Brother Gary Sunday Morning 11/2/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 11/2/14

2Ti 1:2  To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

This morning I desire to preach on the power of the Holy Ghost.

2Ti 1:6  Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

Paul was writing to his beloved son that was saved and sanctified.  Paul had laid his hands on him and prayed and he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God.  Paul had lived longer and knew the importance of Timothy stirring up the Holy Spirit of God.  Rekindling the fire of the Holy Spirit.

The value of it is so pronounced for you and me as we are in 2014.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

This is the power of the Holy Spirit.  We certainly need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives today.  As you study the scripture from the Old Testament to the book of Revelations and we see it today, one of the saddest things in the world today that you and I deal with is the fear that is in individual’s lives. 

Many children are introduced to fear way too young in their lives.  Children have parents that don’t care for them as God would have them to.  All of us as adults need to pray for children.  Even with as many programs as there are in the world today, children are an open prey for predators over and over again.

Paul had known and learned the performances that the Holy Spirit did in lives.  It was first in his life.  In order to teach it, he must first have had to be a partaker of it. 

There are four performances that the Holy Spirit does: 

1. It doesn’t give us a spirit of fear:  most of us were exposed to fear in childhood.  I hope our homes were never one where there was fear.  Probably before you got through grade school, there was a bully.  Most of us did not all have teachers like the sisters here. 

We had relatives and there was a fear, “What if that relative catches me wherever?”  We were exposed to fear, “What if I am not loved by my grandma, aunt, uncle...?” 

One of the performances of the Holy Spirit in our life is that it delivers us from all our fears.  That is a sweet note to me.  We have grandchildren, it is wonderful to know a God that we can teach them about that will protect them and deliver them from all their fears.

Three sisters are going to move one mother that is being reduced from her home.  For all that have lived to be my age and for the younger, if you have been blessed to have a home, then you are blessed and privileged. 

There is that reality, “Will I be reduced and not able to die in my own home?”  I had the privilege to be with my mother when she died.  She died in her own home.  I am not knocking those that are in a facility, but most of us would like to die in the presence of our own home. 

Some have the fear of being rejected by a friend, a companion, some have a mother that is a distance away and they are not able to take care of their aged parent.  There is always the thought, “What is going to happen tomorrow?” 

Only God is able to, through the power of the Holy Spirit, deliver us from our fears.

2.  The performance of the Holy Spirit is to give us power.  There is not anyone that has reached the age of accountability that found that we were able to handle the power of sin.  Sin took advantage of us and took its course. 

We found that there was a nature within that we were not able to handle.  We live in a world that has reduced Jesus in their theology so that He cannot do anything.  They speak of being saved but I cannot figure out what they are delivered from.  They drink, they smoke, and they live immoral lives.  It is an empty testimony if you say that you are saved but still live in sin.

It is the Holy Spirit that gives us power. 

3. It is the Holy Spirit that sheds abroad the love of God in our heart. 

4. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us a sound mind.

This older brother that was as a father to Timothy in the flesh said, “Oh son Timothy, stir up the gift, the Holy Spirit that is in thee.  For God has not given us the gift of fear, but of power.”

The Holy Spirit is a gift of God from the Father.  As the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 that were in the upper room seeking after God, the testimony is that they were delivered from all their fears. 

40 or 50 days before, they were all in a room and were shut up because they were afraid.  Jesus showed up and said “Peace.” 

After they were in the upper room and the Holy Spirit came down, they were not able to stay there.  They went everywhere.  Those that saw them said, “There is something wrong with these folks.  They must be drunk.  They were afraid, they were shut up, now they are going everywhere.”

The Psalmist David was inspired by the Holy Ghost when he said this:  This poor man cried.

Psa 34:4  I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Psa 34:5  They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

Psa 34:6  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

It is heartbreaking what fear does for individuals.  It is sad that a rich man would die of hunger.  Some are so lonely.  They have fear of someone wanting to take them for their money.  Some say, “I’d like to be Church of God but the standard…”  Hold on, you talk about fear; you talk about ridiculous.

This poor man cried and the Lord heard Him and delivered him from all his fears.

As tough as big John is and as tough as little John is.  Fear is something that visits everyone.  Sometimes it is something that comes to hassle you and make you uncomfortable, sometimes it is a distress. 

We want to gain audience with God and the way to do that is to say, “This is the man that needs help from God.”

If you feel like you are in the most difficult strait in your life, it is then that God really wants to do something for you.  It was during the Civil War that President Lincoln declared the third Sunday of November a day of praise. 

He acknowledged the thought, “The sin of America is terrible.  Please remember us; as we set this thanksgiving aside, God remember us please.” 

That day was set aside to show thanksgiving and praise to God.  Lincoln was in a very difficult place in his life.  He was often found in the basement praying and seeking after God.  It bothered him to see soldiers slain, he prayed for the orphans and the widows.

When we are in a very difficult place in our life, the spirit of fear can move in on us.  We can pray and as David “This poor man cried, and the Lord delivered him out of all his fears.”

When John wrote this, He was of an age and frailty that he was being carried into church.

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

May God help me to love Him perfectly.  May God help me to love my wife and the body of Christ with a perfect love.  For there is no fear in love.

