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Infinite Never-ending Trinity Everlasting Lord Excellent Christ Savior

Once a small company that served control systems, now a couple that serves the All Powerful God.

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Inspired

Romans 8: 9 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, pif so be that qthe Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not qthe Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” [1]

I.   Involved

     A. Self

     B. Spirit

II. Inside

     A. Selected

     B. Surrendered

III.     Incompetent

     A. Separated

     B. Sad

Introduction:  The devotional “My Utmost For His Highest” by Oswald Chambers makes the case that though The Holy Spirit has been here in this planet since before the beginning of time, His power to enter into us in the way He does now was hindered until Jesus ascended and was fully glorified back to His rightful place next to Our Heavenly Father.  In the May 27th entry of “My Utmost For His Highest” John 7:39 is referenced.  "39 (But tthis spake he of uthe Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: xfor the Holy Ghost was not yet ygiven; zbecause that Jesus was not yet aglorified.)" [2]

There is further evidence to substantiate this in several examples in the gospel accounts.  The disciples had to wait until Jesus was glorified in heaven.  Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait.  Could the Holy Spirit’s power have come upon the church before Jesus ascended back to heaven?  If He could have then why did Jesus tell them to wait?  It is the way that God engineered the church.

Today we are traditionally in the first Sunday following Pentecost.  Baptists for the most part seem to be apprehensive in placing much attention on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  There is a good reason for this.  If we take our attention off of Jesus and place too much attention on what He gives us, our relationship with Him is weakened.  However, Jesus most certainly did leave us so that The Holy Spirit’s power could indwell us.  If we refuse what Jesus gives then we refuse Jesus.  Jesus gave up His heavenly life for a time so that we might have the only perfect sacrifice that could take our place on the cross.  Later Jesus gave up His place here so that the Holy Spirit could indwell us.  It is important that we understand The Holy Spirit.  Otherwise we do not understand the Trinity who is three persons in One God.

Today we are remembering.  Tomorrow is Memorial Day.  It is the day that we in this nation remember those who served in the Armed Services of our country and others who give up all to serve and to protect us.  We also remember those who paid the price and set the path that we are on today.  We remember those who allowed God to influence our lives.

Our parents allowed God to bring us into this world through their life here.  That is a huge thing.  We remember and rejoice over their lives today.  I pray that if your parents are alive now that you will not waste an opportunity to honor them.

Today we will begin a series on the Holy Spirit as Paul explained to those Jews in Rome.

Scripture:  The scripture today is Romans 8:9.  Please stand if you can for God’s written word.

Prayer:  Please be seated.

Message:  Our text for today was highlighted in a Bible.  An entry with a prayer is in my 2005 prayer journal.  It is good to go back sometimes and remember what you were thinking about on certain days.

What is it about a soldier or for that matter anyone who decides to serve others without regard for the cost to their own person.  My partiality goes towards the First Responder who goes into a house that other profession medical people would not enter.  This virus response has reinforced to me that there are those who are career caretakers and then there are real caretakers. 

The difference is passion.  There are those who have decided to make caretaking a career and others who regard caretaking as their passion.  What’s the difference?  Who makes the difference?  What are you passionate about?  Who decides?

To be passionate about a thing means that you are deeply involved to say the least.  Paul said that those Jews in Rome that he was writing to were not passionate about their own selfish fleshly desires.  To be a true Christian involves loving those whom God has brought you into their lives for to serve.  It is no longer what’s in it for me.

A corpse is a body of flesh with no spirit.  The breath has gone.  In an earlier message we talked about the ancient meaning for spirit which is air that moves and gives life. All of us who live then have spirit within us or we are dead flesh.  Taking Paul very literally you can draw that conclusion.  Either you have spirit or you’re only in the flesh.

There is more going on than simply being involved in what your body needs and what gives you a warm feeling.  A few years ago there was that saying when someone had an attraction for someone else that the person was “into” you.  Supposedly that meant that they wanted to become involved with the other person.  Someone might be “into” their job.  Could be somebody is “into” aviation.  It means that you have a high interest in something.

Paul was speaking of something much deeper.  Paul said that we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.  Our souls don’t depend on flesh.  Our soul depends on Spirit.  Notice the twist; we are in the Spirit.  Now notice the next point; if so be that the Spirit of Christ dwell in you.

In the first part you are in the Spirit.  The KJV has spirit with an uppercase “S” as if speaking of a name rather than a thing.  Now in the next part Paul makes it plain whose Spirit we have when we become a Christian  The Spirit of Christ is in you.

