Live By The Spirit
Depend On The Holy Spirit
November 24, 2019 • Pastors Drikus & Melody Erasmus
When you’re in a tough spot, when you have challenges, when you have a mountain to conquer, when you are nervous, anxious, afraid or worried, what and who do you depend on? What do you look to, in order to deal with the nerves, the anxiety, or to sort out a situation? Today many people try to rely on their own strengths, their education, their reasoning, the strength of their bank balances, their abilities, their personality, their friends and family to get them through life. But ultimately God is the only one on whom we can truly rely. In this message, we learn from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians how to always depend on the Holy Spirit. Key Points & Scripture: #1. Rely on The Holy Spirit and not your own strengths (1 Cor. 2:1, 4, 9-13, 2 Cor. 12:9, Isa. 55:8); #2. Rely on The Holy Spirit when you feel weak (1 Cor. 2:3, Isaiah 40:29); #3. Rely on God to work through you; Focus on the cross (1 Cor. 2:2, 1 Cor. 1:18-25, Rom. 1:17); You will never be orphans (1 Cor. 2:4-5, Acts 3:6, Zech. 4:6, 1 Thess. 5) Additional Scripture: 2 Chron. 16:7, Psalm 20:7, 62:5-7, Prov. 3:5-6 Apply The Word: When you’re in a hard time what do you look to? When you’re in a good time what do you look to? Does it take a difficult situation or circumstance to lead you to rely on the Holy Spirit, or is it a natural and constant decision in every season? God can do great things in you and through you, but you need to stop relying on yourself and let the Holy Spirit work through you. Repent from being independent from God; any spirit of doing it your way, always having the answers. Instead, by the grace of God, live without pressure; give your burdens to Jesus, your Burden-Bearer. As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, choose a lifestyle where you pray without ceasing, and involve God in everything. A lifestyle where you lean constantly on the Holy Spirit and rely on God – not your own strength. Are you fully dependent on the Holy Spirit for your personal life, home, family, finances, career, hobbies, ministry? Is there an area of your life that you have never surrendered to the direction of the Holy Spirit? Many Christians today, instead of living dependent lives, have been living chronically independent lives. Sometimes it is just the ministry or the morality that is dependent on the Holy Spirit, rather than the entire life as every Christian is called to live. The Bible says in the book of 1 Samuel that independence or rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft. It is very serious. But God is merciful. It is time for every Christian to quit failing and attempting most things in our own strength; to quit playing god and to trust wholly and constantly in Jesus Christ. Is God your backstop or your first port of call? How desperate are you for your next breath? How badly do you need it? How dependent are you on God for your next heartbeat? Do you walk through life confident that when your plans fail, God is there, or do you walk through life knowing that God’s perfect plan is available every day? God calls us to depend on Him completely. When we live that way as His Church, we are able to represent His image here on earth and live a life of true faith, miracles, and obedience to God. Today, make God number one.
Comforted By The Holy Spirit
November 17, 2019 • Robert & Maria Magembe
Comfort is one of the greatest needs of people in our world. There are so many things in the world today that make us feel alone, scared, desperate, unloved, or unwelcome. But by the Holy Spirit, we can experience peace and joy. This comfort the Bible speaks about is something that touches us deep in our hearts and brings freedom. As the Bible says; God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Today you don’t need to feel disheartened anymore; whatever situation you are in, you can receive the Holy Spirit as your comforter. Key Points & Scripture: #1. He is on our side (Romans 8:26-28); He intercedes for us; He comforts our hearts and minds; He represents Jesus; #2. He will help you know what is right and what is wrong (John 6:63, Phil. 4:8); He will speak the truth; He will speak directly; He will speak through the Word of God; #3. He will always be with you (Psalm 94:19, Rom. 8:35, 2 Cor. 1:3-4, John 14:18); He will never leave you; You will never be orphans (Psalm 27:10) Apply The Word: Do you walk alone through life, or do you recognise that the Holy Spirit wants to advocate for and defend you? Do you draw near to the Spirit to grow in relationship with the one who can speak for you? You may feel like you have no one on your side and are left to walk alone in life, but the Holy Spirit is the best defender and advocate. The Spirit works in us to give us His peace and His joy. You need to pray and read the Bible every day to continually draw close to the Spirit. When you pray, He directly ministers comfort to your heart. When you read God's Word, the Holy Spirit ministers the truth to you. These foundations of prayer and His Word allow us to remain unshakeable even in the difficult times of life. Do you allow sadness to follow you wherever you go, or do you allow the Holy Spirit to guide your every step? The disciples were terribly sad to hear that Jesus was going away from them. They had come to know Jesus personally and they were about to lose His presence on earth. But Jesus promised them that it was best that He leave so He could send ‘another Counsellor’; God’s Spirit. We read in Acts about the persecution, pain and sadness, and yet we read that they were all filled with joy. The Apostle Paul experienced great hardship, yet he said you can rejoice always. The same Holy Spirit that the disciples and early church knew is with us today. Allow Him to be with you at all times and in all situations. Allow Him to comfort you when you are lonely and feel vulnerable. Allow Him to comfort you when you have lost a loved one. Receive His comfort and be restored today.