Act 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The Apostles were gathered in a room afraid and Jesus came.  Maybe fifty days later, they were gathered in the upper room after Jesus ascended.  They were praying; for they had received this promise from Jesus, “But you shall receive power…” 

You shall be witness unto me.  It is Jesus that we want to be a witness unto.  If so then if we are accepted or rejected, we still want to be a witness unto him, both at home and away from home.

The Holy Spirit gives us power.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

If you and I are going to win, we must have the power of the Holy Spirit.  We meet with people that want to conquer us and move in on us.  We meet with religious spirits that say, “I am going to move in on you; you don’t know anything.”

Nay, in all of these things we are more than conquerors.  That is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?

I trust everyone in this audience has it settled.  No one can separate you from Jesus unless you let them. 

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You can meet with lots of troubles, temptations, in the thought to try you.  You can have it settled, though the power of the Holy Spirit I am going to conquer.

We can allow things to turn us to a direction of desolation away from God or we can say, “This is only going to cause me to draw closer to God.”

Shall distress?  We are going to have times of feeling emotional, physical, and material needs.  The Apostle Paul wanted us to know, “Don’t let any distress separate you.” 

You may be here in this audience this morning and feel you could have written the song, “When my plans have all fallen through.”  When what we thought would be ours to enjoy for years, vanish as a vapor.  Don’t let it separate you from God.

Persecution:  There are times when you become the target.  There are times when I become a target.  You say, “I am right with God so why should I let it bother me?”  People that are right with God have a tender conscience.  Those that are not right with God have mean tongues, mean faces, mean body language.  Don’t let it separate you from God.

Family:  whatever kind of a shortage you might feel.  There are times when we go through dry places spiritually and once you get on the mountain you think, “I’m not going to let that happen again.”  That is a part of life.

When you don’t feel God anywhere, he is there.  Go right on serving Him.  Take the attitude, “We are not only going to have a day of thanksgiving and praise on the third Sunday but a month of thanksgiving and praise.  I haven’t walked away from God, He is still there.

There will be times when we feel down, when we face disappointment.  It is real.  There are people that tell us that they don’t let anything affect them.  I don’t know who they are trying to convince, when disappointment comes it is disappointing. 

I believe this town of Paradise can raise enough food to feed the whole town.  I’m not going to tell you how it is going to be, but whatever kind of a famine that you are faced with, you don’t have to let it separate you from God. 

You may feel, “My son is not here, my daughter is not here, my grandchildren are not here.”  You may feel a loneliness.  You feel when someone is sick that you want to go to them.  Sometimes we cannot go there.  We cannot let that separate us from God.

Every one of us in this audience will undoubtedly find ourselves in perils, dangerous places, situations literally.  For sure there will be dangerous situations spiritually.  You know without me preaching it that Satan is loosed out of His prison. 

There will be those that will follow the pattern of the rebellious.  It doesn’t matter where the peril comes from you must have it settled, “I am not going to let this separate me from God.

In all these things we are more than conquerors.

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Dying can be tough.  We have viewed people that have contracted various diseases.  My uncle Bert died of Alzheimers.  It was tough.  He moaned and groaned.  It is a mean disease.  Something happens in the mind that produces extreme pain in the body.  His wife would ask where he hurt.  He would just moan. 

Whatever happens there is power.  There is power to overcome.  I don’t know how the events of life will be for this audience.  We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.

Paul was teaching us under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, “Don’t let anything separate you from the Love of God, for the power of the Holy Ghost is able to sustain us in every situation.”

The Holy Spirit gives power to be a witness unto Christ in every situation in our life. 

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to shed the love of God abroad in our heart.  One might be able to grasp this scripture: it is as a great outpouring from an unending source of the Love of God into our soul so that it penetrates fully our soul.

It is the work of the Holy Ghost to give us power and that power to cause the love of God to be shed abroad.  It takes the Holy Spirit and God pouring the love of God abroad in our soul.  The events of life would position you to have an attitude. 

You have to say, “No, I can conquer this by the love of God.  That doesn’t mean that you will be passive toward sin or toward what is wrong, it means that you will have the power of the Holy Ghost to stand against what is wrong.

The power of the Holy Ghost gives us a sound mind.  Your mind has no control except though the power of the Holy Ghost.  The carnal mind is an enemy against God.  Our natural mind will always work against our having a sound mind. 

The carnal mind is an enemy against God.  It is described in 2 Tim 3 men shall be lovers of their own selves.

When people do not get saved and sanctified and have the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit give them a sound mind:  You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know, “They say they are saved, but they are more in love with themselves than with God.”

You may face disaster but don’t forget God in the disaster.  There is nothing too hard for God.

Isa 26:3  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

We know that is a real challenge.  When something comes into our life that is disturbing, our natural mind will focus on it.  We will see scenes.  We get a hold of God and say, “We are going to delete this scene and this scene…and get our minds on God.”

Men’s hearts would be failing for fear.

We know this to be true.  How many people don’t want to face the reality of today? Some will deal with it with alcohol, some with drugs, and some with an untimely death.  Some will deal with it with whatever mode of coping that they choose.  In reality their hearts are failing them with fear.

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

This is our promise.  “I will be His God and he shall be my son.”

Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Fear and unbelief have joined hands.  The bible teaches us that they will be with the abominable, the murderers, the …

God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power.  The Holy Spirit gives us power.  Power to have a disciplined mind, to believe God to have the Love of God shed abroad in our hearts, and an abundance to keep us rightly related to God and to one another.