Tag Archives: holy spirit

Better than Sacrifice – 1 Samuel 15

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The subject for my second sermon which I preached at New-Life Church this Sunday gone was:  “To obey is better than sacrifice”.

It was based on when King Saul only partialy obeyed the Word of the Lord.  I examined motives, the excuses and God’s hate of disobedience, and he delight in obedience.  To finish I spoke on the help we have from the Holy Spirit and the importance of not trying to “go it alone” like King Saul was doing!

See below the Sermon Notes (Leader Notes for the House Groups) and the Discussion Points.  Feel free to use at your own churches.  If you have any feedback, please do contact me.

Recording will be available soon.

Leader Notes – To Obey is Better than Sacrifice

Discussion Points – To Obey is Better than Sacrifice

Undignified – 2 Samuel 6: 12 – 23

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God is Good All The Time.  This has been the message of Phils preaches, as well as discussions within lifegroups.  Also that the pursuit of Gods presense is a vital part of growing in faith and our relationship with the Lord.

With this said we can often look at others, how they worship, how they react to the Lord presense and we if we don’t understand it, we can often judge it to be “over the top” or “american”!  OK so a bit of that is the Britishness in us, but the main reason is because we have developed in our minds, a list of acceptable worship methods and reactions that we feel comfortable with.  Should we then see or experience something that is not covered by our list, we are immeadiately uncomfortable with the situation.

The thing is, lots of amazing things happened in the Bible, and our short list of “acceptable” styles of worship does not do it justice!  We certainly shouldn’t be boxing the Lord God almighty into a list of expectation and acceptability.  God is almighty and cannot be contained, or restrained.  He will act how He sees fit, and people will react and worship in different ways.

Looking then at this passage in Samuel, David is really going for it!  Without the fear of what others will say or think, David worships the Lord with dancing.  Michal looks at this, and perhaps it was a bit of pride, and perhaps also she did not have dancing in her “acceptable” list, but when she sees this she is obviously uncomfortable and she challenges David.  His response is as follows (NIV):

22 “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

David is prepared to dance, to do whatever it is that He feels will glorify the Lord no matter what others think.  He is prepared to do even more that what he did.  He was certainly not going to confirm to other people expectations, he was also not going to worry about what people thought or said about his actions!  He was c oncentrating

on worshiping the Lord and Glorifying Him.

I think therefore we should become “undignified” ourselves.  No longer being concerned with looking “normal” or conforming to expectations, but we should let ourselves go and worship the Lord in whatever way we feel is right, and that Glorifies His name.  And also, when we see others worshiping, and perhaps their style is something we are not used to, or do not understand, lets not be quick to judge or admonish, but we should remember the day that King David, yes the King of a Great Nation, let his own hair down and worshipped the Lord “David” style!

Spiritual Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

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Last night at our Lifegroup, we discussed the gifts of the Spirit. As part of our aims in our new Lifegroup we: “aim to encourage the use of the gifts of the Spirit in order to strengthen us spiritually as individuals and as a group”. Brynn therefore felt we should pick up on this and learn more about what the gifts of the Spirit actually are. We first looked through the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.

Wisdom

I understand this to be the ability to advise in difficult situations, resolving arguments, solving problems etc. I don’t think it refers either to a worldly wisdom but one that is of a divine nature.

Knowledge

Knowledge of the Word, and being able to effectively communicate the Word and the Knowledge gained from it.

Faith

Matthew 17:19-20 talks of faith enabling you to achieve wonderful and amazing things. As believers we all have faith, however I think this refers to a more radical faith where the normal rationalisations we add to a situation no longer apply to those people, and the have complete and utter faith in the Lord for something.

Healing

Jesus healed the sick.  By the power of the Holy Spirit some are able to pray over the sick and the sick are healed.  I think healing can cover both physical and mental illnesses or afflictions.

Miraculous Powers

Seems to tie in with healing, however there are stories too of other miraculous things taking place in modern times, for example people being raised from the dead.

Prophecy

The ablitiy to receive pictures and Word direct from the Lord, and to then be able to effectively communicate these to the group or to the individual that picture or word is for.  I used to think that prophecy was about predicting the future, however it would seem it is more being a mouthpiece for God, speaking wisdom, knowledge, encouragement and advice into peoples situations.  Prophecy can be particularly effective when someone prophecies into a situation in your life, or into something you are thinking about, and yet they have no earthly knowledge of the situation!  This has happened to me on occasions and it is incredible.

