The Spirit Within

The Spirit Within John 14:19-31 New King James Version (NKJV) 19 A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world? 23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Fathers who sent Me. 25 These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father, for My Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. This is the Word of God, for us the people of God, thanks be to God. Let us pray, Holy Father, it is you who created all of the stars and planets of the universe, but still you take time to know us by name. We come to you today as humbled children, humbled by the magnitude of your love and grace. Father we thank you for your forgiveness, your grace, and your love. We ask that you be here with us today and bless this worship service Lord. We ask this in the name above all names, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Jesus promised His disciples that after He was no longer with them the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be with them. The Holy Spirit would reveal to them and give understanding to them of all the things that Jesus had taught them in their time together with Him. The Holy Spirit would help them get Jesus teachings from their heads to their hearts. Isnt that exactly what we need ourselves? Dont we all too often spend our time getting to know about God instead of getting to know God? We hear sermons, read devotionals, maybe take bible studies, and watch movies about Jesus, Moses, or angels, but do we spend enough time praying and meditating, listening to what God has in mind for us, what He wants for us, or who He knows we should be? Do we spend any time getting the knowledge weve gained about God out of our heads and getting it into our hearts so that we will truly know His ways and start living by them? Thats where the helper comes in that Jesus told His apostles about in John chapter fourteen. This is the same helper that we have access to as well. When we finally reach the point in our life that we accept the fact that we cant keep on living life our way and that we need God in our life every day, we have access to the Holy Spirit. Once weve admitted that we dont want to keep facing this world alone, there is a way for us to receive the Holy Spirit just as Jesus apostles did all those many years ago. When we finally do admit that we need God in our life and that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we are submitting to Gods will for us. In the world we live in today, the word submit is treated as a dirty word, but when it pertains to God, it simply means that we admit that we need His help, we need Him with us, and we need His love. Submitting doesnt sound so bad when you think of it in those terms now does it? By submitting to God, we admit that we need His love and grace and that we want to live our lives His way. I know Im repeating myself here, saying the same thing in different ways, but its important. If we take a look at John chapter three, we see the importance of what Im trying to say. Lets read some of Jesus conversation with Nicodemus. John 3:1-21 New King James Version (NKJV) 3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. 3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. 8 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. 9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.[a] 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[b] have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a man educated in Gods Word, couldnt even recognize what Jesus was telling him. Thats why I cant repeat or stress enough that we are to submit our lives to Gods will. Jesus told us that we must be reborn. As He said, its not a physical rebirth, but a spiritual rebirth. This spiritual rebirth starts by submitting ourselves to God. Here goes that repetition again. We admit that we cant do it our way. We admit that we need God in our life. We admit that we know that we need Him to save us. We admit that His ways are better than ours. We confess our sins to Him and ask Him to forgive us. Most importantly, we stop living life by the ways of the world and we start living them His way. We make a change in our life. We change our life. We start living as a child of God and not of this fallen, corrupt, and deceitful world. We leave behind those worldly ways so that we can start walking with God. We are a new person. We have shaken off that old person we were that loved the world more than God. We are reborn. I know that this sounds over simplified in some ways. Can it be as easy as just honestly asking for forgiveness for a lifetime of mistakes? In other ways it sounds like a lot to do by ourselves. How do we fight off all of our old ways, our old vices, old habits, maybe even old addictions, by ourselves? Isnt this too much to ask of us? How can we possibly have the strength to do this? It is with the help of God. You see, when this rebirth takes place, we are sent a helper. We are sent the Holy Spirit who comes to live within us and guide us in living a Godly life. Remember what the apostle Paul told us? 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 New King James Version (NKJV) 19 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? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are Gods. When we make this change in our life, God comes to live within us and us within Him. Wait a minute. What does that mean? When we pray to God our Father in heaven and ask Him to forgive us and to save us through God the Son Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. But, how do we live within God? When we are reborn, we are born into a new family, our new Christian family of fellow believers. We gain many, many brothers and sisters in the Lord. We become part of the church, Christs church. We become part of the body of Christ. By becoming part of the body of Christ, we come to live within God. So, what does all of this mean? It means that we no longer live by our worldly desires. It means that we are trying to live a godly life. It doesnt mean that we are perfect. Well still stumble and make mistakes along the way, but well have the Holy Spirit there within us to remind us, to guide us, and to protect us from ourselves. That Spirit Within will remind us that those old habits arent any good for us, that we dont need to watch that violent and vulgar movie we used to get a thrill from watching. It will change the way we look at some of the things our friends and maybe even family do and remind us that we dont need to be part of those things anymore. It will change the way we feel when we hear a song singing about pleasing the flesh and not the spirit. It will remind us that going out and partying the way may have done in the past doesnt solve our problems, that it only distracts us temporarily and just becomes another bad memory tomorrow. That Spirit Within will reveal the truth to us. It will show us that the truth is this. The world programmed us to believe that living a godly life was to be controlled by a set of laws that would zap all of the fun and pleasure out of our existence for the rest of our life. The world tells us at every turn that we should be ambitious for success at any cost, no matter who we have to run over to get it. The world tells us to do what is pleasing to the flesh at every turn. What the world doesnt tell you is that the prince of this world is Lucifer and he is using your ambition and hungry for pleasing the flesh to control you. The truth is, by being reborn into Gods family you are set free from all of the chains of this fallen world and its ruler. You are given eternal life through believing in Jesus Christ and asking for forgiveness of your sins. You are given Gods love. You are given Gods grace. You are given true salvation of your soul through Jesus Christ. All of this is given freely through your faith in the Son of God. You are given a life free of bondage to sin. It doesnt mean you wont ever sin again. As Ive said well all make mistakes from time to time, but we have a Christian family and the Spirit Within to hold us accountable for our actions when we fail. Being held accountable doesnt mean that well be scorned every time we fail. It just means that well be reminded that we slipped back into an old habit and we need to ask forgiveness from God and move forward with our life, trying not to repeat those same mistakes again. When we submit to living a godly life, we are given a life of love, grace, peace, and accountability. I think Paul summed it up very well in Romans chapter twelve. Romans 12 New King James Version (NKJV) 12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. 17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. 20 Therefore If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. I hope and pray that you have gone to God and asked Him into your heart and into your life my friends so that you may share in all of this with the rest of our wonderful Christian family. God bless you all. In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, Amen. Pete.