Good seeing everybody. Welcome to Bridge Gospel.
I am Pastor Jesse, and I want to say thank you for all the new guests that are here today.
We welcome you, and we're very glad you're here.
I'd also like to welcome all those who are joining us online.
We miss you, and I hope this message blesses you right where you're at today.
All right, so to kind of get started, we have announcements.
So at the end of the month, we kind of give you the announcement blob.
So get your phones out, and here's the announcement blob.
So we have prayer every Wednesday at 7 p.m., and it is a powerful time.
And we meet in the back sanctuary, and it's just incredible, and it's different.
And we pray over different things. We pray over the church. We pray over each other.
We pray for those who aren't able to attend because of illness, because of other reasons.
We pray for our city. It is just a great time.
And so I highly recommend coming. It's awesome.
We have a women's game night on Saturday, May 9th.
I'm running it, so this ought to be interesting.
It does not involve shooting range for some of you who are into that, which is a bummer,
or off-roading because my off-road vehicle is disabled.
So it's going to be normal. It's going to be normal.
So if you don't have a little handout, find Terry.
She's got a little, like, card that kind of gives you all the information.
There's going to be snacks. There's going to be games. It's going to be good.
There's also men's Bible study that happens at 8 a.m. at Panera over on Signal Butte.
You guys all know where that's at.
Men, it's a great time.
I don't go to it, but I guess it's good.
It's good.
And then lastly, we have healing rooms.
It's the first Thursday of every month.
So if you need physical healing, if you need spiritual healing, if you just need prayer,
it's a great time to go get prayer, spend time in his presence, and I highly recommend that.
Okay.
And then we have one more announcement, and I actually made a big slide for this.
We are having a barbecue.
And we, yes, if you've been here for a while, if you've attended for a while,
we call it Meat Chapel, M-E-A-T, Chapel.
That's also our internet password if you really want to get on the Wi-Fi.
So we are going to be celebrating our missionary, Sharon Bergader.
She came back from Cambodia for the last six months, and so we're going to be providing some meat.
And then if everybody could just bring a dish to pass, if you're able, it's going to be a great time.
We'd never have a lack of food in this place, ever.
So come.
I think it's going to be an amazing time.
She's going to talk about our missions trips after service while we're stuffing her face full of food.
And so I'm super excited because I love breaking bread with all of you.
And it's just a really fun time to do that.
And so before I get on with the sermon, I want to introduce somebody who came all the way from Africa.
He has a ministry over there, and I'm going to give him a few minutes to talk about his ministry.
And we're going to just pray over him.
So can we have John come on up here?
And I don't know how to pronounce his last name, but his last name means fire.
So can we have John Fyre come up?
Give him a welcome.
Here you go.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
I'm John Muriro.
Muriro means fire in our dialect.
And I come from Kenya, in Africa.
I came with the pastor, Patrick.
Can you just perhaps?
Patrick stays here, but he also has a church in Kenya.
For almost over 35 years, we have been together preaching in Africa.
So I thank God for that, and also I thank God for the pastor and the leaders of this church to give this opportunity to greet you.
I work with the ministry there, and we work also with the FCA in training pastors and leaders who don't have the capacity to go to the regular Bible schools.
So we have centers in the rural areas, and others, we train certificates and also diploma and bachelors.
Bachelors and the diploma is done online, but mostly we stress on training pastors who don't have the capacity, those in the rural areas.
Number two, I also have a prayer center.
There is a Muslim who gave me a place to put up a prayer center on the top of a hill.
And the conditions that he gave me was that none of his members should be converted to Christianity.
And that was about over 15 years ago.
But after I started putting up structures, we did not have enough facility to, enough money to put up a good structure.
But I started with steel, steel structure, small ones.
And one of the, the wife got born again.
Wow.
And then the children.
So we began a small church on that hill.
And good people go there for prayer and fasting.
So we are trusting God to put up good rooms.
Because this time we have just a small iron sheet hall.
But we are trusting God to get solar on that hill and also drill some water and put up a good hall.
But God blessed us and we are doing well on that hill in the rural area.
I also have a church.
