One Spirit

[00:00:01] Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. Well, good morning everybody. I'm glad you are here. We're in a new series called Sevenfold. And now in biblical numerology, the number seven is significant. It means perfection or completeness. So when you think of sevenfold and that word is used in the scripture, it means. [00:00:41] It means an abundance of. [00:00:44] It means a lot of. And we're studying a passage Here in Ephesians 4 where it identifies seven things that a church should embrace and seven things a church should be about. And we thought, well, if these are seven essentials in a church, then when we embrace these essentials, there can be a sevenfold blessing in the life of the church. We can be more mature as a church and we can accomplish more when we're on the same page on these seven things. Now, these are seven things I would say are essential. Now. There are a lot of things in the life of a church that are not essential. There are a lot of gray areas. There are a lot of places where the Bible doesn't speak to certain issues and you always get in trouble where you speak well when the Bible is silent because then you are inserting an opinion into something you can't support with Scripture. And so those are non essentials. I think the most essential thing that a church can embrace is the things that make the difference between heaven or hell. And that essential element is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Not your religion, not your church affiliation, not even your baptism, not the amount of money that you decide to give or the places you decide to serve. None of that really matters. It is important, but not when it comes to heaven or hell. The most important thing when it comes to that issue is what did you do with Jesus, whether you receive him or reject him. And that's something that we will always want to get right. And everything else pales in comparison to that. That's the big thing. And the most significant thing take away from you coming to our church, I hope, is that you walk away either with a relationship with Christ or at least knowing how to have that relationship with Christ. And when you look into the Bible, once the church is established, it talks about seven really Pillars, seven cardinal beliefs that a church should embrace in the church, should stand on and build on. And those are the seven things that we're going to be looking at. Look in Ephesians, chapter four, our text this morning we'll pick it up in verse one. Paul writing, and he says, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Now notice Paul opens that chapter with that word therefore. And I've told you before, when you see the word therefore in the Bible, always look and see what it's there for. It connects what he's about to say with what he's just said. And what he has just said in the first three chapters is this is what Jesus Christ did for you so that you could have a relationship with him. This is all that Jesus continues to do in your life. This is the significance of having a relationship with Jesus. And on that basis, on everything God has done for you, he said, therefore you should walk worthy. You should live each day of your life as a gift with all lowliness. Verse 2 and gentleness. What does that term, lowliness mean? That means I'm not in control and I'm okay with that. I've surrendered the control of a lot of the things in life that are simply out of my control. And I'm going through life not feeling like I need to control everything. I'm. It's a low. It's a spirit of loneliness, meaning I'm not a controlling person. And for some people, the best advice and takeaway you could get this morning would be just resign from control of the universe. Just let it go. [00:04:01] And the idea of lowliness is this idea that I'm finally releasing control. I am absolutely recognizing so much is out of my control anyway. So I'm going to walk through life with lowliness. Gentleness. Long suffering, there's another word, it means it takes a lot to make you mad. [00:04:18] And that's not a great description of some people. Some people, it's just ready, fire, aim, right? I mean, it doesn't take much and they'll go to Wanda on you. And he's saying, look, you need to be long suffering. It should require a lot to make you mad. When it comes to Jesus, the Bible says in second Peter 2, he's long suffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. It just means it takes a lot to make him mad. Long suffering. And then he goes on to say endeavoring in verse three, endeavoring to Keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Now understand that he didn't say create the unity. He said keep the unity. And I touched on that last weekend. But this is important. I can't and you can't. We can't together create unity. [00:05:04] In the life of a church, there is great diversity. And out of that diversity, only God can create unity. We come from different places, we have different life experiences. Some of you are were raised in certain churches, you have traditions. Some of you were not raised in church. You don't even know what a church