Father, our prayer now is that you do not allow us to be ashamed to have placed hope in you. This is the experience we expect among many others. This is crucial, sir. Do not let us be ashamed of our hope, for God’s love has been poured into our hearts, obviously and experimentally, by the Holy Spirit. So now come to continue worshipping, to continue the communion of this moment in Your Word. I pray in the name of Jesus.
My focus on this message will be to spend the first half convincing you to seek the Holy Ghost; and in the second half, I’ll explain how to do it.
- On December 6.
- Almost a month ago.
- At 6:45 am.
- I was sitting in my chair in the living room.
- It was still dark outside.
- My little lamp created a little bubble of light in the room.
- My iPad was open on my lap and indicated my morning Bible reading.
- He had spent 36 minutes on the attic carpet.
- I showered.
- Made a cup of tea.
- And sat down to enjoy a moment of communion with the Lord Jesus.
- Which I do every morning in His Word.
- I remember stopping before I started reading the four passages for that day.
- And I thought: I love this stillness! I love this room.
- I love this rug.
- This furniture.
- This fireplace.
- I love this chair and its comfort.
- I love the lights.
- This little place where Jesus and I meet.
- I love the heat when it’s cold.
- I love the feeling in my muscles.
- I love this orange wool sweater with brown details all over it.
- I love the sweetness of this tea with a few drops of sweetener.
- And I have no pain anywhere in my body.
Can my mind change since I read the book? Avenue of spies? [Avenue des espions] by Alex Kershaw, about the French resistance when Paris was occupied by the Nazis in World War II. And I read how the Gestapo arrested, in Paris, anyone suspected of disloyalty to the Nazi regime and supporting the resistance. And when the jails were full, they took 50 and shot them. I have read articles on torture and have I tried it? I tried to think about it in my exquisite comfort, in my padded armchair, in my wool sweater, with my tea, in that tranquility, I imagined myself trapped, naked, submerged in a tank of cold water, and when I just couldn’t ‘I can’t resist not to scream, stay underwater until the water enters my lungs. Some never recovered and died. Others, knowing this, recovered and were asked if they would betray others in collaboration or if they would dive back into the water. But I did not imagine myself in Paris resisting the Nazis, but suffering for Jesus in a hostile environment. All I had to do to get my chair, my tea, my lamp was to say: Jesus is not my Lord. Jesus is not my savior. And Jesus is not my treasure. That was all he had to do to find this place again. And I asked myself: and the reason why I remember that day well is because I begged: “God, give me enough of You; Show me enough of the Father and the Son, by the power of your Spirit, that nothing, nothing, nothing will ever make me say such a thing. Whatever he faces, my God, don’t let that happen. Can’t I wish for this sweet moment to the point of paying the price for rejecting it?
Corrie ten Boom, who died in 1983, was a Dutch Christian who helped Jews escape Nazi Germany during the war. And at 52, she became trapped in a concentration camp. She asked the same question when she was a child. You have to know the story. He wondered, “Could I suffer without giving up?” She told this story once and talked about it with her father. “Father, I’m afraid I will never be strong enough to be a martyr of Jesus Christ. The father replied, “Tell me something. When travelling from Haarlem to Amsterdam, when do I give you money for tickets?Three weeks before?” No, Daddy, can I have the money right before you get on the train?He said, “It’s true. The same goes for the strength that comes from God. Our wise Heavenly Father also knows when we will need things. Today you don’t need the strength to be a martyr, but as soon as you’re called to the honor of facing death for Jesus, he’ll give you the strength you need at the right time.
Corrie continues: “I have been greatly comforted by my father’s advice. Later, I had to suffer for Jesus in a Nazi concentration camp. He, in fact, gave me all the courage and energy he needed. When he told this story, in the midst of the opening, he was illustrating 1 Peter 4:12-14. If you have a Bible, I invite you to open it, because that’s where most of my considerations come from. 1 Peter 4: 12-14. Es one of the most precious promises, related to the Holy Ghost, for our lives. This is one of the greatest calls to seek it with all my heart, I hope and pray. Well, I invite you to read with me. Many times I have been encouraged by this text, that the Holy Spirit would be with me, so that what seemed impossible to sit in my chair, would be possible even at the age of 72, suddenly, perhaps. be miraculously. Read. 1 Peter 4:12.
