Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Chroma Church Podcast.
[00:00:07] We have had a very lovely time with Holy Spirit this morning. First service and this service, and we've said that this is a month that's all about Him. You know, it is always all about him, because he is the one who leads us to Jesus, to the Father. He is the one through whom we are born again, born of the Spirit Spirit. And so it's always all about Him. But there is this sense where, as we come to this Pentecost date, that we really wanted to celebrate and honor the person of the Holy Spirit. And for many of us that means a fresh encounter that we so, so very much need. And so our services are really very much given over to that. Which means I've got a much longer talk than I have time for, so we'll see how we get on. But let's just leave. Let's just stop and see how we do Romans 8 there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the for the for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the the things of the for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the of God dwells in you. 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 of life because of righteousness. 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.
[00:02:28] Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. But if you live according to the flesh, you will die. 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 the sons of God.
[00:02:47] For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
[00:02:54] For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba. Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit, that we are children of God. And if children of God, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. And the people said, amen. Amen. Will you take a seat? Listen, we're going to look at some things today that you might consider to be the very basics of Christianity. And indeed they are the basics of what we are to understand about the work of Holy Spirit in our lives. The third Person of the Trinity and what he does and how he leads us. They may well be the basics. But you see, I've been a pastor for a long time and I know sometimes even these basics that, that I want to go through today can take a lifetime for a Christian really to learn what it is to live a life led by Holy Spirit. And so we're going to start here and I pray it would bring life to you. The word of God is living and active and it is life and breath to everything that the Lord wants for us. And we receive that by Holy Spirit. And so Holy Spirit, will you breathe on these words, Lord? I, Lord, have some words. And I have your word. But Lord, I'm asking for your anointing. And I'm saying, Holy Spirit, will you come upon people this morning in power? Thank you, that you already have. Thank you. That you already are. But Lord, as we read your word, will you lead us to Jesus? Will you lead us to the Father? Will you do in us what brings life? And will you enable us by your grace to fully understand the inheritance that we have in you and the life that we're to live in you? In Jesus name. Amen. You know, the crux of really what I want to say today is simply in this line. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God, the children of God. You see, to be led by the Spirit of God means that we become the children of the living God. He is not an optional extra. He is essential. He is essential in our lives. By the Spirit, we are the children of God. And by the Holy Spirit, we always know where home is. Heaven is our home. And Holy Spirit always leads us home, and he leads us home to bring home to earth. That's the work of Holy Spirit and that's where I want to dwell today. Can you remember the earliest moment that you ever felt Him?
[00:05:41] Maybe you didn't know who he was or what his presence was in your life. Maybe you were scared, maybe you didn't understand what was happening. Maybe you had a sense, maybe if you had a Christian background, you knew a little bit about encountering his presence. But for me, it was a complete surprise. And I vividly remember, I tell this story very often, but sitting on a bus as a 20 year old just before my 21st birthday, and I was not in a good place. I was a broken young person. I was insecure. I had an eating disorder and all sorts of other horrible stuff going on in my life. And a whole lot of sin that I was just burdened by. I didn't understand. I was so tired and I was only 20. And I remember sitting on this bus and it was as if everything slowed down, but actually it was really fast. But I remember it in slow motion, you know, like a film. And I went past this church that I'd gone into sometimes as a child because I had some friends who were Christians, my family were not Christians. I used to sometimes encounter him there, but I didn't understand really about God. I would just weep in the church. And as I looked at this church and I felt the weight of my sin, I just said, I miss you, God. And in that moment I encountered him. I didn't understand. I just knew his presence was with me. That prayer that he was calling me home. I didn't understand it, but God knew. God heard my prayer. And within weeks I was surrounded by Christians. And within weeks I had become a Christian. Holy Spirit always leads us to Jesus. Holy Spirit always leads us home. And that's what he did for me and that's what he's done for many of you. And you may be able to remember that first moment of just feeling the warm touch of his beautiful presence. And I see it week on, week in, week out at the front, as people come to the front, you know, sometimes they're sobbing as they give their lives to Jesus and they're going, what's going on with me? I don't know why I'm feeling something. Sometimes they're so hot, it's like oil is dripping off them. It is sweat, but it looks like oil. You know, they're like, what's going on? And they're encountering his holy presence. As he leads them to Jesus. You know, sometimes people say that they feel compelled to come to the front, like they've been pushed. I was speaking to a lad the other day and it was only his second week in church and he didn't grow up in a Christian home. He'd gone to a youth camp in the north and then he'd come here and come to church. He was a third year student and he, as we gave the altar call, he felt compelled, like his feet were pushed to come to the front. Who is that? It's Holy Spirit bringing us home, leading him where he's always been called to be. There was one woman who said that, well, it was a great story.
