Let’s first recap quickly some points from the previous message. Knowing the Holy Spirit
If you want to meet the Holy Spirit and have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, start by first learning about The Holy Spirit.
When you start learning about Holy Spirit, He takes notes of that and He sees you and your interest on Him.
Remember: God the Father is in the throne, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God and Holy Spirit is among us. (1 Peter 3:22)
The Holy Spirit is not in Heaven, the Holy Spirit is on earth.
Remember that anything God does in your life will be through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the third person of the Trinity, He is a person of the Trinity.
He does not rank third, He is actually the most Important Person on earth today.
The disciples were with Jesus for 3/5 years. They received a lot of teachings from Jesus and they saw the most extraordinary miracles you can ever see.
But when persecution started they all cursed Jesus, left Him and ran away. Matthew 26:56
When Jesus was physically with His disciples, all 11 of them ran away, but once The Holy Spirit came inside all these 11 disciples, none ever betrayed Jesus Christ again.
When Jesus was going away he said , it’s better, it’s more advantageous that I go !
The Holy Spirit is better for you than Jesus in the flesh.
They made history not with Jesus but with The Holy Spirit.
Today’s message: Lifeless monuments (Part 2)
“Holy Spirit Series”
We are living in the last days, because the last days began with the first coming of Jesus, and will reach their climax at the second coming of Jesus.
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”
Acts 2:17-18
We are in the last days and God has promised He will pour out His Holy Spirit on all people and on His servants, men and women.
The true church of Christ will be awakened and revived and sent with extraordinary passion and zeal and prophetic power right in the midst of terrorism and war and persecution and natural disaster. The church of Christ will then finish the Great Commission, and welcome the King.
Before God can bring revival to our church or ministry, He will bring revival to you, God is interested in you and He wants to wake you up.
Revival starts with a relationship with the Holy Spirit , if we have no relationship with The Holy Spirit we are as good as dead.
Churches with no relationship with the Holy Spirit are just religious, dead monuments.
A Body without a Spirit is a corpse. Christianity without the Holy Spirit is a corpse.
It has all the fingers, legs, feet, it has all the right things, the right theology, the only thing it doesn’t have is life. It has religion, it’s a monument.
Christians without relationship with the Holy Spirit is lifeless monuments.
I’m going to talk more about revival at the end but now I want to talk about the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus.
1- Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 1:18 NLT
The Holy Spirit was responsible to bring Jesus on earth and to make Mary pregnant.
2- Jesus was filled by the Holy Spirit
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,”
Luke 4:1
After Jesus’ baptism He was filled by The Holy Spirit.
3- Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.”
Matthew 4:1
The bible shows us that while on this earth Jesus was led and guided by the Holy Spirit.
4- Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit
Then Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit to Galilee.”
Luke 4:14
Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfil God’s plan for His life.
5- Jesus offered himself as sacrifice through the Holy Spirit
…. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.” Hebrews 9:14
We are marvelled at Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross, but the Bible says that it happened through The Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit Christ offered himself as perfect sacrifice for our sins.
6- Jesus was raised from death by the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit , who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
Romans 8:11
The Holy Spirit was responsible for raising Jesus from death; this is the same Spirit that lives in you! Only the Holy Spirit can revive you from spiritual death and spiritual sleeping.
Can you remember the first sermon that Jesus preached in the Bible?
7- The first sermon Jesus preached was about Holy Spirit.
Jesus was in the temple, he got up and he opened the book of Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor”
Isaiah 61:1
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” – this was the first sermon that Jesus preached!
Do you know the last thing that Jesus said before He died?
8- The last thing that Jesus said before he died was about the coming of the Holy Spirit
I’m leaving and the Holy Spirit is coming. I’m not leave you orphans, I’m going but I’m sending the Helper, the Holy Spirit. John 14:16,17, 25
Do you know the last thing that Jesus said before He went to Heaven?
9- The last thing Jesus said before he left earth and went to heaven was: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Acts of the Apostles 1:4-5, 8-9
Verse 4 “Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptised with water, but in just a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.”