I passed a church in the city of Nairobi and also oversee about four churches in the country of Kenya.
And also I travel around Africa training leaders in different parts of the country of Africa.
So pray for me that God may give me resources.
God may use me that souls may be touched.
We do also church planting.
I remember there is something that happened two years ago.
We planted a church in the place called Lamu, in the hills, in the Muslim area.
So we built that small structure.
But on 2050, I remember 2050, about two years ago, the terrorists came and they burned the church.
They killed two people.
They burned the houses and two of our members were killed.
And then after two months I went there.
When I was at raising the people, I had the commotion that the same people were coming.
Sometimes we say that, God, I'm willing to die.
But that's a time I saw that it's not easy.
That I even once could not come out of my mouth.
I was just trembling at raising people, trying to encourage them, but I was just trembling.
So even we need to pray for that area that we may revive that church.
To finish, what I'm saying is this.
I also have written about seven books.
And I'm reaching people through these books.
One is Understanding Your Seasons.
And another one is Prayer That Accomplishes Much.
And another one is about Raising the Giant in You, the Sleeping Giant.
And then there's a book on Pastor and Shepherd and the Flock.
And then Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts.
And there's a small book.
It's a warrior powerless to save.
A warrior is a warrior.
Even the time you think he's finished, God will send another person with a warrior's spirit to help him.
So a warrior never dies alone.
That's right.
When you think he's finished, God is still working.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
And that's a very powerful book.
But Understanding Your Seasons is something that I just read a whole verse, then I see it.
There is some things, some two things about remember.
The Bible says, remember not the former things.
That is in what?
In the book of Isaiah 43 and 18.
But remember, Isaiah 46 says, remember the former things.
Have you read that?
Can I read that?
Just one minute.
Let me read that verse.
All right.
Then, you know, that's in Isaiah 43 verse 18 says, remember yet not what?
The former things.
Then Isaiah 46, 46 verse 9 and 10, it says, remember the former things.
Remember the former things and remember not the former things.
What does it mean?
Remember not the bad things that happened to you.
Because God is doing a new thing.
But also remember the good things God has done for you.
Remember the good things God did for you.
If you remember those good things, it will encourage you at the time you are facing challenges in life, what is happening?
The same God who did for me those good things, he's the same God will come.
So, and there is an African story, so just one minute please, an African story of a king who went for hunting in the forest.
And this king was having the servant who was a Christian.
And he was always telling him, God is always right.
So when they went for hunting in the forest, the indigenous people got hold of them and they cut one of the finger of the word of the king.
And then the king turned to the servant and said, you always say, God is always right.
Why did God allow my finger to be cut off?
The man said, God is always right.
So what happened is this.
He put this man in prison.
After some times, the king went alone for hunting.
And the indigenous people were looking for a man, a perfect person to sacrifice.
So they got hold of the king.
But when they looked, they checked everything.
They found it doesn't have one finger.
One finger.
And then they did what?
They said, this is not a perfect sacrifice.
So they released, they released what?
The king.
So when the king went home, he called the servant and said, you always say, God is always right.
Why did he allow me to put you in prison?
Then the king, the man said, God is always right.
Because if we would have gone with you and I'm having the whole, all the fingers and everything, then I would be the sacrifice.
So God used the situation to do what?
To save me.
God is always right.
John, come up here.
We want to pray over you before you go.
Can I have my leaders come up?
Yeah.
Joyce, Terry, Sarah, why don't you come on up here?
John, I just wanted to share this word with you.
It's from Isaiah 43, ironically.
It says, fear not, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by name.
That's right.
You are mine.
And I believe that the Lord has called you to the time and the place that he has put you in.
I think if you understood what he was saying, he said that the Muslims killed two people in his church.
Is that right?
Yes.
What kind of leader is that?
I don't know what that's like.
And this is why it's so important for us to invest in missions.
And it's so important for us to welcome people into our churches, to tell their story, to talk about what's going on.
Because we're not facing this problem here today, but he is.
We can encourage one another.
We just met each other this weekend.
He gave me his book, Understanding Your Seasons, and I started to read it.
And I was so encouraged by everything that he wrote.