[00:08:33] Her partner had been really praying that she would give her life to Jesus for quite some time. And then one day she came to church and she came to church to give her life to Jesus. And she came forward and gave her life to Jesus. But afterwards she said, you know, you didn't need to push me to her partner. And he said, I didn't push you. You pushed me. I felt a hand push me. No, I didn't push you. Who pushed her?
[00:08:57] Holy Spirit, he always leads us home. He is always leading us to Jesus. That is the primary work of this Spirit. He leads us to our heavenly home. He leads us to our heavenly Father, and he leads us into our resurrection life in Christ Jesus. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. And today we start with the basic understanding of what it means to be a Christian. That there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death. God, the Holy Spirit is not the optional extra. You know, sometimes people say to me, I'm good with Jesus, I'm good with the Father, but I don't understand Holy Spirit. He is the one through whom we are born again, born of the Spirit. As he raised Jesus to new life, so he has raised you to new life. It is not, I have Jesus and I have the Father, but I don't know about the Holy Spirit. Spirit, you cannot be born again.
[00:10:04] Jesus told Nicodemus John 3, unless you are born of the Holy Spirit. But sometimes he is weird and wonderful and mysterious and that's the thing that we sometimes struggle about. But forget that. Park that in the camp of the weird and wonderful things that the wind does. You know, Jesus said the wind blows wherever he pleases. The word spirit, Greek is pneuma. Wind Breath, the breath of God. If God breathes on you just a little bit, you're going to fall over. If God breathes on you just a little bit, there's going to be stuff happening. Yes, he does sometimes do weird things and sometimes we react in weird ways. But that's not the point, friends. The point is to be born again is to be born of the Spirit. He is the indwelling presence within you that enables you to live the life of Christ, to be born again, to be saved.
[00:10:55] We are filled with the Holy Spirit and then to live for Jesus. We are led by the Holy Spirit from a baby to a child to an adult.
[00:11:08] We do not live according to the flesh. We live according to the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus.
[00:11:15] Do you know what the Apostle Paul was explaining is the difference between the old covenant and the New Covenant? The old life and the new life. And in Romans 6 and 7 it explains that if we live in the flesh, we are living in the old man.
[00:11:33] We are living in the old man that we used to live. And that's like the old covenant where they had a lot of rules that they had to live by. Lots of have to's. I have to do this and I have to do that and I'm trying really hard and I'm striving. And Paul says in 6 and 7, that's like carrying a dead man on your back. The old man is dead, you're carrying him on your back and you're still listening to him because you can remember what he was like. You can remember the words and it's affecting who you are today. But he's saying that's not your new life, the life in the Spirit. The life in the Spirit is that Holy Spirit is in you, showing you how to live. And it's not have to, it's want to.
[00:12:12] I want to live this righteous live. He is a this the righteous life. He is essential, not optional. That's what I want to say to you. To be born again is to be born of the Spirit. And we live this righteous life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:12:30] For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritual, spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. But it, but it is not subject to the law, nor indeed can be so. Then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
[00:12:53] We can only Please God through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit leading us, we can only please God and live as heirs and sons and daughters through the daily anointing, empowering. He is the Dunamis, the power that came upon the church at Pentecost, birthed the church at Pentecost. He is the power that enables us to live the life that Christ has called us to live. We cannot do without him, friends. And that's why we are spending a whole month dedicated to learning how to be led in the fullness of the rich life that he's called us to live.
