A Real Church Service #1

John 14:12-17

A Real Church Service #1: The Holy Spirit

I. Introduction
-What makes a good church service?
-It is debated in churches today.
-I do not want to wrangle about preferences.
-Biblical answers to this kind of a question...
-We’ll start with what Jesus promised, the foundation of a good church service.

II. Scripture

III. Truth, Truth
-v. 12 "Truly, truly, I say to you..."
1. Truly = amen
2. "Truth, truth" gets your attention!
-v. 12b "whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do..."
-Are we doing the works of Jesus?
1. Miracles, healings, etc.. No.
2. Gospel, Kingdom of Heaven, Salvation... Yes
-Are we doing greater works than Jesus?
1. At the end of Jesus’ physical life he had only 11 undedicated disciples
2. He would be a "failed pastor" by today’s standards.
-v. 14 "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
-Jesus is talking to disciples.
1. This is not about a million $$, your favorite sports team winning, or your whims.
2. This is about being so in tune w/ God you ask for what He wants to give.

IV. Spirit & His Word
-v. 15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
-Receiving God’s Spirit is linked to receiving God’s Word
-Sinners cannot receive His Spirit; they cannot understand His Spirit; they cannot realize the need for His Spirit!
-Listen to two passages of Scripture (1) talks about effects of Spirit (2) talks about effects of God’s Word.
1. Ephesians 5:18-20 "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
2. Colosians 3:16-17 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
-Bible talks about the Holy Spirit continually!
1. Don’t quench the Spirit.
2. The Spirit came!
3. Blaspheming the Spirit.
4. Ananias and Saphira "test the Spirit of the Lord"
-All Jesus is promising is wrapped up in what the Spirit will do for them.
-It’s not about you doing greater works!
1. It’s the Holy Spirit doing through you!
2. Preaching= I shut-up, allow the Spirit to use me.
3. The difficulty of preaching is, and always will be getting out of the way of the Lord!

V. The Promise
-The Father will give you a helper.
1. Counselor/ Advocate
2. Someone to instruct you!
3. Not a back seat driver!
-Ill. Associated Press carried this dispatch sometime back: Glasgow, Ky.- L. Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor."
-Too many churches are struggling to start the church w/ out the engine.
1. Things didn’t start for the church until Pentecost.
2. Things won’t start for you until your Pentecost!
-That is why ‘quenching the Spirit’ is so serious!
-The Spirit is the engine!

VI. A Consistent life
-The Spirit brings a consistent life.
-Lot’s of churches have a big production on Sunday morning and dead the rest of the week!
1. Ill. Church with curtains pulled back from "stage" and "performance."
2. That’s not a disciple!
3. That’s not a product of the Holy Spirit.
-Ill. Author Jamie Buckingham visited a dam on the Columbia River.
1. He always thought that the water spilling over the top provided the power, not realizing that it was just froth
2. Reality is that deep within the dam turbines and generators transformed the power of tons and tons of water to electricity-- quietly & without notice
-Don’t look for the ‘flash-in-the-pan,’ look for the long-term faithfulness of the Spirit.
1. Don’t look for the revival services, look for the lives changed.
2. Don’t look at the attendance, look at the disciples.

VII. The World Cannot Receive
-v. 17 "even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him."
-Non-Christians cannot receive the Spirit, believers must!
-J. S. Baxter: "What God chooses, He cleanses. What God cleanses, He molds. What God molds, He fills. What God fills, He uses."
-Ill. Don’t tell me about my wife! I know her better than you do!
1. I eat with her, sleep with her, live with her, fight with her, etc...
2. Sinners, don’t tell me about the Spirit/ God; you don’t know Him!
-Then who is it available to/ promised to? Answer: Those who know Him!
-v. 17b "You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."

VIII. How Much of the Spirit?
-The question is not: How much of the Spirit do you have?
1. You either have it or you don’t.
2. Question is: How much of you does the Spirit have?
-Ill. DL Moody was going to have a revival in England.
1. One elderly pastor protested: "Why do we need this Mr. Moody? He’s uneducated, inexperienced, etc. Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?"
2. A younger pastor replied: "No, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Mr. Moody."
-Does the Spirit have a monopoly on your life?
-Paul was led by the Spirit.
-Acts 16:6-7 "And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. [7] And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them."

IX. Conclusion
-Ill. A lady was asked how she knew the voice of the Spirit,
1. She answered: "How do you know your husband's step and your child's cry from the step and the cry of all others? I can not tell you how I know the voice of the Spirit, but it is as real to me as the voice of any person I know."
2. How real to you is the still small voice of the Spirit?
-Has it been a while since you heard from God?
-Ill. You may believe you have grown in grace since you are not too emotional or tender hearted anymore.
1. Really you have just quenched the Spirit.
2. Really you are growing cold and distant from the Spirit of God.

