Sermon Reconstruction - The Holy Spirit Part 1

    The Holy Spirit is the third Person in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is never a  "The" and always a "He". When talking about someone, we don't say "Bob is a random citizen, and it is a tomato," we would say "Bob is a random citizen, and he is a tomato." We don't say "The Bob," its just "Bob."  "Holy Spirit" is His name. He is the third Person in the Trinity. A lot of people try to explain the Trinity so that we can understand it. I'm not going to do that here. All of the examples we could come up with are, well, heretical. Here's the explanation I think is best: Consider the world. Its massive. Now think about the solar system. Way bigger. Now consider that astronomers have seen, by telescopes and math, that our solar system is just one of the millions of solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy. Moreover, the Milky Way is just one of the billions and trillions of other galaxies. And God created All Of It. Which means that He is more than it is. Now imagine that this infinite expanse of space is about the size of a softball. God can hold that softball in the palm of his hand because he is transcendent, that is, God is separate from His Creation and above it. He doesn't fit within our natural environment. We can't understand the Trinity because the Trinity doesn't fit in the only environment we can understand, which is the world around us. Trying to fit the Trinity, or any aspect of God, really, is like trying to put a watermelon in a soup can; it doesn't fit, and if you do get some of in there, you've got a mess everywhere else. It would be like trying to describe the smell of coffee to someone who's never smelled it before.
"What does this 'coffee' smell like?"
"Um, well... Coffee."
God is just too big, too holy, too... perfect to fit in our realm of understanding.

    The Holy Spirit is often abused and neglected He is NOT  the "Emotion Machine."  All things have come of the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us Truth. :We can only know the Truth by the Holy Spirit, except for the people blessed by being able to see and hear Jesus teach directly, men can only learn Truth if the Holy Spirit reveals it to them. John 16:5-6 is Jesus telling His disciples that He must leave, and that He knows that they are disheartened, but that His leaving is to their advantage. How is His leaving going to be better than Him staying with them? If he leaves, then the Helper will come. Only so many people could be with Jesus at once, but the Helper, or Holy Spirit, is with every believer simultaneously.

    In verses 8-11, Jesus tells us exactly what Holy Spirit is here to do. He is here to:
                        Convict the world of sin (because they do not believe in Christ)
                        Call the world to righteousness (because we can't know righteousness except through Christ)
                        Warn the world of judgement (because the ruler of this world, Satan, is judged)
In John 6, Jesus says (paraphrase) "No-one comes to the Father unless he is drawn." Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, yes, you have to understand it, yes, but Holy spirit has to draw for true conversion.

    Missionaries have seen Holy Spirit working powerfully in the world everywhere, BUT:
                        Japan
                        Australia
                        Western Europe
                        North America
That's not to say He's not working there, but it's not as much.

     The church has received Holy Spirit, if it has received power, it has received the power of Holy Spirit to:
                        Overcome our own sin
                        Shine for God as His lights in the world
                        Glorify God

Sermon Reconstruction - The Lord's Supper

Whose Supper/Table?

The Lord's Supper is God's ordinance. It does not belong to any individual, group, or denomination; it doesn't even belong to the Church! The Lord's Supper is just that... The Lord's.

The Lord's disciples are to take part of the Lord's Supper. We are called to be believers, yes... Christians, yes... Salt & light, yes, but most importantly, we're called to be Christ's disciples. The things He told the disciples in the upper room were directed as much toward us as they were to the twelve.

The Lord's Supper is:

Worship. It is an act of obedience, which is worship. "...I desire [good deeds, mercy, obedience, goodness] more than sacrifice..." Hosea 6:6

It's a time of self-examination.

Paul talks about coming to the Lord's Table in an unworthy manner in 1 Corinthians 10. How can we remember what Christ want through to pay for our sins, and still cling to them.

It's a time of thanksgiving.

We are thankful for God's Sacrifice.

We would have NO HOPE without Jesus.

Since we have Jesus, how thankful should we be?!

It's a time of re-dedication.

It's invigorating, and it should be invigorating to be in such fellowship with our Maker. It's like it renews a fire for God in us.

It's Redemption pictured.

"This is My body, broken for you... This is the blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for the remission of sins..." Matthew 26:26-28

It's our anticipation of and our faith & hope in His return expressed.

