Pastor Brian – Welcome and prayer
1. Good Morning to those in the room and to those out there. We continue to believe today that this is the Lord’s Day, that it is His intention to be with us today, and so it is our responsibility to help set the room. We’re going to welcome the Holy Spirit. So, if you don’t mind, please stand.
2. Hallelujah, I just want to welcome you again, to the house today. Lord, we thank You for those who gather in this place today and in churches all over this city. Lord, we join our hearts to the body of Christ everywhere who exalt You. So, I do pray that our attention this morning will turn towards You.
3. Lord, for those of us who are here now and for those who us that are on the way, those of us who are at home, for whatever reason, Lord, we pray a touch, an outpouring of Your Spirit in our lives. Lord, I pray for an opening of the heavens over us, an opening of our hearts within us. That Lord, we would respond to the call of Your Spirit here. Lord, to bring glory to Your Name. Lord, to elevate You, to exalt You Lord. Lord, to bring our lives and everything in it before You today. And to just bless You. Can you just bless the Lord, with your own words this morning. Lord God, we give this to You today.
Pastor Brian – Announcements
1. Well, as you are being seated, we want to again welcome you this morning. I hate getting old. I can’t see people and I can’t see anything else without my glasses. I refuse to go that route. I do want to bring you greetings from pastor Gail. For those of you who may not be on the text WhatsApp chain for the church, she had a horrible time getting into the States. I think she had four flights cancelled, spent a lot of time in airports, actually praying for people. She felt like she had prophet-able ministry on the way. But she arrived yesterday, about one hour before she had to go preach at a conference. In the same clothes she’d been wearing for three days. I believe the Lord blessed her supernaturally with a fragrance of the Spirit. But because they had scheduled her to speak four times in this conference, they moved all of those to last night and today, so she’ll be busy preaching all day, so, keep her in your prayers. And then pray she gets back here a little easier than it was going. But she wants you to know that her love and her thoughts are here today as well.
2. We want to remind you of a few things, number one, don’t forget that you can send prayers to the email: Prayer@Glyfadacc.org. It’s confidential to our office, but we do want to know how we can pray for you. I’m always amazed at the stories that come and people say, this happened, well why didn’t you let us pray.
3. Our website ‘www.glyfadacc.org’, you can find the archives of all our sermons. It’s not the full service, for that you have to go to the Youtube page, but we’re more concerned about getting the Word on to the archives. We cut out the singing. But also, the sermon archives at the website, Chris Kehayas takes it and makes an outline that you can follow as you listen and watch. Share it with your friends and family.
4. For the rest of the announcements just watch the video. We continue where the main message begins.
Pastor Brian – Main message
1. Well, let’s get our Bibles. Leto has told me that several people have asked if they could take home and/or purchase the Bibles that we have here. The present answer is no, do not take the Bibles. Look at your neighbor and say, ‘Do not take the Bible.’ But we have ordered more and they will be made available. And as always, we continue to encourage you to carry your own. Bring it with you to church, read it on the bus or the metro – Let’s be Bible people. And yes, it is OK to use it on your phone, but we like the paper, There’s just something about holding the Word of God in your hand. Seeing the Word together in context.
2. So, we are going to turn today to 1 Corinthians 12, and we’re going to speak about the fact that the Holy Spirit is Charismatic. Now, in church circles that word has a particular connotation, and essentially it just means that you believe in the present-day operations and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. We believe that there is nothing in the New Testament that God has done at any time, that He cannot and will not do today.
3. So, in that sense, we would call ourselves a Charismatic Church. Except that there are some other things that go into peoples’ minds when they hear, ‘Charismatic’. That we might be a little less in line with, so, you won’t hear us call ourselves a Charismatic Church. But we do believe in the present-day full power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Other times, people ask us, ‘Are you a Pentecostal Church’? I grew up Pentecostal; in many ways I’m still Pentecostal, but as a Christian tradition there are some things that the Pentecostal might believe that, I don’t really line up with, our church doesn’t really line up with. And if any of you has any questions about those things, we would be glad to sit with you and explain. I’m not going to do that this morning.
