back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Worship Service October 30, 2022
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So let us begin this morning's service with a song. 00:16:12.920 |
Let's sing together, "I Will Glory in My Redeemer." 00:16:46.920 |
♪ Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails ♪ 00:17:27.920 |
♪ I will glory, I will glory in my redeemer ♪ 00:20:14.920 |
He's gonna have an announcement about next week. 00:20:22.920 |
In the month of October, we were especially encouraged 00:20:25.920 |
to fast and pray for the various needs in our lives 00:20:31.920 |
who are unbelievers in our family and amongst our friends. 00:20:37.920 |
it would be a special evangelism-oriented Sunday 00:20:46.920 |
a special gospel sermon entitled "Is it Worth It?" 00:20:49.920 |
talking about what's truly valuable in our lives 00:20:58.920 |
And during that time, our outreach team will be, 00:21:14.920 |
maybe even counter-arguments to the Christian faith as well, 00:21:17.920 |
and we'll take time to field any of those questions 00:21:45.920 |
So if you've been praying for your unbelieving family, 00:21:48.920 |
friends, coworkers, next Sunday would be the good time 00:21:51.920 |
to bring them, to introduce them to that, okay? 00:21:57.920 |
so the church will be open somewhere around 3 to 3.30. 00:22:01.920 |
If you need to come earlier to decorate and do stuff, 00:22:05.920 |
We could, there will most likely be somebody here 00:22:12.920 |
And so if you need to get here earlier than that 00:22:16.920 |
and hopefully we'll be able to open the doors 00:22:20.920 |
For the rest of you who are coming with your children, 00:22:38.920 |
if you are planning to come and you haven't signed up 00:22:46.920 |
or else we have few spots left in Orange County 00:23:02.920 |
it's hard for us to put people together last minute, 00:23:38.920 |
They were in this area where they're known for 00:23:41.920 |
kind of night hangouts and that type of stuff. 00:24:04.920 |
And so the population went from 33% Christian 00:24:11.920 |
So they're completely losing the college students 00:24:17.920 |
And so this is a huge issue, what's going on in Korea, 00:24:28.920 |
So they have so many mega churches over there 00:24:30.920 |
that just are not able to reach their children. 00:24:38.920 |
knowing that we have a lot of young Asian Americans 00:24:43.920 |
and begin some work to reach out to the younger generation. 00:24:49.920 |
with the missionaries to get some connection. 00:25:00.920 |
one, I'm asking you guys to pray that that would happen. 00:25:04.920 |
And hearing that news, that that's the generation 00:25:06.920 |
that they're losing, and that so many of them 00:25:11.920 |
And so Stampede basically happened in this area 00:25:14.920 |
where they're known for clubbing and night hangouts. 00:25:18.920 |
Thousands and thousands of these young people got in, 00:25:21.920 |
they got forced into this alley, and then they got stampeded. 00:25:36.920 |
And so my prayer is that I'm asking you to pray for, 00:25:39.920 |
one, that when we go out that the doors will be open 00:25:48.920 |
that the older generation has been very concerned 00:25:51.920 |
about the younger generation, but this would be a wake-up call, 00:26:03.920 |
as a result of the shock of what has happened yesterday. 00:26:10.920 |
And again, if you brought a physical offering, 00:26:26.920 |
knowing that so many young, precious souls, Lord God, 00:26:34.920 |
Help us, Lord God, not to simply grieve and feel bad, Lord God, 00:26:39.920 |
as the world does because their lives were cut short, 00:26:44.920 |
We pray for the grieving parents and family members, Lord God, 00:26:53.920 |
that will ultimately lead to a greater hope in Christ. 00:26:58.920 |
I pray for the existing current churches, Lord God, 00:27:04.920 |
to see the dire spiritual need that we are in, 00:27:13.920 |
Help us not to live day to day like the rest of the world, 00:27:19.920 |
knowing that we are just sojourners just passing through. 00:27:25.920 |
Help us, Lord, to live in the midst of this world, 00:27:29.920 |
knowing, Father God, the spiritual poverty that surrounds us. 00:27:36.920 |
that we live for purpose, that we would live for your glory, 00:27:39.920 |
that we would live, Lord God, to see the lost come to Christ. 00:27:42.920 |
I pray for your blessing, especially upon next week. 00:27:46.920 |
Pastor Mark, with all the people who have been praying, 00:27:50.920 |
Lord God, we ask, Lord, that you would bring revival 00:27:59.920 |
The lost around us, Lord God, that they may see the light, 00:28:06.920 |
Anoint and bless, especially next week, for that purpose. 00:28:11.920 |
And we ask, Lord God, that even in our giving, 00:29:08.960 |
Church family, would you please stand with us 00:30:17.020 |
♪ On the mount, on the mount of crucifixion ♪ 00:31:01.040 |
♪ Here is love, here is love that conquered evil ♪ 00:34:08.120 |
♪ O God, before the mountains were brought forth ♪ 00:34:15.120 |
♪ Were days of spring and summer filled the earth ♪ 00:34:36.120 |
♪ We dwell beneath the stars in ancient skies ♪ 00:34:43.120 |
♪ A thousand years are nothing in Your sight ♪ 00:35:00.120 |
♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ 00:35:55.120 |
♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ 00:36:32.120 |
♪ O God of light, our ways are known to You ♪ 00:36:39.120 |
♪ But by Your grace, You're making all things new ♪ 00:37:10.120 |
♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ 00:37:34.120 |
♪ And all our days are held within Your hands ♪ 00:38:15.120 |
Hi. For those that don't know, my name is Kristen Pond. 00:38:34.120 |
I am a second-year student at Biola University. 00:38:40.120 |
My testimony starts off similar to many here. 00:38:43.120 |
I grew up in a Christian home and went to church every Sunday service, 00:38:48.120 |
just like right now, every Friday night for youth group, 00:38:51.120 |
like many of you college students, and summer VBS camps. 00:38:56.120 |
I only went to church because it was the only thing I knew, 00:39:00.120 |
and I was simply following what everyone else was doing 00:39:06.120 |
I was blindly following the ways of what would need to be done 00:39:13.120 |
Yet, during all the times I went to church, I still sinned heavily. 00:39:20.120 |
I surrounded myself with non-Christians at school 00:39:22.120 |