I felt the Holy Spirit was just really in that content.
So I was just really excited to have John come here.
I just wanted to bless him and start building a relationship.
I really believe in international missions.
That's why Sharon went to Cambodia.
That's why we want to send her back.
With more people.
We want to support more missionaries.
People like John.
People like Steve Mayanja who came and spoke before I even spoke here.
But we believe in missions.
We believe in people like John.
And we want to see the gospel advance in Kenya.
We want to see it advance here.
We want to see it advance around the world.
And God has called you by name to advance the gospel in Kenya.
And he's so proud of what you've done.
He's proud of your strength.
And he's going to continue to strengthen and encourage you.
No matter what you face.
No matter what people try to do with you.
You are called by name.
And you belong to God.
So dear Heavenly Father, God, we just pray over John.
We just pray over his ministry.
That he is a catalyst for the Christian church arising in Africa.
And rising in Kenya.
That Lord, that protect him.
Put a shield over him.
Lord, and just give him strength.
Give him Holy Spirit power and boldness, Lord.
As he walks out his mission and as he grows the kingdom of God in a place that needs you, Lord.
And Lord, I just thank you for bringing him to the United States to encourage us.
To strengthen us and build us up.
Because we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
We may have oceans separating us.
But we are united in the kingdom of God.
And we just pray just a mighty move of God in his life.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Thank you.
Yeah, so if you guys could just do a $10 donation, that would be amazing.
All right.
Okay, so it was interesting.
Pre-service prayer, we had a very interesting word that I would have not too many words, but not enough words.
And I'm looking at my notes and I have a lot of words.
So we'll see how things go.
But we've been in a series about living in the supernatural world.
And a couple weeks ago when Pastor Tim was talking about, in Acts 2, he was talking about Pentecost.
And how the spirit was poured out on Pentecost.
And we started to see the reversal of Babylon happening.
All of a sudden, all these different languages, all these different tongues, all these different people
were starting to come together and they could understand each other.
And we're starting to see the church emerge.
And now God's kingdom is including the Jews, is including the Gentiles, and we're seeing the Big C Church form.
And you know by Big C Church, we're talking about all the churches.
It's Bridge Gospel.
It is John's Church in Kenya.
It is the Big C United Church.
But in addition to the Holy Spirit coming, the Holy Spirit gave a supernatural boldness to everyone.
And it was just brought on to speak about Jesus.
Because it was a very perilous time.
It was a very perilous time because the Christians were up against a lot.
They were up against political, but they're also up against religious pressures.
And so who here really enjoyed Sam Snyder's message last week?
Yeah?
It was amazing.
You know what was cool about it?
Is we did not tell him what to preach about.
We were just like, Holy Spirit, just let him preach.
And he ended up just picking up where we left off in Acts 2.42, or 2.43, which is awesome.
He talked about the church.
He talked about what the church is.
And I know a lot of you guys texted me.
Sorry I haven't got back to you.
I've been a little busy this week.
But I did get it.
I love you guys.
And I know that a lot of us were touched by his message.
I was touched by his message.
And in this church, and as it emerged, we just kind of had this outpouring of the Spirit.
There was gifts.
Paul listed them in 2 Corinthians 12, about the prophetic, the healing, knowledge, all of these things happening.
And we'll be talking about that in the coming weeks.
But it was just so cool to see this church emerge.
And all the people moving in the gifts of the Spirit.
And just building up one another.
And just really revealing Christ to one another.
And so, it's just so powerful.
Isn't it just amazing to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit?
Isn't it just powerful and uplifting?
Yeah?
Isn't it just incredible?
So, this past week, my husband and I were a part.
We went to a convention this last week.
It kind of lasted the whole week.
It was FCA, which is the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies.
That's the fellowship we're a part of.
It's not a denomination, but it's a fellowship.
And it was incredible.
It was incredible because there was a move of the Holy Spirit that week.
There was something happening.
It was something stirring.
And it was just amazing to hear testimonies from other pastors and other missionaries.
We got to spend breakfast with John and hear his story.
And I got to hear stories from missionaries from Tanzania.
And one missionary, her and her husband, they fly planes in.