Taught By The Holy Spirit
November 3, 2019 • Mike and Natasha Airey
There are many teachers through which the world offers instruction. You can be taught by your boss, your teacher, your parents, a close friend, a colleague. Some of the most influential teachers in the world today are the media, social media, music, films, and adverts. These things teach us the way the world says we should look and live if we’re to be loved and accepted. Our opinions and habits are formed, informed and transformed by what we are taught. While we can have many teachers in life for good and for bad, Jesus taught that the primary teacher we need to have in life is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the best teacher and you can be taught by Him every single day. Let’s discover how. The Holy Spirit Teaches Us About… 1. Jesus (…the Spirit of truth…will glorify me); Who Jesus Is (1 Cor. 12:13, John 15:26); We Are Children Of God (Rom. 8:14-17); How To Live For Jesus (Mark 13:11) 2. The Future http://(...and he will tell you what is yet to come); Of The Church (Matt 16:18); Of The World (Dan. 2:21); Your Future (Acts 16:6-7, 19:21, 20:22) 3. Everything http://(...he will guide you into all the truth); About People (Matt 9:4, Luke 9:47); About The Ways & Thoughts Of God (1 Cor. 2:13-14, Isa. 55:8-9); About Prayer (Rom. 8:26-27); About Living Righteously (John 1:29, 5:14) Apply The Word: Today, who is teaching you? Have you learnt the ‘right way to be’ from a teacher or a TV show? Do you look to the news, to social media, to popular culture, to find what has value or what the future holds? There are many voices in the world but only one which will reveal Christ to you. He doesn’t speak how we speak, and his wisdom is not human wisdom – the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual realities that can only be revealed to us when we are living by the Spirit and being taught by Him. We must make a decision to ask the Holy Spirit to be our main teacher in life. First, we must ask & receive Him into our lives, then choose to live by the Spirit each day. How much importance do you place on quality time with the Holy Spirit every morning? Or on being in church, attending a small group, growing in the Spirit through our courses Life Class and Destiny Training? The Spirit will teach you what to say and how to live for Jesus in every circumstance. To have His insight though, we must prioritise Him and spend quality time with Him. To live for Jesus, you need to simply stay close to the Holy Spirit. He will help you live out your faith at all times and in all situations. He is your helper in life, as Jesus promised! If you’ve been a Christian for a long time, is your life showing the evidence of having the Holy Spirit as your teacher? Or is there more evidence of another teacher? Do you need to renounce wrong teaching in your life? With the Holy Spirit as your teacher, you will bear good fruit. With wrong teachers, you will bear fruit of a different kind. Looking at the evidence of your life, outline the areas where you see bad fruit. Consider what teaching or worldview led to that result and come before God to turn away from wrong teaching from the past. Make a decision from this day forward to seek only the right guidance of the Holy Spirit and to walk in it.
Live Differently By The Holy Spirit
October 27, 2019 • Pastor James Richards
Living life by the Holy Spirit is not an ordinary life. It is not business as usual. It is beyond our imagination and expectations. It doesn’t leave us the same; it brings transformation. The life of the Spirit is different from living the world’s way and to be a Christian is to be countercultural. The Bible makes it clear that there is no middle ground. You either live the way of the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of the light. In this message, we expound on the passages found in Galatians 5 and Colossians 1 to see how we can live differently by the Holy Spirit. #1. Live A Life Of Contrast (Galatians 5:17) …either Life By The Flesh (Gal. 5:19-21, 1 John 2:16, Gal. 6:7, Jam. 2:14-26), or… Life By The Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23, 1 Cor. 9:11, John 7:38, Matt. 7:16-18, Rev. 12:10-11) #2. Live A Life Of Conquest (Galatians 5:16-18, and 2 Tim. 4:7, 1 Tim 6:9-13, 1 Cor. 9:25-27, 1 Peter 5:8, 2 Cor. 10:3-6, 2 Peter 1:3-4) #3. Live A Life Of Choice (Galatians 5:16-18, and Rom. 12:2, James 1:5-9, Acts 2:28, Prov. 3:5-6, Luke 9:23, 1 Peter 2:9, Prov. 4:18) Apply The Word: Do you fight to live life in your own strength or do you without fail seek to live by the Spirit? Read Gal. 5:19-21 to see what the life of the flesh looks like, and Gal. 5:22-23 to see what the life of the Spirit looks like. Further scriptures are also found in the points above. Colossians 1:9-13 tells how the Spirit helps you live your best life and strengthens, qualifies, and rescues you. Take stock of what needs to change in both the actions you take and evidence you exhibit of a life lived by Spirit or flesh. Does your walk with the Holy Spirit give you the confidence to live in conquest over whatever you face? Living differently by the Holy Spirit means you have a fight on your hands. You can’t be passive or neutral about this because the flesh and the Spirit are in conflict. Both cannot be in charge; one will rule supreme in your life and you need to understand the flesh and the spirit are at war with each other. But the good news is that we have the victory! Study the scriptures found under points 2 & 3 of this week’s message to see how you can choose right and conquer.