4. But if we were asked, we would say, ‘No, we’re not really Pentecostal’. We’re not really Charismatic, and then you could ask, ‘Are you Baptist?’ Well, we are because we believe in ‘Baptism’. And we believe in baptizing in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and in the sense that the Baptist tradition, is very known to be, ‘Word of God driven’. But we would say, No we’re not Baptist’. We’re not ‘Pentecostal’, we’re not ‘Charismatic’, we’re ‘Bapticostalmatic’.
5. What we believe is, that the Word of God defines everything for our life and experience in the Lord. We also believe that there is a relationship with the Holy Spirit that takes you into places of experience and depth that are necessary for us. So, I often like to say, ’Well, we believe we’re a Word-empowered church.’ This is the primary voice of God (The Bible). That which does not agree with this, is not of God. But we also know that the Lord speaks to us by the Holy Spirit. In order to bring His presence and power into our life, so that we can experience Him on a daily present basis.
6. So, the word, ‘Charismatic’, when we say the Holy Spirit is charismatic, the Greeks already understand that comes from the word, ‘grace’ or for ‘gift’, and the Holy Spirit is charismatic because He brings those gifts of God into our life. He is the One who empowers us for living. He is the One who gives us the ability to manifest the presence of God, through His spiritual gifts.
7. One of the reasons that I stopped for a little time during the worship today, is that there are times when we sense in our spirit the Lord wants to speak something, or He may want to do something, that we did not write down in our plan for church that day. He may have a Word to bring to the church as a whole, or He may inspire somebody to minister to another person directly. But we believe that the Holy Spirit wants to manifest to use His gifts in our worship life. But He also wants to use them when we’re not in this building and we’re living life out and among people.
8. So, I have two words that I wrote down that mean a lot to me, that the Holy Spirit has a ‘Dynamic’ role in our lives. He brings movement of God into our life, by using us and using others for us. And the other word I wrote down is ‘Active’, He has an active role. The Holy Spirit is not just somebody we talk about in church on Sunday, but He is our Paraclete, the One walking with us everywhere we go every day.
9. Sometimes I use simple images for myself. But I often picture the Holy Spirit like this, for me. You (Stavros) be me and I’ll be the Holy Spirit, because that’s the way it should be. I often picture the Holy Spirit, kind of behind my shoulder here, kind of little on the side, but really, He should be out here (in front). This is how I picture it. And I picture Him actively going, ‘Brian, you want to let Me in on this activity? Do you want to let Me in on this conversation? Do you want to let me talk to you about this decision you’re about to make?’ Because He is actively there to be a part of that.
10. So, for us to speak about the Holy Spirit, is central to our faith. But it’s more than just when we say, ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’ Because there are a lot of people who are fine to have a relationship with God the Father and God the Son, but they become a little uncertain about this Holy Spirit thing. Or, they image Him only as a ‘Force’. But the Holy Spirit is not a force. He is a ‘He’ a ‘Person’. And I don’t mean to be so gender specific, but we’re going to go with that. I understand that the attributes of God are effective in all of us. But ‘He’ is a He.
11. He has personality, has thought, has decision making ability, has speaking ability, He has desires. He’s a Person. And when we treat Him like a force, then we take away that aspect of relationship that He wants with us. And I think it’s one of the reasons that we don’t see manifestations of the Holy Spirit so much. It’s because we’re not yet exercising that relationship in the way that we should and can.
12. Now, there are different places in the New Testament that talk about gifts of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12, talks about gifts of teaching, gifts of serving, gifts of leadership and administration. So, it’s a kind of a description we would call ‘the energetic gifts of the Holy Spirit,’ the things that motivate who we are. For instance, Stavros is a giver. People call him to help; he goes and he serves. Now, if you call me for help, I will probably help, but I probably will go through a list of reasons why I can’t, before I get there. Because I’m not energized by the same gift.