Beloved, do not be surprised by the fire that appears among you to savor them, as if something strange was happening to you; but rejoice in sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that when his glory is revealed, they may rejoice with great joy. Are you insulted by the name of Christ? Maybe it’s just an insult. Or be burned or frozen. Blessed art thou, for the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you. This can be a repeated experience in your life. Or it could be the ultimate work of the Holy Ghost before he dies. A final manifestation of the power of the Spirit that exalts Christ in his life. The Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you while enduring your last suffering. If you are insulted by the name of Christ, if you are rebuked, rebuked, insulted, dishonored or worse, if you are submerged in ice water, if you are exposed to fire, happy you are, because God will manifest Himself. The Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you. The Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God, res ts upon you.
Well, if when you read this, you tend to think, “Does this only apply to persecution, not cancer?” I don’t think that’s right. Of course, that’s the immediate context. But think about it, if you are in the final agony of cancer, or near death, and you decide that, even with cancer, you will suffer as a Christian, which will magnify the name of Jesus, you are experiencing the same thing. as a person persecuted by justice, how are they essentially different?The question before your soul is not essentially different, whether in persecution or cancer, here is the question: Will I turn against Christ with anger or will I trust him?It’s the same question, the same principles are at stake. Will I trust him, or will I be angry and desperate for the way He treats me or lets them treat me when, being Sovereign, I could be free?
If you receive suffering through prayer and a desire to magnify Christ, whether in persecution or cancer, you will suffer as a Christian. And this promise will be true for you. At the time of the test, the question will be placed in front of you. Can’t stop the chase, can’t stop this cancer?Where is he? And, according to this text, God Himself’s answer is: “I am resting here upon you in your agony of death. In glory. Oh, my God. What we will feel in shame, in degradation, in the misery of this moment, a moment devoid of all romance, will be as far away from the glory as we can imagine. It won’t look like glory. It won’t look like glory. The cross did not look like glory at all. It won’t be glorious. It’s going to be scary. But the Spirit of God will not allow that to be the last word. Because he is not only the Spirit of God, but the Spirit of glory.
Verse 14: The Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you. This is what you can count on as a child of God. What do you do when you come? What do you do when you reveal yours as the Spirit of God and glory?The intention is that these are attractive, why wouldn’t you want to seek the fulness of that Spirit?
So if God promises in 1 Peter 4:14 that God’s Spirit of glory will rest upon you with such personal and precious help during your trying time, why not seek it out? Why wouldn’t you spend your life reaching out to him and getting as much of him as possible? And if we add the broader scope of the Spirit’s work to 1 Peter 4:14, the argument only gets better. We know from John 3. 5: that it is the Holy Spirit who makes us be born again. “I tell you the truth: no one can enter the Kingdom of God if he is not born of water and the Spirit. We know from 1 Corinthians 12. 3: “No one can say: ‘Jesus is Lord’ if it is not by the Holy Spirit. We know from Romans 8:13 that we must mortify the acts of the body by the Spirit or we will die. We know from 2 Thessalonians 2:13 that all our efforts to seek sanctification will be in vain were it not for the Spirit, because it is His work! We know from Ephesians 1:17 that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of wisdom and that without it you will live a life of utter madness. Look at the world around you – pure madness! Because the Holy Spirit dwells in some, and is the spirit of wisdom. We know from 1 Corinthians 12. 7 that every believer receives a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. We know from Romans 8. 11: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from among you dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit, who dwells in you. Without Spirit without resurrection. Without Spirit, without new birth. Without Spirit, without confession of the lordship of Christ. Without Spirit, without victory over sin. Without Spirit, without progress in sanctification. Without Spirit, without spiritual wisdom. Without Spirit, without spiritual gifts and no resurrection, why wouldn’t you seek it out, why don’t you yell at it day after day?
