SOAKED IN THE SPIRIT: part 4

SWIMMING LESSON: Equipping
March 9, 2008
with Adam Waters



SWIMMERS
 …are WET because they can swim and they choose to swim.
 SATISFY the Spirit’s leading.
 WIN the battles of the flesh.
 INHERIT the Kingdom.
 MANIFEST the character of God.

INTRODUCTION
One of my favorite movies of all time is "The Thin Red Line." This movie talks about the soul of the men going through the battles in WWII. In this movie there are starkly different characters of leadership. Nick Nolte plays a brown-nosing colonel, complaining about this being his first war, full of ambition, doesn't care about his men and through the film he is voiceovering his regrets of how he treated his men. He is contrasted with 2 young captains that always looked out for the safety of their men, the health of their men (ex: do we need water), and who looked not only to their mission but to relationship with their men.

Ephesians 4:11-16 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

CHURCH LEADERSHIP
1) Ambitious colonels are NOT soaked in the Holy Spirit of God.
2) Passionate and Compassionate captians are soaked in the Spirit... you can tell by the fruit of their ministries.

Getting Rid of Waste through Education
 APOSTLES: an official representative of Jesus
 PROPHETS: specific message, specific person(s)
 EVANGELISTS: one who brings the gospel to a new region
 PASTORS & TEACHERS: this is not an and, but rather a single group. Literally translated as the “teaching shepherds.”
 EQUIP – the setting of a bone – dynamically putting things in order
 BUILD UP – development – the rehab part

Helping you SWIM!
 Your personal swimming instructors.
 Help you navigate the waters of teaching.
 Leading you in Christ’s undertow!
 Healthy.
 Growing.
 Full of Love.
 Leadership’s responsibility is to equip & build.
 You are our responsibility. You are our living letters (2Corinthians 3:1-6).

As a leader SOAKED in God's Spirit, this is my goal! To confidently say that I need no credetials, but just the fruit of our equipping and building evidenced in your lives.