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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
The Voice and Guidance of the Holy Spirit(1) - The Voice and Guidance of the Holy Spirit (1) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Romans 8:12-16 |
Date |
2010-06-06 |
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[Passage]
Romans 8:12-16
"[12] So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh [13] for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. [14] For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. [15] For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' [16] The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,"
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
What if the gospel of John had been the last book of the Bible?
If the Bible had concluded with the four Gospels that write about the vestiges of Jesus and His teachings, it would have been difficult to understand the will of God the Father as deeply as we do today.
We can understand the will of God more clearly through the book of Acts, the epistles, and the book of Revelation that Jesus' disciples and apostles recorded.
Through this clearer understanding we can lead more of a proper Christian life.
For example, the book of 1 Corinthians tells us about church life in detail.
Beginning with the way of salvation and the message of the cross, it continues relating detailed instructions to us about idolatry, adultery, lawsuits among believers, and marriage.
The book of 1 Corinthians is a letter that Paul wrote to answer questions of the members of the church in Corinth.
The apostle Paul wrote 13 books of the 27 books in the New Testament.
Each book contains the word of truth that is necessary for the church members, pastors, and leaders.
Then, how did Apostle Paul gain so much spiritual knowledge about so many things even though he had not been taught by Jesus directly?
1 Corinthians 2:10 says, "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." Accordingly, he wrote them in communication with the Holy Spirit.
'Searching' here means 'to know everything clearly'.
Also, whatever Paul did, he received instructions of the Holy Spirit from within His heart before he actually did something.
The Holy Spirit works in the same way even today.
You meet with so many different kinds of situations in your life.
You might wonder, 'what really is God's will and which way is really a prosperous way?'
How wonderful it would be if you can get the correct answer every time!
If you receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then you can gain the answers without difficulty.
John 14:26 says, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." As this says, the Holy Spirit teaches us.
But there are some who get off track in everything, and it is because they do not know how to hear the voice and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
There are such people even among the leaders.
Beginning today and for the next several weeks, I will explain how to hear the voice and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will keep the message in mind and practice it with prayers so that you will be able to go only in the way of prosperity through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is something very natural for us, as children of God, to communicate with God.
To communicate means to 'share the news or information', or 'to have fellowship'.
It is natural for the father and his children to communicate with one another in a family. Likewise, it is also natural for God's children to communicate with God.
But some people think only some special people are able to communicate with God.
Some people even think it is strange to 'communicate with God'.
Of course, certain ways of communicating are allowed for only certain people, but all children of God have the right to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Today's reading passage Romans 8:14-15 says, "[14] For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. [15] For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'"
Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God, and they can call God 'Abba, Father'.
It is something strange if God's children cannot communicate with God.
If we have accepted the Lord and have become God's children and yet do not communicate with Him, our situation is same as before we accepted the Lord.
For example, suppose a person met his father whom he thought had died.
So, now they met each other, but they don't have any interaction with each other.
Then, the situations before and after meeting the father are not different.
It's the same with God our Father.
If we do not communicate with God and just follow our own thoughts and old habits, then we will just be living life within our own limitations.
Then, we cannot say anything has improved.
For example, even when you do a business, you just proceed with your own know-how and capability, so it's difficult to get something greater than what your limits allow.
Also, you will be helpless about the things that are beyond human ability and capability.
Because you cannot foresee the future, you might face with disasters or be cheated by evil people and suffer a loss.
Also, when there is a general economic downturn, you will meet with even more difficult situations.
But those who communicate with God can receive abundant blessings in the guidance of the almighty God.
If we just follow the guidance of God, we can avoid even forthcoming disasters.
We can understand the way of blessing and take that way only.
Those who communicate with God will have peace not just in business field but also in their families.
As is the case in accomplishing something personal, it is even more important to have communication with God when accomplishing the kingdom of God.
God's work is spiritual work.
The fruit borne by those who communicate with God and that of those who do not will be completely different.
For example, suppose you pay a visit to a church member. If you have communication with God, you will receive the most appropriate message to give to that family.
If you deliver the message you received, it is God who will bless that family.
On the other hand, those who do not communicate with God will think of some message according to the situations they heard about.
For example, they heard this family has a trouble between the husband and the wife and deliver a message with their own thoughts, telling them to love each other.
But just by delivering a message about loving each other, the husband and wife who hate each other will not come to love each other again.
It can happen only when God solves the original cause of the problem.
In order for that to happen we have to know what kind of message is really needed for that family.
And only God knows it exactly.
That is why we have to communicate with God and receive the message from Him.
If we deliver the message that we receive from God, that message will have authority following it.
The grace of repentance will come upon the hearers and their hearts will change.
As their hearts change and souls prosper, they will receive blessings.
The flock will be healthy and the parish or the mission group will revive when you make spiritual visits this way.
Of course, there are some who do not communicate with God but comfort their flock and are nice to them in taking care of the souls.
It may even seem that they have a revival for a time.
But the souls who are taken care of in fleshly ways will fall away in the times of tests and trials like rotten fruit that fall from the tree in strong wind!
Another situation would be if that particular leader, who was nice to the parish members moves to another parish, their faith may also soon cool down.
This proves that this leader did not plant true faith in them.
If we fulfill our duty in a fleshly way, we cannot receive any reward from God.