13. Some people are very administrative. They want to put things in order. Other people think order is not of God. We’re energized by different gifts. Anton, I think is energized by teaching. Cecilia is energized by serving. And when we’re born again, the Holy Spirit takes those gifts and sanctifies them and makes them useful to the Kingdom.
14. Ephesians 4, talks about other gifts. And we often refer to these as office gifts, gifts of officers in the church. It says that He gave some people to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, some to be teachers. But for some specific reason, we’re all probably called to some of those things, if not all. But these people that the Holy Spirit has gifted in order to train and equip other people to do that work of ministry. That’s what Ephesians says.
15. So, we believe there are apostles who are bringing their apostolic gift to the church. Helping to put things in order and keeping it moving and in the right direction. Teaching all of us how to do that. Evangelists to teach us how to evangelize. In that particular place in Ephesians 4, they’re not the people who are supposed to do all that work; they’re the people who train all of us to do the work.
16. But when we say that the Holy Spirit is Charismatic, the list they we most often think about is in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” Verses 7 & 11 are key.
17. We often refer to these as the Manifestation Gifts. Why? Because these are particular moments at the will of the Holy Spirit, He distributes that gift to somebody, to be used for the good of all. So, it might be that naturally, I’m a very wise person. But there might be a time in a particular situation, God needed to speak a Word of Wisdom, into that situation, and He said, ‘Brian, Lars, Henneke, give My Word.’
18. Maybe a particular situation, where a decision had to be made, but there wasn’t good knowledge about the situation. And so, the Holy Spirit says, ‘April, let Me share something with you that will help this.’
19. I’ve prayed for people and seen them healed. Not very often. I wish it was more. But I remember particular powerful moments. One that’s easy to use. We’ve used it a lot. When the Lord told me to pray for a little Japanese woman standing on the floor, right here. I didn’t even really know her situation; I learned later. That she had come for special treatment because she was dying of cancer. But I heard that voice in my heart that said, ‘Pray for her’. Tell her she’s healed. And that woman went home healed! That wasn’t my choice, and it certainly wasn’t my power.
20. These are not gifts that live in us all the time. These are gifts that the Holy Spirit says, ‘I want to do this now’. Which is why Paul finishes there with verse 11, and says, “and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” But the point is that He does want to use these gifts in us. Not in just me, or just in pastor Gail, or the leaders of this church. But in each one He wants to use these gifts. But to do so, we have to learn to hear when He is distributing. And to learn to hear, we have to ask, and we have to listen, and we have to respond.
21. Paul teaches us, he highlights the Holy Spirit’s ability, to distribute them effectively. And if you look at all of the list, its things that touch every part of life. Because He is the only One in this room today, who knows every need in every life. He is the only One who has the ability to speak the things we do not know, or to do the things we cannot do.
22. So, we need those gifts; we need them to guide us; we need them to encourage us. We need them sometimes, just to see the visible power of God. I think that’s a good place for all of God’s people to say Amen.
23. So, I want to finish quickly with just a few ways that the Holy Spirit empowers you, through all of His gifts.
a. Number one: He empowers you to live a life that reflects His purpose. God wants to do something, so He empowers you, to be the vessel to do it. We see this in particular in Acts 2, when people were gathered from all over the empire, and God’s purpose was for each of them to hear the Gospel. So, to ensure that, He gave them the gift of tongues that people could hear the Gospel in their own language, and it was effectively was spread throughout the world. It demonstrated the Spirit’s power to break through culture and language, to give them the ability to share the Gospel in their own language.
b. And that’s number two of how He empowers you. He has the ability to give you the courage and strength to face challenges. In Acts 4, when the believers in Jerusalem began to face persecution, the Bible tells us that the believers prayed for boldness, so that even in the face of persecution, He empowered them to speak the Words of God. That they could do it with confidence. If there is something that I believe we need in our lands, in our homes, it’s for true believers in God and the Word of God, to have the boldness to share the message. In many ways we have become silent churches, except when we are talking to each other. But maybe many of us find it difficult to speak of Godly things out and among our culture and society. But here’s where the answer begins. Holy Spirit empower me to be bold. I don’t have the power to bring that into my own life. Leto, I cannot convince myself to become a good evangelist. But I know One who has led me in many instances to speak to somebody at just the right time, even if I have spoken to them many times before. Even if I have been outright rejected. He is an empowering Spirit.
