Last week we experienced something a bit different in the life of our church during the time of prayer and ministry after the message. One of our longtime, quiet church members stood up and boldly spoke in tongues. This is one of the gifts of the Spirit. There was an interpretation afterwards, (another gift), and it was all done, from God, for the edification of the church.

John and Marty Smith and I will address this, together, towards the end of this message, this morning. Ironically, the title for this message today, which has been on my mind for many weeks, is, "The Importance of the Spirit."

In our Christian lives, there is simply nothing more important than communing with, being directed by, and having our hearts attuned to God's Holy Spirit. This is the opposite of putting our energy, instead, into pride, hypocrisy, and self-righteousness.
Jesus hated it when people who were supposed to be full of God were, instead, full of themselves.

Here's a simple grammar lesson for us this morning, and yes, grammar matters! I had to relearn English gramma when I took Greek, in order to learn the language! It was an excruciating, eye-opening experience. But well worth it. So here we go...
Whenever you see a word ending in"ous", it is a suffix meaning "full of". It turns a noun (person, place or thing), into an adjective, ( a word describing a noun).

Here's an example of a sentence, with a word with "ous" ending, in it: "The person was contemptuous towards the other person." With what we've just learned, we would now understand one person was "full of contempt" for the other.

I'm going to list some other "ous" words. See if you can guess what they mean:
fortuitous (full of fortune); ingenuous (full of ingenuity); blasphemous (full of blasphemy); odiferous (full of odor), and efficacious (full of efficiency).

So therefor, the word "self-righteous" would mean full of "self-right" ness. And when the suffix "ness" is added to an adjective, ( a word describing a person, place, or thing), it becomes a noun (a person, place, or thing) again, itself!
Hence, the phrase "They are self-righteous" tells us they think they're full of thinking themselves always right. But, "they have a lot of self-righteousness," tells us they have a lot of always think themselves always right!

In the book of John, the author, John, wants us to know how important it was for Jesus to draw people into relationship with Him and our Heavenly Father, and be filled with His Holy Spirit, and turn away from too much, unhealthy, damaging, focus on self!



We certainly need some divine help on this matter.

And so in the book of John, John tells us Jesus is God. He can help us turn away from our worst selves and turn towards Him to become our best selves! He offers us the gift of His Holy Spirit.

The first of the book of John tells us how God became fully God and fully human in His one and only son, Jesus Christ.
It takes our eyes off our earthly confines as we read words like “light” and “His dwelling among us” and “His glory,” “grace” and “truth.”

And so in the book of John, John tells us Jesus is God. He can help us turn away from our worst selves and turn towards Him to become our best selves! He offers us the gift of His Holy Spirit.

The first of the book of John tells us how God became fully God and fully human in His one and only son, Jesus Christ.
It takes our eyes off our earthly confines as we read words like “light” and “His dwelling among us” and “His glory,” “grace” and “truth.”

Then John shares with us the story of John the Baptizer, Jesus’ cousin, who pointed the way to the Savior of the world.
Next, John records the first miracle of Jesus. He met a need for a family at a wedding who were about to run out of wine. Jesus stepped in, and saved them from disaster. He miraculously turned water into wine. And it was very good wine.

Then, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Passover. He became furious with temple market merchants taking advantage of the Jewish pilgrims coming to the temple, and selling them needed sacrificial animals for outrageous prices! The original “price-gouging!” He made a whip out of cords, and showed some “zeal for His Father’s house.” He drove the animals out. He overturned some tables too.
Some people saw signs He was performing, and believed in His name.
Then John 2:24,25 says a curious thing, “But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all people. He did not needJohn sets us up for what comes next.
He knows that as human beings, we want to be in control. We want to do what we think is best for us. In our self-focus, and self-righteousness, we might even be arrogant, harsh, impatient and divisive.
Which is also why Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1-3 “…live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
We need divine help. We need the Spirit.

We can’t be humble and gentle and patient and loving and peaceful without God’s Spirit dwelling within, and directing us.

And so, John, skillfully tells the story of Nicodemus and “the woman at the well.”
With both stories he tells of Jesus teaching on the importance of the Spirit.”