Distinguishing Between Spirits

Often when I watch religious broadcasting, certain preachers will set off alarm bells in my mind.  Sometimes based on what they are saying, and others just the feeling that although what they are saying seems Biblically sound, their motive is not that of the Lord.  It is the ability to see what is of the Holy Spirit, and what is of satan.

Tongues and Interpretation

This is an often debated subject in the church and one I believe we are going to study together in the Lifegroup to better understand this gift.  I think in a nutshell that its the ability to talk in other languages and others have the ability to translate.  I will go into more detail in on tongues as and when we have studied it in more detail soon.

Bryn pointed out that throughout the Bible, there are other gifts of the Spirit mentioned to include:

Serving, Administration, Teaching, Encouragement, Giving, Leadership, Mercy, Helping Others, Hospitality, Interpretation of Dreams and Creative Arts.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but certainly highlights the wide breadth of gifts that the Holy Spirit can and will bestow on believers.

Why so many gifts, and why does he give them to us?  Firstly, these are gifts.  They are gifts of His grace, and not of our own doing.  He gives us these different gifts, to different people, I think to build up the church, as well as each other and to help advance His kingdom.  We all have different gifts at different levels to create balance within the Church so that we can act as one body.  Ann made a good point, if we all had the same gift for example, prophecy, we would never get through one Sunday service as everyone would be prophecying and there would be far to much to act upon!

With such a wide range of gifts at our own church, things really do work well.  We have people gifted with musical abilities, others with serving others (the welcoming team), others with leadership, others with administration (including finances etc) as well as others with serving (including those that always have the tea and coffee ready at the end of the service).  During the service also, we are lucky to have many wise, knowledgable people who bring word to us all, as well as prophecy.  The Lord has built up a dynamic Church, full of people with completely different gifts, all working together to grow His church.  Its is indeed amazing, exciting and wonderful.

Promise – 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

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When Grandma passed away a few months ago, it reminded me of the exciting promise of eternal life. Reading through 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 is a wonderful insight into passing from life on earth to life in heaven.  Here is how I broke the passage down in brief to help me understand certain sections and to encourage myself.

The Promise:

1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

When you accept Jesus into your heart, you become a child of God and are automatically eligible for the inheritance of eternal life.

Longing for Rest:

2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Just like a long hard day, we long for rest and relaxation where we can unwind and leave the problems of that day behind us.  Its the same with life on earth!  It is tiring and we long to rest and be with our heavenly Father.

The Guarantee:

5Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given

us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

God sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ to the sacrifice for our Sins. When we accept Jesus into our hearts, we are given the gift of Gods Holy Spirit as a guide, a strength and a comfort. And as this verse reminds us, as a guarantee of how serious God is about his promise to us.

Faith:

7We live by faith, not

by sight.

Unlike doubting Thomas, we believe in Jesus without needed to see Him.  We do not demand proof!  In my own life things have changed so much since I met Him that I can not deny His existence!  Looking at the beauty of creation, its impossible to imagine there was no creator!

Preparation:

10For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Matthew 6:19-24 – Treasures in Heaven.  We will be judged on that final day!  The things that we do for His glory will earn us spiritual rewards in heaven.  We don’t know what they are to be, but they must be awesome to be described as treasures!

Faith Tester – Matthew 11:1-6

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Doubt is definitely a faith tester!  Our Daily Bread hits the nail on the head, when it comes to the sorts of questions that regularly come to mind with regards to the existence of God, with regard to Jesus claims, with regards to pretty much any matter of faith!  The reassuring thing is that I would appear not to be the only one who has these moments!

John too when the going got tough did too experience those sorts of feelings.  It can be difficult to remain positive on the bleaker circumstances of life.  The test in these circumstances though are what you do with these thoughts.  Do you let them eat you up inside?  Do you let them take over your thoughts?  Do you give up all hope?