Paul tells us "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes." 1 Corinthians 10:26

This passage isn't normally considered a "Lord's Supper passage," but let's take a look at Psalm 23.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and You're staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Let's take an analytical look at this:

Verses 1-4 Verses 5-6

The Lord is a Shepherd The Lord is a host (like of a party or something)

If the Lord is my shepherd, then I'm a sheep. That means I need a lot of care, I'm not too bright, and I'm vulnerable. If the Lord is my shepherd, then as His sheep, God gives me care, He meets my needs, He leads me so that I don't have to be bright, and He protects me.

He restores my soul. Paraphrase "He restores [cleanness to] my soul."

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil... This is God's strength, not mine.

You prepare a table before me- what? A table? Like the Lord's Table? The Lord's Supper? Hmmm.

-In the presence of my enemies. Who are my enemies? Everyone has two common enemies: our own sin, and death. Christ defeated sin - my sin - your sin - all sin - once and for all on the Cross; and He defeated death when he rose from the dead. The power is not in the table or the elements, the power is in the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, and the Savior of all who call on His name.

Sermon Reconstruction - The Glory of God

Timeline:

~33 A.D. - 300 A.D. -The church was committed to Christ.

~ 300 A.D. -Christianity becomes the state religion of Rome and gradually devolves into what we know as Roman Catholicism; full of traditions and rites, elevating the authority of the church over the authority of God's Holy Word.

~1600 A.D. -The Reformation begins. The Church moves toward how it began. Institution of the five Solas.

The Five Solas:

Sola-(Latin) One, alone, only

 

1.) Sola Scriptura- "Scripture alone" or "Only Scripture"

This was to prevent the Reformed church from again elevating its authority and placing itself over the Bible, instead of submitting to the authoritative Word of God.

 

2.) Sola Fide- "Faith alone" or "Only faith"

This was to remind the Church that salvation is only through faith. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." ~Romans 10:17. You do not work for your salvation, nor do you work to prove your faith. Your are saved -by faith- and good works are a sort of by-product or side-effect of that saving faith. (See James 2:14-26 for faith vs. works.)

 

3.) Sola Gratia- "Grace alone" or "Only grace"

This is a vital part of Christianity. We can only be saved through faith, but that is only because of God's grace. "If we confess our sins, He is Faithful and Just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ~1 John 1:9. Faithful because He will always do it, Just because His wrath against sin has been satisfied in Christ. Grace could be defined as "Unmerited favor". People often say things like "That's not fair" when they don't get their way, but never have I heard someone say that when receiving grace. Grace makes life not fair; Hallelujah!

 

4.) Sola Christos- "Christ alone" or "Only Christ"

We can only be saved through Christ. I heard it once said, "You can take the principal player out of any religion and replace them with anyone else- Mohammed could have been Joe, Buddha could've been Bob, etc., but you can't take Christ out of Christian. If you take "Christ" out of "Christian" you're left with "Ian" and Ian can't help you.

 

5.) Sola Gloria- "Glory alone" or "Only Glory"

God's Glory is always understated. His glory is so abundant that it is not within human capacity to fully comprehend it. We may try, but we will always come short. God does only the things that will glorify Him the most. We should work to do that also; that means doing what he says because obedient children bring Him glory. (See 1 Cor. 10:31)

The angels recognized the significance and presence of God's Glory, their response was "Holy, holy, holy!" Isaiah recognized the awesomeness of God's Glory and his unworthiness to be in God's presence, his response was "Woe is me for I am undone!" (Isaiah 6:1-8) Solomon blessed God's nation (1 Kings 8). Peter, James, and John were confused (Mark 9:1-13). In 1 Samuel 4-6 we see several responses to God's Glory. Eli's sons disregard it and tried to use God, the Israelites mourn the loss of it, the Philistines belittle it, then reject it. When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple next to their idol. The next morning, their idol had fallen over, so they set it aright. The next morning, their idol had fallen on its face, and its head and hands were broken off. All that is to say, if we allow God to take his rightful place in our lives, idols can't stand. Anything we put in His place will fall. Whether it's money, relationships, people, activities, things, anything! If you let Him, God will put it in its place.