They're the last mile to get supplies into places that they can't get supplies into.
I was able to hang out with other pastors, and they're telling me miracles and things going on in their ministry.
And it was just incredible.
And I was also able to brag on you guys.
I was so excited to tell everybody what Bridge was doing because I don't know if you guys know this,
but Bridge still is the youngest church in FCA right now.
We're the baby church.
And so, everyone wanted to know, like, what's going on with Bridge?
We've been praying for you for the last several years.
You know, they've been praying for us even before we started, even before they knew who Tim and I were.
And so, I was able to reconnect and walk away from friendships.
And I say all that because it's a big deal.
And it's a big deal because there have been times in my past that I never felt loved or seen by other Christians,
especially by church leaders.
I mean, I remember when I decided to go to seminary, oh, seven years ago.
It's been a little while.
I was still carrying that pain with me.
And I remember that pain.
And I remember walking into that.
And I had to ask myself, if we're all brothers and sisters in Christ, why is there so much pain among us?
Why is there so much pain?
You know, what is the point of being in fellowship when the people around you who are supposed to be Christians are acting immature?
And they're just acting downright awful.
And I had to wrestle with that.
I had to face that question.
You know, what is the point?
I'm going into ministry, but I have pain.
And I had to understand why.
And so we're going to get into our passage today.
The Apostle Paul was writing to the Gentile church in Galatia.
And we're going to look in chapter 5, starting in verse 16.
And he says this.
But I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not carry out desires of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh.
For these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now, the works of the flesh are obvious.
Sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.
And I am warning you, as I had warned you before, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.
Well, dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you for your word.
And let that sink into us this morning as we go through it, as we understand what you are trying to say.
And Lord, just heal our hearts and heal our minds as we look at your text and we look to your word.
Amen.
So, why did Paul have to write this passage?
Because there are some pretty harsh things going on there.
What was going on?
What was the background here?
Well, what was going on is Paul and Barnabas were traveling around Eurasia.
They were going through parts of Europe.
They're kind of like modern-day Turkey, all these different areas.
And they were going into all these different synagogues,
claiming that Jesus was the Messiah that they've been waiting for.
What could possibly go wrong?
See, Paul's preaching was really threatening the Jewish leadership,
both in the political and the religious circles.
And it was political because there was an expectation that you were to worship Caesar.
But if you were a Jew, you were an exception.
You didn't have to do that.
You got out of it.
So now all of a sudden you have these Christians who are neither worshiping Caesar or neither a Jew.
What did they do?
So there was some pressure there.
But it was also religious because these pious leaders had to decide,
number one, was Jesus really the Messiah?
Was he really the Messiah?
That's the same Jesus that they crucified.
And of the leaders that did accept Jesus,
then they had to grapple with the new covenant.
You know, how did the Mosaic law fit in?
And so to complicate things even more,
Paul and Barnabas decided to go outside the Jewish community and go into the Gentile churches.
And remember, the Jews did not really associate much with the Gentiles.
So now we got some conflict.
It's messy.
And so the Judean Christians really disagreed what to do,
how to intermingle the law with Christianity.
And there was conflict.
So Paul had two major problems with the church of Galatia.
And they were starting to succumb to the pressures of these Jewish leaders
to uphold Jewish law amongst the Gentiles.
And so Paul addressed this in Ephesians verse 4.
Starting in verse 4, he says,
You who are trying to be declared righteous by law have been alienated from Christ.
You have fallen away from grace.
For through the Spirit, by faith, we expectantly hope for hope of righteousness.
For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision carries any weight.
The only thing that matters is faith working through love.
See, the church of Galatia was more focused on works.
They were more focused on works than Christ's work on the cross.
And they were more focused on works because if they look like a Jew,
then they were a Jew.
That means they didn't have to get persecution.
But it was more than that.
It was more than that.
They also had these people telling them,
Hey, this is what you have to do.
You got to remember, the Bible didn't exist yet.
This was not compiled.
In fact, it was still being written.
All they had was the Torah and the Talmud.
All they had was basically our Old Testament in some form,
not quite the same, but a form of that.