tradition might look like. Some people you have an idea of what your theology is, some of you, you don't. And so we have all of these backgrounds. Some of you are at one persuasion politically, some are another persuasion politically. So you get these people in the room with all these opinions, you've got all that diversity. And only the spirit of God can create unity, Right? It's the spirit of God in me connecting with the spirit of God in you. And that creates unity. Now so the point Paul was making here is we can't create unity. Here's what we can do. Keep the unity. [00:05:55] So anything that affects disunity, discord, that causes people to have a problem with other people, those are the things we can control. [00:06:03] And so we're careful to not allow disunity to creep into the life of the church and the lives of people, because we are commanded of God to keep the unity that he's created in the life of the church, in the bond of peace. And then verse four, here are those seven things he said. Number one, there is one body. I talked about that last weekend. When the Bible speaks of one body, it's speaking of the body of Christ. And that means two things. Number one, it means the universal body of Christ, meaning that everyone on the planet that knows Jesus as Savior, you're connected with the body of Christ. [00:06:37] Everyone, regardless of who you are or where they live on the planet, if they know Jesus, they're connected into the body of Christ. So there is a body of Christ that is universal, it is mystical, it is spiritual, it can't be seen, but it is a connection we have with other believers in Christ. Then the second type of body is the body that is local. [00:06:58] The ecclesia, the called out gathering or assembly. We're in a local body this morning and they're all over town, local bodies, ecclesias. And everyone that is a part of the universal body needs to be a part of a local body. In the New Testament, there was the Church at Jerusalem, the church at Ephesus, the church at Colossae, the church at Thyatira. There was a church at Pergamos, there was a church at Philippi. I had all these churches that ran throughout the New Testament. They were all ecclesias, they were local called out assemblies or gatherings and people identified into the lives of those churches. So there's one body, and so it is the body of Christ. And then this morning we're gonna look at the next one. And that is one Spirit. One spirit. There is one Holy Spirit. And I wanna talk to you for a little while about the significance of the Holy Spirit, his presence in our life, the peace that he brings, the provision he provides, the power that he gives. How important and significant is this work of the Holy Spirit? Now let me say this. I go into this. The Holy Spirit is not just an influence, though the Holy Spirit has influence. He's more than an influence. The Holy Spirit is a personality. He is a part of the triune Godhead. He has uniqueness and he has personality. When you study the Bible, you have God the Father, you have God the Son, and you have God the Holy Spirit. The Bible says there are three who bear witness in heaven, and, and those three are one. The Holy Spirit is not less than the Son, nor is he less than the Father. Sometimes we think of him in that way because he comes in that order. We think of the Father, Son and the Spirit. And the reason we, we call them in that order is because that's how they're introduced to us in the Bible. The Bible introduces the idea of God in the beginning. God. It opens with God, so we learn about God. And then you learn about the coming Messiah, which is Jesus. And so Jesus is the next part of the Godhead that's introduced to us in Scripture. And then you have the coming of the Holy Spirit, as is promised by Jesus in the New Testament. And so we think of him not as being third in priority, but third in the sense of the way in which he's introduced in Scripture. The Father, the Son and the Spirit. But as we talk about one Spirit, I just want to emphasize the fact he's not less in significance and he's not less in value. He is a part of that triune Godhead. I believe when God created everything and he said, let us make man in our image, he was referring to the work of the Father and the work of the Son and the work of the Holy Spirit. You and I are created in the likeness of God, the imago dei. Now we're a wrecked image of the original design because of sin, but we're in that original design nonetheless. And so the work of the Holy Spirit is seen throughout the Bible. In fact, when you think about the first point, I want to give you the embodiment of this Holy Spirit, how the Holy Spirit is seen and realized in our life. He's introduced in two different ways. [00:09:51] In the Old Testament, you see the Spirit of God as he would come upon people, empower them for a certain task, and then remove himself from them. You don't see the. You don't see the Holy Spirit indwelling people in the first in the Old Testament simply because the work of the cross was not yet completed, Salvation was not yet complete. [00:10:13] Jesus had not yet gone to the cross. He