Last Sunday was a powerful day. Here are my notes and here is a LINK to a Facebook live video of the day.
How do I learn to trust Holy Spirit?
ME
Story of birth of twins
·
Nearly 3 years ago, my wife walked into our
staff meeting at Urbana to tell me that not-only was she pregnant with our 4th
child, but with our 5th as well.
·
Joy in the hearing
·
Anticipation in the coming months.
·
Victory even over the C-section à tell story of the 30
year nurse never seeing natural.
·
Joy snatched as Merry had to go to NiCu
o
Sleepless nights
o
One 4-pounder at home
o
Not even being able to see your newborn child
every day.
o
Surreal… stressful… weary and weepy
WE
Isn’t that what life is like?
So many things come to tear away at
our hearts in tough times…
- There can be a lot of troubling circumstances in our
lives from our finances, our health and our relationships (just to name a
few!)
- We can begin to doubt is God really good?
- Does he care? Does he have time for me? Does he even
see my tough situations?
- Should I try to do life on my own?
- Most of the world wonders: “Why do bad things happen to seemingly good people?”
It’s time for us to change the
question…
Why do bad things happen vs. how do I trust you when they do?
·
Let’s pray.
GOD
Tell story of Paul...
Acts 9
1. When
he first meets Jesus he is blinded. (9:8-9)
2. The
first person God sends to Paul, does NOT want to help him. (9:13-14)
3. The
first crowd of believers he taught did NOT trust his words. (9:21)
4. The
first crowd of Jews that heard him wanted to KILL him. (9:23-24)
5. The
first city he taught in he had to do a JAMES BOND to get out alive. (9:25)
6. The
first time he met the disciples they were AFRAID of him. (9:26)
7. The
first time he preached in Jerusalem they tried to KILL him. (9:29)
Why did bad things happen to this
guy who changed his entire life to follow the Lord?
What would it have looked like if
he didn’t trust the Holy Spirit?
When we don’t trust the Holy Spirit when the tough times of life
happen it produces the fruit
of the world/the fruit of the enemy?
· Anxiety
· Depression
· Anger
· Fear
· Have you had
this happen to you?
· Maybe some of
you feel this way now
It produces the fruit of our own
strength (flesh)… don’t get confused by this - not a list of do's and don'ts
·
Galatians 5:19-21 Paul is building a structure
here.
· Puts the focus on us feeling good (immorality,
impurity, sensuality) – complaining, addiction, pornography, shopping…
· Takes the focus off Father, God (idolatry,
sorcery) – skipping church/groups
· It destroys our interactions with others (enmity,
strife, jealousy, anger, rivalry, dissension, division, envy). – foundation is
off God and now on our comfort
· It causes us to bring others with us (drunkenness,
orgies and the like). – might as well party… seems that is all that will
matter.
YOU
How do we begin to let
relationship with HS produce fruit and not failure & fear in our lives?
· Prayer – daily conversation with our
friend… allowing our trust in him to develop through long-standing interaction…
not just in crisis
· Scripture – regularly letting the Holy
Spirit speak back into our lives… not just trusting to our own wisdom, but
letting His wisdom speak loudly to our situations both in the good times and
the bad.
· Trusted
resources – surrounding
ourselves with people along the same pursuits… mentors, pastors, true followers
of Jesus… recommended books, teachers and podcasts from the church.
· Small
groups – most of us
want to pull away from community during the “tough stuff” and that leads to
asking the wrong questions, pursuing our own desires, and relying on our own
thoughts/strength instead of the strength of the body of Jesus.
THis friendship should become your favorite relationship ever! It makes all other relationships better, richer and fuller.
Look what it can do!
Galatians 5
“16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against
the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are
opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
“
And Paul continues…
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the
Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. “
Again Paul is building a
structure.. not a list of "do's"
·
First is produced God’s character (love, joy,
peace, patience)
·
Then our actions with others (patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness)
·
Then, God’s Spirit finally is able to produce
self-control in our own lives.
·
WE tend to work backwards!
KEY: When we change our focus… our life actually changes.
·
From the trials/troubles to trust in the Holy
Spirit
·
From what’s been done to us to what God wants to
do through us.
·
From the attack of the enemy to the victory that
we have in Jesus (gospel here).
You will NOT gratify your flesh (vs 16)
You have crucified it (vs 24)
Paul stayed true to trusting in Holy Spirit in spite of all
of his trials in Acts 9. Listen to how the chapter wraps up in verse 31:
“31 So
the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being
built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy
Spirit, it multiplied.”
Both his life and those around
him were affected… (atmospheric change)
One man trusting the Holy Spirit changed all kinds of lives!
WE
Imagine if we’d shift our question…
·
Remove these from our speech:
o
Why do bad things happen to good people?
o
Why is this happening to me?
·
Add these instead:
o
how can I trust you HS in my trials?
o
How do you want to turn morning to dancing?
o
How do you want to show your victory?
o
How do you want to change the atmosphere of my
situation? My city? through me!
o
How can I better hear your voice during this
time? (solitude, group, church, etc.)
Acts 20:7-12
Paul shifted his focus so much
during his life to trusting Holy Spirit… that even when a young man fell out of
a window and died during his sermon… he remained calm… trusted the Holy Spirit…
and raised the young man from the dead (same Spirit that raised Jesus – Romans
8).
FINISH STORY: Corrie and I with
Merry’s situation
·
What we read in the NiCU
·
How we interacted with others there
·
Our prayers
·
The health of the little boy in the bed next to
Merry
Today many are facing “tough”
circumstances.
Ø release
of joy
Ø trust
in the Spirit
Ø who
you are – what is your destiny – a tree’s destiny is fruit
