Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning, We doing things a little differently today — We are starting with sermon and then Bob is going to be lead us in time of worship and will be ending the with communion…

What we wanting to do this morning is to have set aside some time to respond to what God has been saying to us over the past several weeks…

We have been in this series entitled, “Unashamed.”

and— We have been talking about our Emotions....and especially about this emotion called SHAME…

Shame is an EMOTION that we don’t hear of much but it is MAJOR Influencer as binds itself onto other EMOTIONS …

Shame is an emotion that can impacts our identity… For example we can start to identify ourselves through the lenses of shame… Instead of just failing — we can see ourselves as failures..

In the Bible shame can be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden — when Adam and Eve — took fruit from the tree of knowledge of God Evil… they became aware of their nakedness and moved from being unashamed before God to hiding among the trees in the garden...

In Gen 3:8 we see God Comes to them..

Notice that God is the one moving in the Text… often we think we got to move up the ladder towards God… We start up one step and the next… but what happens when we get tired or maybe we slip… we start again… What we need to understand is that God comes to us…

God came down to us through Jesus and the incarnation… When God ascended the Spirit came down to continue the work… We think we have to climb up ---the reality is that we need to wait for God to come down.

.. God is walking in the Garden and He is moving towards his Creation…

Normally, this time was looked forward to and enjoyed… it was a time of communion and sweet fellowship… but sin had spoiled the relationship.... and now they Found themselves hiding from the presence of God..

God walking in the Garden made me wonder about our own awareness of the Holy Spirit… Adam and Eve heard God walking towards them… they heard his foot steps.. …and made me wonder how attuned we are to the Holy Spirit’s movements...

I was sitting outside in our back yard yesterday morning — thinking about … today and presence of the Holy Spirit...

And there was this wind blowing through our backyard through the trees and hedges....and it was really quite loud…it would come in waves blow for a second and then die down for a moment and then blow again… And it reminded me of What Jesus said to Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit…in John 3:8

The wind is invisible and mysterious and beyond human control, but we hear it and see the effects of its activity.

So it is with the work of the Holy Spirit.

He is sovereign in the exercise of his power, is not visible in his operations, but the effects of his working in the human soul can be both felt and seen.

.Even though we cannot predict how or when God will move… We can have the sense that God is moving…

The presence of Wind seems to preempt a move of God…

Before Creation The Spirit of God was brooding or hovering over the waters…

In Ezekiel 37 God showed Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones.. and he asked Ezekiel can these dry bones live?

And then commands Elijah to prophecy over the dead bones… and we see the four WINDS BLOWING and these dry bones being brought back to life…until they form a an exceedingly great Army

On the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 we are told the 120 disciples were gathered together in one place in Jerusalem… Waiting for the Promised Holy Spirit… And When the Spirit Comes.... there is a mighty wind that fills the house....

Sometimes the spirit can move suddenly, turning a person’s life upside down in an instant.

But the wind can also come in the form of a gentle breeze, and some are brought into the kingdom through the quiet operation of the Holy Spirit in their life over a period of time...

The question is where are we in relation to the Presence of God...

The first Question God asks Adam and Eve in the garden---

Where are you? the second question is

Who told you you were naked??

Two great questions?

Where are you in relation to the presence of God.

And what is keeping you from the presence of God?

Who told you that you wouldn’t be accepted… We need to be careful of the ideas that we have believed as truth… When you find yourself hiding who told you that you were no good..

T/S When it comes to the Coming of the Holy spirit … There are several things we ought to consider..

1.

Consider What is Truth?

— There is a philosophy in our world that says that “this is my Truth.”

Truth is relative and subjective…to the person.

Truth in Christianity is objective… We speak of truth being absolute -that which is real and complete opposed to that which is false… In other words Truth is not a moving target...… What was true yesterday is true today…

The Bible teaches that Truth is more than just good Values or Principles —

But truth is Personified in the Person of Jesus Christ.... Jesus tells us this himelf..

… IF WE ARE GOING TO CONSIDER TRUTH WE NEED TO LOOK TO JESUS..

IN Hebrews 12 we see whole Grandstand of witness who have Already Consider the Truthfulness of God and his word.

Who are the cloud of witnesses?

These are not merely spectators, looking down from heaven and watching believers’ lives;

instead, they witness through the historical record of their faithfulness that constantly encourages those who follow them..

These great believers’ lives, examples, and faithfulness in God, without seeing his promises, speak to all believers of the rewards of staying in “the race.

