ME
(Sarcastically) Every year, over 5 million visitors go to
Arizona to see the Colorado River. It’s quite an amazing river covering 1,450
miles, touching five states and parts of Mexico. What an amazing and powerful
creation of God the Colorado River is!
Of course, most of those visitors get caught up by The Grand
Canyon because of its immense size (277 miles long and 18 miles wide and over a
mile deep). Now, the GC is amazing, but the Colorado has created 7 canyons and
carved even more valleys. Not to mention that it’s banks have helped create
some of our most beautiful lakes (Powell & Mead).
What makes the Colorado so amazing is it’s power over stone
and rock. Water is always stronger
than stone. If Happy & Di could’ve waited for a couple of hundred
years looking out into the ocean on top of that cliff, eventually, the water
would have made their choice for them as the edge of the cliff would have
slowly eroded.
WE
But our brains don’t work that way, do they? When we look at
our lives and analyze our struggles and our “mountains,” we are convinced that
they are too hard to conquer… we are sure that our mountain cannot be moved.
For most of us, that mountain/struggle is something that we
are personally dealing with that we cannot figure out how to avoid/ get around
it …and no way it will never not be a struggle, right !?
·
An addiction.
·
A relationship.
·
A sin you can’t shake
·
An emotional issue.
·
A mental leap (of faith) that seems impossible.
No matter your struggles…
Water is stronger
than stone. The Holy Spirit in you is stronger than anything you face in this
life including sin & death.
PRAYER
Welcome & Campuses
GOD – Look up Romans 8 in your Bibles.
Today, we want to teach you how to let go of your rock and
embrace the waters
…how to really believe you are “advertisements for the
future”
…how to embrace Romans
8:1-2
“So
now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because
you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the
power of sin that leads to death.” (This is the power of the gospel!)
Our major problem is our SARKS:
(What’s that?)
Every once in awhile, the English translation of a Greek word in our Bibles is
a little rough. Romans 8 has one of those words. Sarks/sarkos is
translated many different ways:
·
NLT – sinful nature
·
MESSAGE – self
·
CEV – our desires
·
NIV/KJV– flesh or sinful flesh (probably the
closest)
·
GREEK – the material of which the human is
composed – your carcass J
This expresses the frailty of the human creature.
·
NOTE: this is not about the physical weakness
but sin… not cancer, disease or baldness, but disobedience of the king.
Our major problem with living a life of freedom in the power
of the Spirit is that we believe stone is stronger than water. We believe our
“sarks” can overpower the Holy Spirit.
Why is this?
Probably, because we are always trying to do things
ourselves. Probably, because we haven’t been brave enough to jump off the
cliffs. Probably, because we don’t understand the full power of the Holy Spirit
to help us. Probably, because we don’t BELIEVE that water is stronger than
stone.
So, how does the Holy Spirit, THE GIFT OF “live-in help,”
show that strength in our lives?
When we’re filled
with the Spirit, the flesh cannot win. (already/not yet?)
·
“5 Those who are dominated by the SARKS think about sinful things,
but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please
the Spirit. 6 So letting your SARKS
control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind
leads to life and peace. 7 For the SARKS
is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8
That’s why those who are still under the control of their SARKS can never please God. (they
are not believers!) 9 But you are not controlled by your SARKS. You are controlled by the
Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those
who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at
all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because
of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as
God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies
by this same Spirit living within you.”
·
We have the same power in us that Jesus did when
he conquered the grave!
·
You don’t have to give in to your body.
·
“Nowhere does Paul describe Christian life, life
in the Spirit, as one of constant struggle with the flesh.” G Fee
·
The Holy Spirit is sufficient/grace is
sufficient for our weaknesses.
·
This does not mean that temptation (or the
occasional action) will not take place, but it does mean “no condemnation.”
·
SARX is before Jesus changed us… Spirit life is
after conversion.