had not made atonement for sin. All of that was in the future. And so the Holy Spirit would come upon people and empower them, but he couldn't indwell them because salvation was not yet completed. And so you see, for example, Judges, you see the strong man of the Bible, Samson. We're all familiar with Samson and his girlfriend Delilah, who learned the secret of his strength in his Nazarite vow to never cut his hair. And once the hair was cut, the vow would be broken and he would lose his power. And she tested that on one occasion. She cuts his hair while he's asleep. And when he wakes up, she says, the Philistines are here, they're threatening us. And he goes out to fight them as he had always done. But when you read Judges 13, the Bible says this in verse 6, and this is where I'm going. He said he did not discern that the Spirit of God had departed from him. [00:11:03] The Spirit that before had empowered him now had pulled away from him and, and departed from him. So the Spirit of God would come upon people in the Old Testament, empower them, and then he would depart from them. So you never had the indwelling presence of God in the Old Testament simply because the work of the cross was not yet completed. Of course, you ask the question, well then how were people in the Old Testament? How were they saved? They were saved just like we're saved today. The people in the Old Testament were saved by looking forward to the cross, believing that one day Jesus would come, that he would die, that he would rise again. They believed one day that would happen. You and I today are saved by looking back at the cross, believing one day Jesus did come and he did die and he did rise again. But we're saved the same way for Example in Romans, chapter four, when the Apostle Paul was talking about what I'm talking to you about this morning, how people in the Old Testament came to faith, he said, let's take Abraham, for example. Our Father is pertaining to the flesh. Romans 4. He said, what is it that Abraham did? What made the difference in Abraham? Why is he in heaven? And then he goes on to answer his own hypothetical. He said, abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness. And it's interesting because in the Greek language, that word accounting is the word impute. It's an accounting word. It means to put on the account of another. [00:12:30] There is a doctrine called the doctrine of imputation, which means that when you receive Jesus as Savior, he takes our sins, the sins that we've committed are imputed. They're put on his account at the cross. And then his righteousness is imputed onto us. He who knew no sin became sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It's through imputation that that happens. It happened at the cross. And so my point is the Paul was saying those Old Testament saints, like Abraham, they believed that Jesus one day would come. They died in faith, not receiving the promise, but they died believing. And so they're in heaven today because of faith. Now, you and I, I never saw Jesus. I never saw the cross. I never saw the resurrection, didn't witness any of that. I'm taking it by faith, just as Abraham did, that it did happen. Jesus, just as he took it by faith that it that it would happen, I'm taking it by faith that it did happen and we're saved the same way. Does that make sense? And so you have the working of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament coming down and empowering and then removing his presence from them. Well, then something else happens. [00:13:38] In the New Testament, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come. In fact, look at 1 Corinthians 12:13. By one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, the Church. [00:13:50] Whether Jews, Greeks, slaves, or free Republicans, Democrats, we were all made to drink of one Spirit. And Jesus promised in John 16, verse 7, it's to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Holy Spirit will not come. If I depart, I will send him to you. [00:14:08] So Jesus was saying to his apostles who were grieving over his going to the cross and then going back up to heaven. He's saying, it's important when I finish the work of salvation at the cross and I make atonement for sin. And that way is now complete. In fact, one of the last things Jesus said on the cross was, it is done, it is finished, meaning all the work necessary to know Jesus is done. That work is complete. And when Jesus ascended in Acts chapter one, the Holy Spirit descended in Acts chapter two. And it then began a new dynamic in the life of people where he indwells people. That had never happened before the ascension of Jesus. And Jesus said in John 16, Listen, trust me, it's good for you that I go. Because if I go, I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will be with you, and he'll be inside of you, and he has promised never to leave you, and he will never forsake you. One of the dynamics of the coming of the Holy Spirit is that he seals us. [00:15:10] Ephesians 1, verse 13. After you believed, when were we sealed? After we believed, when I placed my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That