The analogy of here is of a marathon which was part of the Greek games... what is needed to complete this marathon is ENDURANCE.…

We have the Encouragement and inspiration in the great Arena… their lives calling out to us keep going… But --- Endurance means --

a. Letting GO…

One of the advantages of airlines giving restricted baggage is that we have all had to learn how To travel light… But most of us want more baggage than we need...

Let us lay aside every weight — and sin which clings so closely and let us run the race with endurance… .

There are things that hold us back… distractions… that hinder our progress… it could be sin that cause us to drift off corse...…the familiar sin that we hold onto so closely.. Well that is going to keep tripping you up...

b.

Look to Jesus..

We have a stadium full of example… but we have the ultimate example in Jesus

Jesus is the founder and perfecter of faith…

Vrs 3 The word Consider written in the imperative… Think about carefully — Think about how Jesus endured hostility that he faced..

The message Bible.. paraphrase’s this text...

.

Study how he did it.

Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever.

Think about visiting Rome in those days.. …When you came into Rome your first impression of the city --- would be the crosses with criminals on them…talk about a statement… The cross ultimate capital punishment… not only was it a death sentence but it was a means of shaming… criminals in front of the whole community..

The writer tells us that Jesus endure the shame of the cross —so that we could be set free from the weights..

Jesus is the ultimate Example of How to Face Difficulties.

When you find your struggling go back to the story again — see example of Jesus… What you discover is that Jesus in his humanity was fully dependent upon the Father, Fully dependent on the Holy Spirit…

Here is the thing Jesus did the Work on the Cross.... Jesus is author and perfecter of our Faith… The Holy Spirit is the ONE WHO APPLYS TRUTH…

2. Consider the Spirit of Truth

We Need to Understand Who and What the Holy Spirit is.

Often there is a confusion between the Person and the Work of the Holy Spirit… The Holy Spirit has been called some sort of mystical power, force, or energy…but this is misconception..The Holy Spirit Works in Power — there is no doubt about that… The HS will empower the Church for ministry… something that is needed…

The seasoned Pastor A.W Tozer said...

“The Holy Spirit is not enthusiasm … He is a Person.

Put that down in capital letters—that the Holy Spirit is not only a Being having another mode of existence, but He is Himself a Person with all the qualities and powers of personality.”

He exists and ministers as a Person…The Holy Spirit has a mind, emotions and will, He Speaks, teachers, comforts…

Jesus always used the Pronoun “He” or “Him” when talking about the HS...

Why is this important?

If we think of the Holy Spirit as a mysterious power, our thought will continually be, “How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?”

How can we get more Power?

Instead of just three amps, I want six amps.

Instead of one gallon of the Spirit, I want two gallons..

However If we think of the Holy Spirit as a person, our thought will be, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?”

WE should be praying for more of the Holy Spirit… the person and presence in our lives...

It is not a one time deal…

Paul said in his letter to the the church that they were to be continuously filled with the Spirit… Why do we need to be filled again and Again with the HS.. D.l.

Moody explained it well in he said, “Because we leak.”

Truth speaks to the issue of Clarity.... removing what is obscure and hidden and exposing things that are false..

There are things that we have come to believe about ourselves and others that are simply not true… When the Spirit comes He is going shed light and to bring us Truth… The world cannot understand the Spirit of truth because they do not know him..

But the HS will guide you into all truth...

Jesus told his disciples before his Ascension that He was sending them the HS.

Jesus said that Holy Spirit would not only be with the disciples but he would be in them…

He comes to us as the comforter… this has several meanings.The Greek Word Para- kletos to Describe the work of the HS..The word Parakletos means called to come along side to assist…

It has a Range of meanings that describes how the HS works..

a. THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES AS OUR COMFORTER

Jesus tells us that the HS will be another Comforter — that speaks to both the HS being Third Person of the Trinity and also his continuation of the ministry of Jesus on the earth…

Just as Jesus comforted his disciples —The HS will continue this ministry of strengthening…

Which begs the question...Do we need comforting?

s...

Dr. Mary Lamai in her article in Psychology Today … says that Our emotions are going to tell us to do something…Our emotions will tell us take action to reduce our stress or negative emotions.…it

will try and suppress or avoid things like anxiety, shame, sadness, fear or some of other emotion… Does this by taking Comfort in something else… the obvious ones would be just need a drink or that you must have “comfort food” to calm your nerves… or other substances and addictive behaviors — Comfort by avoiding Pain… I had to smile the other day — I had long day and she left me a note — for the plan for Wednesday…She put it on the refrigerator door… and I found it

The Holy Spirit is our Counselor … He is going to lead to truth...

Do we need counseling?