and engaged in sinful behaviors, such as laziness in my academics, 00:39:27.120 |
leading to failing many classes, having a short temper, and being quick to anger, 00:39:32.120 |
which led to physical and verbal fights with my friends and my family. 00:39:37.120 |
I placed my value in sports and music, prioritizing them above all else. 00:39:44.120 |
I was clearly not the Christian I claimed to be, 00:39:47.120 |
and the worst part was that I knew what I was doing was wrong. 00:39:52.120 |
I was fully aware of all the sin I was committing, 00:40:02.120 |
In the back of my mind, I made up the excuse that God will forgive me of my sins 00:40:08.120 |
because I claimed I was a Christian, and that was what he was supposed to do for Christians. 00:40:15.120 |
1 John 1:9 says, "If he confesses our sins, he is faithful and just 00:40:20.120 |
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 00:40:26.120 |
I admitted I sinned to God in my prayers, so I felt that I was off the hook until my next sin. 00:40:33.120 |
However, I kept sinning over and over again, convincing myself I would be forgiven 00:40:38.120 |
after every time I tried to repent and asked for forgiveness. 00:40:43.120 |
I carried this mindset with me all throughout my elementary school days to the end of middle school. 00:40:49.120 |
This ungodly mindset encouraged an unhealthy pattern of sinning and ignoring the truth 00:40:54.120 |
that I was really not a Christian, nor was I forgiven for the sins I committed. 00:41:00.120 |
I kept giving in to desire to sin as I did not change the ways after repenting. 00:41:08.120 |
It cannot have been more obvious that I was of this world, consumed by its sinful pleasures. 00:41:14.120 |
I really started to drift away during eighth grade as I completely stopped going to church. 00:41:20.120 |
I put all my time, energy, and heart into my friends, which replaced God on the throne as gods in my life. 00:41:28.120 |
It was not until the end of eighth grade where my youth pastor sat me down 00:41:32.120 |
and talked over what it really meant to be a Christian. 00:41:36.120 |
We talked through all the steps from when I first thought I accepted Jesus into my heart 00:41:43.120 |
I knew what it meant to be a Christian, but I started to question if I was even a Christian to begin with. 00:41:49.120 |
After all, I only opened the door partially, still holding onto the world with one hand. 00:41:56.120 |
I only verbally confessed I was a believer, which did not qualify as a profession of faith. 00:42:02.120 |
I finally admitted I never fully let him into my life. 00:42:06.120 |
I was embarrassed and ashamed of this, but my youth pastor, along with a few of my summer camp counselors, 00:42:13.120 |
guided me through the ways in which I can reconcile with God and commit my life to him for real. 00:42:20.120 |
I repeated the prayer that everyone said when they first believed when they were just little five-year-olds, 00:42:25.120 |
but this time I focused on giving it all to him. 00:42:29.120 |
This meant not just faking it on Sundays like right now and Fridays in college group, 00:42:34.120 |
but also to go on and live a godly life Monday through Thursday at school. 00:42:42.120 |
Truthfully speaking, it didn't take just a day, a flip of a switch. 00:42:48.120 |
It took many months to come back to church and to fully trust him. 00:42:53.120 |
I felt a yearning and a self-desire to know him and to be like him. 00:42:58.120 |
Throughout it all, he waited patiently as I learned to come back to him and rely on his love. 00:43:04.120 |
I felt him slowly take the reins and guide me back to the light. 00:43:08.120 |
As of now, I have taken my relationship with God seriously, and I'm still desiring to grow to him closer. 00:43:16.120 |
Those who might recognize me from the members' meeting, this is two weeks late, I know, 00:43:22.120 |
but I wanted my parents to be here, and my brother, who flew down last minute, thank you. 00:43:28.120 |
This is an encouragement to see how God has worked in my life. 00:43:32.120 |
And for the people that God has placed in this church, and people that I invited from Biola and UCI, 00:43:39.120 |
and the people in the college group especially, I want you to continue to challenge me to grow closer to him 00:43:45.120 |
and to please hold me accountable for my word and the promises that I make. 00:43:50.120 |
As I stand here with my cheap $2 shower shoes, thank you. 00:44:44.120 |
Yeah, that's my alma mater. That's where I met my wife. 00:44:48.120 |
Thank you, Kristen, for that awesome testimony. 00:44:51.120 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 4. 00:44:59.120 |
Luke chapter 4. I'm actually only going to be covering a small portion of this today, 00:45:04.120 |
and I'll explain why. Luke chapter 4, but I'm going to be reading all the way from 1 through 12. 00:46:30.120 |
May your word speak to us, mold us, guide us, rebuke us, challenge us, encourage us, and build us. 00:46:39.120 |
We pray for your Holy Spirit's guide and help. 00:46:49.120 |
You know, as we are studying through the Gospels, right, we're obviously learning a lot about who Jesus is. 00:46:56.120 |
We're studying the epistles, and the epistle basically, obviously, clearly states this is who Jesus is. 00:47:02.120 |
This is what he has done. He's the high priest. He's the Son of God. 00:47:07.120 |
But the uniqueness about the Gospels is it actually shows us who he is. 00:47:12.120 |
You know, a lot of stuff that we know about Jesus is what we were taught, theological statements, right, doctrinal things that we know. 00:47:20.120 |
But the benefit of studying the Gospels is we actually hear his words. 00:47:27.120 |
And so it's one thing to know about Jesus. It's another thing to know who Jesus is. 00:47:31.120 |
And the reason why this is important is as we contemplate who Christ is, that what we are seeing of who Jesus is, 00:47:42.120 |
we need to clearly understand what it is that we're seeing. 00:47:45.120 |
Because if Jesus is just God, right, if what we're seeing in the Gospels is God incarnate, 00:47:53.120 |
and no wonder he's performing miracles, no wonder he's raising people from the dead. 00:47:57.120 |
So we worship him, we honor him, but we can't follow that. 00:48:01.120 |
That's not something for us to repeat, because he's God. 00:48:05.120 |
