from the father the Spirit of Truth which proceeds from the father he will testify of me and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning so he told them a part of the responsibility that they were to be witnesses and in that sense messengers of the truth to their man fellow mankind but it comes from the father the source of God's Spirit is the father of all things I know and we all were familiar with but I'd like to point out to you is in using God's Spirit the Bible speaks of God's Spirit is like water in fact Jesus said in John chapter 7 and this was said during the feast and the last great day in verse 37 of John chapter 7 it says on the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone thirst let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water and I'd like to equate that to something we read and know and that is the fruits of the spirit let's notice in the book of Galatians God speaks of the fruits of the two influences of the spiritual realm now part of us just our flesh and the fact that we are created physical and Satan is the god of this world and he has influenced and he himself actually the Bible reveals was very materialistic the Bible speak of his sin because of the multitude of the merchandise and so all the details of that we don't clearly see or understand but in the book of Galatians and Galatians chapter 5 it tells us in chapter 5 and starting here in verse 16 I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flush lost against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one another and of course the Apostle Paul speaks of this also in the book of Romans says so that you but do not do the things that you wish I speaking to someone who has God's Spirit and I think often brethren that's something that we experience it's very frustrating it's actually very discouraging sometimes we set certain goals or purposes in life and we find that we find it very difficult at times to do the things that we had been inspired to do maybe you listen to a sermon and you go home and think oh I'm going to make some changes and and you maybe have very strong intent in fact you find yourself really then kind of in a battle to continue and and there is a war that's going on and that war is much of it is it literally within our own flesh our decision-making our desire to do the things that please God and so Paul acknowledged that he acknowledged that personally in the book of Romans he acknowledges it regarding each of us it says but you are if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law we're no longer under the penalty of the law we still must obey God and that's actually something we'll look at in a little bit because one of the ways God's Spirit works in us is the fruit of obedience it's what immediate does to us in our heart our mind and our thinking but that's because God's Spirit is a part of that the works of the flesh are evident and I'd like to point out to you you don't many years ago mr. Armstrong emphasized there's a way of get and there's a way of give and if you think about the fruits each of these fruits as they're described are motivated by selfish desire they're motivated by a desire to get to fulfill something of the flesh whether it's adultery fornication uncleanness lewdness idolatry sorcery hatred we think well that's just an emotion no it's an emotion that Springs from our flesh and about ourselves that's because we're looking at self-interest many times people are motivated to hatred not because even of harm but rather because of the things that form in their mind the anger and and not sometimes even things that happened them they may have happened to others we see people who protest and you talk to them that nothing happened in their life you know they were never personally oppressed but they read about or heard others talk about and they were just simply emotionally charged and they're charged to hatred and anger says contentions jealousies outbursts of Wrath selfish ambitions dissensions heresies Envy murders drunkenness revelries and the like if you take the time and meditate on each of what is listed here it has a motivation that is it surrounds the self and has a motivation that centers on the person the individual and it's not outward it's not reaching outward to others but if you look at what it says regarding the fruits of God's Spirit notice here I'd like to read the end of verse 21 says and the like of which I tell you beforehand just as I also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God and please notice I know mr. Meredith would often point out to us when it talks about lead being led by God's Spirit the emphasis on what you practice is that what you do as a practice is how God identifies the path you follow but notice in the fruit of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit is love the university thing about love is is really is something you give if something you express to someone else it's something that comes out of you it's not just about self you know we certainly should not hate our flesh in the sense of the the blessing of life and the blessing of the gifts that God has given to us we should actually be very thankful for those things but we also know from God's Spirit that the focus of his Spirit is an outgoing spirit this joy there is a joy in knowing that you have a relationship with God but when it flows out from you then you bring joy to others you in some way encourage them inspire them that's what I'm wanting to bring out is that if you want to grow in the fruits of God's Spirit to try to do these things outwardly in an outward manner towards someone else and as you do that is the Spirit of God the living water that flows from your heart flows outward you're going to change and you're going to grow it was all about something that you're trying to produce within the self you're not going to succeed as you think you would it's going to be a frustrating battle but if you do it as