moment, that day as a little kid in my dad's church, I humbled my heart and invited Jesus into my life. At that moment, I was sealed with the Holy Spirit. [00:15:29] It's important, the wording of that with the Holy Spirit, not by the Holy Spirit. If he would have said, I'm sealed by the Holy Spirit, that's great. But that meant. That means I might be sealed with something that could be broken, but I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit, meaning that he cannot lie and he cannot be broken. So the one who seals me in the deal is the presence of God. In fact, Paul picks that up again in Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 20, where he talks about, how long is the seal good? He says in Ephesians 4, 20, I'm sealed. You're sealed unto the day of the redemption. What does that mean? What is the day of redemption? The day of redemption is if you've got a product and it's sealed, and the day you pop that seal, you've redeemed was good until you broke the seal. And the moment the seal is broken and you've redeemed the contents, then that. Then. Then the contents now are exposed. My salvation is good until my redemption is complete. And my redemption will be complete one day when I step into heaven. Does that make sense? The day of redemption and my redemption is still in process. [00:16:34] I am still being redeemed. He saved me at the cross. My life is being saved. And one day my body will be saved in the presence of my Lord. And so we're redeemed until the. Until that day of redemption. So this is the embodiment of the Spirit. In fact, when you study it a little more, it's interesting when you consider how significant the Holy Spirit is in our everyday life. The first thing he does is, is he convinces people that they need Jesus. In fact, In Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 18, Paul prayed this for the people at Ephesus. He said, I pray that the eyes of your heart are enlightened. [00:17:09] Think about the wording of that. The eyes of your heart. Did you know your heart has eyes? [00:17:13] The eyes of your heart. My heart has eyes. What does that mean? We call that enlightened. [00:17:19] Enlightened. Now, my eyes I the light of this room. I can see around. I can see you and you see me. [00:17:25] But our hearts are hidden and we can't. So our hearts need to be enlightened. And the first thing the Holy Spirit does is he enlightens my heart to truth. He makes me aware of my need for the Savior. [00:17:38] That's why the work that I do as a pastor or a preacher or a teacher is not to try to talk you into something. [00:17:45] Because if I can talk you into something, somebody else can come along and talk you out of it. [00:17:50] My job is to teach you the truth based on God's word. The Holy Spirit's job then is to take that truth and convince you. Convince you that that is true, that this is something you need to do. And we see that happen oftentimes in the life of the church, where I'll be out in the lobby, I'll be talking to people, and somebody will say something like this, hey, man, did my wife send you an email? You stepped all over my toes or whatever. And I'm thinking, well, I don't think I went negative. I don't even know what he's talking about. For some reason, he took that as a rebuke. And then the next person may say, that was one of the most encouraging things I've heard you say, I want to thank you for that. And my head kind of spins and I go, what? How is it this guy felt rebuked while this guy felt encouraged? How the heck I said the same thing? [00:18:31] Well, the thing that happened was it was the work of the Holy Spirit. He was convincing someone of something in their life and convincing someone else of something else in their life. And it wasn't me. It was the work God did with His Word. And that's one of the things the Holy Spirit does. It happens every time somebody gives their heart to Jesus. [00:18:48] You ever met anybody that just said, man, I'll never be a Christian. I don't even talk to me about that. I've got a lot of people I know like that. When I've talked, I don't hear about Jesus. I don't want to hear. I don't want to talk. Don't talk to me about Jesus. That's a closed subject. And I always take comfort because I think about the apostle Paul, right? I think about Paul prior to his conversion with Saul. [00:19:07] And he was a man who put people to death. He hated God. Well, no, he didn't hate God. He hated Jesus. [00:19:15] And he believed he was doing the work of God by killing Christians because he thought Christians were cultic. [00:19:21] You know, the church was this new cult that had gotten started, and he had heard rumors that they eat flesh and drink blood. You know, something called communion. He's freaked out by that. And so he was just like, man, I gotta put these people down. These people are. They're crazy. They're crazy. And that's what he was doing. In fact, the first martyr of the New Testament was Stephen. And you read the story of Stephen in Acts 7, and they're killing him simply because he believed that Jesus, whom they had crucified, was risen from the dead. He