Developing A Relationship With The Holy Spirit
October 20, 2019 • Pastor Adriana Richards
Every Christian can and should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Once you are filled, you can live by the Spirit. But this is not an automatic change – we have to develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit to grow and strengthen it. The Holy Spirit is a person and we need to consciously seek and build that relationship – just as we would with a friend or spouse. In this message, let’s look at some practical points to grow and develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Key Points: 1. You need to spend time with the Holy Spirit (Rev. 2:2-4); 2. You need to become sensitive to the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:29-31, 1 Thess. 5:19); 3. You need to depend on the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26, Luke 12:11-12); 4. You need to move in response to the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:25) Apply The Word: How much time do you spend with the Holy Spirit? How much do you focus on your relationship with Him? We need to set aside time to pray. This is what the disciples did both before and after the day of Pentecost. Prayer and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are totally connected. Focus on your daily and continual prayer. Do you remember your first encounter with Jesus? What was the day, month, year? Where were you? What changed in your life after this encounter? If we want to know Jesus and experience His reality through the Holy Spirit, we need to return to our first love (Revelation 2:2-4) where we walk joyfully and wholly by the Spirit. What is your experience of walking with the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a person who knows what is good and what is not good. When you are close to the Holy Spirit you will become more aware of God and others. You will develop a greater sensitivity to the Holy presence of God and also what is unholy, to both avoid what is bad and pursue what is good in our thoughts, words, and actions. If we want to walk with Him, we need to literally follow His steps (Galatians 5:25).
How To Live By The Holy Spirit
October 13, 2019 • Jon & Hayley Stevens
You can only live by the Spirit if you have first been born into the dimension of the Holy Spirit. Without His help, you are spiritually dead and therefore incapable of experiencing and responding to the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fills you, everything changes. The early disciples were in no doubt about the radical transformation brought by the Holy Spirit. Let’s look in this week’s teaching at the book of Acts and learn how we can all live by the Spirit. Further Scripture: Ephesians 2:4-5, John 20:22, Acts 1:4-5, 8:14-16, 10:44-46, 19:1-6 Key Points: 1. You need to be Born Again through the Holy Spirit (John 3:4-8); 2. You need to be Baptised in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4); 3. You need to Believe to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39) Apply The Word: Are you filled by the Holy Spirit? Paul asked in Acts 19:2 “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” We can be a follower of Christ and not yet be filled with the Spirit, but Jesus commanded us to wait for the Holy Spirit, who is our helper as we live for God. If you have not yet received the Holy Spirit, take time (as a group, with your leader, or individually in your devotional time) to pray and seek the great gift of the Holy Spirit. When you seek and wait on God, He will send His Holy Spirit. What is your experience of walking with the Holy Spirit? Read Acts 2 and see what happened when the Holy Spirit came on the disciples. He came as a violent wind, as fire, and He caused the disciples to speak in tongues. This can be our experience of the Holy Spirit today too. You will know when you’re filled by the Holy Spirit; His fire will bring purity and light to your life to reveal the darkness, and you will speak & operate in a manner which is completely different to the normal or natural way of things. You will be changed for the better when the Holy Spirit baptises you and releases you into a new dimension of living by the spirit. Apply these three points and scriptures and seek daily to Live By The Spirit. Be born again by the Holy Spirit, be baptised with the Holy Spirit, and believe to receive the Holy Spirit.
Live Continually By The Holy Spirit
October 6, 2019 • Pastor Wes Richards
We can’t live God’s way on our own. We need a helper, a friend, a comforter, a guide. We need to know how we can come close and stay close to Jesus. This is why we need to Live By The Spirit; the Holy Spirit is all of these things. Jesus said that when He returned to heaven the Holy Spirit would be our helper in our daily walk with God and our daily work for God. In this new series, let’s discover how to Live By The Spirit as instructed in 1 Corinthians 3:1 and Galatians 5:25. Further Scripture: Galatians 6:1, John 15:26, 1 Samuel 2:21 Key Points: * We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31) * We need to stay close to the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thess. 5:19) * We need to keep in step with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25) Apply The Word: What atmosphere do you live in? Do you live in the presence of peace or distress? Do you live in the presence of joy or sadness? Do you live in the presence of love? What happens if you measure your environment by the fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)? All of us live in a real world; a world that is both physical and spiritual. Just as we have to choose what physical environment we dwell in, we have to choose what spiritual environment we live in; either the spirit of darkness or the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of light. We need to live by the Holy Spirit not just occasionally, momentarily. Not just at a small group, service, or conference. We need to live by the Spirit every moment of every day. We need to choose today to live in the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, which we can measure by our experience of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If we aren’t experiencing that fruit, we need to change our spiritual environment to live by the Spirit. Spend time in prayer asking the Lord to open your eyes to the spiritual environment you live in and fill you completely with the Holy Spirit.