EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

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“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” John 16:5-11

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Romans 6:46

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:16-17

SALVATION

God’s people longed for God’s judgment because it meant that God would set things right (Psalms 72:4). This saving judgment entailed God condemning their enemies but they thought little about what God required of them.

Some readers might need to reorient how they think about “being saved.” Salvation concerns both what we’re saved from and what we’re saved for. Many people think almost exclusively in terms of the former. We are saved from wrath, punishment, condemnation, and hell. Though a glorious truth, it is a partial truth.

Nothing is wrong with stressing the importance of being saved from something. Being saved from the penalty, power, and presence of sin is glorious! But…. and this is an important “but” … no one is saved merely from fear of penalty. Ultimately, salvation requires love for Christ and obedience to Christ by obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit that dwells within your spirit.

The goal of salvation is believers’ conformity to the Son of God—their participation in his rule over creation as God’s eschatological family and as renewed humanity—but only and always with the purpose of extending God’s hand of mercy, love, and care to his wider creation. This was humanity’s job in the beginning; it is the believer’s responsibility now and will be the believers’ responsibility and honor in the future, first during Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth when He and the resurrected Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron. This is a transitional era when Satan is bound but he is released at the end of the Millennium when he is still able to raise an army like the sand of the sea. He and his army will be defeated and this earth destroyed with fire. The second resurrection and the White Throne judgement follow, before the new earth and heaven where only the righteous dwell.

This vision is compelling and sustaining. It creates a far more robust biblical perspective on following Christ.

People know that the world has problems. Moreover, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and righteousness and He will guide and direct our steps to evangelize the lost. He will even give us the words to say so they know that we are being used by God. We just need to be obedient to the call of God on our lives regardless of the cost.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39

“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:5-6

YOU WERE CREATED FOR GOOD WORKS

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Read this great testimony by Nathaniel Oliveri—Founder and CEO, The Normal Christian Life. It will encourage and challenge you at the same time. It certainly did me. The testimony is based on this amazing Scripture.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”—Ephesians 2:8-10

“I just love how this Scripture builds to a climactic cliffhanger, as though heaven is awaiting our response. After establishing that we’re saved by grace and not by works—but that we are created for good works, it builds this profound picture of God preparing works beforehand.
Think about it: the God of heaven literally preparing hearts, events and situations before we even walk into the room or pass that by person or make that phone call. Then the Scripture peaks with this profound statement: “that we should walk in them.” Walk in what? The works! Which works? The works He has already prepared for us!
You mean, we have a choice? Yes! It doesn’t say, “you will walk in them.” It says “you should.”
The stage has been set by Heaven, prepared beforehand. And now we have a choice to partner with God Almighty. So, what does that look like? I’m glad you asked.
I am, of course, growing in this myself and I haven’t yet arrived, but here is an example from my life in the last week that encouraged me, and I pray it will encourage you too.
So, last week I was picking up some carpet squares from a church that was moving location and selling many items. As I was putting the carpet squares in the car, a lady walked past with someone from the church. She had seen some items on the internet and didn’t even know this was a church. She asked me about the carpet squares and I sensed she may not be a Christian so I asked her a simple question. Are you from this church? She said “no”. So I said, ”Well then, I get an opportunity to tell you that Jesus loves you!”

The church staff member looked surprised that I even mentioned the ‘J’ word to a stranger. But, at that moment her eyes shot open. “My ten year old son just said while we were driving here, “Mum, do you think Jesus is real?” I then prodded cheekily, “And do you?”


“Well, I’m not sure,” she replied. I went on, “Well, what do you think the chances are of me telling you about Jesus just moments later?” To this she agreed that the timing couldn’t be a coincidence, and this in turn led to her inviting me to share the Gospel and pray for her and her son. They were deeply impacted, and I gave them some video links from our YouTube channel The Normal Christian Life.
The kid was excited because he was meeting a “YouTuber” in his words, and seemed keen to watch the videos. Now, they didn’t give their lives to Jesus there and then, but I know seeds were planted. But what struck me was how God had prepared their hearts just moments before I shared with them, even allowing her boy to ask such a specific question about Jesus, just before they arrived.
I wonder how many amazing works God has prepared beforehand for you today. What a blessing to be able to partner with Heaven and respond with our free will and walk in them.

Prayer

Lord, today, help me to draw close to you in my prayer life and in my day-to-day life. Help me to be sensitive to your prompting, and help me to walk in the works you’ve prepared for me. Lord, thank you that you love me and value me enough to make me a part of Your story. Show me today the people you want me to reach. Prepare their hearts and help me to be bold and obedient. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

EMPOWERED BY GOD TO DO GOOD WORKS

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“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

“God will do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that you can ask or imagine, according to the power at work in you.”  Ephesians 3:20

You are still on this earth because God still wants to use you. Moreover, God’s Word says, you have not because you ask not.  Why would you settle for a little of God’s goodness, when He says, He will do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that you can ask or imagine?

Jesus made it possible for your Heavenly Father to send the third person of the Trinity to indwell you, to empower you.  He is your counsellor, comforter, teacher and guide. Allow Him to guide your every step. However, it will require you to continually say as Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane; “not my will but Your will be done”

If you allow Him control, He will produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness and self control.

You can only minister effectively if He makes the gifts of the Spirit available to you; words of Wisdom, a word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues. Distributing these gifts as He wills to accomplish the work God has called you to do.

Are you operating in the power of the Holy Spirit or are you quenching His work in your life and grieving Him?

Sadly, I lived many years of my Christian life not truly understanding the Holy Spirit is a person and that I could quench His work in my life and grieve Him. Nor did I understand His role, to empower me to live the Christian life, as mentioned, He is the one that produces the fruit in our lives and He is the one that provides the gifts to enable us to do ministry. His role is to make us like Jesus, to make Him fully known to us.

It was only when I came to realise how wonderful it is to work with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to guide and direct my life did I start to truly to enable His Kingdom to come.

Note both of my books; Build a Kingdom Business – Empowered by the Holy Spirit and Living Eternal Now – Empowered by the Holy Spirit acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s role. Both are available as ebooks on Amazon. I produce paperback copies as needed, and only have Build a Kingdom Business available in trade paperback form. These need to be ordered directly from me at ron@bakb.com.au. AU$12.50/US$9.50 includes postage. The funds will be used for the ministry powerpointsermons.net so payment will be made by making a donation on this website. You can download one of the sermons at the same time but make sure you email me as well so I can post the book to your address.