The Holy Spirit Promise (Part 15)

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Catch up on our series HERE

The Holy Spirit Promise

(Part 1)

Good morning and Welcome to Jesus Church – Here and Online

Today is bittersweet – We are finishing up our series on the Holy Spirit

• But by now hopefully you can see that this is just the beginning
  • Once you know something is essential… you can’t “unknow” it
  • Over the last 4 months we’ve seen the Holy Spirit is essential
• And now that we know that Jesus wants you filled with the Spirit
  • And if we want to walk in full success of God’s call on our lives
  • We must pursue… seek… engage relationship with the Holy Spirit

This Morning – Go through a few things we missed

1 Cor 14:26

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together (for church), each of you has a hymn (song), or a word of instruction (teaching), a revelation (prophecy), a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

This is the middle of Paul’s letter to a church in the city of Corinth

• This church had tons of problems…
  • But a church where the Holy Spirit had free reign to move all over
  • But notices there are 3 things about this church we get
• 1 – Church regularly came together as family (Brothers & Sisters)
  • WHEN you come together… not IF
  • We know little of the church… could be large or small
  • But we do know that the came together regularly as a family
• 2 – Everyone had a part to play
  • Paul says EACH OF YOU has a hymn, structure, prophecy
  • Wasn’t just 1 or 2 people that were in leadership (was leadership)
  • Everyone there was to have something to give… serve
• 3 – Notice that everyone is ready and expecting to minister
  • When it says each of you HAS (Present tense)
    • Meaning you come ready to not just receive… but to give
    • But remember… this is written to the church family
    • Isn’t written to those visiting… its those who call this home
  • John has a line in Revelation – I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day
    • When you show up with your family…
    • Do u come “In the Spirit”… allow Spirit to work through you
  • I think sometimes we come to church to get into the Spirit
    • And that’s fine… never allow that to stop you from coming
    • But too often we barely make it… and think that’s the goal
    • But it will profoundly shrink/limit/curb ur experience of God
      • And not because of God… God is always with you
      • But become of God… it takes time to detox

Tag: This is the kind of church I want to be a part of… Jesus Church to be

To do this: Have to tackle 2 problems

First: Problem of Consumerism

• We live in a consumer driven culture… and everyone caters to it
  • And we have allowed it to infiltrate the church as well
  • Problem is consumerism is a negative heart posture…
  • So the question is what do I GET OUT OF THIS
• So in our gatherings we leave talking about consumerism
  • I didn’t like that because it was: Too short/long/shallow/deep
  • I thought the music was: Too loud/new/old/fast/slow
  • The people were: Too friendly/unfriendly…
• As a general rule – we come to church to GET not to GIVE
  • This of the phrase “I’m fed here”… or you leave because not fed
    • And its honestly a weird metaphor – cause there’s no food
    • But we all say it… sorta get the reference
  • But actually… I don’t want you to go home after church full
    • I want you to go home hungry & thirsty for more of God
    • If you walk out the door satisfied with God until next Sunday
      • I am a complete failure
  • I want you leaving not satisfied at all… but ready to go to ur world
    • And bring the gospel & tools you learn here to everyone else
    • That’s one of the reasons we have our LIFE GROUPS
    • Because Sunday shouldn’t be enough
  • Even think of the language “Church Service”
    • Sunday experience shouldnt be that… it’s a church gathering
    • No where in Bible does it say this is one way service
    • Right.. this isn’t a store to consume goods and services

Mark Sayors (Pastor in Melbourne, Australia)

The elephant in the living room of contemporary Christianity is peoples ability to simply sit in church, to consume the experience the way we would in a great sporting event, thrilling movie or exciting theme park ride. And then to leave it totally unchanged at the soul level as they leave. Sure they might feel challenged, encouraged or even moved. But the horizontal self simply feels the experiences like all these other experiences and moves on.

• Concludes with what happens in consumer based worship gathering

The worship experiences becomes a media event. The church building becomes a theme park, the Christian leader becomes a Christian celebrity, teaching becomes entertainment, salvation becomes self help, discipleship becomes lifestyle enhancement, the soul becomes self, church becomes brand and the gospel becomes a slogan

• And that might be incising and comfortable
  • But no one is laying down their life for that
  • Because it promotes convenience not the cross