If all we're seeing is his humanity, if that's what we're seeing and that's all he is, 00:48:09.120 |
and then we can follow him, we can be encouraged by that, but we don't worship a human being, right? 00:48:20.120 |
In Philippians 2, 5-7, it says, "Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, 00:48:28.120 |
who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." 00:48:34.120 |
Again, we know this passage very well, but what does it mean to not to grasp equality with God? 00:48:40.120 |
We know to repeat these words, if somebody asks us, "What does that mean?" 00:48:47.120 |
Does that mean that when Jesus walked on this earth, that he basically forsook his deity, 00:48:52.120 |
and so Jesus was no longer God and was just a human being walking? 00:48:56.120 |
What does it mean when he says he emptied himself? 00:49:00.120 |
His glory, his deity, his power, his position, his omnipresence, right? 00:49:06.120 |
Omnipotence, did he empty himself of all of that? 00:49:09.120 |
What does it mean that he had emptied himself? 00:49:12.120 |
To take in a form of a bond servant being made in likeness of man. 00:49:18.120 |
How can he be like us when he is 100% God and 100% man? 00:49:23.120 |
So the theologians consider this incarnation a hypostatic union between God and man. 00:49:30.120 |
And I think there was about six months ago, I gave an illustration about pouring oil into water. 00:49:36.120 |
And within this cup, in the cup, he said, "This cup is Jesus, 00:49:40.120 |
but that portion of the oil is 100% oil and the portion of the water is 100% water 00:49:47.120 |
So the question we need to ask is the totality of that is Christ. 00:49:53.120 |
His, Jesus, who is the son of God, who is the creator of the universe, 00:49:57.120 |
took on human form, and so the totality of both natures is God. 00:50:03.120 |
When we are looking at the Gospels, what is it exactly that we're looking at? 00:50:08.120 |
So if we're looking at Jesus from the top, we're looking at his deity, right? 00:50:17.120 |
If we look from the side, that when Jesus is hungry, he's man, 00:50:29.120 |
Is he flipping back and forth from his humanity to his deity? 00:50:33.120 |
Or are we looking at Jesus from the bottom where it's fully humanity 00:50:37.120 |
and everything that he's doing, he's doing as a human being? 00:50:45.120 |
Can you see how it will alter the way we read the Bible depending on how we see 00:50:52.120 |
If you're seeing, "Oh, it's a deity. We can't copy anything he does. He's God. 00:50:55.120 |
He casts out demons because he's God. He walks on water because he's God." 00:51:00.120 |
Or is he just going back? Is he turning it on and off? 00:51:04.120 |
Right? I mean, how can Jesus be hungry? How can God be hungry? 00:51:13.120 |
When he's agonizing before the Father in prayer, is there another way? 00:51:20.120 |
And then when he resurrects Lazarus, that's his deity. 00:51:24.120 |
Is that what's going on? Is he going back and forth? 00:51:27.120 |
Again, why is this so important? It's because everything that we're studying 00:51:30.120 |
in the Gospel of Luke, we need to understand it from a proper perspective. 00:51:35.120 |
So I'm going to give you the answer now, just in case you fall asleep. 00:51:40.120 |
I'm going to give you the answer now, and then I want you to follow along, 00:51:46.120 |
What we are looking at the Gospels is Christ's humanity and his deity veiled completely. 00:51:56.120 |
Everything that Jesus does, he does as a human being in the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:52:02.120 |
Now that's the answer, so I'm going to make my case. 00:52:05.120 |
When I approached this text, I thought I knew what I was going to preach. 00:52:09.120 |
In fact, I look at genealogy, it's like, okay, I've got to dig, and I've got to do some study on this. 00:52:18.120 |
And so there's some text that's kind of obvious, because how many times have you heard a sermon 00:52:25.120 |
I could probably ask you now, you've probably heard sermons that you remember. 00:52:30.120 |
So as I was thinking about this text, I kind of already knew, because I preached it so many times, 00:52:35.120 |
that I said, okay, I already know the outline. 00:52:37.120 |
I know I'm going to go do some study and maybe add some more stuff and be creative in the way I present it. 00:52:42.120 |
And then I started to dig into this text, and then I couldn't get past the first passage, 00:52:49.120 |
because, you know, you do an inductive Bible study. 00:52:51.120 |
So I was doing my inductive study, and I was asking all these questions. 00:52:54.120 |
And the first question that popped up was, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit," 00:53:01.120 |
Why does he need to be filled with the Holy Spirit? 00:53:06.120 |
Why does God need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?" 00:53:11.120 |
And then he says, "Returned from Jordan, was led around by the Spirit." 00:53:15.120 |
Okay, he was filled with, he was baptized by the Spirit. 00:53:22.120 |
In verse 14, he says, "He grew in the power of the Holy Spirit." 00:53:29.120 |
Let me see how much of this language exists in the rest of Jesus' story." 00:53:43.120 |
I'm going to sidetrack a little bit today before I jump into the rest of the text, 00:53:49.120 |
that we need to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus 00:53:53.120 |
so that we can understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our life. 00:53:56.120 |
And I know I talked about this maybe about, I think, about two months ago, a month and a half ago. 00:54:02.120 |
But again, I want to go through some text with you so that you can see why this is so important 00:54:09.120 |
and how we are to look at Jesus when we are studying the rest of the book of Luke. 00:54:16.120 |
Whenever we talk about the Trinity, we know how to defend the Trinitarian, 00:54:21.120 |
the first person of the Godhead, God the Father, because he's everywhere, right? 00:54:25.120 |
The Old Testament, New Testament, you know, he's everywhere. 00:54:28.120 |
And we come to the New Testament, and we can easily defend the deity of Jesus. 00:54:36.120 |
All things are created by him, for him, through him. 00:54:40.120 |
Right? The God himself caused, you know, his son, Dithrono, God, is a righteous scepter that lasts forever and ever. 00:54:52.120 |
Most people, when it comes to the deity of the Holy Spirit, 00:54:57.120 |