Therefore, as children of God, and especially as pastors and workers who are doing God's work, we have to communicate with God.
We have to also ardently long to have communication with God.
In the Bible, we can see that all the patriarchs of faith communicated with God clearly and were guided by the Spirit of God.
In particular, David relied on God all the time, like a young child.
In 2 Samuel 5:18-25, we can see David won a battle by having communication with God.
When David became the King of all Israel, the Philistines came and spread out across the valley of Rephaim.
At the time David did just go out to fight with them without a plan. He first sought the guidance of God.
"Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand?"
And God said to David, "Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand."
David then went up and defeated the Philistines by relying on the word of God.
David had experienced many victories in battles against the Philistines. He also had many other battle-field experiences.
Moreover, he was not just the general of the army, or just a leader of one of the tribes of Israel, but he was now the King of all Israel.
He could have just boldly gone up to the battle and fought the Philistines.
However, he still asked the will of God, and as a result, he won the victory.
But soon after that, the Philistines took up position in the same place once again.
It was the same battlefield and conditions where they had recently had a battle. David could have just gone up to fight.
But David asked God again.
Then, God told him a different method this time.
God gave them a new strategy saying, "You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam [bɔ:lsəm] trees. [24] It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the LORD will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines."
This means they must not confront them head-on, but they were supposed to ambush the enemy from behind and strike them suddenly.
As David asked God and obeyed God's instruction, he won a great victory again.
It was not just in these battles that David asked God what to do. He asked God what to do in every matter and obeyed God's will.
Every time David did so, he was guided in the way of prosperity.
That is why David had no fear even though he walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
If you communicate with God and receive His guidance in every matter, you will prosper in all things.
It's not something that is possible only for the patriarchs.
God is wiser than any counsel and He has greater power than any leader of this world.
He is also very delicate and kind.
I hope you will long to receive guidance from such God.
God will certainly answer those who truly long for His guidance and pray for it.
Brothers and sisters, to hear the voice and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit is called communicating with the Holy Spirit.
To hear the voice and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a way to communicate with God the Trinity.
Now, let us first delve into the ways to communicate with God in order to understand how the Holy Spirit's voice is heard and how His guidance comes.
We can communicate with God by hearing the voice of the Father God, the voice of the Lord, or the voice of the angels.
In the Bible, we can see Moses and Samuel heard the voice of God speaking to them directly and answering Him directly.
Also, the apostle Paul heard the voice of the Lord on his way to Damascus and converted.
The apostle John heard the voice of the Lord when he was writing the book of Revelation and said that voice was like the sound of many waters.
When the Virgin Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, she met an angel and heard his voice.
Other than these, many parts of the Bible tell us about men of God hearing the spiritual voices.
God also spoke to me with His voice a couple of times.
For example, He told me to look up Luke 22:44 to tell me that it is the will of God for us to cry out in prayer with all our heart.
His voice was so clear and very strong.
It was very strong like the sound of many waters, like a waterfall, and such clear voice was ringing from above.
I could not pin-point any particular spot where the voice was coming from, but it was ringing throughout the whole space of the whole sky.
When He gave me a calling to become His servant, a pastor, He let me hear His clear and strong voice.
Then, how are these voices, namely God's voice, the Lord's voice, and angels' voices different from the voice of the Holy Spirit?
These voices come from outside.
However, the voice of the Holy Spirit is heard from within each one's heart.
So, if you 'hear' some 'voice', you have to carefully discern what it is.
Some people receive works of evil spirits, but they say they hear 'God's voice' or the 'Lord's voice'.
Some even say that God whispered into their ears.
But God's voice is not heard like that.
Some people may hear the voice of the Holy Spirit but they say that they heard 'God's voice' or the 'Lord's voice'.
It is not correct.
To hear the voice of God, the voice of the Lord, or the voice of angels does not usually happen to the average believer.
It can be given to proper individuals at proper times in the sight of God. Not just anybody can hear it easily.
So, the usual way of communicating with God for most common believers is to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Now, how is the voice of the Holy Spirit heard?
The voice of God or the Lord comes from outside, but I said, the voice of the Holy Spirit comes from within our hearts.
1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" As written, the Holy Spirit dwells in our heart taking it as the temple.
Therefore, the voice is also heard within our heart.
Also, the voice of the Holy Spirit is not given as a clear voice like the voice of God or the Lord.
It's not like a clear and strong voice talking in our language.
But if we can just hear it clearly, it is the most delicate and surest voice.
So, from the next session, I will explain in more detail about the voice, and the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, have you ever wasted your time on the street because you got on the wrong subway train, or bus, or because you drove in the wrong direction?
If you make an improper decision when choosing your direction, you can even go in the opposite direction from your destination.
It will cost much more time and effort to get back on the right track.
Something similar can happen when children of God are not guided by the Holy Spirit.
They will waste their time in their journey to Heaven and in their walks through life.
They think the way is correct, but later find out it was incorrect. They think their methods proved to be good last time so they will work this time again, but in fact they don't.
On the contrary, if we are guided by the Holy Spirit at each moment, we can be prosperous in all things.
I hope you will meditate on the messages you hear from today and pray fervently about them, so that you can have fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will hear the voice and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit and only take the best way.
[AMEN] |
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