And that's all that they had.
And so we had two problems.
Paul had two problems.
And there's two attitudes, fruits if you will,
and that Paul had to really help the Galatians navigate.
The first issue that he had was legalism.
Who here has heard of the term legalism?
A lot of you have.
And the definition of legalism is the attempt to win favor of God
by determining efforts of dedication and obedience,
not necessarily defined clearly in Scripture.
And so in Paul's time, Jews and many Christian Jews believed strictly in following the Mosaic Law.
They would earn righteousness through a standing with God,
through following that law.
And it was so ingrained in the Jews, it's been ingrained for centuries.
And if you ever read the Old Testament,
it is just filled with stories of the Jews practicing the Mosaic Law,
but not really having their heart in the right place.
Ezekiel talks about the heart of stone being replaced with the heart of flesh.
And that's what he was talking about,
was Jesus was going to come and replace that heart of stone with flesh with the new covenant.
They would do rituals with the wrong heart.
Sometimes they wouldn't even do that.
They'd go worship pagan gods.
But the truth is, we do the same thing.
We do the same thing.
You know, we try to live up to God's expectations,
and often we do it through other people.
We add additional rules.
We volunteer.
We educate yourself, not because we want to,
but because we feel like we have to, to keep up appearances,
to make it look like we're more holy.
And we do it to win others over.
And when others make us feel that we have to do all these tasks,
it's easy to become resentful.
It's especially when it comes from leadership.
That is the most painful.
I remember being in a church,
and I was volunteering in the tech booth.
I was doing graphics.
I was doing lighting.
I would do camera.
I would do sound.
I would do all this stuff.
And I remember I would serve every week, every week, every week,
and I just really needed a break because I was getting so tired.
I was going month after month.
So I go to the pastor that is over this ministry,
and I told him, I said, hey, God, I need a break.
I've been doing this week after week.
And you know what he said to me?
You know what he said to me?
He's like, look, I don't have enough butts in seats.
I really need you here.
And I had to stop.
I stopped.
I'm thinking, wow, that's how you see me?
You don't see me as a person.
You just see me as a tool.
That was painful.
And I held on to that pain for a couple years before I had to let that go to God.
But it stirred, and I thought, wow, I felt like a tool.
And so, as a result, I became frustrated, bitter, resentful even.
And it kind of started reflecting to other Christians,
and I had to learn to let that go.
I had to learn to give it to Christ because it wasn't, it was legalism.
And so the lesson in here was we got to obey and serve freely,
but we do it out of love and gratitude, not because we're supposed to.
We do it because we want to, because it's a heart issue.
And we have a lot of people here that volunteer and serve here,
and we are so appreciative to you.
And I don't want to ever have anybody in this room ever feel like they're just a butt in a seat,
because you're not, because you are a child of God,
you are a servant of God, and we love you so much,
every single one of you in this room.
I never, ever want anybody to feel the way I felt in that moment.
Because if you just do things, it's not saving grace.
It's just burning out.
But that's the thing, is people like to add additional rules.
You know, does anybody ever tell you something that, like, you know,
if you, that you're not righteous or, yeah, you're not going to heaven,
if, like, say, oh, you struggle to hear from God,
well, yeah, you're probably not going to heaven.
Or, hey, you haven't been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Man, you've got to get on board with that.
Or you don't speak in tongues.
Well, I want to let you guys know, that is not from God.
And God's going to meet you where you are today.
And I want to take that pressure off,
because God is going to meet you exactly where you are,
and he's going to continue and bring you to his glory and to his righteousness.
Don't ever feel that pressure.
Never feel that pressure.
Just walk towards him.
Because you're not going to get it from us.
It's about walking in holiness.
It's not about perfection.
So I just want everybody to relax.
Take a deep breath.
And know that it's your heart and obedience that God is looking for.
Not pleasing man.
So that's legalism.
There was another issue that Paul was fighting,
and this is a little bit different term.
It's called labelism.
And what labelism is the practice of having the right religion.
The right religion.
And so in Paul's time, the Jews saw their commitment to the Mosaic Law
as their symbol of the covenant with God.
They didn't see the saving grace on the cross.