John did not do that!  He turned to Jesus and brought his questions to Him!  Jesus responded with encouragement and with examples of His miracles.  He was able to reassure John in difficult times.  We too should give any of these thoughts to Jesus and ask Him to help us.  He can and will through the power of His Holy Spirit encourage us, build us up and give us the knowledge and confidence in Him.

If anyone is reading my ramblings today, I really recommend you look at today’s Our Daily Bread.  Also if you find my ramblings useful, please take the time to contact me and let me know!

Guided by the Holy Spirit – Acts 16:6-10

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In Acts 16:6-10 we see throughout the passage Paul and Silas are constantly guided by the Holy Spirit.  They have allowed themselves to be open to the guidance of the Spirit, and when the Spirit then gave Paul a vision, they didn’t sit back, trying to decide if they should do anything about it, they simply got up and went!  They obeyed the Holy Spirit and went on to preach the Good News to many who were saved.

Last night at our Lifegroup, we looked further into the sermon that Phil preached on Sunday (I am posting in Fellowship some the rest of my notes on the sermon in the near future). A large emphasis of what we talked about was about the Holy Spirit, and how He strengthens us and guides us, as well as enables us to grow in Him. Looking then at today’s Our Daily Bread reading, I was surprised that Ephesians 2:22 has popped up again (Sunday, Thursday and now Friday)! As you may have read from previous posts, I believe the Lord will repeat Himself as much as it takes so that we will sit up and listen.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The Holy Spirit does live inside us.  Before Jesus death, the only place for God’s Glory was the Holy of Holy’s in the temple at Jerusalem, and yet when Jesus died, the temple curtain was ripped in half, Jesus rose from the grave, and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples and has continued to be poured out across the world.  The Holy Spirit is there as our guide, like in this passage in Acts.  We need to listen carefully to what He says, and be obedient to His guidance.  If we feel we must share the Gospel with a random person on the street, then we should do so, ignoring the old human fears and impulses, but just trusting in the Lord and His Holy Spirit.  You may only plant a seed, but one day that seed with burst forth life.

Living in a state of obedience to the Holy Spirit is really quite exciting, as we are no longer living a life that we plan out for ourselves!  We are living a life where we don’t know where the Holy Spirit is going to take us next.  That is not to say we shouldn’t try to plan our careers etc, but we should lean heavily on the Holy Spirit for guidance to make the right career choices, family choices, etc.  I pray that I can be as faithful as Paul and Silas and that I will recognise the Holy Spirits voice when He calls and points me in directions, that sometimes I may not want to go.  And I pray that in those situations that the Lord will be Glorified.

The Holy Spirit – Romans 8:11-18

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Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen.  Hallelujah!  He has defeated sin and death and is sat at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us.  In the mean time it is our duty to go make disciples of ALL nations.  Our saviour didn’t expect us to do this on our own of course as human nature is weak and quick to give in!  He has poured His Holy Spirit into us so that we may have the necessary strength to witness.

On this Easter Sunday morning I am so encouraged and overjoyed as I remember that Christ rose again and ascended into heaven having completed His work on earth….  The exciting thing is, although he completed that part of Gods plan, He is still working in the lives of countless Christians around the world through the power of His Holy Spirit.  It wasn’t the plan to die on the cross, tell a few people then disappear and wait for people to react! It was His plan to unleash power to those who believe that they may grow strong in faith and wisdom, and be a shining light to the lost to guide them home.

As Christians we need to embrace the full power of the Holy Spirit!  The Holy Spirit is real and so important to the Christian life!  The Spirit is not something we should avoid talking about in church, nor is it something we should assume is a taboo subject.  We are talking about Gods OWN Holy Spirit that he has poured out to give you and me strength!  Not only did He give His life, but He is here among us and in our hearts continuing His works in our lives.

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

I remember when this finally dawned on me that I was a child of God!  My first words were WOW!  Of course wow doesn’t even do the honour justice!  Because of Jesus death and resurrection, we as believers are adopted into God’s family!  In the UK, and adopted child becomes a lawful son or daughter, and legaly inherits an equal share of their adopted parents estate.  We are His Sons and Daugthers.  Heirs to the Kingdom.  We will inherit eternal life with Him.   WOW!