was the Lord. And he was telling people about Jesus. And the religious. Those. Those Jewish religious leaders were picking up rocks to stone him to death. Because when you claim to be God, the Old Testament law said, you need to be stoned. You need to be put down. The problem they had was the Jewish people were not legally authorized to. To apply capital punishment. They were living under the auspices of Rome. Rome was the governing authority of the world in that day. In fact, even the Jewish leaders didn't have the authority to crucify Jesus. That's why they took him to Pilate. And that's why when they took Jesus to Pilate, they said, he claims to be God. And Pilate said, doesn't bother me. Maybe he is a God. He's polytheistic. I'll just put him on my mantle with all the other gods. And then they said, oh. And they thought, regroup. He said, but he also says he's a king. [00:20:39] And Pilate's like, sidebar. Jesus, look, you can be God, and we're all good with you being God. You can't be king when you're a king. That gets me in trouble with my boss. The law is, there's no king but Caesar. There's no Lord but Caesar. You can't exert yourself above Caesar. And Jesus explains to him what they've Said, they've said. And notice the superscription above the cross was the legal right that Pilate put Jesus to death. Here is Jesus. He King of the Jews. There was treason against Caesar was the legal charge against Jesus. It was capital punishment. And he was crucified. What's my point about Stephen? They didn't have the authority to stone him to death. But the Bible says if you read Acts 7, Paul was there holding the coats. And then it says, consenting unto death. Unto his death. Meaning he signed his death warrant. [00:21:26] So here's. Here's Saul the first martyr. Remember Stephen said, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. [00:21:32] And Jesus welcomes him home. And here Stephen was, did nothing but preach Jesus. And they killed him for that. And the man that was responsible for his death was Saul. He's a bad dude, man. He's a bad guy. And I mean, he hated Christians. And yet, read Acts 9. [00:21:50] Something happens on the road to Damascus. And Jesus speaks to him out of heaven. And the Holy Spirit of God convinces him that the voice you're hearing is the voice of none other than God. And the second thing that happens is the second thing the Holy Spirit does once he convinces me, he convicts me. He makes me aware that I need Jesus. In John 16, verse 8, when he comes, he will convict the world of sin. [00:22:15] What does it mean to be convicted? It means to be busted. [00:22:18] Loosely translated, it means to say, I know I did it. [00:22:23] I did it. I'm guilty. [00:22:25] That's me. I'm the one. [00:22:27] And what brings you to that point? The work of the Holy Spirit. [00:22:31] He says, look, Jesus is God and he loves you and he died for you. And he'll say, all right, I'm convinced of that. But he said, and you need Jesus, by the way. Cause you can't save yourself. And all of a sudden, I'm getting convicted. Because I know I'm away from God and I need. Hey, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. He's convincing me. He's convicting me. Here's the third thing he does. He. He converts me. He converts me. Meaning he brings me into the family. John 6:64. It is the Spirit of God that gives life. [00:23:00] Mark chapter one, verse eight. I baptize you with water. But the Holy Spirit baptized you will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So it's the Spirit of God. We're baptized with the Spirit of God into the relationship with Jesus. So think about it. Track with me. Now. He convinces me, he convicts me. He converts me. And the next thing he does after that is he converses with me, meaning he'll speak to my heart and he'll speak into my soul, and he'll speak into my life. He guides me and he gives me direction. He tells me what to do and what not to do. And sometimes he takes the confusion of my heart and interprets that when I try to pray. Listen to this verse. Romans 8:26. When we do not know how to pray as we should, the Holy Spirit makes Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. What does that mean? [00:23:52] How does he converse to the Father on our behalf? Has your heart ever been so broken and your spirit and soul been so crushed that you couldn't even put into words how you were feeling? [00:24:03] I used to think I knew what that was like until I lost Cindy and a few months later, till I lost my granddaughter, one of my granddaughters, Evie. [00:24:13] And man, when you go through something where your heart is broken and your soul is crushed and somebody asks you how you're doing and you really don't have the word, you can't even describe. [00:24:23] Have you had a loss like that? [00:24:25] Some of you have. [00:24:27] And the Bible here is saying in Romans 8, when we do, and then we know, you know, I need to talk to God about. I just don't. I don't even know how to say. I don't know how to describe how I'm feeling. [00:24:37] The Bible says in that moment. Here's what it means. When he says, he makes intercession