c. I love this about our space, especially when everybody is here. He empowers us by becoming a unifying person. That He can enable believers from all different backgrounds and cultures and experiences, to come together. And He doesn’t eliminate our individual differences, He harmonizes them. He brings them together to make a special kind of unity. Felix and Rebekka aren’t here today, but I had fun with them yesterday, playing with their African culture. I’ve been in enough African churches to know what it really looks like to take a good offering. Filipinos can do it too.
d. We have different things that we bring. I’ll never be Sri Lankan, but I can receive from the graces and gifts of the Sri Lankans. I’ll surely never be a Brit. Come on, I’m an American born, I think. He harmonizes, to build community, by working through our gifts.
e. He empowers us to see our character shaped in ways that we could never accomplish on our own. I have seen so many Christians try to change their lives through behavior modification. We will not modify our behavior to the point of perfection. Some of us may have struggled with certain things for a very long time, and we’ve never been able to change that thing. And you won’t, except that the Holy Spirit gets involved in that process. We had that discussion at men’s breakfast yesterday. We don’t need behavior modification; we need Spirit empowerment.
24. And I’m going to close here. How many of you heard Victor on those keys this morning? I heard him trying to show off a little bit this morning. Exercising gifts. The Holy Spirit’s charismatic nature, when I say that word, I want you to hear, His nature of bringing the gifts to us, is absolutely foundational to who we become as individuals and who we become as a church.
25. To empower you for your mission; to create the atmosphere of unity; to do the work of transformation in our lives. For Him to be, my two words, ‘Dynamic and Active’. He equips us with extraordinary opportunities. He equips us with extraordinary capabilities. He brings spiritual maturity. He brings unity. He ensures that the church is a vibrant witness where we are.
26. Oh Lord, if we had more words of wisdom. Would we see more miracles take place? Would we see healings happen? Tongues and interpretation? Lord, would we see supernatural giving? Lord, would we see works of service, to each other and to the world? Lord, would we see You raise up administrators? And teachers? Helpers? Encouragers? Preachers and teachers, Lord? Lord, would You raise up apostles, prophets and pastors, evangelists and teachers? Lord, would You just walk us more deeply into this journey with Holy Spirit. That we can see the purposes of God done in our own lives and through us we can see His purposes done all around us.
27. Lord, as people from Greece, or people now living and hosted in this country, Lord, we pray that we would be instruments of Your grace in this land. Lord, we pray that multitudes would turn to You in a real way.
28. Holy Spirit, You are welcome, You are welcome right now to speak into every heart. Lord, if there is anybody here who is asking the question, ‘Who am I in You, what’s my identity, what’s my gift?’ Lord, I just pray, Holy Spirit, You would just speak revelation into their heart right now. Lord, maybe there is somebody in the room, especially young people, Lord, I have this in my heart, who might be saying, ‘Lord maybe one day I want to study to use my gift in church and train people and lead people. Speak Lord.
29. And Holy Spirit, I pray that You would open us up to being people who are comfortable with seeing You manifest Yourself. That You would transform us, You would transform our church and You would transform the world around us, as we show You, as we declare You. We worship You Father, we worship You Son, and we worship You Holy Spirit.
30. I’m going to invite to sit there for a moment. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you. We need to hear Him more than we need to hear each other.
31. If you’re here today and you feel like you would have prayer, because you want these things to be true in your own life, we’re going to have folks from the prayer team come on up. We always want to leave space for the Lord to do His work. And if you’re here today, and you’ve never started that individual personal journey with your God, through Jesus Christ, then we always want to invite that. He calls for you.