So let’s spend the rest of the preaching talking about how to do this, because I guess you’re not stupid, but you want to do it! Is a person. It is not a force. We know this from John 14:16: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever. I am the first counselor, said Jesus, I am the first counselor, one person! And when I go, another like me will come. He is a person, a counselor, a friend. It does not concern you like a wind. This is just an illustration. Is a person. From the new birth sometime to the new creation in the future, we owe everything to this good and holy person. We owe the plan of everything to the wisdom of God, we owe it to the Son of God and the power to the person of the Spirit. So why not get it back? Why not? Can you answer because we already have it? What is to pick it up? It is true. Romans 8: 9 says: “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Christ. Goal. If you do not have the Spirit, then you are not a believer. But this is also true for faith. You do not have faith ? So you are not a believer. But Jesus said, “Men of little faith. ” So even though the Spirit does not divide into parts or parts, as I have four and you have six pieces of Spirit, even without the Spirit dividing in parts, his experience comes and happens in parts. It is always partial in this life. Even when you experience it to the fullest.
But Paul says in Ephesians 5:18: “Do not get drunk with wine, for he will lose control of you. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ” He says this probably because we are generally not full of Him. Be satisfied, Conference of Shepherds of Bethlehem! Being filled with the Spirit is the order that follows you in this conference. Be filled with the Holy Spirit!Be filled with the Spirit, pieces, but your experience of Him is in pieces, and you want all the pieces to come together to the fullest!That’s what Paul wants for you. All the Spirit you may have is available. Ramasser. No erase it and do not sadden It, for He desires to arrive fully. So here’s the question: how can you do that?
As the deer yearns for white water, my soul yearns for you, O God. My soul yearns for God, the living God. (Psalm 42) O God, you are my God, I seek you intensely; My soul is thirsty for you!Does my whole being yearn for you, in dry, depleted land without water?(Psalm 63. 1). Can you say that? If you can’t, then pray you can. Pray for this to happen here at this conference. You came here without thirst. It’s very, very dangerous in the ministry! When you lose the ability to be thirsty, you finally lose everything. We have to rekindle the fire. That’s why we’re here. We would like to be instruments to relive and thirst for this experience. “My whole being yearns for you in a dry, depleted land without water.
Then his promise for your final test, “the Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God, rests upon you,” will be more precious than all the money in the world at that time. You won’t care about the value of your actions, when you’re drowned in the water. All you regret is that you didn’t have the best knowledge, you didn’t want to look for it anymore. Come pick him up at this conference, at the end and in the hotel room.
Don’t you like Lucas’ version of this passage?Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock, and the door will open to you. For he that asks receives; What he seeks, finds; and when you touch the aldaba, the door will open. Which father of yours, if the son asks for a fish, will give you a snake instead?Or if they ask for an egg, they’ll give him a scorpion?be bad?, and I love the way Jesus speaks, I imagine the surprise of the disciples!If you, my beloved disciples for whom I will die as evil, “know how to give goods to your children, how much more Heavenly Father will give the Holy Ghost to whoever asks!”(Luke 11:9). -13). That’s what he says. This is your Father, and this is his greatest gift. He and His Son through His Spirit. He has even more of himself to give you. If you meditate, believe, obey, and desire, ask, and keep asking.
Well, I’d like to stop here and suggest we take a few minutes to do it. Then I’ll shut up, and you’ll do it yourself, with your head bowed, or perhaps even more precious, you swear on three or four people, and take about three minutes to simply say, “We have received you. If it is your will that, in this conference, you grant us a greater flavor, a complete experience of yourself, in the terms in which Pastor John has just exhibited, please live in us. Do as you feel comfortable, alone or in small groups, and I will come in about three minutes and lead the final prayer.
Spirit of the Living God Rests in Me Spirit of the Living God Rests on Me With Love and Form Me Fill Me and Use Me Spirit of the Living God Rests on Me