[00:13:37] I'm talking about the basics. To be born again, born of the Spirit, to live a righteous life. But there's more. To be a child of God and to be an heir, a son and daughter. There's so much more that we're going to talk about over this coming month. But, you know, sometimes we don't get past the first bit. To be born again, born of the Spirit and to live the righteous life, to please God. Sometimes we struggle and we're going back all the time. And, you know, Steve and I, sometimes we're so baffled by this when we meet Christians who say they're Christians, but they've stayed in their old life. They've carried on with their lying and their bad business. They've carried on in their pornography. They've carried on in their sexual promiscuity.
[00:14:21] They've carried on in discord and strife and unforgiveness. They've carried on in not serving the Lord, just doing their own thing. They've carried on in not bringing their tithes. They've carried on in their old life. And it baffles us. You know, I don't know if, when. When people are in that and they're professing that they're Christians, if they actually are, but I'm not judging them. That's not my place. But I'm saying to be born again, to be born of the Spirit, looks very different. In my Bible, it is to live a righteous life that pleases God. And when Steve and I were born again, we were born of the. We did not come from Christian homes, we did not learn Christian ways. But when both of us had radical conversions and were instantly just filled with Holy Spirit, and we just knew how to live the life. I don't. I was so far away from God and my life was such a mess, and I just changed overnight. There was a process, there was a journey that the Bible calls sanctification. He leads us. He leads us As a baby into childhood, into adulthood, ascending step at a time. There was a process, but I tell you, it was quick. I would go to church and encounter him, or I would be at home in my room and he would encounter me. And I would read the Bible. And the words of the book came alive to me. And I knew what I had to do. And I knew how to live. Don't get drunk on wine, but be filled with Holy Spirit. And I just stopped drinking. It wasn't hard.
[00:15:53] It wasn't hard. And if I ever messed up, I knew I was listening to that old man again. And I needed to encounter him and be led by him and understand how he wanted me to live. And I would just come back. It wasn't hard. It wasn't like, have to. It was want to. I want to please you, Lord.
[00:16:14] And I would read, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. And I just did it. I just stopped all that stuff.
[00:16:24] Let the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart be pleasing to God. I just stopped swearing overnight. I mean, my mom was so worried about me. She thought, gosh, what's happened to her? She's not out drinking every night and what's going on? She's like a completely different person.
[00:16:41] But I was. Why?
[00:16:44] Because I had been baptized in the power and the presence of Holy Spirit. And this is what he does. To be born again is to be born of the Spirit. Spirit. We cannot be saved and live the life of Christ without him.
[00:16:57] And the work of the Spirit, ongoing work of the Spirit, is to enable us to live the new life.
[00:17:05] These are the basics, my friends.
[00:17:08] But sometimes it takes us a while.
[00:17:14] Sometimes it takes us a while even to get to that place of being led by the Spirit in such a way that it's not have to, it's want to, I want to please you, Lord. This is the journey that we're on, to be led by the Holy Spirit as children of God. And, you know, sometimes people say to me, I don't know if I have Holy Spirit. I don't know if.
[00:17:39] I don't know if I'm led by the Spirit. And I always look at them and think, I think you are. Because they're always the kind of people that have the sweetest lives, you know, lives that are just full of the presence of God. But because they maybe don't shake or fall or, you know, have a big emotion and don't feel him in a certain way, they're like, I don't know if I have him. It's not about that.
[00:18:02] It's about to be born again. To be born of the Spirit. It's about to be born of the Spirit is to live a life that please God. Do you live a life that pleases God? God, you have Holy Spirit. Galatians 5, 1823 puts it this way. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident. Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like this. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God, but the fruit of the seed. Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
[00:18:45] How do I know if I'm led by Holy Spirit? I read this. I thought it was quite beautiful and helpful.
[00:18:52] Has the Spirit led you to Jesus? Has the Spirit put in you a desire to honor Jesus?
[00:18:59] Is Holy Spirit leading you to be like Jesus?
[00:19:03] Is the Spirit at work in your heart?
[00:19:07] And I think I would add this actually is Holy Spirit leading you into the mission of Christ to heal our broken world, whatever that looks like. Your family, your workplace, the people around you. This is the measure of whether we are led by Holy Spirit. This is the measure of what it means to be a child of God. And this is what we're going to enjoy more of as we go on into this month. And I need to finish, but I just want to finish with this.