-Why don't you just participate in a real church service and receive His Spirit afresh and anew!

Filled With the Spirit or Wine?

Ephesians 5:18

The following is a sermon that I preached on May 18th at the community worship service before the local vote on the sale of alcohol. As the Lord led I realized there was little use in trying to convince those present that alcohol would have a negative effect... that was why they were there. The following sermon ensued...

I. Introduction
-In two days an important vote will take place: Should we sell alcohol?
-However, I believe that the problem our community faces is much deeper than this vote.
-In other words, even if the vote is ‘no,’ our community will still have problems.
-I am against alcohol, but we must ask ourselves what we are for!

II. Scripture

III. More than Anti-Drunkenness
-Drunkenness is sin; the Bible is clear on that. (Galatians 5:21)
-What we could mistakenly read into that passage, and all of scripture is this: "If I am sober, I am saved."
-But that is not true; it is not sobriety that saves us.
-It is not the lack of alcohol that defines the church.
-It is not an absence of alcohol in our body that makes us a Christian.
-There is something more to being a Christian!

IV. Filled with the Spirit
-Often the church has attempted to define itself as simply "anti" something.
-But the void of things/sins removed from our lives must be filled with something else!
-Being Christian is not defined by sobriety, but a filling of the Holy Spirit!
-What are you filled with?
-I’m not talking about...
1. ...association w/ the Spirit.
2. ...acquaintance w/ the Spirit.
3. ...just having the Spirit.
-I’m talking about being filled with the Spirit.
-When you are filled w/ the Spirit, the Spirit comes out when you are knocked about by life.
-When you are filled with the Spirit, it spills out at work, at home, at church, at the ballfield, at school, etc.
-Are you filled with the Spirit? (Those filled with the Spirit are not drunkards!)

V. A Little Church History
-The church only exists in a place where it is receiving (& transmitting) the Holy Spirit!
-What place is that?- Revival
-Let me give you a little church history...
-First Great Awakening (1730-1740's)
1. Jonathon Edwards (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God).
2. George Whitfield (methodist)
3. Many congregational style churches (Baptist) emerge
4. Separate Baptists came out of this. (Their verse was: 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Come out from among them, and be ye separate.")
5. It was an awakening/revival of the church!
-There is a need of revival when the church isn’t what it should be!
1. Church lacks power today!
2. The church needs revival!
3. The devil/world cannot stop revival in the church, only you & I (the church) can do that!
-Second Great Awakening (1800-1840's)
1. Presbyterian pastor organized a revival in Cane Ridge, KY.
2. Thousands came out.
3. Baptists and Methodists joined in as it spread across KY and the US.
4. Cumberland Presbyterian Church emerges from the 2nd great awakening!
5. Focused on saving the lost.
6. Pushed controversial issues like temperance, women’s rights, & slavery.
7. Spiritual leaders...
8. Alexander Campbell- Christian Church
9. Methodist Church needs more people like Francis Asbury & Peter Cartright
10. Presbyterian Church needs more people like Charles Finney, Lyman Beecher (temperance),
-There is a need of revival when there are lost people!
-Third Great Awakening (1880's-1900's)
1. AKA- Holiness Movement
2. Church of the Nazarene came from 3rd awakening
3. Salvation Army came from this revival too.
4. Focused on life change after revival services were over!
5. Eventually birthed the Pentecostal movement.
-There is need of revival when lives do not match professions.

VI. Just Momentum?
-Are we running the church on momentum from years past? (past revivals? past generations?)
-Ill. It is said that out west on level, straight track a train going 40-50 mph will go for 15 or more miles on momentum.
-Are we preaching, singing, & testifying on yesterday’s blessings?
-The church has truth on its side!
1. It has the Gospel!
2. It has the Holy Spirit!
3. But I am afraid we haven’t utilized any of that.
-Ill. A train on its tracks came to a stop away from any station.
1. Passengers: "Haven’t you got any water for the boiler engines?"
2. Engineer: "Yes, but we don't have a fire."
-The church needs fire again!

VII. A Divided Church?
-Some have said: "Alcohol has brought division in our community."
-Matthew 10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."
-But in the accusation of division it is implied that the church is divided on this issue... not true.
-Truth is: No church or pastor in Green County is in support of selling alcohol.
-The church of green county stands in one accord on the issue of alcohol sales; it says: NO!
-Do you see what’s happening here? (We are in one accord!)