They just saw that their alignments with the law was their saving grace.
And they felt superior for having the right religion.
Now, we still see that today.
We still see that today.
Because there is a lot of Christians who do this by belonging to the right church
or to the right denomination or religious viewpoint.
And often, it's only, you know, hinged on one, maybe two theological issues.
And then they'll go and demean other Christians who don't hold their viewpoint.
You guys ever experienced that before?
I know I have.
And the result is pride.
It's self-righteousness.
It's even arrogance.
Because here's the thing.
It's Christ's work on the cross that saves.
It's the Christ's work.
And that's what allows us to respond in faith.
And that's what it means to be saved.
So let me ask you this.
Can a Mormon be saved?
Yeah, if they believed in the saving power on the cross.
Same thing with a Jehovah's Witness.
Same thing with a Catholic.
If they believe that Jesus Christ died for them and died for their sins
and that they are walking in righteousness and holiness in him,
yes, it's not about religion.
Ephesians 2.8 says,
For by grace you are saved through faith.
It is not of yourself.
It is a gift of God.
It is not from works so that no one can boast.
So what about other Protestant denominations?
I have a colleague who is a Southern Baptist pastor.
And I remember he is a righteous man of God.
I absolutely love him.
He's actually been a great mentor to my husband and I.
And we've talked long into the night about baptism of the Holy Spirit,
about gifts of the Spirit, about demonization, about deliverance.
And you know what?
Even if he doesn't practice those things, is he going to heaven?
Absolutely, because he loves Jesus with all his heart.
It's not about denomination.
It's not about all these secondary things.
Because let's face it, church, God doesn't care about your religion.
God doesn't care about your religion because I guarantee that you and I both have things in our theology that aren't right.
And we're going to find out when we get to heaven.
Because often we're asking the wrong questions.
God just wants our heart.
God just wants our heart.
And Paul is trying to explain to this church that God just wants your heart.
He doesn't want your works.
Church is about unity.
It's not about differences.
And that's the external battle.
But then there was an even bigger problem.
So you have this external thing coming at this church, but then you had this internal problem.
And he had to address that.
Because the church of Galatia, they were just mean to each other.
They were mean.
Paul wrote in verse 13,
For you were called to freedom.
And he's talking freedom from the Mosaic law.
Brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge in your flesh.
But through love, serve one another.
See, our freedom of Christ, separate of legalism, separate of laborism, does not give us a license to act sinfully.
It doesn't give us a license to be mean to each other.
Paul wanted the people of Galatia to replace their self-indulgence with loving others.
Because, let's face it, there's just some people that are kind of hard to love.
You know what I'm talking about?
I'm getting a lot of nods.
Nobody wants to raise their hand.
They're kind of prickly.
Sometimes they're just jerks.
And that's what was going on among Galatia.
So what's the solution?
Paul gives us that.
Verse 16, chapter 5, it says,
You see, Paul explains that this internal battle within the church is between the flesh and this renewed spirit.
The truth is, is we cannot love each other perfectly, church.
We just can't.
Our flesh is eventually going to take over.
It's going to take over.
That is, except for the Holy Spirit.
And that's the Holy Spirit is what God sent to us.
To dwell in us.
To guide us.
To give us saving truth.
To give us the right words to say.
And believe me, I need them.
Yeah, so some of those who are back there snickering, like, yeah, she does.
It's scary that I'm doing women's ministry, right?
And it's to fill us with the power to do the will of Jesus.
Because nice only gets you so far.
Because eventually the flesh is going to set in.
And this is why altruism doesn't work.
And altruism is doing good for the sake of doing good.
There needs to be reward.
And you know what our reward is, folks?
Our reward is in heaven.
Our reward is the kingdom.
It is a perfect place.
With no more crying, no more tears anymore, and no more pain.
That's our reward.
And the fruits of the Spirit come from the Spirit and not the flesh.
And then when we talked about Pentecost, that was when we received that Spirit.
That's when that Spirit, that heart of flesh came.
That's when that heart of flesh came.
And so here's what the Holy Spirit does when we accept Christ into our lives.