John takes two examples of people in society at that time who are polar opposites on the spectrum of humanity: Nicodemus, the respected Pharisee who is a member of the ruling Jewish council, and the Samaritan “woman at the well.”
She was of a mixed race and area most good Jews would avoid, and go well out of their way to travel around, when going from a northern city like Nazareth to a southern one like Jerusalem. This woman in particular was also looked down on by the other people of her village. She went to the town well to get her water for the day at twelve noon, instead of early morning when the rest of them went.
Also, as Jesus pointed out to her, as only He could know, she had had five husbands, and was with a man at this point who was not her husband.

Nicodemus came at night to see Jesus for himself. He came personally, though he could have sent an assistant.
It occurred to me while typing out this message that Jesus, or Nicodemus, must have shared this story with John. They were the only two there that night.

Nicodemus greeted Jesus with respect and said “… we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with Him.” (3:2)
Jesus responds with getting right to the point. He knows the hearts of people, we already read. He knew what Nic was searching for. And He knows what we’re searching for too. Let’s read John 3:3-8. [Read] [Pray]

[The teaching on “Very truly I tell you… or “Truly, Truly I tell you,” etc.]
Important teaching #1 “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of Gd unless they are born again.”
The original language says “born from above.”

In other words, when we begin relationship with God, when we choose to believe in Jesus Christ, it must be a personal thing between us and Him.
Nic knew about the kingdom of God from Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus was telling him it would be available to everyone, and that it couldn’t be entered without a personal experience of being born again. Spiritually.
It was a Spirit thing.

Nic didn’t understand quite yet. He responded, of course, with a perfectly logical question. How can someone be born when they’re older and were already born once to their mother?

Jesus gave him another “Very truly I tell you” and then said, “no once can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”
Where He just said “born again” earlier, this time He unpacked it more by adding “water and the Spirit.”

Titus was a man Paul entrusted to oversee the churches on the island of Crete. He wrote a letter to him in between imprisonments in Rome. In Titus 3:4-6 he says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior…”

God does not save us because of “good things” we do, or because we’re “good people.” It has nothing to do with us. It is purely from Him. That’s why its a gift!
And the Holy Spirit is a great gift.

I hope you want Him in your life, and more of Him as we continue to grow spiritually. Conversely, more of Him helps us grow spiritually!

Jesus helped Nic understand this more when He gave the analogy of the wind. (Which, by the way, is what they felt they heard in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost!)

The Message puts it in a way we can understand: Jesus said “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation - the wind-hovering-over-the-water creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life - it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.”
Here’s more illumination: “When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch - the Spirit - and becomes a living spirit.”
“So don’t be surprised when I tell you you have to be “born from above” - out of this world, so to speak.”
“You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone “born from above” by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

This is why it is so important that we communicate with God spirit-to-Spirit.
This is why John made sure that in both narratives with people from entirely different walks of life, the same point was made.

Jesus was having a theological discussion with an outcast woman at high noon. He had been waiting for her. Jesus cut through their back and forth conversation and said, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
(John 4:23, 24.)

Wow. This is so powerful and important. That’s why Jesus repeats it. That’s why discussion of spirit, and the Spirit, is in both scenarios.
God doesn’t want a bunch of self-righteous, acts and deeds-counting followers. He wants people who hunger and yearn for Him.
He wants us to be honest with Him. He already knows what we think, anyway.
He wants to fill us to overflowing with His Spirit, which then connects with our spirits, and we become more attuned to God. With the Holy Spirit, we become more like God.

There is no doubt in my mind the Spirit is guiding me when I ask Him to and prepare messages with Scriptures from God’s Word, the Bible. He always puts in things I was not planning to. And He also eliminates other things I thought I would use.
It has been very cool to me to see how many of the messages last fall echoed what we were learning in Firestarters.
This year, too, the same thing is happening.
We heard teachings Wednesday night that echo the words of this morning. And one thing we heard which has stayed in my mind all week is that God is transforming us to look more like Him. It’s ongoing. And He does it with His Spirit…

We want to be sensitive to the Spirit. We don’t want to limit God, as John shared last week. John did ask us to ask the Holy Spirit speak to us as he began his message. And spiritual gifts flow from people living in the Spirit...