Tag: To become the church Jesus started… consumerism can’t control us

Second: American obsession with order

• Problem in Corinth… too much spontaneity and not enough order
  • It was wild/crazy/full of the flesh and out of control
  • But church today has the exact opposite issue
  • We have too much order… no room for the Spirit to move
• End of letter it says: Everything must be done decently and in order
  • Some churches have this down to a formula
    • Welcome to church
    • Song/song… Announcements
    • Song… preacher preaches too long
    • Pray and they’re out in 60 minutes flat
  • And order isn’t all bad… if we just did open mic every week
    • It would get really weird really fast
    • But many churches take order to the extreme
    • There is no room for the Spirit to move
  • Last week we went off script – The Spirit moved during worship
    • And God really worked through that
    • Testimony
• And not to say we want to see things get weird and chaotic
  • One thing I’m so passionate about is to see the things of the Spirit
  • But in a way that isn’t weird at all
  • In fact something that just seem right and like it should be
    • But sermons and songs are NOT enough
    • Wanna see everything: healings to prophecy to deliverance
    • And above all we just want God’s presence

Tag: And hearing all this we are probably mostly in agreement this is good

How do we make it more than agreement (then forget)

First we need the theology of it – What we’ve been doing

• We need to know the WHY
  • Why do we need the Holy Spirit… Jesus said we do
  • My father sent me… I’m sending you – Receive the Holy Spirit
• We have to learn about the WHAT
  • Who is this that we need a relationship with
  • What does it mean to operate in the Spirit
  • How do we do that in a healthy/sustainable way

But that’s not enough… need to take knowledge and put it to practice

• You learn about Gifts (prophecy) and then you have to do it
  • You learn about Fruit (patience) and you practice it
  • You realize relationship and you pursue it
• And if we don’t move from knowledge to practice
  • You just get stuck believing something you just don’t do
  • Which is awful… you know there is power and presence
  • But you live with it just out of arms reach… and its unfulfilling

And then we have to move from practice to culture

• Learn > Do > Do often enough that it becomes 2^nd nature
  • You know if something is hard… if you do it consistently enough
  • Eventually it becomes second nature
  • Kyle and I go to the gym… not easy at first… now part of routine
• And that’s what we want for our church and things of the Spirit
  • We want hearing God’s voice to become 2^nd nature
  • Praying for each other to be common… not just end of service
  • And even if its hard right now… uncomfortable… not forever

Practical ways to get to where we want to be

One: Listening & Prayer

• So much of this comes down to hearing Gods voice and going for it
  • So as much as possible… listen to God’s voice
    • When you read the scriptures… listen
    • When you drive to work… listen
    • When you are on your morning jog… listen
• And if you have a word God has put on your heart
  • Come and talk to me about it… you see people do this at times
  • And I’ll help you figure out if its for today or not
  • But this is an open invite to the work of the Holy Spirit
• But where I believe you will see this the most powerful: Life Groups
  • Where it isn’t 100+ people and a microphone
  • Its 10 people and a couch
  • It’s a safe place to practice to promise of the Holy Spirit
    • What better place to pray for each others needs
    • What better place to just listen to what God wants to do
    • What better place to in unity pray for communities/church

Two: Worship Nights

• We believe in dedicating a Sunday night to extended worship/prayer
  • And we encourage the gifts to be practiced
  • And when I say practiced… I mean it
  • Like a doctor has a practice… we practice as well
• But this is a great/safe place to hear from God and walk it out
  • Sometimes I don’t even say a word
  • Other times I do… but the script is 10x less during these nights
• And its an appropriate place to let that happen
  • So come to our worship nights and watch the Spirit move

Three: Be a pary of our prayer team

• We always give room for prayer at the end of service
  • This isn’t just for big requests…
  • Its for direction in your life
  • Its for healing… its for deliverance
• And if that’s something you want to become a part of
  • Come talk to me and we will get you involved
  • Because this is a great way to practice the things of the Holy Spirit

Four: Keep learning and practicing

• Its not like now that the series is over… we know it all
  • Sorta like Drivers Ed… get to the end and do what? Drive
  • You have the tools to be safe – So go learn to be capable
• And now its time to actually step out… go and drive
  • Don’t forget your blinker – But if you do learn to use it next time
  • And there is always more to learn
  • So don’t ever stop learning more about the Spirit
• And be persistent
  • This will take years to go from doing > culture
  • Cannot be a fad… oh ya we were into the Holy Spirit for 4 months
  • The Holy Spirit is NOT a fad… power/presence of God himself
    • He longs to do more in u… He longs to do more through you
    • For our church and for our world

This will take all of us… will never work if its me/rick/kyle/david/kathy

• For this to happen – we need at least the majority to buy in to this
  • That we would all desire to pursue the Spirit
  • And allow the uncomfortable to become normal

[PRAY]