Christ did and sacrifice if you do it as God did in the expression of his love to us that He gave His only begotten Son not to condemn in others you understand the principle of what we actually see by the very hand and practice of God and that is outward you'll grow will change your heartless changer your thoughts will change how you perceive things begin to change says piece that requires that you act peacefully you might have someone who wishes to battle with you but the Bible tells us the soft answer turns away wrath the carnal reaction to a situation like that is to meet anger with anger to meet you know someone criticizing or putting you down but the same kind of approach in fact sometimes people do that simply not so much that that's their thought but it's rather because of the hurt but it's not successful what is successful is to when someone does something like that either be quiet or to speak in words that are peaceful a soft answer long-suffering you our patient was somewhat that's difficult at times but it God tells us that's the fruit of a spirit I've learned that patience has aided a great deal when I realize how much mercy and patience I need of God and then it's not so difficult to be patient and to realize that if someone's working through a problem and certainly if they're a member of God's church that perhaps God is working their lives but they're learning lessons and maybe at first I don't see everything or family and others don't see but I sometimes in retrospect I could look back and see how people learn very very important lessons but it took time it wasn't something where you know sometimes good things take time to grow and mature and and God knows our time he gives us life and he knows what he's doing to produce the fruit that he wants so again I point out to you all of these fruits actually are outgoing if we look at God's example and his expression of love you look at the joy that is a part of life if we look at the blessing of peace which is the fruit of God's Spirit the fruit of obedience to God kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such there is no law so all of these have a different approach unless we really see that and understand that in a spiritual way it could be really frustrating to try to grow in the spirit of the fruits of the spirit it's much better adoptive focus on self but try to show those things to others in the Church of God among our brethren and family relationships we have people we meet that you know the immediate thought and reaction that we have is it's not a one of you know carnal door our normal physical reaction that we allow God's Spirit to lead us verse 24 says those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires and that is what happens this it is a kind of a battle it is something where you might be making progress and suddenly find yourself being challenged so it says if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit and so one of the realities of God's Spirit working in us brethren is that it's real it's a part of our mind it's a part of a gift God has given to us and it's also that spirit that was within us it's a guarantee or a promise that God has made to us we live in a world where most people think of spirit as sort of like a lift of you know smoke or something that has no structure but the Bible doesn't represent spirit in that manner it represents God spirit is a power he told his disciples that they would be given power and in God's church because so often that phrase is used that it's a power of God's Spirit then we tend to define it that way but the Bible also speaks of the power the guy used to create it was by his commanded by the Spirit of God the Bible tells us that as we've read that understanding comes from God's Spirit and so it's the power to open our eyes and introduce us into a sense and totally different dimension in the physical world that we see but that dimension is also very very real let's notice in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 after Paul revealed that what we see physically is temporary and what we don't see is eternal in verse 5 it says we know that if our earthly house this temp he says if this tent and he speaks of it as a house well it's physical not a puff of air it's not something that you know is just drifts about or dust that you throw now will we will become dust but we were created and we were created in God's image and there is actually a body and the body that we possess is in the image of our Creator so if this house this tent is destroyed we have a building from God that's not just a puff of wind or some kind of you know life in a way that would not relate to the things that we have experienced God is preparing us so it says we have a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven is this habitation it was we literally will have a spiritual body even as God does the Bible describes that even as Christ had if he was resurrected he appeared to his disciples the Bible tells us in second corinthians chapter excuse-me 1st corinthians chapter 15 that he appeared to over 500 brethren at one time you didn't appear as some you know with air or puffs of smoke he didn't appear to Thomas in that way but he was spirit he was at that point immortal he had gone to his father been received by his father and of course we know is he fulfilled a period of time of instruction to lay the foundation for the beginning of the Church of God they saw him which I did not read in Acts chapter of twenty one ascend or excuse me Acts chapter one to ascend into the heavens so when we talk of spirit take a look what the Bible says about it it's not my intent in this sermon - to go into all of the many scriptures but as you do you realize is something that we're not really familiar with in a sense of like we might look at matter or something physical we can make something of and yet it's a real there's a reality to it and God's Spirit fills his creation and God's