VIII. The Point?
-The Point: The church only exists when lives are being changed and disciples being made by the Spirit!
-We need an awakening today!
-We need a Pentecost!
-Acts 2:1 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
-The second great awakening began in little Cane Ridge, KY. Anyone know where that is?
-Critic: "We’re just a little county.What can we do?"
-Few people may have Greensburg, KY on their map, but few people had Cane Ridge, KY on their map until God broke out among the people!
-All of the ingredients are right for another Pentecost!

IX. Conclusion
-If all we ever accomplish in ministry is keeping alcohol out of Green County we will have failed.
-The ministry of the church is to bring about a spiritual awakening to God’s truth.
-I believe it is coming!
-Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow, but it is coming!
-God is going to reveal himself to our community!

The King is Coming

Revelation 22: 10-13, 17, 20

I. Introduction
-Is the Lord coming again?
-1987 Gallup Poll showed 62% of Americans believed he was, but that number is dropping drastically.
-I wonder if we would do anything different if we really believed Jesus is coming back?

II. Scripture

III. Time Concerns
-We are preoccupied with the 'when?' of Jesus return.
-We are mesmerized (and deceived) by those claiming to know the time of Christ's return.
-Warren Wiersbe said: "I used to have the Lord’s return planned out to the last detail, but years ago I moved from the planning committee to the welcoming committee."
-1 Thessalonians 5:2
-Mark 13:32-37
-Matthew 24:44
-I'll tell you exactly when Jesus is coming back: when the Father tells Him to!

IV. When?... Soon!
-Though the exact time is unknown, He is coming back!
-Hebrews 10:37
-James 5:8

V. Just Be Ready!
-The King is Coming!
-Be ready for His arrival.

VI. He is Coming in all His Glory
-Ill. Johnny Carson once had Billy Graham as a guest on The Tonight Show.
1. At one point Johnny said, "You know what, Billy? I bet if Jesus ever came back to earth, we’d do Him in again!"
2. Billy Graham leaned forward in his seat, and said, "In the Bible we read that Jesus WILL someday return to earth again. The first time He came in love. The next time, He’ll come in power. And no one will do Him in!"
-He’s coming in all His glory.
-Glory unhampered by a fleshly body!
-Power unrestrained by human frailties!
-No force on earth or in Hell will be able to do Him in!
-Revelation 19:11-16 (Glory, Hallelujah!)

VII. Enough
-The missionary Gregory Fisher was teaching at W. African Bible College.
1. Student: "Reverend, 1 Thess. 4:16 says that Christ will descend from heaven w/ a loud command with the voice of an angel. What will He shout?"
2. "I didn’t want to answer the question and just tell him to avoid speculation about Scripture."
3. "Then I started thinking. About a refugee from the Liberian civil war who was captured by a group of terrorists, tortured, narrowly escaped, lived in the bush for two days, found his family, and fled to another country."
4. Two of his children, all of his possession, and his way of life were lost.
5. I though about the beggars I passed every day on the road. Others who have vacant eyes of hopelessness.
6. "Prof., what will He say?"
7. "‘Enough!’, He will shout ‘Enough’ when He returns."
8. "Enough suffering, enough starvation, enough terror, enough death, enough indignity, enough lives tapped in hopelessness, enough sickness and disease, enough sin, enough evil, enough Satan, enough Time! Enough!"
-May I add that there will be no more...
1. ...war, dictators, terrorists, crime, prisons, courts.
2. ...slums, vice, filthiness, pornography, breweries, drunkards, abuse.
3. ...poverty, distress, starvation, needy, poor.
4. Disease and death will no longer exist!
5. ...cancer, heart problems, mental illness, tumors, flu, small pox, chicken pox, cow pox, common cold.
6. ...temptation, gossip, hatred, blasphmy, brutality, gambling, fraud, abortion, oppression, lying, trickery.
7. ...deceit, vanity, unrest, strikes, desecration of the Sabbath, wickedness.
8. ...deceptive politicians, corrupt businessmen, hypocritical clergy, etc.
-He will descend in glory & power and say: 'enough!'
-Hymn original words by Edward Mote: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteous; no merit of my own I claim but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand."

VIII. Are You Ready?
-John 14:3
-The King is coming.
1. If not ready = fear.
2. If ready = joy & anticipation

IX. Conclusion
-Philippians 2:9-11
-Revelation 22:20

Something New...

I am going to attempt to give outlines of sermons that I have preached at my home church, in revivals, and various occasions.

I hope it is worth the effort!

The labels for the post will contain:
(1) The book of the Bible the sermon is from.
(2) The subject(s) that the sermon may deal with.

Let me know if I can make it any more helpful.