with groanings, which cannot be. That means the Holy Spirit looks at the confusion of my heart and mind and says, father, here's what he's trying to say. He doesn't have the words to say. [00:24:51] Her mind is so confused right now, she can't even put into words how she's feeling. But here's where she is. She's your daughter. He's your son. And here's what they're. That's how the Holy. That's how he converses. [00:25:05] That's how he. And can I tell you something else that he does. He also comforts. [00:25:10] When Jesus said, the Holy Spirit comes in John 14, he said he will comfort us. [00:25:17] You know, we all try to comfort people from time to time. And in order to really comfort someone, it helps if you kind of understand where they are and where they've been. [00:25:26] And it's hard sometimes to sympathize or even empathize with somebody if you haven't walked down the road that's similar to the road they've walked down. But doesn't it help when somebody you're talking to really gets where you are? Because they've been where you are. There's just a connection you have, right? [00:25:44] And it's something. There's just a. I don't know. There's a connection and a fellowship. You get in pain. [00:25:50] And the Bible is simply saying that we have someone who gets it. Have you ever talked to somebody. Let me think about this. Have you talked to somebody that doesn't get where you are? [00:25:59] And you make the mistake of going ahead and sharing how you're feeling? And I say, make the mistake. Cause you catch their eye and they're glazed over. [00:26:08] They're looking off like, you know, like, when will he shut up, you know? Or when will she stop talking? [00:26:14] And you're like, okay, I have just opened up something in my heart that this person doesn't get. So I'm going to abort the mission and return to base because they do not get what I'm talking about. [00:26:25] Can I tell you something? You've never had that experience with your Heavenly Father. [00:26:29] He's a comforter. [00:26:31] You can go with Him. Even if you can't put into words how you're feeling, you don't have a. Listen, the Bible says we don't have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. But he was in all points, tempted, as we are tempted. Yet he without sin. [00:26:47] He said that in Hebrews, meaning he gets you. [00:26:51] He gets what you're going through when you don't understand it and you can't get. You got a Holy Spirit who has embodied himself in your life. And he can say to you, I get it. I get you. You don't have to put it in words. I understand. [00:27:05] You can't describe it anyway, so don't try. [00:27:08] Just be still before me. Be quiet before me. Just open your heart and commune with me. And allow me to interpret the confusion of your heart. And I'll tell your Holy Father what it is you're dealing with in this moment. And he communicates with groanings which cannot be uttered. Folks, that is the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. And when you have him in your life, you're never alone. You never go through anything without his presence in your life. He's always there. He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. So that's the embodiment of the Spirit. Let me give you quickly, secondly, the employment of the Spirit. How does the Spirit Work in my life each day and in your life each day. How does he speak? Let me give you an illustration of it. In Acts 16, in Acts 16, you have the apostle Paul, and they're going and preaching the Word. And when you get down to verse six, the Holy Spirit does something kind of unusual. And that is, he restrains them. He doesn't allow them to go into Asia Minor. Now they're thinking, well, this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to preach the gospel in areas that they have never heard, and Asia Minor needs the gospel. So we're supposed to. Supposed to go. And the Holy Spirit says, whoops, stop, stop. [00:28:19] It's not time. You're not ready. They're not ready. Wait, wait, wait. And he restrains them. [00:28:26] And before the Holy Spirit releases them, he first of all restrains them. Now, let me give you this illustration. I don't know how many of you ever taught your kids how to drive. [00:28:35] I had that experience. Cindy was like, bill, I am not wired for the patience here. You're going to have to do this. So I got the joy of teaching those. Those boogers how to drive when that time came. [00:28:45] And so let me ask you the question. When you. When you were sitting in the car, the front seat of the car with those kids, and you're familiar. You're getting them familiar with everything, and what is the first thing you point out to the kids before you ever put the car in driving began to move. Do you point out the accelerator or the brake pedal? I'm just curious. Me too. Brake pedal. They know they. They know that accelerator. They know the go. They don't. They don't know the stop. [00:29:12] When I took driver's ed, way back in the day, I took driver's head. The first time I got in the car to drive, I was 15 years old. Of course, he didn't know. My mom had let me drive Since I was 14, we