Spirit is a power but there's also the God Himself is a spirit God is spirit and that's very important to understand you know in our fundamental statements of belief of the living Church of God it's our official statement of fundamental beliefs we have a very short explanation and the intent of this was always that it be breathed not that it be very long they just sort of give someone an introduction but it speaks here of the Holy Spirit and it says this is page three God is spirit the Holy Spirit is the very essence the mind life and power of God it is not a being and that's important understand you know some people wish to speak of in a sense of Spirit of God as if it's like a puff but that also represents who he is so it is not a big the spirit is inherent and the father and the son and emanates from them throughout the entire universe and it references first Kings chapter 8 verse 27 Psalm chapter 139 verse 7 Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 24 it was through the spirit that God created all things Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 and also Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 it is the power by which God maintains the universe it's brought out in Hebrews chapter 1 verses 2 and 3 it is given to all who repent of their sins and are baptized Acts chapter 2 verses 38 and 39 as we read and is the power Acts chapter 1 verses 8 or verse 8 and also 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 by which all believers may be overcomers and that's brought out and we'll go there in Romans chapter 8 verse 37 and of course the promise to the overcomer is brought out in revelations chapter 2 verses 26 and 27 so I'd like to read that sentence again without the scripture so we get the impact of it says it is given to all who repent of their sins and are baptized and is the power by which all believers may be overcomers and will be led to eternal life because see brethren is how God works in our life and if we look at things physically and we measure things physically and we begin to use that as a standard of even sometimes our you might say association in church and the things we focus on especially in terms of trying to grow as a Christian we missed the mark you know and you're trying to accomplish something and you be giving it been given a tool knowing how to use it it's so very very important and someone who knows how to use the tool and use as effectively then they're only limited by the power of the tool and the tool that God's given us is the power of the universe and the only limitation we truly have is that we need to learn to grow to use it to have the faith but we haven't given the power to literally change let's notice as we read on here and st. Corinthians chapter 5 it says that we're going to be given a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven if indeed having been clothed we shall not be found naked for we who are in this tent ground being burdened burdened not because we want to be on clothes but further clothed just understand that life that we have and the gifts that we've been given it's really even though it's wonderful and a beautiful thing it cannot be compared as is brought out also by Paul to what God has in store I absolutely love it's one of my favorite scriptures or a phrase in the Bible that we wish to be further clothed it says that mortality may be swallowed up by life that this flesh and blood which is not going to continue it's going to slip simply be swallowed up something so much more powerful something that's so much greater it's simply going to take over it will be swallowed up by life now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God so bright we should never be ashamed of we should be very bold to try to ask God and to fulfill what he's doing in our lives well there's to change our heart weathers to learn to be more giving to learn to know how to help and share and give joy to others but there's to learn to kindness or all the fruits of the spirit those are things God's prepared us what he was and so we never should back away from asking him in prayer we should never back away from petitioning him or perhaps were you know in a situation all at once we find ourselves you know being challenged don't be afraid to say father help me know even just informally in your heart father be with me you know we would think you know is that really approach and respectful you know it's it was actually God who told his servants he said if your call before kings and judges don't prepare don't worry about it what you will need will be given to you that very hour and you know you think about that and think well so many times we look and think we need to do this this and this and do our part there are times the only time we have a part brethren is to trust God the time we have a partisan simply recognize we need him and God will be there for us he's promised that if we find ourself in a situation if we were call before authorities or were put on a spot do we think about and try to do our price I think we should especially when we know in advance but in a situation like that you neither have control nor do you actually know have any idea of what it's going to come God says don't worry about it don't be stressed trust me since now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee or down payment or an earnest payment that was God's Spirit in us and the fact he's giving us this tool brethren is also the evidence and the encouragement and the strength that should encourage us to use it and so this day is literally about the revelation to men to mankind they God lives in a spiritual realm and those he calls that he has given the power of that realm to change their life and that promise is a part of that but rather than that promise comes by being God's sons notice in the book of Romans because in our statement of beliefs it references the book of Romans and I'd like to point out to you that Paul expanded upon