TRANSITION:
Jesus came in the very thing we battle (sarx)! We don’t view Jesus as hindered
or controlled by sarx, so why should we live in that place? (8:37) We are “more
than conquerors” as we partner with the Spirit!
When we’re filled
with the Spirit, our sonship cannot be removed.
·
Do you believe you are a son/daughter of God?
That you are adopted into the family?
·
“14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are
children of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful
slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own
children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our
spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”
·
We who follow Jesus have been born of water and
Spirit… Our adoption ceremony is over… you are in the family!
·
In “Slavery to Sonship,” author Jack Frost
discusses our troubles with this “adoption/sonship principle” arise from our
lack of basic trust. And, that basic trust needs to be restored daily by the
Holy Spirit so that we are able to receive the love of the Father.
·
So we need to understand: “You are not alone.
From the moment you were conceived in your mother’s womb, God has not left nor
forsaken you. He has promised not to leave you feeling like an orphan. He will
come to you. There has never been a moment in time when God has not pursued you
with His love and sought to purify, cleanse and restore you.”
Which leads us to our 3rd gift from our “live in
help”:
When we’re filled
with the Spirit, we cannot be separated from God’s love! (Important to share
grace and gospel here!)
·
(8:35) Can anything separate us?
·
“38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever
separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers
of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the
earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us
from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
·
The Holy Spirit is our teacher that God’s love
is always near.
·
He leads and empowers us through all things:
times of success and times of weakness.
·
God’s love is discovered through the story of
Jesus & guaranteed by the Holy Spirit (reference?).
YOU – Focus on the PERSON of the Holy Spirit in this
section!
Now that you are confident in your identity J and because we have
already won, it’s time to invade the kingdom of darkness with the Kingdom of
Light… and become the advertisements of the future that God has made you to be.
·
When facing
mountains, the Holy Spirit helps us pray. “26 And the Holy Spirit helps us
in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But
the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the
Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”
·
When
facing mountains, the Holy Spirit will use everything to your advantage. “28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those
who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
·
When
facing mountains, the Holy Spirit will fight for us. “31 What shall we say
about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against
us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all,
won’t he also give us everything else?”
·
8:4 in
the Message says to, “Simply embrace what the Holy Spirit is doing!”
WE – Where do we go from here?
George Hunter writes in THE
CELTIC WAY OF EVANGELISM that, “A tiger will defeat a lion in battle; but
five lions will defeat five tigers because the lions fight together and the
tigers do not, so the five lions take on one tiger at a time. Each Celtic tribe
was a formidable tiger in battle, greatly respected and feared. The Romans,
with legendary strength in organization and coordination, were the lions in the
lengthy series of battles against the specific tribes…”
You see as Spirit filled followers of Jesus, our greatness
against the kingdom of darkness is truly unleashed in the context of community.
When we move together, God is most perfectly revealed in us. Although the force
of one person fully committed to God is awesome, it’s nothing compared to all
of us moving together.
What do I mean by
this?
1.
Corporate Prayer/Worship (staff praying
together)
2.
Small groups
3.
Power evangelism teams
4.
Doing life together/ Accountability
5.
United service
Life in the Spirit is
not passive and not for a passive people…
We need to become RHINOS!
We all know that a group of fish is a school, birds are
flocks, cattle are herds, etc. But, a group of Rhinos is called a “crash.” This
is a great name for several reasons:
1)they weigh a lot,
2)they have large horns,
3)they can run over 30mph (squirrels can only reach 26mph),
and
4)most importantly, they can only see 30 feet in front of
them.
You’d think their poor eyesight would make them fearful, but
it doesn’t. As children of God, filled with the Holy Spirit and united in
purpose, we need to become a “crash.” Who cares that we can only see 30 feet
away? Whatever’s at 31 feet needs to start caring that WE ARE headed their way…
…for water is stronger than stone.
…the Spirit is more powerful than our struggles.
…light is more powerful than darkness.
PRAYER
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