lived out in the country. That's a whole nother story. I need milk. Get in the car. I'm 14. Go slow. [00:29:31] All right. I look for stuff to go to the store for. Need butter. We might be low on butter. I throw it away. In fact, I'm sure we're out of butter. [00:29:39] So I'd been. I didn't tell many people that. And kids, that's wrong. Please don't go. And that's all wrong. I'm not proud of that. I'm just saying. My mom was. She's a country girl. So I drove from the time I was 14. So by the time I was 15, I was a pretty good driver. I was the best one in the car for our. And that's not saying a lot, but I was the best one of that group. And I remember getting in there and I'd never seen this before, but in the floorboard of the instructor side of the car was a brake pedal. Did y' all have that? Any of the drivers had a brake pedal over there. [00:30:07] And I noticed there's not an accelerator. And I asked him, the driver, I said, well, where's the accelerator? Why don't you have an accelerator? He said, I've never needed it. [00:30:18] It's the stopping that's the problem with the kids. It's not the going. What's my point? My point is you'll never understand the release of the Holy Spirit if you aren't sensitive to the restraint of the Holy Spirit. [00:30:32] God is a God of timing. [00:30:34] Everything he does, he does. I think he's a drummer. [00:30:37] He's a God of timing, of rhythm. He's a musician. He has rhythm. That's why it says, when Jesus was on the Earth, it's not my time to die. He wasn't afraid to die. He's not time. [00:30:48] And then finally it says, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son. God's a God of timing. He may not be saying no. He just may be saying, not now. He wasn't telling Paul, you can't go into Asia Minor with the Gospel. Jesus came to save the world. He just said, the timing is wrong. It's not a good time for you. It's not a good time for them. So I'm going to. I'm going to pull you back. I'm going to restrain you. And so a wise person is sensitive to how the Holy Spirit is working. And you understand the restraint of the Holy Spirit, because if you'll read on, in Acts 16, you'll also see finally the release of the Spirit. He says, immediately, we left. [00:31:23] So you have the revelation of the Spirit, how God spoke to them, the restraint of the Holy Spirit, and you have the release of the Holy Spirit. All right, there in Acts 16. That's how the Holy Spirit works in our life. [00:31:33] He makes himself aware. [00:31:36] He then tells us and gives us discernment on what we're to do. And listen, not just what we're to do, when we're to do it. [00:31:42] Did you know? Sometimes the when to do is just as important, and I think it's equally as important as the what to do. [00:31:51] Sometimes you may know what to do, you just may not know when to do it. [00:31:54] And you can do the right thing at the wrong time and it not work out right. [00:32:01] You go barging into door, breaking down doors God's not opening, you'll end up in rooms you didn't want to be in. [00:32:08] And God may make you go back and hang the door back on the hinges. [00:32:11] So I'd rather him open the door. [00:32:14] Paul said, there's a great and effectual door that is opened unto me, that is opened. He didn't say, I opened it, it's opened unto me. [00:32:20] Paul said, God opened the door and I walked through the door. So part of the restraint of the Holy Spirit is let him open the door. [00:32:25] And the minute he opens the door, sense his release and step through the threshold and go do what he's called you to do. So know the what of it and know the when of it. [00:32:33] I've shared this with you before, but it's important. [00:32:36] When God is working in your life and the Holy Spirit is directing you, he will always lead you. [00:32:42] He will not push you. [00:32:44] If you're feeling pressured to make a decision, that's not God. [00:32:49] I don't care what kind of pressure it is. He doesn't pressure his kids. He leads his kids. [00:32:55] That's why he calls us sheep and not cattle. [00:32:59] Don't get me wrong, I love cows. They're delicious. [00:33:03] But we're not called to be cowboys. We're called to be shepherds. What's the difference? [00:33:09] Well, if you're going to move cattle, you push them. [00:33:12] You get behind them and you push them. That's the only way you're gonna move em is you gotta push em. If you push sheep, you know what they do? They scatter. You're not gonna push sheep. If you're gonna move sheep, you gotta get in front of them and lead them. They'll follow you. And so my point is, God is called the Good Shepherd. He's called the Great shepherd, meaning that when God is going to move his kids, he doesn't get behind you and go, yeah, with a whip, get up, hot shot, go. [00:33:39] Instead, he gets out in front of you and he leads you. [00:33:43] So discern, am I being pressured or am I being led? [00:33:47] And if you're being pressured, just hit the brake. [00:33:50] Right? [00:33:51] Hold on. It might be the right decision, it might be the wrong time. So I'm not gonna do it now. Cause I'm feeling pressure. And I'm