they only have a couple passages, you know, the Great Commission, 00:55:02.120 |
he's baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:55:11.120 |
the Holy Spirit is kind of like the younger brother that's always, you know, hanging around the older brother. 00:55:18.120 |
I don't know how else to explain because he's around. 00:55:22.120 |
But we don't know exactly how to defend the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy Spirit, 00:55:28.120 |
because there's only a few texts that actually clearly states that. 00:55:36.120 |
But the Holy Spirit is the silent partner who is everywhere but in the background. 00:55:42.120 |
You ever have one of those friends that if you ask, "Oh, what is he like?" 00:55:46.120 |
that you can't explain through what they say. 00:55:54.120 |
Like, because I talk for a living, you can take a lot of things that I say. 00:55:58.120 |
"Pastor Peter's like this because he said this." 00:56:03.120 |
even to this day I can't remember a long phrase that he's ever spoken. 00:56:22.120 |
But I don't remember in my head like a long conversation. 00:56:26.120 |
It's usually me having a monologue and he was like, "Ugh. 00:56:34.120 |
Like that's about the length of conversation that I remember. 00:56:37.120 |
Not that we don't talk, but he's not known for his words. 00:56:42.120 |
But if you ask me who he is, I can tell you clearly who he is. 00:56:50.120 |
one of the most consistent people that I know. 00:56:53.120 |
And I can tell you this because of my observation, 00:56:59.120 |
His character is clearly seen by what he does more than what he says. 00:57:06.120 |
The Holy Spirit is hard to define by explaining through verses. 00:57:17.120 |
but the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is seen mostly by what he does. 00:57:24.120 |
You look at just the Gospel of Luke, right, just the Gospel of Luke, 00:57:28.120 |
how often or how prominent is the Holy Spirit? 00:57:32.120 |
Just in the first three chapters, I'll bet you, 00:57:35.120 |
when you think about just remembering what we talked about in the first three chapters, 00:57:39.120 |
you remember John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Simeon, Mary, Joseph. 00:57:52.120 |
But I'll bet you, you have some vague understanding or vague memory of the Holy Spirit. 00:57:58.120 |
But I want to show you just how prominent the Holy Spirit has been, 00:58:03.120 |
In Luke 115, John the Baptist is described as saying, 00:58:06.120 |
"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, 00:58:10.120 |
and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb." 00:58:14.120 |
He said what distinguishes John the Baptist is not simply his diet, 00:58:19.120 |
but even from the mother's womb, he's going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:58:23.120 |
Luke 135, Mary had a hard time believing, "How can I conceive without a man?" 00:58:29.120 |
And the angel answered her and said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, 00:58:33.120 |
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." 00:58:36.120 |
He said that's how you're going to conceive a child. 00:58:40.120 |
Zacharias, Luke 167, and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. 00:58:47.120 |
Luke 166, explaining John the Baptist's growth, he said, 00:58:51.120 |
"And the child continued to grow and to become strong in the Spirit, and he lived in the desert." 00:59:01.120 |
"And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, 00:59:04.120 |
and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, 00:59:10.120 |
And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death 00:59:19.120 |
Luke 3, 16, when John the Baptist says, "I am not the Messiah, but the one who is coming." 00:59:25.120 |
Jesus is coming, and the way he distinguishes himself from the Messiah and himself, he says, 00:59:31.120 |
"John answered and said to them, 'As for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming, 00:59:35.120 |
who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. 00:59:39.120 |
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and of fire.'" 00:59:43.120 |
He says, "John the Baptist was baptized by the Holy Spirit, 00:59:46.120 |
but Jesus himself is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit." 00:59:51.120 |
Luke 3, 22, "And the Holy Spirit descended upon him when Jesus is baptized. 00:59:58.120 |
The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, 01:00:01.120 |
and a voice came out of heaven, 'You are my beloved Son, and you I am well pleased.'" 01:00:10.120 |
Every single character in the first three chapters is described by either being filled with the Spirit, 01:00:17.120 |
the power of the Spirit, spoke through the Spirit, was moved by the Spirit, everything. 01:00:24.120 |
But if I didn't mention that, if I didn't highlight that for you, 01:00:28.120 |
when I asked you, "What are the first three chapters about?" 01:00:31.120 |
You'll probably say, "Genealogy, the birth of Jesus, Simeon, Mary, Joseph, Immaculate Conception, 01:00:39.120 |
John the Baptist, all these people are mentioned, but every single one of them, 01:00:43.120 |
there is a unifying theme throughout every single one of these characters, 01:01:02.120 |
We may look at it and say, "Oh, that's good to know. 01:01:04.120 |
The Holy Spirit, he's in the background, he's working." 01:01:08.120 |
Let me tell you the conclusion before I even get to the conclusion. 01:01:13.120 |
If you miss this, and you don't understand this, and if you don't apply this, 01:01:19.120 |
so much of our Christian frustration comes from working hard, studying hard, 01:01:27.120 |
sacrificing so much with no power of the Holy Spirit. 01:01:35.120 |
Anybody who's made any effort to conquer sin, anybody who's ever really sacrificed 01:01:41.120 |
or tried to bring people to Christ, share the gospel, to make disciples, 01:01:48.120 |
without the power of the Holy Spirit has ended in greater frustration 01:01:58.120 |
The harder you work, the greater frustration you experience. 01:02:01.120 |
Some of you may be sitting here, it's like, "I've never experienced that." 01:02:08.120 |
The harder you try, the more you understand how frustrating it is 01:02:17.120 |
Now, I just mentioned the first three verses, but in Luke chapter 4, 01:02:24.120 |