[00:19:38] The beautiful part. I mean, it's all beautiful, but it's like it's this journey of born again, living a righteous life. And then it says this, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the 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, Abba. Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. 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.
[00:20:16] You know, Holy Spirit leads us, as I said, home, heaven to bring heaven to earth. And he is always leading us into the fullness of that. Whether it's that first time, born again, that learning to live that righteous life, showing us daily. But then it's also what it means to be heirs, citizens of heaven. And there's so much more that we could say about that that we will be saying over the next month. But the one thing I wanted to say, just staying true to what it says here, is that by the Spirit who always leads us home, we live in intimacy with the Father and the Son as the children of God, the family of God, we know where home is because home is in us.
[00:21:06] And we know that we can always come into the arms of our loving Father. That's first and foremost, the most important thing. And you know, as I said to you, this is the basics. But you know, sometimes this can take a long time for us to really fully grasp. I know that for me, having not grown up with a father, that this place of not experiencing a good father role model in my life kind of derailed a little bit of what I understood about Abba, Daddy, Father.
[00:21:41] And over the years he has shown me what that means. But the most important thing is that it is a place of security and safety. That's what he's saying here.
[00:21:52] We do not give way to fear. Why? Because we have a great God, we have a great Abba.
[00:22:00] And no matter what we face today as we bring heaven to earth in our everyday lives, the trials, the testing, the suffering, and that's what the rest of Romans 8 talks about. But then it says we are more than conquerors. Why? Because we have a good Father. And Holy Spirit is always leading us into that place to know that no matter what happens to us today, there is this place of security. And if we do not understand that, if we do not, if we are not led into that place daily by Holy Spirit. Do you remember how in the garden the Adam and Eve walked with him daily, that he was their father and they lived from that place of security, lived from that place of safety. Everything they did was like from that place.
[00:22:45] If we don't have that, we live in insecurity and fear because we don't know that we have this safe place backing us up. And I know what that I know. I understand why this can be so derailing. Because when I was three years old, my father left. And I remember when he left. I remember when he walked out the door and I was only three. I remember going to the door and screaming at the door. And then I remember afterwards, it was like grief filled my life. And what else? Fear. Fear. Why? Because there was no covering, because there was no protection. But what God puts back into our lives by the breath and the power of the Holy Spirit is that heaven is our home and God is our Father and he has our backs, he has our cover, he has us covered. And you know When Jesus. You know how Jesus would always go to the Father? He would always go to the Father when the people just kept coming. He would always go to the Father when he was, you know, when he had to make a decision about the disciples or whatever. But then in Gethsemane, when he was so anxious, he sweat blood, where did he go?
[00:23:59] To the Father.
[00:24:01] And he said, father, take this cup from me.
[00:24:05] And then he knew the heart of the Father for you and me.
[00:24:11] And he said, not my will, but yours be done. And how did he go to the cross?
[00:24:16] Empowered by the Spirit, in the arms of a good father. He knew the end of the story. We know the end of the story.
[00:24:28] So Holy Spirit Basics to be born again is to be born of the Spirit.
[00:24:36] To live the life that we're called to live is to live a life led by Holy Spirit as a baby, then a child, a teenager, an adult and an heir to be led by Holy Spirit is always to be led in the arms of our loving Father. And the people of God said, Amen. Will you stand? Will you stand? Honour him.
[00:25:07] Honour his word.
[00:25:09] Honour him.
[00:25:12] Isn't he amazing?
[00:25:20] Will you just place your hand on your heart?
[00:25:27] Just thank him for his presence in your life.
[00:25:32] And if there's any element of what I've said that you know, you have not yet been led into or grown into, just ask him.
[00:25:46] Thank you, Holy Spirit.
[00:25:48] Thank you, Holy Spirit, that from the beginning to the end you call us home.
[00:25:59] And we honor you this morning. We honour you, the one who brings us Jesus, the one who brings us to the Father, the one who is the face of Jesus to us. Lord, we honor you and we say, have your way and let us go in your power.
[00:26:26] Thanks for listening to the Coma Charge Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Chroma Church.
