This is the fourth sermon it the “Renewal of the Church” series. We need to cooperate with the Father God, so that the church might bear much fruit.
John 15:1-2 NIV “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
I’ve said in this series that the church is in trouble but like I said last week the day of the church is not over. The church will be renewed as we the believers, who are the church, are renewed.
The key to renewal is not our plans, our programs, or our techniques; rather, it is the person of the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 says that the Holy Spirit both regenerates, through the new birth, and renews the believer.
The church, if we are not careful, can find ourselves in a situation like putting a pile of wood together to warm ourselves and have no way to light the fire. We don’t have any matches, a lighter, and don’t know how to rub two sticks together to start a fire. We are just sitting around a pile of wood hoping that it will become a campfire. The problem is that we have no fire. The Holy Spirit is that fire.
For an audio recording of the sermon click the YouTube link at the end of the manuscript.
Scripture
John 14:15-26 NIV “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Sermon Scripture:
Romans 12:1-2 NIV Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Titus 3:1-5 NIV Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Text:
Romans 12:2 NIV Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Titus 3:5 NIV he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Introduction
I’ve said in this series that the church is in trouble but like I said last week the day of the church is not over. The church will be renewed as we the believers, who are the church, are renewed.
The key to renewal is not our plans, our programs, or our techniques; rather, it is the person of the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 says that the Holy Spirit both regenerates, through the new birth, and renews the believer.
The church, if we are not careful, can find ourselves in a situation like putting a pile of wood together to warm ourselves and have no way to light the fire. We don’t have any matches, a lighter, and don’t know how to rub two sticks together to start a fire. We are just sitting around a pile of wood hoping that it will become a campfire. The problem is that we have no fire. The Holy Spirit is that fire.
I So let's talk about the hope of our renewal by the Holy Spirit
It has been said that the Holy Spirit is the forgotten member of the Godhead. We often forget about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and His importance in the life of the church.
This is not a sermon on the Trinity,,,but I have to talk about the Trinity just a little because it’s important as we talk today about the Holy Spirit being the fire needed for our renewal and the renewal of the church.
The Holy Spirit is a person equal in every way with God the Father and God the Son. He is the third member of the Godhead or the Trinity.
The Bible is clear in that it says that the Father is God, the Son (Jesus) is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and they are totally distinct; the Father doesn’t become the Son, the Son doesn’t become the Holy Spirit. There is within the One being, that is God, three co-equal and co-eternal persons namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
"A good friend says it this way “God has Three ways of revealing Himself to humanity.”
The Father designed and organized how mankind would be redeemed
Galatians 4:4-5 (HCSB)4 When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
The Son carried out the plan
John 6:38-40 NIV For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
He followed the Father's instructions to come to earth, even though that meant He would have to die.
The Holy Spirit sees to it that every person feels a call toward God's saving grace
John 16:8-11 (HCSB) 8 When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:9 About sin, because they do not believe in Me;10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me;11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
The Holy Spirit also transforms the lives and hearts of those who receive salvation through Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:22-24 NIV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
The problem is that many believers settle for a two-thirds God. They rely on the Father and the Son but overlook the Holy Spirit. The Bible refers more than a hundred times to the Holy Spirit. Jesus says more about the Holy Spirit than He does about the church or marriage.
What do you know about the Holy Spirit and his ministry in your life?
There are two basic terms used to describe the ministry of the Spirit to believers; the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the infilling or as many people say being filled with the Holy Spirit.
A. Let's first look at the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit enters the life of a person when he or she is born again. The death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ provide the means of salvation; the Holy Spirit effects, in other words, causes the change resulting in the new birth.
First, He convicts us of our need for salvation
John 16:7-8 NKJV Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Next He regenerates us in salvation
John 3:6-8 NKJV That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Then He takes up residence within us at conversion
John 14:15-17 NKJV “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
I Corinthians 6:19 NKJV Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
And finally, He seals us to the day of redemption. He is our assurance of salvation
Ephesians 1:13-14 NKJV In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
B. We know about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but what about the infilling of the Holy Spirit, or as some say being filled with the Holy Spirit
This is a term that refers to the control of the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18-21 NKJV And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.
This is not a picture of an empty vessel being filled; rather, it describes the situation that occurs when someone is drunk with alcohol or high on drugs. It means that every part of a person’s body is affected—how he or she walks, talks, thinks, and sees. That’s the idea or point Paul is making here. We are to be completely controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Here’s what happens when the Holy Spirit is in control, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
1. He delivers us from being defeated by ourselves.
Romans 7:21-25 NIV So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
2. He develops Christlike qualities in us through the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
3. He teaches us
I Corinthians 2:9-10 NKJV 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.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
I Corinthians 2:13-14 NKJV These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I Corinthians 2:16 NKJV For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
4. He leads us
Romans 8:14-15 NKJV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
5. He assures us
Romans 8:16-17 NKJV The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are 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 together.
6. He strengthens us
Ephesians 3:14-19 NKJV For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
7. He empowers us for witnessing
So we can be bold in proclaiming with we believe because as we said a couple of weeks ago what you believe matters
Acts 1:8 NKJV But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
II. So we talked about the hope of renewal now what about the how of renewal.
There are four things, 4ds, to remember as to how our lives are brought under the Holy Spirit’s control: decision, daily, devotional, and doubtless.
A. Decision.
We must decide to live a Spirit-filled life. It is an act of our will. Paul gave a command to be filled by the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 NKJV And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Since it is a command, we can decide to obey or not obey.
A positive response means that we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us; even more importantly, we allow the Holy Spirit to have us, we allow the Holy Spirit to control us.
B. Daily.
Being filled is not a one-time event. It is not a spiritual vaccination. Instead, it is a continual experience, we need a booster shot.
When it says “be filled” in Ephesians 5:18 it means to be continually filled. It is a daily experience.
C. Devotional.
The Spirit-filled life is nurtured by our devotional life. They go hand in hand. We need time with God’s Word and time for prayer if we want to be the spiritual people Christ would have us to be.
Remember we said last week that devotion is an overriding commitment to Christ and His way of doing things. It engages the heart and mind in learning the ways of the Lord and then applying them. Our devotion to God dictates how we will live our lives.
D. Doubtless.
The Spirit-filled life is a life of faith. We are saved by faith, we live by faith, we walk by faith, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith—not by feelings, but by faith. There is no doubt about it.
Hebrews 11:1 NKJV Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Conclusion
Let me go back to the very beginning of my sermon. The church, if we are not careful, can find ourselves in a situation of putting a pile of wood together to warm ourselves and have no way to light the fire. We don’t have any matches, a lighter, and don’t know how to rub two sticks together to start a fire. We are just sitting around a pile of wood hoping that it will become a campfire. The problem is that we have no fire. And just as it is impossible to have a campfire without fire it is impossible for us as Christians to produce power and Christlike qualities apart from being controlled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spark that ignites our renewal.
Sermon Audio
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