Luke 4.14, he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. 01:02:27.120 |
Luke 10.21, he prayed and rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. 01:02:33.120 |
"All other sins, blasphemy against the Son of Man can be forgiven, 01:02:36.120 |
except for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit." 01:02:38.120 |
Jesus himself highlights the sin against the Holy Spirit. 01:02:42.120 |
The Holy Spirit is saturated in everything that is happening. 01:02:46.120 |
And this is not limited to the gospel of Luke. 01:02:50.120 |
Go back, and next time you study or read through the Old Testament, 01:02:55.120 |
read the part of the Bible, and highlight how the Holy Spirit is working. 01:03:01.120 |
There is not a single text, single book that you can go through 01:03:04.120 |
where the Holy Spirit is not at the center of powerfully moving. 01:03:12.120 |
If you ask somebody who studied the book of Acts and say, 01:03:17.120 |
Well, chapter 1 through chapter maybe 8 or 9 is about Apostle Peter. 01:03:22.120 |
He's the one who shows up, and then the gospel goes to the Gentiles, 01:03:25.120 |
so Apostle Paul gets converted, and then so he's the main character 01:03:31.120 |
But that's not how the Bible, that's not how Acts is organized. 01:03:35.120 |
Acts says, "The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you," Acts 1:8, 01:03:40.120 |
"and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, 01:03:45.120 |
So if you look at how the book of Acts is organized, 01:03:48.120 |
it's organized by how the Holy Spirit is working in Jerusalem, 01:03:53.120 |
and then how the Holy Spirit is moving the church to Judea 01:03:58.120 |
through the persecution, and how in the persecution 01:04:03.120 |
and how the Holy Spirit has brought Apostle Paul 01:04:07.120 |
and the Holy Spirit falling upon the Gentiles. 01:04:09.120 |
That was the main thing that they were arguing. 01:04:15.120 |
they had this huge meeting in Jerusalem to say, 01:04:18.120 |
"Hey, the Holy Spirit is also falling upon the Gentiles." 01:04:25.120 |
Because the kingdom of God is being opened to the Gentiles, 01:04:28.120 |
but the way that they described the kingdom opening to the Gentiles 01:04:31.120 |
is the Holy Spirit is also coming upon the Gentiles. 01:04:35.120 |
So the whole book of Acts is the story of the Holy Spirit moving, 01:04:41.120 |
and the characters that it is empowering to do His work. 01:04:47.120 |
So the Holy Spirit, though He is in the background, 01:04:52.120 |
is the central figure throughout the whole gospel, 01:04:59.120 |
So I encourage you, next time you read the Bible, 01:05:06.120 |
My bet is that you're not going to be able to avoid it. 01:05:12.120 |
Once your eyes get open to that, you can't shut it anymore 01:05:28.120 |
to pray in the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit, 01:05:32.120 |
to walk in the Spirit, to live in the Spirit. 01:05:37.120 |
So if we can do everything, everything that we do, 01:05:43.120 |
and yet have no spirit, absolutely powerless. 01:05:49.120 |
We hold on to a form of godliness with no power. 01:05:53.120 |
And the more disciplined you are, the more frustrated you are. 01:05:56.120 |
The more sacrifice you make, the more frustrated you will become. 01:06:01.120 |
The harder you work, the more bitter you become 01:06:08.120 |
It's sacrifice, holding on to a form of godliness, 01:06:16.120 |
Isaiah prophesied this when he said that the Messiah is coming 01:06:20.120 |
in Isaiah 42.1, "Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, 01:06:28.120 |
He said, "What distinguishes the Messiah than any other prophet 01:06:31.120 |
is that my Holy Spirit is going to be upon him. 01:06:35.120 |
Isaiah 61, verse 1, this is the passage that Jesus reads 01:06:40.120 |
at the synagogue at the beginning of his ministry, 01:06:43.120 |
and this is what he says, quoting Isaiah 61.1, 01:06:53.120 |
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because 01:06:56.120 |
the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. 01:07:02.120 |
to proclaim the liberty to captives, and freedom to the prisoners." 01:07:12.120 |
He said the reason why he needed to be anointed with the Holy Spirit 01:07:16.120 |
is so that he can preach, so that he can do the ministry 01:07:21.120 |
because even the Messiah, even the Son of God 01:07:27.120 |
in order to carry out what God called him to do. 01:07:30.120 |
And this is what he reads at the beginning of his ministry 01:07:36.120 |
So at the center of Jesus' ministry was the Holy Spirit. 01:07:47.120 |
And then when he left, he told his disciples, 01:07:50.120 |
"I'm not going to leave you alone as an orphan, 01:07:52.120 |
but the Holy Spirit, the counselor, the helper is going to come 01:07:55.120 |
and remind you of everything that I have done." 01:07:57.120 |
He says, "The Holy Spirit is going to convict the world of sin." 01:08:01.120 |
And then he says, "If you do not abide, you cannot bear fruit." 01:08:19.120 |
I don't need to tell you how frustrating it is to do anything 01:08:26.120 |
If you go work out, and you work out, you start out slow, 01:08:34.120 |
and you're lifting weights, and after about two months, 01:08:39.120 |
you see a friend walking in, and he lifts for four days, 01:08:57.120 |
You're trying to lose weight, and this guy is like, 01:09:03.120 |
You've been starving yourself for like a month, 01:09:07.120 |
So the harder you work, the more frustrated you become. 01:09:14.120 |
Even Peter, when he describes, as he is talking to the Gentiles 01:09:18.120 |
in Acts 10, verse 38, describes Jesus this way. 01:09:22.120 |
"You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him 01:09:27.120 |
and how he went about doing good and healing all who were 01:09:30.120 |
oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." 01:09:37.120 |
who observed him close up more than any other human being, 01:09:41.120 |
describes Jesus and all the power and everything he's done 01:09:51.120 |
He recognized the central thing about Jesus was the Holy Spirit. 01:09:59.120 |
You are the Christ of the Son of the living God, 01:10:03.120 |
but the way he described him was he was a man anointed 01:10:06.120 |
by the Holy Spirit with power, and that's why he did what he did. 01:10:11.120 |
In fact, you get to the New Testament book of Hebrews, 01:10:13.120 |
he says, "Even the very work of the whole atonement," right? 01:10:20.120 |