With that we need to rid ourselves of things that would cause us to sin, things that would enslave us.  For we need to be living each day by the Spirit.  For just as Jesus was raised from the dead, the Spirit will raise us from the dead (the depths of Sin) and bring us new life!  Amen

Staying Alert – Matthew 26:36-46

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“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” (NIV)

We are weak as much as we do not like to admit it.  There are occasions where we have given into temptation dispite knowing we am doing wrong.  Often its because we have been convinced by the lie of that temptation, that we will feel good for doing it, that we will be satisfied.  As Jesus said, the body is weak.  We alone lack the strength to resist temptation, to go the right course, that is why it is so important we have help.  Some tempt ation c

an creep up on us and get us when we are particularly vulnerable.  Other temptation can be in front of us for a long time, if we know it or not, slowly breaking us down should we become tempted by it.

The Lord in His great wisdom provided us with a helper.  His Holy Spirit whom guides and strengthens us to do the right thing.  We need to keep ourselves spiritually fit and active so we are not lulled into any false sense of security before sin pounces on us.  How can we do that?  Sounding like a broken record from many of my past posts the main ingredients are always regular Bible Study, Prayer, Worship and Fellowship.  Keeping ourselves fixed on the word, and continuing to develop our relationship with our Saviour is vital if we are to be prepared for any battle.

We need to understand and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of All, it is the Lords strength that allows us to resist temptation, not our own.  And any time we resist, it is for His glory and not to pat ourselves on the back saying, “didn’t I do well?”

Before I sign off on today’s reading, I am also reminded of the importance of rest (including sleep).  Yes the disciples were not being alert when the time required them to be.  We need to also remember however that rest and sleep are important tools in spiritual warfare.  When we have had too little (and the same affect can be had from too much sleep), we are not as quick to react, we are tired, vulnerable, and that is when Satan can pounce to try and steer us from the right path.  Remember satan is like a prowling tiger, waiting to pounce.  We need to be well rested, alert, full of the Spirit, and have fed on the Word regularly.

Honesty – Acts 5:1-11

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A short while ago Stuart led a discussion on Obedience at our Lifegroup. One of the passages was this very passage about Ananias and Sapphira, who sell their land to give the money to the church, and yet they secretly try to keep back some of the money for themselves. The result of their actions is very difficult to read, and I can imagine this is not the most popular portion

of scripture in the Bible! Stuart emphasised though that we should not pick and choose what portions of scripture we read and obey, but we must consider the entire Bible, and strive to do all the Lord asks of us.

3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal

? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” (NIV)

The Our Daily Bread picks up on Ananias and Sapphira’s lack of honesty. And although the result of their dishonesty is very extreme, it acts as an example / reminder of the consequences of sin and the need to be completely honest with God. God is everywhere. He knows all and sees all therefore we should not consider trying to hide things from Him, or trying to lie to Him.

In any situation in life we need to be honest, not only with each other, but to our Creator God. There is not half way house for honesty, we can’t be 90% honest, and keep something back for ourselves, or to protect ourselves. Is not honesty a key part of any loving relationship? How much more so, is honesty important with our God?

Honesty is a requirement, therefore we must be obedient to God. I will end with a quote from today’s Our Daily Bread:

There are no degrees of honesty.

Fruits of the Spirit – Galatians 5:16-26

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22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control… (Galatians 5:22-23)

We are so busy with our lives that we can often forget the importance of living our lives by the Holy Spirit. As in the verses above, the Holy Spirit imparts in us many excellent qualities and values that will bless us and those around us.

Sinful acts and desires only lead to unhappiness, darkness, even death.

They do not build you or others up. They act only to serve our selfish ambitions, and they will hold us back from being people of value who are achieving for Jesus.

Within the passages I noticed also a very interest analogy about law. If you consider acts that would be classed as law breaking acts, for example stealing, murder etc, then many of the attributes of a sinful nature are tied in closely with each act. Law breaking acts are a result of a sinful nature.

But a Spirit filled life is only full of good things. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. I honestly cannot think of one law breaking act that would be a result of one of these values.

23 cont… Against such things there is no law.

Living by the Spirit will give us the ability to live in harmony with Him, conducting ourselves in a way pleasing to Him, and doing the things that he desires from us.

Regular prayer and Bible study should be a part of our walk with the Lord to keep us focused on him and the fruit of the Spirit.