being led by God's Spirit now there was how do we use God's Spirit in Romans chapter 8 and I'm not read the part that speaks of the problems of our carnality and the hinder as it is to us it tells us in verse eight to summarize those verses and you can also a night encourage you to read chapter seven and how Paul said that he delighted and the law of God according to the inward man but he recognized or he saw another law in his members warring against the law of my mind and he realized that his salvation was not through self discipline and and his own self his salvation who would deliver him was Jesus Christ it was through grace it was through God's mercy now did he give up did he feel like I have no part now you can read in the scripture where Paul says I fought a good fight and he tells us if a man runs he runs with all if he fights he fights with all as mr. Armstrong would tell us you turn to God in faith as if it all depended on you but you ask God and trust in him those we do everything we can but then we trust in God as if it all depended upon him in this case it really does because none of us can save ourselves all we can do is show God our heart let him work in our life let the fruit be produced that he seeks in us by yielding ourselves and submitting ourselves to him by drawing nigh to him and brethren how he works in her life the experiences of our life our experiences even in the Church of God the situation whether it be of our calling our situation life all of those things God knew and he presently knows but he continues to prayer para sometimes it's hard for some of those have been called late in life to realize that maybe they're only going to live a couple years but it was God who made that decision and he saw something in them that he saw it maybe allowed them to go through a time physically to learn certain lessons but the important thing to realize is that when we talk about our salvation it's of God it's because of a relationship we read then in verse nine it says we you not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you now that's been given to us by promise so that assurance we have is a covenant we entered into it baptism God said it's a promise his promise he made and brother that's the promise he'll keep now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not his and if Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness does that mean we're always righteous no it says that what happens in us and what is of life that's when we do things that are righteous that's what's going to continue that's what's eternal but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you there's God's working in our life that he would give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you I was that our life begins to be in a very temple of the Spirit of God and we yield ourselves to him we're aware of that relationship verse 12 it says therefore brother we know we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh you will but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are this sons of God you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you received the spirit of adoption or sonship by whom we cry out Abba Father the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit they are the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him a focus of this day is the revelation that God gave us spirit he revealed actually through the Sadducees in the world at that time the reality of a spiritual world he revealed to his servants that the very spirit and the power of God would be an indwelling spirit within them he revealed to them how they could change how they could be converted now Christ has said to Peter when you are converted I doubt very much if if Peter did not hear those words and think a great deal about them but then he came to the realization of God used him to understand that conversion took place not of the flesh but through the Spirit of God and if you're going to fulfill what God is doing in your life it's going to be because you focus on that tool it's going to be because you understand that what God has done is removed the scales of your eyes he's helped you to see and when you've been given sight you use it you don't close your eyes you don't go to sleep they use it you study you look in his words you look at life you try to understand you do what God's servant David did where he read God's laws and he delighted in it but he also meditated and now he drew close to God in prayer and how he was very very concerned that God's Spirit be a part of him he said he said take not your Holy Spirit from it because he understood that that is how God had touched his life here's how he touches our life does I think is very important we've come out of a world that doesn't understand sometimes it uses a lot of language you know there are people who talk about you know getting the spirit or whether it's to speak in various you know tongues or whatever you wish to label it it's not of God but that to them is what that experience is about we have other people that view it in a totally different way but they don't see and understand what God has revealed to us and that the Spirit of God or something God's placed within us and brethren and that's a tool by which we can grow it's a tool that we should pray and ask God for to expand in our life to allow to flow through us that literally as we give and we use God's Spirit that we become a stream Jesus Christ was a river of living water and we could just imitate that very thought and that concept it will help us to be much more pleasing in God's sight it'll help us to fulfill our calling it'll help us brethren to be pleasing servants both our Father and our Lord and Savior [Music] you

Channel: Living Church of God

Views: 3,328

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Keywords: spirit, god, spiritual, growth, christian

Id: CbIEQ-2e1PY

Length: 61min 39sec (3699 seconds)

Published: Tue May 22 2018