Hebrews 9, 14, "How much more would the blood of Christ, 01:10:23.120 |
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish 01:10:26.120 |
to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works 01:10:30.120 |
Through the eternal spirit, we have been washed 01:10:39.120 |
He who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit." 01:10:42.120 |
Some of your translations, the word "vindicated" 01:10:48.120 |
That the Holy Spirit was at the center of justification. 01:10:59.120 |
"Even his very resurrection, it was by the spirit." 01:11:02.120 |
Romans 8, 11, "But the spirit of him who raised Jesus 01:11:07.120 |
He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life 01:11:10.120 |
to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you." 01:11:15.120 |
The very resurrection, he said, he gives credit 01:11:21.120 |
And then he makes a transition there and he says, 01:11:24.120 |
"But that Holy Spirit dwells in you," he says. 01:11:35.120 |
Because you can fake that as a non-Christian. 01:11:52.120 |
and bore a lot of fruit, were very well respected, 01:12:02.120 |
Without mentioning names, I'm sure you can think of somebody. 01:12:05.120 |
In recent history, there's example after example. 01:12:10.120 |
You can do all of that and not be a Christian. 01:12:18.120 |
non-Christian can preach, non-Christian can be disciplined, 01:12:34.120 |
He said that distinguishing mark of a Christian 01:12:36.120 |
and a non-Christian is not simply what he does, 01:12:42.120 |
He said the distinguishing mark is the Holy Spirit. 01:12:45.120 |
He says Romans 8 and 9, "However, you are not in the flesh, 01:12:47.120 |
but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. 01:12:50.120 |
But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, 01:12:59.120 |
He says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness. 01:13:03.120 |
He said, I mean, you could fake all of that too. 01:13:05.120 |
He said, but one of the biggest evidence of the Holy Spirit 01:13:24.120 |
All of those qualities are qualities of a worshiper 01:13:29.120 |
I know plenty of people who work hard and sacrifice. 01:13:35.120 |
I know plenty of people who've picked up their cross 01:13:39.120 |
and living a difficult life in the name of Jesus Christ, 01:13:47.120 |
what God is looking for are people who will worship him 01:13:52.120 |
The fruit of the Spirit that's described in the Bible 01:14:28.120 |
And he who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is 01:14:31.120 |
because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." 01:14:39.120 |
especially in our generation where you and I live, 01:14:51.120 |
but here it says it's the Holy Spirit that helps us to pray. 01:14:56.120 |
A man or a woman who's not walking in the Spirit, 01:15:05.120 |
Because the Holy Spirit is the one who guides us. 01:15:14.120 |
The Bible says, "If you abide in me, my words abide in you. 01:15:16.120 |
Whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." 01:15:19.120 |
But we don't even know what to pray for because even as we pray, 01:15:34.120 |
Or is that something that the Holy Spirit is leading you to? 01:15:39.120 |
John 14, 18, as Jesus is leaving his disciples, 01:15:42.120 |
he says, "I will not leave you alone like an orphan." 01:15:53.120 |
and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." 01:16:00.120 |
You and I live in a generation where we are experts in form. 01:16:08.120 |
We have access to seminaries, books, know-how, 01:16:12.120 |
probably better than any generation that has ever existed. 01:16:26.120 |
I mean, everything that you and I can think of, 01:16:30.120 |
I mean, we have all the form, more than, exponentially, 01:16:35.120 |
100 times more than anyone has ever had in human history. 01:17:00.120 |
and practicing their instrument all their life, 01:17:03.120 |
and we are able to benefit from that as they lead us in worship. 01:17:07.120 |
And all that is great because that's a blessing that God has given us. 01:17:11.120 |
So we have tremendous form, and all of these are great 01:17:26.120 |
we are guilty of having a form of godliness with no power, 01:17:31.120 |
because we know true worship isn't because we have great worship team. 01:17:37.120 |
True worship isn't because the chairs are nice or air-conditioned turned on 01:17:40.120 |
or I gave a great message and you knew the outline 01:17:43.120 |
and you felt convicted and, you know, that was good. 01:17:51.120 |
when the Holy Spirit is stirring you up to worship. 01:17:54.120 |
In fact, you and I have become so accustomed to form 01:17:59.120 |
that when the form is not there, we automatically panic. 01:18:03.120 |
Whether that's worship, whether that's training, 01:18:13.120 |
So I remember, again, I grew up in the church, my dad was a pastor, 01:18:19.120 |
So several years ago I was asked to come to a Lutheran church 01:18:27.120 |
And Lutheran church is a little bit different, 01:18:29.120 |
the way they're organized, they do worship differently. 01:18:31.120 |
So, you know, I am very familiar with the Presbyterian worship 01:18:36.120 |
And I'm very familiar with the Baptist worship 01:18:38.120 |
because as an adult I became a Baptist, you know. 01:18:41.120 |
And so typical worship begins a lot like what we do, right? 01:18:45.120 |
Somebody comes up, opens up the worship, we sing some songs, 01:18:51.120 |
then somebody gives a sermon, you know, maybe sing some songs. 01:18:54.120 |
Or if we had a Presbyterian church, somebody would come, you know, 01:18:57.120 |
and they'll do the Lord's Prayer, and then somewhere there's an Apostles' Creed, 01:19:04.120 |
So I went to a Lutheran church, and I'm expecting something like that. 01:19:08.120 |
And they said the service is at 1130, so I show up at 1120, 01:19:16.120 |
they're going to make some announcement, they introduce me, 01:19:20.120 |
So 1130 comes around, and the presider comes up and says, 01:19:23.120 |
"Thank you, everybody, for coming. Pastor Peter is going to come and preach now." 01:19:27.120 |
So I was, you know, about to pray, and they're like, "What? 01:19:31.120 |
They want me to pray?" So I went up there, it's like, 01:19:38.120 |
So I had to jump into the text, and I have to give a sermon. 01:19:41.120 |
I came down, and so there was nothing familiar about what they did. 01:19:45.120 |