If you have been selected you have been elected.  Now it is no longer a matter of being immersed by Spirit on the outside; now Christ’s Spirit is within you.  Through and through!  The only way that can happen is when you completely surrender to His call.

God in His omniscience or total knowledge knows whether a person will surrender or not.  Paul is speaking to those whom he supposed were selected and decided to be totally surrendered.  There is no midpoint.  It is all or nothing.  The Bible speaks of this throughout.  So for those who attempt to discount the presence of The Holy Spirit inside themselves, if you are a Christian, He is in you and the defense rests.

We started by speaking of those who decide on a career versus those who are passionate about a calling.  We, or should I say I; sometimes people get aggravated with others who act as if they could care less about what they are doing.  We have heard many stories about this recently.

Should you lose your temper and “show yourself” when these things happen.  Who wins when God allows a test of your love and you lose?  We all know who wins and it’s not us.  The devil wins.  The person who you feel has offended you hasn’t lost either.  Many times they are so without passion that they could care less if they have offended you or not.

My mind is drawn to Luke 23:34 to the cross and Jesus’ first order of business when He cried out, “sFather, tforgive them; for uthey know not what they do” [3]  You see, they who have not the Holy Spirit really do not know what they are doing.  They are in the flesh and that is as far as their vision goes.  If we, who are Christians, fall into the trap of repercussion we miss the opportunity to show the love of Jesus that lives within us.  Paul went on to speak of this when he said, “Now if any man have not qthe Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” [4]

We like to think that everybody thinks like we think.  If the current events have taught us anything we know that people outside the church absolutely do not think like we think.  The hurtful truth is all people who are church members also don’t think the same as true Christians.

When Paul went through Ephesus he enquired of some recent converts if they had received the Holy Spirit.  Follow as we read Acts 19:1-6.

"19:1 And it came to pass, that, while aApollos was at bCorinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to cEphesus: and finding certain disciples, 2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard dwhether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto eJohn’s baptism. 4 Then said Paul, fJohn verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that gthey should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, hthey were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had ilaid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they jspake with tongues, and kprophesied."

The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ac 19). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

We live in a world where this is still happening.  People are coming to be baptized and they are leaving the church not knowing that there is more.  It is so easy to believe the so called leaders in the press, in politics, and yes even in the pulpit who tell half-truths.  People hear and they leave fat dumb and happy in their ignorance not knowing that they are incompetent to know the truth because the truth is not in them.  They have not received The Holy Spirit because nobody told them to ask.  When they leave after hearing a sermon about the power of God that could be in their lives, which should be in their lives; they leave separated from Jesus and sad.

When the test comes and the aggravation happens and the first impulse is to get even, forgive.  No, that doesn’t mean to forget and act like it didn’t happen.  It happened!  Why?  So you could get even?  So I can show myself?  It happened so that I can show Jesus to the world.

Prayer:

Invitation:  Today is certainly not an invitation to follow my example of late.  God has spoken through me this past week to show me how not to show Him.  This weekend when we celebrate those who gave up themselves and their opinions of self-well-being let us strive to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit.  Only then can the flesh be in line with the Spirit. 

In and through us?  He must be

Seeing others from who we flee.

Spirit fill me with your love

So others will join us when we are above.

Is that little poem something that you want for yourself?  It is surely something that I need more in my Christian walk.  What about you?  As we remember those who have served us let us pray that we too can serve the lost with a double portion of God’s love.  Consider as we sing…

p Ps. 51:11. 2 Tim. 1:14. See 1 Cor. 3:16.
q 1 Cor. 2:11, 12. So Matt. 10:20. John 3:34, comp. with Gal. 4:6. Phil. 1:19. 1 Pet. 1:11. See also John 14:26.
q 1 Cor. 2:11, 12. So Matt. 10:20. John 3:34, comp. with Gal. 4:6. Phil. 1:19. 1 Pet. 1:11. See also John 14:26.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ro 8:9). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
t Isai. 44:3.
u Joel 2:28. ch. 16:7.
x Acts 2:4, 17, 33, 38.
y So Acts 19:2. Comp. ch. 1:32, 33. & 3:5, 8, 34.
z See ch. 16:7.
a ch. 12:16, 23. & 13:31. & 17:1? Comp. ch. 21:19.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jn 7:39). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
s ver. 46. See Matt. 11:25.
t Isai. 53:12. See Matt. 5:44.
u See Acts 3:17.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Lk 23:34). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
q 1 Cor. 2:11, 12. So Matt. 10:20. John 3:34, comp. with Gal. 4:6. Phil. 1:19. 1 Pet. 1:11. See also John 14:26.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ro 8:9). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.