Inland Empire: Riverside
Led By The Spirit (not the lotto) - Audio
In order to help get his heart and his courage, his strength, his faith were needed to be. But even though he might not have been where he needed to be at that moment, he was still trying to help get them where they needed to be, where they were trusting God. And verse 5, he says, "Now I'm going to him who sent me, yet none of you ask me where are you going, because I've said these things. You're filled with grief." He's saying, "I've told you what's going to happen. And yet none of you is asking where are you going. But I tell you the truth, it is for your good that I'm going away." See, their security was in Jesus. Jesus was trying to point them to God. And so even though Jesus is God, is the author of creation, he's still directing them to trust in God. Why? Because that's who he's going to have to trust in. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt, regardless of sin, and righteousness, and judgment, and regardless of sin, because men do not believe in me, and regardless of righteousness, because I am going to the Father. He is trusting in God, where you can see me no longer, and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands together. I have much more to say to you more than you can now bear. But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears. He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine, and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why he said the spirit will take from what is mine, and make it known to you. Jesus is literally saying that what he's about to go through is to be a template for them to trust God, to let the spirit move them to a place, that even if it means being falsely accused, even if it means being tortured to death, even if it means dying as a criminal and disgrace, you can trust that God is with you. That's a huge and important step for us to make the belief. We're God's people. We're people of promise. We've been sealed with the Holy Spirit. And so God is desperately trying to not only get us to trust him, but the spirit, and this is the second point, is trying to lead us to the truth of God. That God is God. God's bigger than whatever obstacles we have. And yet in my mind, I can so quickly, instead of seeing opportunities, see the problems. And instead of this being something where I go, "Whoa, it is so cool to be the underdog." To have the odds so stacked against you that the only way possible is for God to lead the way, and to not only be okay with that, but to trust that. When I made the decision to become a Christian, my faith was small. And I don't think had I had any idea what God had in store for me. I'd have probably been as ready because I had in my mind what that meant for me to trust God. And I will never forget today that I was asked to go into the ministry. I had just been accepted to medical school. I had my dreams laid out, and I was going to be so phenomenally generous, I'd be a great leader. I would give and give, and give because I'm a giver. And I thought about how affluent and influential I could be for Jesus. I had a predisposition growing up towards ministers because in my hometown, the ministers were people who couldn't get a job anywhere else. So they drew a bus part time and then worked for the church. And now here was someone who didn't recognize my greatness. They were asking me to be a minister, and I struggled with that. And so I did what we tend to do. I said, "Okay, well, let me bring it to God and see what God says." And I found myself laying out a fleece. It was amazing because when the fleece didn't come out the way I wanted, you just changed the fleece. Pretty soon, there's going to be a fleece that's going to tell me what I want to hear. But at some point, I decided, "You know what I need to get out and spend time with God?" And I began to think about why I didn't want that. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized this is too much about me and not about God. And that trusting in God, man, I had to trust the people that God put in my life. It's one thing to trust God because He's God, to trust you. Look at you. The spirit that God's placed in us is literally moving us to trust God, but it's also moving us towards the truth. And the truth is that God speaks to us through the Word, through the spirits, urging on our conscience absolutely, but also through the people He places in our life. So for me to think that it's God's will for me to do something that goes against the people that God's put in my life or advising me to do, just means I'm changing the fleeces. And God wants us to feel the peace. And Haggai, what He said is that that's what brings peace is when there is a place in our life that we get to where we trust Him so much that the spirit helps us understand the truth to a point that we're willing to take the next step. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 12. The letters to the church at Corinth were written because there was all kinds of stuff going on. People become very worldly and they were very confused. But there was also a level of independence there, and there is a pride that had developed among the people where they were comparing each other. And we do that in the church. I got to tell you, I do it. This morning we met for a huddle before the service, and it's all the guys that are participating in the service, and I come in there, the first person I see is Terrence. And, you know, if it's me and Terrence, Terrence isn't even wearing a suit coat. He doesn't even have a tie. I got a tie on because I'm here to worship Jesus. Some people that really honor and respect Jesus, they wear ties. When Steve Lansbury comes in, he's got a coat on at least, but no tie, no tie. Then the next two guys come in. They're wearing ties. They're obviously ready to worship. I don't know what your stuff is, but you got stuff. You may think mine's silly, but at least mine's based on some biblical principles. That's what was going on in the church at Corinth. And they were even measuring each other's gifts, and they would always find fault with each other. And in this text in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is trying to deal with that because they're even using the gifts the Spirit has given people as a way to create a cast for people. Verse 1, he says, "Now, about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant." Now, why would he say that? Because they're acting like they're ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led to straight angles. Now, why do you say that? Because you're acting like you did when you were a pagan. Then he goes on and says, "Therefore, I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus, because,' no one can say, 'Jesus is the Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." There are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord, there are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them and all men. Now, to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit, the message of wisdom, to another message of knowledge, by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous power, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between Spirit, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and still to another interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit. He gives them to each one just as he determines. He's saying, "The same Spirit gives each one of us our giftsets." All of us have been given gifts by the Spirit, and I don't know what particular gifts you have, but you've got a gift. You've got strengths that are unique to you, and it's not given to us so that we can compare each other and see where we line up in the pecking order. The next thing he says is the body's a unit. Though it's made up of many parts, the lowest parts of many, they form one body. So it is with Christ, for we are all baptized by one Spirit and one body. Whether Jews are Greek, slavery-free, we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now, the body's not made up of one part, but of many. He's saying, "Guys, we are here all by the same path." It's a path of grace. You may feel like your need for grace was greater than someone else's because they grew up in the church. They taught Bible studies. They went on campaigns. They are just as lost, just as self-condemned, as the most heinous of sinners, of sinners that we see in here today. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. All of us missed out on mercy except by the grace of Christ through his sacrifice. And so when we come in here, whether you've had a good day or a bad day, we come in here the same, seeking grace, seeking mercy from God. No matter how many people you bring out to church, no matter how much money you give at the offering, know how quickly you can turn to the passage of Scripture or how well you sing the verses. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. And we're only going to be saved by his grace. But he wants us to understand we're a unit. That means you and I, we're all part of a component part that doesn't function on its own. But here's a kicker. It's not just us. It's all the brothers. I don't know how you felt when you were dug and asked that there are already 13,000 people registered for San Antonio. You may feel like if I go or don't go, it doesn't make a difference. No, that's not true because we're a unit. What we do sends a message about that unity. If you hear, or if the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not a song leader, I don't need to go to church early. I'm not one of ministers. I don't need to be out of myself. It would not for that reason seems to be part of the body. When the spirit in here is up, it should be up because we're all up. When the spirit is down, it should be challenging because we all need to get up. We're here to worship God because we're sinners and we've been set free and this is supposed to be a celebration. When I said I'd won the lottery ticket and I was going to pay for you, they were celebration. But the moment I said April fools, the energy just went boom. It's like a sugar overdose in here sometimes. You get up a new way fall because the Holy Spirit left for the rest of the day. If the air should say, because I'm not an eye and I'm not belonging to the body, it would not for that reason seems to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts. Now this is an inch and God has arranged the parts of the body. Every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. He's even trying to get them to trust the people they're with. That person is the right person at the right place at the right time because God put them in there because he's trying to lead you to him. But it doesn't make sense. If you look who I'm looking at, you wouldn't want to follow either. And so Jesus is telling in John 16 the disciples who vowed in John 13 that they would die with him, he said, "You've got to come and be like me." And follow the example you see. Paul had begun to understand this because he had come face to face with Jesus and it changed his perspective where he saw that we can't do this alone. We need each other. And I believe with everything in me, God wants to see great things done in us, through us, among us. But he's put you here at just the right time at the right place because you're exactly where and who he wanted you to be. See, the third thing the Spirit does is it leads us to unity because in our unity we reflect God's glory. Just as Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God are one and he says that he is giving us his spirit as a part of him, that the Spirit will never speak anything. It hasn't already been told to speak that they're in one concert for one purpose. God wants us to get on the same page with each other. And that's hard when you're dealing with people because people are messed up. And so we church shop, we group hop, we disciple hop, we job hop rather than committing all of our ways to the Lord and trusting that he's with us. This past Sunday was an incredible victory. What a tragic thing if we don't follow that up with steps of faith. God's given us a phenomenal church to be a part of. He's given us a phenomenal calendar of events coming up to make the most of. But he leads it to us to take advantage of it. In Matthew chapter 7, we're going back to the first sermon that Jesus ever preached because this is not only what God taught throughout the Old Testament, it's not only what Paul tried to remind people about what Jesus taught, but it's what Jesus taught in the first sermon. In Matthew chapter 7, verse 15, he says, "Watch out for false prophets." Now why is that? It's because the Israelites had been hearing, the Pharisees teach false doctrine. They had been hearing all the heretics teach false doctrine. And Jesus is saying, "You've got to watch out even in the church. You can find people that you can gather around you to say exactly what you want to hear, to justify what you want to do, to lead yourself astray." Or we can do what Jesus is trying to get everyone to do in Matthew chapter 7. Simply stop trying to manipulate everything and start trying to trust in God. And the Spirit will lead us to the truth, they will lead us to unity. And their unity will lead us to God. Watch out for false prophets, they come to you in sheep's clothing, but anyway, they're ferocious. Buy their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people make grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, thrown in the fire. Thus, buy their fruit, you will recognize them. There should be fruit and abundance in us that leads people in the world to see there's something different. There's a difference in our racial diversity. There's a difference in our age diversity. There's a difference in our social diversity and our economic diversity. God has brought us from so many different backgrounds that together it shows the world that the world can be like, that instead of being divided on color or commerce or anything else, we can, together with one voice, lift up praise to God. But then he goes on to verse 21, he says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' only in the kingdom of heaven." Literally, he says that not everybody who claims Jesus as their Lord will get him to heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven. What he's telling him is going to make the difference is if you're willing to let go of the control of your life, trust that God loves you, that God's with you, that his spirit is a seal of your relationship. Then you can trust him. This spirit will lead you to the truth. It will lead us to unity, and that unity will lead us to corporate and individual surrendering of our will to God's will. When Jesus was preaching this, he lived it out in Gethsemane. Now, I don't know where you're at, but I know where you're supposed to be going. And God is working powerfully in our lives to try to get us from wherever we are to wherever we can be, so that together, standing side by side, surrender to him, we can reflect his glory. This spirit works in our lives every single day. What God wants us to do is to trust it, to believe in the truth of it, to get united, and to surrender to it. And ultimately, here's the reason Paul said this in Romans 8 and verse 26. In the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness. I don't know about you, but I have weaknesses throughout my life. Weakness is a faith, an energy of all kinds of things. The spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We didn't know where we had to pray for, I'm not even sure what to pray about sometimes. That's all right, the spirit knows. But the spirit himself intercedes for us. With groans of words cannot express, and he who searches our heart knows the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know, we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. Do we know that? That God is working in all the circumstances of our life for our good because he knows we love him. Who have been called according to his purpose, not according to our purpose, but according to his purpose. For those God for knew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those he predestined, he also called those he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say in response to this, if God is for us? Who can be against us? We are men and women of God. It's time for us to stop leaning on the lottery and surrender to the spirit so that God can be glorified. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Let the Spirit move you towards God.