And I remember, they said, "That was weird," you know. 01:19:49.120 |
But I was thinking, nothing that they did was unbiblical. 01:19:53.120 |
It was that I got so, you know, I got so familiar with the form, 01:19:58.120 |
that when it didn't conform to that form, it felt like something was off. 01:20:08.120 |
But some of the most genuine worship that I've been to had weird form. 01:20:17.120 |
We were supposed to--we had a team prepared to go out to China, 01:20:22.120 |
So literally, last minute, they said, "You're not allowed to come into China." 01:20:25.120 |
So we contacted our, you know, IMB office, and they said, 01:20:28.120 |
"Hey, we need somebody to come to Romania this year." 01:20:30.120 |
So we packed up our bags, went to Romania, and we would go to the churches, 01:20:35.120 |
and the churches were so rigid, you know, because they were so concerned 01:20:40.120 |
about being judged by the Greek Orthodox Church there, 01:20:43.120 |
because they're so rigid, and the Baptist church is like-- 01:20:47.120 |
we got yelled at for smiling during our presentation, you know. 01:20:50.120 |
I can go into the stories about that, but we did all this presentation, 01:20:54.120 |
and they grieved over our presentation, you know, because they were so conservative. 01:21:00.120 |
Well, in one of those days, on a Sunday, we decided to visit this Gypsy church, 01:21:06.120 |
and they were kind of an outcast, even among the Baptists. 01:21:09.120 |
They're kind of like, you know, they're not Baptists. 01:21:13.120 |
And so they wanted us to come because the missionary there 01:21:19.120 |
And so it was a small church, maybe a church of maybe about 15, 20 people, 01:21:23.120 |
and then we had maybe about 10 people on our team. 01:21:26.120 |
And so we sat there, and it's like, you know, 01:21:28.120 |
I was thinking that we're going to be participating in this worship. 01:21:31.120 |
And then the missionary comes up, and he says, 01:21:33.120 |
"Pastor Peter, can you give us the word this morning?" 01:21:36.120 |
I didn't prepare for that, so I just got up and like, "Let's see. 01:21:45.120 |
So I basically gave an impromptu, you know, 15-minute message, and I sat down. 01:21:50.120 |
I did an okay job. I had sermons that I could give like that. 01:21:54.120 |
But after that was done, he started to call some people to give their testimony, 01:21:58.120 |
some people from our team, some people from the church. 01:22:01.120 |
And there was no form. They were just kind of free-flowing, you know. 01:22:05.120 |
Man, it was about an hour of different people standing up, giving their testimonies. 01:22:10.120 |
And at the end of that, just tears in the room. 01:22:15.120 |
Every single person just standing up, "This is what Jesus means to me." 01:22:19.120 |
They would sing some songs, and another person stands up, 01:22:21.120 |
"And this is what Jesus has done for me. I'm a wretched sinner, and he loved me. 01:22:26.120 |
I can't believe that he endured and do this for me." 01:22:28.120 |
And one by one, they would stand up, and man, 01:22:31.120 |
it was the most powerful worships I've ever been to. 01:22:38.120 |
And all because it was people who were being prompted by the love of Christ. 01:22:45.120 |
It wasn't because they were having this forum. 01:22:50.120 |
It was simply the people in the room wanted to worship in spirit and in truth. 01:22:57.120 |
The Holy Spirit was guiding them and leading them. 01:23:03.120 |
I can give the best sermons. We can give the best music. 01:23:07.120 |
But the Holy Spirit is not changing you within. 01:23:17.120 |
See, the power of the gospel is the Holy Spirit indwelling in us, 01:23:30.120 |
Because that's where my greatest joy comes from. 01:23:34.120 |
Because I used to worship the world. I used to worship money. 01:23:43.120 |
So the same joy that I experience from finding success in the world, 01:23:48.120 |
now I experience that joy exponentially more in worshiping God in spirit and in truth. 01:23:58.120 |
What is lacking in our generation is not more form. 01:24:12.120 |
that somehow we're going to experience more fruit. 01:24:20.120 |
Every single one of you are more trained today than any other Christian has been in church history. 01:24:39.120 |
You had more access than any other Christian in human history. 01:24:47.120 |
the first thing that we run to is we need more structure. 01:25:05.120 |
What we're lacking is a true life within us that causes us to sing. 01:25:11.120 |
You have a room filled with people who's eager to sing? 01:25:25.120 |
We have hundreds of people gathered together. 01:25:30.120 |
There's no worship leaders and backup singers and the bass and the latest hip music. 01:25:40.120 |
And the room begins to explode with worship because people are eager. 01:26:01.120 |
But if you have a room filled with people who's filled with the Holy Spirit, 01:26:14.120 |
You keep doing this, you're going to get in trouble. 01:26:24.120 |
Even as they are being stoned, they couldn't stop them. 01:26:27.120 |
Even as they are running to protect their children, they couldn't stop them. 01:26:31.120 |
Everywhere Apostle Paul went, there was already a church. 01:26:35.120 |
Not because of extensive training and how to evangelize and how to establish elders. 01:26:44.120 |
They just went, and everywhere they went, the gospel was being spread 01:26:49.120 |
because the Holy Spirit went with them, and they were emboldened. 01:26:56.120 |
See, us being rich has caused us to believe that if we do more, 01:27:03.120 |
if we sacrifice more, if we discipline more, if we add more form, 01:27:06.120 |
if we add more structure, if we do more, more will come out. 01:27:17.120 |
No, he says to do exactly the opposite, to do less. 01:27:36.120 |
We do less by our own intellect, by our own power, by our own will, 01:27:43.120 |
and depend on God, depend on the Holy Spirit. 01:27:48.120 |
Let me wrap this up and bring us back to where I got sidetracked. 01:27:57.120 |
There's a reason why Luke ends his genealogy all the way to Adam. 01:28:02.120 |
There's a reason because Adam was in the Garden of Eden, 01:28:06.120 |
and at the Garden of Eden he fails, and so as a result of that, 01:28:13.120 |
The Bible says that Jesus is the second Adam, 1 Corinthians 15.22, 01:28:17.120 |
"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." 01:28:23.120 |
As soon as Adam falls, Jesus shows up. Where does he show up? 01:28:32.120 |
