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Sermon: At Your Fingertips
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MP3
by Chris Cumming
Note:
This sermon was given as a
sermonette, though the entire text is below.
On this Holy Day of Pentecost, we receive scores of questions about the
Holy Spirit.
Clearly this day represents part of the Plan of God… the coming of or
giving of the Holy Spirit.
…but…
What is the Spirit of God?
What does it do?
Do we need it? If “yes”, then why do we need it?
How does the Holy Spirit manifest itself?
Where can we find it?
Does the Holy Spirit reside in things?
The answers to these questions are vitally important to you, for the
Holy Spirit is the only real, permanent and lasting answer to the
problems of every human being!
Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
John 3:5 says…
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Today, I am going to answer these questions and show you that the Holy
Spirit of God is readily available to all of you.
It is right there in front of you, at your fingertips.
SPS: Take possession of God’s Spirit.
…or I could say…
“Invoke the Power of God”
Let’s answer those questions I posed.
1) What is the Holy Spirit
According to our own Doctrinal Statement…
The Holy Spirit is the essence, power, mind and spiritual extension of
God.
The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible as “The Spirit of God”, “the
Spirit of the Lord”, “the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, “the Spirit of
truth”, and “comforter” or “advocate.”
2) What does the Holy Spirit do?
Still speaking from our Doctrinal Statement…
Through the Holy Spirit…
God begets Christians as His sons through this Spirit.
It strengthens a Christian spiritually, converts his or her mind and
serves as an earnest or guarantee of eternal life.
It was through His Spirit that God created the earth.
Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
It was through this Spirit that David received his moral strength.
Psalm 51:10-13
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within
me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from
me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free
spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be
converted unto thee.
By it Elijah and Elisha made into power prophets of God
2 Kings 2:9
And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto
Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.
And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon
me.
God uses His Spirit to accomplish all His Work. Whether causing prophets
to prophesy, kings to reign or craftsmen to create.
Exodus 31:3-5—making
of the tabernacle
3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in
understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
4 To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
5 And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to
work in all manner of workmanship.
God’s Spirit makes it possible to keep God’s laws…
Ezekiel 36:26-27
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
God, the Father and Christ do everything through the Spirit of God.
3) How does the Spirit of God manifest itself?
4) Where can we find the Spirit of God?
a. God is Spirit
John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth.
Both God the Father and Christ are made of the same Spirit of God and
each retains His own distinct personality.
b. We are made by Spirit.
Job 33:4
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath
given me life.
c. Spirit manifests itself as wisdom, knowledge
and understanding.
Isaiah 11:2-3
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after
the hearing of his ears:
d. Spirit manifests itself as judgment and
strength to repel sin from our minds.
Isaiah 28:6
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for
strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
Does this remind you of the City Gate model for putting sin our of our
lives? It is God’s Spirit that judges good thought from bad and helps us
by repelling the bad through before the Sin Process begins.
e. The Spirit changed Spirit to flesh.
Matthew 1:18
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary
was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost.
f. The Spirit speaks through us. Spiritual
words from spiritual power. The Spirit manifested as words.
Matthew 10:19-20
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall
speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which
speaketh in you.
Luke 12:12
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to
say.
g. The Law is Spiritual
Romans 7:14
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
h. The Word of God is Spirit
Ephesians 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God:
i. The hymns we sing are Spiritual.
Ephesians 5:19-20
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Now, this is interesting since we just learned that we can pray to God
in song.
j. The Principles of God are Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-26
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying
one another.
We have been talking about this for weeks in Leadership Training. The
principles of God are Spirit and principles can be INVOKED. To “invoke”
is to release ENERGY…to give off LIGHT.
Daniel 5:14—speaking
of Daniel
I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and
that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
We are constantly being encouraged to be a light. We do that by invoking
principles in our lives and releasing Spiritual light…the light of
Christ.
k. The Gifts of God are Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant.
2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols,
even as ye were led.
3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit
of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which
worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the
word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing
by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another
discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another
the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to
every man severally as he will.
l. The church and the Body of Christ are
Spiritual or of the Spirit.
From our doctrinal statement:
The Church is the spiritual body of Christ, a group of persons called
out by God and impregnated with His Holy Spirit. As a spiritual body,
the Church is made up of baptized, spirit filled individuals who are
scattered around the world. As a physical, external organization, the
Church has meeting places in many areas worldwide where members and
non-members alike, as well as. children and guests, meet in harmony to
worship God and to learn His Way under the guidance of an ordained
minister as their spiritual elder and leader. The main commission of the
Church is to preach the gospel as a witness to the world and to baptize
and spiritually nurture those whom God has called.
· The church is spiritual
· The members are spiritual---“spirit filled”
· The body of Christ is spiritual
· The ministry is spiritual
· The commission of the church is spiritual
· The ministry is to plant the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands.
· We are to spiritually nurture each other.
1 Corinthians 3:9-11
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are
God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise
masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.
The church is referred to as a Spiritual building. Christ, who is Spirit
is the foundation.
Last year, on Pentecost I presented a sermon titled “ The Pattern”. I
showed that the Holy Temple of God, where His Spirit resided was
actually a “pattern” or “model” for a greater temple…US.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
m. “Living Water” is Spiritual
John 7:38-39
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him
should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus
was not yet glorified.)
So we see that many, many things are either Spirit or of the Spirit. I
could go on and on, but I want to quickly cover 3 other things about the
Holy Spirit. Doing so will help you to…
SPS: Take possession of the Holy Spirit.
1) The Spiritual Pit.
Turn in your Bibles to Numbers 16 and the story of Korah.
Numbers 16:1-3
1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and
Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of
Reuben, took men:
2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel,
two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the
congregation, men of renown:
3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron,
and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the
congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them:
wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
You know the story and its outcome…
Numbers 16:28-32
28 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do
all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.
29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited
after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.
30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and
swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down
quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have
provoked the LORD.
31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these
words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their
houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their
goods.
These men all fell into a physical pit and were consumed. Could this be
happening today on a Spiritual level. Could some be falling into a
Spiritual pit. Let us see…
Turn over to 1 Corinthians 10 and beginning in verse 1
1 Corinthians 10:1-12
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that
spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were
overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust
after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The
people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell
in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were
destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed
of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
2) The Spiritual Image
Notice something that God the Father and Christ did way back in Genesis…
Turn to Genesis 1:26
Genesis 1:26-27
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them.
Question: Is it possible that when a person attacks you, vilifies
you and attempts to take you from your position in the church that they
are, in fact mounting a direct upon God Almighty?
Especially one with the Holy Spirit of God in them!!
God’s Spirit, God’s image, God’s likeness, God’s temple.
Is it any wonder that David became angry against the Philistines and
said…in 1 Samuel 17:26
1 Samuel 17:26
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done
to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach
from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should
defy the armies of the living God?
Armies of the Living God!! David was incensed that Goliath would attack
men who were the image of God and who were chosen of God.
No one has justification to attempt to bring his brother down.
Look at what happened to Goliath and Korah!!
3) The Mind of Christ.
Take possession of God’s Spirit and you have the mind of Christ.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 2 and beginning in verse 10
1 Corinthians 2:10-16
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to
us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things
with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged
of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
Today is the Day of Pentecost. It pictures the day we received the Holy
Spirit of God and the mind of Christ.
Invoke that Spirit and think with that mind
Remember the words of John 3:6
… that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
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