See, the Spirit marks the beginning of the Christian experience.
Ephesians 1, 13 through 14 says,
And when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
when you believed in Christ, you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the down payment of our inheritance,
until the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.
Number two, you cannot belong to Christ without having his Spirit.
So if you believe that Jesus is your Lord and your Savior,
then you have a renewed Spirit.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit is separate of that.
That is separate.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not going to get you into heaven.
Believing Jesus is going to get you into heaven, yes?
Remember that.
Because there are churches that believe otherwise.
Romans 8, 9 says,
Number three, you cannot be united with Christ without his Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6 says,
The Holy Spirit unites us with Christ.
It is that bridge.
Number four, we cannot be adopted as his children without the Spirit.
Romans 14 through 17 says,
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear,
but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit, and we are God's children.
And if children, then heirs, namely heirs of God, and also fellow heirs with Christ.
For indeed we suffer with him, so we may also be glorified with him.
Number five, we can't be in the body of Christ without the Holy Spirit.
We need the Holy Spirit for us to be united.
Because it's not just bridge gospel.
It is the churches of Apache Junction.
It's the churches of Arizona.
The church goes all the way over to the churches in Africa.
We are united as one.
It doesn't matter where you look.
It doesn't matter the color of your skin.
It doesn't matter what you, if you speak in tongues, if it doesn't matter if you prophesy,
it doesn't matter.
We are one church.
And God united us and made us all uniquely different.
Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, because your identity is in Christ.
Number six, the Spirit provides power for our lives.
It begins this lifelong process, becoming more like Christ.
It's a process.
It's not perfection.
And if you think you've arrived, you might want to think a second about that.
Because the Holy Spirit works in us to help us become like Christ.
2 Corinthians 3,
Now the Lord is the Spirit.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.
And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image,
from one degree of glory to another,
which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Number seven, the Spirit unifies the Christian community in Christ.
Okay?
We now have a community.
Ephesians 2 says,
We are now citizens of heaven.
We are not citizens of this earth.
And we have, that's why it feels foreign here.
That's why it's difficult here.
That's why we have conflict here.
Because we don't belong here.
We belong to Jesus.
And last, the Holy Spirit can be experienced by all.
And he works through all.
Ephesians 4, 4 says,
There is one body, one spirit,
just as you too were called to the one of the hope of your calling.
Now I have a lot more sermon.
Call this part one.
But I want to let you know that the Holy Spirit,
if you believe that Jesus is your Lord,
the Holy Spirit dwells in you.
And he's here to guide you.
He is here to heal you.
And if you've ever had an experience in your past where you are struggling,
where you are just hurt by the things that other Christians have said to you,
that you have been hurt by legalism,
you've been hurt by labelism,
that you've been ripped apart,
and in your heart you're just like,
why should I even be in community with Christ when those people are so awful?
That's the person that's not God.
It's the person that's not God.
And if God has grace for me when I screw up,
he has grace for them,
and he has grace for you.
And so,
I want you to walk away encouraged,
knowing that any pain that you've experienced in the past,
whether it would be with other Christians,
with family members,
it's don't worry about them.
Let the Holy Spirit do the work in them.
It is not for you to take revenge on them.
It is not for you to be hurtful or spiteful towards them.
That is,
that's Jesus' job.
Let him take that burden.
It is not for us to take that burden.
Take that bad fruit.
Take that legalism.
Take that labelism.
Take the sore attitudes.
Take the meanness.
That is on them.
See,
your relationship between you and Christ.
And if you can't love that other person,
if you can't forgive that other person,
then you have an issue with your Lord.
Because Jesus,
it was Jesus that died on the cross for you.
He died on the cross for you,
and as he was hanging on that cross,
as he had the nails driven through his hands,
as he had a dagger in his side,
and he was bleeding,
what did he say?
Father, forgive them,
for they did not know what they did.
And if Jesus can forgive the people
who have humiliated him,
who were killing him,
who stripped him naked,
how much does he forgive you?
And how much does he forgive that other person
who hurt you?
It's tough.
It's tough.
But I think God's going to heal someone tonight.
So,
let's pray right now.
I just want to pray.