Jesus is in the wilderness where there's no life, 01:28:36.120 |
and he's going to, through his life, bring us back into the garden, 01:28:46.120 |
There's a clear connection to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, 01:28:54.120 |
Next time I'm up here, and you're going to see that clear connection. 01:29:04.120 |
So the difference between Adam's fall and Christ's redemption, 01:29:08.120 |
it says 1 Peter 3.18, "For Christ also died for sins once for all, 01:29:11.120 |
the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, 01:29:13.120 |
having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive," what? 01:29:21.120 |
"But while in the flesh, Christ will redeem us in the Spirit." 01:29:35.120 |
I started with the question of what are we looking at when we look at Jesus? 01:29:40.120 |
Are we seeing deity walking on earth and doing his work? 01:29:53.120 |
What we're seeing is a man in every way was like us, 01:30:11.120 |
but did not sin, empowered by the Holy Spirit. 01:30:17.120 |
Now, if I finish the sermon here, it's like, "Oh, that's a great sermon, but now what?" 01:30:23.120 |
Because without the Holy Spirit, you will fail. 01:30:47.120 |
It says, "So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. 01:30:51.120 |
Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. 01:30:55.120 |
He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." 01:30:59.120 |
This is a passage that is preached on, memorized in every church. 01:31:05.120 |
I don't know how many times I've heard this text being exposited and saying, 01:31:08.120 |
"Hey, you do not have it because you did not ask. 01:31:11.120 |
You have to ask. You have to knock. You have to seek." 01:31:16.120 |
So if you want a Lamborghini, you have to ask. 01:31:19.120 |
If you want your business to work, you have to seek. 01:31:23.120 |
If you want her as your wife, you got to knock or poke. 01:31:30.120 |
He said, "Is that what he means?" He said, "Figure out what you want, 01:31:40.120 |
What's principle number one in inductive Bible study? 01:31:45.120 |
What's the context of this? Well, let's read the rest. 01:31:48.120 |
"Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. 01:31:51.120 |
He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 01:31:54.120 |
Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 01:31:59.120 |
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, 01:32:02.120 |
how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" 01:32:08.120 |
So when he says seek, ask, and knock, what is he talking about? 01:32:15.120 |
Our greatest desire has to be the Holy Spirit. 01:32:18.120 |
What we are knocking for, asking for, and seeking is the Holy Spirit. 01:32:22.120 |
Because until we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, 01:32:35.120 |
And then when you feel like you've achieved something by your own merit, 01:32:39.120 |
because you worked hard, you know what happens? 01:32:47.120 |
And as soon as pride comes in, you are ruined. 01:32:51.120 |
And you will ruin everybody around you when pride comes in. 01:32:56.120 |
That is not the fruit that God desires of us. 01:33:03.120 |
If the Holy Spirit ministry is this important, 01:33:06.120 |
how much of our strong effort, how much of our prayer, 01:33:11.120 |
how much of our desire, how much of our seeking, how much of our study 01:33:14.120 |
should be focused on being empowered by the Holy Spirit, 01:33:26.120 |
that the central thing that we ought to be begging and praying 01:33:31.120 |
and crying out for is Lord, empower us with the Holy Spirit. 01:33:39.120 |
Holy Spirit, go before us and open the doors. 01:33:41.120 |
Holy Spirit, convict the hearts of sinners so that they would receive you. 01:33:48.120 |
Make us into men and women who worship you in spirit and in truth. 01:33:54.120 |
Holy Spirit, help me to not to look at the world with envy and covetousness. 01:34:00.120 |
Holy Spirit, fill me so that I would no longer walk in the flesh, 01:34:14.120 |
Most of you are busy studying, organizing, leading, memorizing, witnessing, 01:34:25.120 |
raising, trying to raise godly children, sacrificing, giving, 01:34:33.120 |
all the while frustrated because you don't see fruit. 01:34:39.120 |
The central thing that you need, central thing that I need, 01:34:48.120 |
so that our worship and our life is not about form, but about power. 01:34:58.120 |
Not just today, but as you pray, as you fast, 01:35:05.120 |
Lord, as even the Son of Man, as even Jesus himself 01:35:14.120 |
Lord, if I've lived a life grieving the Holy Spirit, 01:35:18.120 |
if I've been holding on to a form of godliness, yet not knowing you from a distance, 01:35:22.120 |
if I've been regurgitating information without actually living, 01:35:33.120 |
Let's take some time to pray, humble ourselves before his throne, 01:35:37.120 |
acknowledge that we are weak without him and asking him. 01:35:42.120 |
So let's take some time to pray again as our worship team leads us. 01:42:57.120 |
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling 01:43:01.120 |
and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, 01:43:06.120 |
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, 01:43:45.120 |
An empty grave is there to fill my Savior's lips 01:44:25.120 |
And life is worth the living just because He lives 01:44:52.120 |
By Your perfect sacrifice I've been bought near 01:45:14.120 |
Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace 01:45:27.120 |
Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus, thank You 01:45:35.120 |
The flower's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus, thank You 01:45:42.120 |
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You 01:47:03.120 |
Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus, thank You 01:47:10.120 |
The flower's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus, thank You 01:47:17.120 |
Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus, thank You 01:47:24.120 |
The flower's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus, thank You 01:47:31.120 |
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You 01:47:56.120 |
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You 01:48:08.120 |
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You 01:48:19.120 |
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You