gonna wait until I feel released, until I feel the leadership of God. And I don't wanna sound all esoteric here on you, but I can tell you I've had this happen to me in my life when I literally woke up with an epiphany, the enlightenment. I woke up feeling like this is what I'm supposed to do, and this is the day I'm supposed to do it. [00:34:17] And up until that point, I had peace about what I was supposed to do. I didn't have peace about when I was supposed to do it. But one day I woke up and God, it was like he was saying, okay, it's time. That's all I'm driving at. [00:34:28] And what is it that gives you that sense? It is the partnership with the Holy Spirit. [00:34:33] He's living within you. He's abiding within you. When you're listening to him, you remember, well, let me give you this last one. That's the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, how he empowers you to do what he's called you to do. And he always empowers you through his presence. [00:34:49] And by the way, he won't call you to do anything that he does not empower you, that he does not equip you to do. Listen to them. Listen to this. Ephesians 3:20. To God, who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, how is he gonna do according to the power of his Holy Spirit that is at work within me, how's God going to do more in and through my life? It's according to His Holy Spirit that's working in me. [00:35:15] So when I'm partnering with him and I'm listening to him and I'm sensitive to him, he will not only equip me and enable me, but he will empower me to do what he's called me to do in his timing. [00:35:26] Remember the story of Samuel in the Old Testament when he was living with the priest Eli for that period of time? [00:35:34] And in Second Samuel three and change, he in the middle of the night, Eli in his room, he hears what he thinks was. [00:35:41] No, Samuel hears what he thinks is Eli calling him. [00:35:45] So he wakes up and he goes in and wakes the old gentleman up. And he goes, eli, did you call? And he goes, no, Sam, I didn't call you. Go back to bed. You must been having a bad dream. So he goes back and he lays down. In a little while, he hears his name being called again. So he said, okay, I know, I'm not imagining that. So he goes in and he wakes Eli up again. Eli, did you wake me? Did you call Me. I'm here. And Eli goes, no, Sam, I didn't call you. And then all of a sudden, Eli kind of goes, oh. [00:36:11] He said, you know what? That might have been God trying to get your attention. And then he said this. And this is profound. This is the point of this illustration. He said, the next time you hear your voice, you hear your name called, say these words, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. [00:36:27] Speak, Lord, for your servant. Here's the problem you and I get into, and I'm gonna close with this. We approach God this way. We say to God, listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking. [00:36:38] Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking. And we need to approach him just the opposite way. [00:36:44] We need to say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. [00:36:49] I want to do your will, your way. You know what's best. I don't want to get ahead of you. I don't want to move if you're not leading. I want to follow your direction. I've told you before, God only wants for you what you would want for you if you just knew what he knows. [00:37:03] So you can trust him. But how does he lead? How does he work? How does he guide? How does he guard? Through the presence of his Holy Spirit that is living within you and me. [00:37:14] And he will be there until the moment we step into the presence of our Savior. There is one body and there is one spirit. Let's pray. [00:37:26] Father. Thank you for your word. [00:37:28] Lord, every time we study your word, we're reminded of how practical that it is. [00:37:35] It is so practical that even the smallest child among us can comprehend it. [00:37:40] And it's not only practical, but it's possible. [00:37:42] It's possible to do your will. [00:37:45] We can follow and walk in obedience with your word. You made it so that we can actually do this. [00:37:51] And then, Lord, we're mindful of the fact that not only is it practical and is it possible, but it's also powerful. [00:37:59] Your Word has the power to change lives. [00:38:02] It can change minds and hearts. [00:38:05] It can give hope when we feel hopeless, and it can give comfort when we feel broken. [00:38:10] It can give encouragement when we feel lost and desperate. [00:38:14] Father, thank you for the power of your word. [00:38:18] And finally, Lord, I pray this morning for my friends who may never have trusted you as their Savior, that this might be the moment in the closing moments of our service now where they humble their heart right where they are and say, lord Jesus, with all that I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. [00:38:35] Come into my heart. [00:38:37] Forgive my sin. And I ask this in Christ's name. Amen. [00:38:43] Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week. [00:38:57] Sam.