Acts of the Apostles 1:4-5, 8-9
The Holy Spirit was so important in the life of Jesus that Bible tells us everything in Jesus’ life was done through the Holy Spirit.
I want to now turn your attention to baptism. In Hebrews 6:2 the Bible talks about the “the doctrine of baptisms……” Hebrews 6:2
Not baptism, but baptisms (plural).
Once can see different kinds of baptism in bible.
“For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body”
I Corinthians 12:13
The Holy Spirit baptises you into Christ. What does that mean?
It means you cannot come to Jesus without Holy Spirit’s help. When you get saved you became part of the body of Christ and it is the holy Spirit who takes you into the body of Jesus.
He baptises us into the Body of Christ. That is the first baptism. Then, because you are baptised into Jesus, you are saved, you are in the body. After this you can get baptised in water; the Bible says Jesus baptises us back into the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit baptises us into Christ then we become part of Jesus’ body. Jesus then says: now that you are part of my body, I want to baptise you into the Holy Spirit so that you can reach the world for Christ.
When you are baptised by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ you get saved.
When you get baptised by Jesus into the Holy Spirit many others will be saved through you.
People who saves others today are people who are not just baptised into Christ but they are baptised by Christ into the Holy Spirit.
When we are baptised with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit brings us life. Do you remember what the Holy Spirit did with the disciples?
They were fearful cowards, they denied Jesus; but when they were full of the Holy Spirit they became courageous, brave , fearless and they were used to save many people and make disciples for Jesus.
Who brings life into our life is The Holy Spirit. A human body without life is just a corpse and a Christian without fellowship with the Holy Spirit is a dead person.
The Holy Spirit is the One who brings life and revival and without this fellowship with the Holy Spirit we are just dead monuments; there is no life in us.
Revival is not when we have phenomenal facilities, amazing music, great lights, talented musicians, smoke machines or good speeches. Revival is when the Spirit of God is breathing in the body of God.
A Body without a spirit is a corpse. Christianity without the Holy Spirit is a corpse.
It has all the fingers, legs, feet , it has all the right things , the right theology, great music, the only thing it doesn’t have is life.
When there is no fellowship with the Holy Spirit we are left with religion; it’s a monument, but not the living Body of Christ.
Many churches have people with amazing talents, video cameras, smoke machine, lights, thousands followers on social media. But these things cannot produce life, because the Holy Spirit alone can produce life. And when we as the church lose the power of the Holy Spirit we get the need to produce things for men’s entertainment.
Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit we’re going to be just entertainers.
Talent and entertainment cannot save lost lives, talent cannot deliver people from demons, it does not heal a marriage, it cannot restore the life of somebody’s child, break an evil chain or heal a disease. Only God, through the Holy Spirit in our lives, can bring transformation.
Without the Holy Spirit we are a dead bodies with no life, no movement. We have the shape of a body but no function.
I believe that revival is never determined by the size of the Church. It’s determined by the size of God’s activity in the Church and by our thirst and hunger for the Holy Spirit.
We can have a small or a big church, a young or old church, but what makes a church alive is when there it has the Spirit; the heart of the church beats for the lost, the mouth of the church preaches the gospel, the ears of the Church hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, the legs of the church go into the world and make disciples: that is movement in the church.
It might not have a good musicians, or nice building or parking space, but it has the Holy Spirit.
I don’t want just a big church, or a big gathering, I want to see people hungry for the Holy Spirit who brings life and creates a movement.
We have indeed been praying for a new building, but the most important thing for us is not the building but a revival and the move of the Holy Spirit among us.
If we have no relationship with the Holy Spirit we are dead people. If I have no revival it’s a dead sermon to dead people.
When we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, we as church become the living Body of Christ. We will have a heart that beats for the lost souls, feet that will evangelise, mouth that will praise, ears that will hear God, hands that will help others and love God and make disciples.
Stop being a monument and be the living body of Christ!
What we need today is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We don’t need entertainment or eloquence of speech, you can even have English problems or an imperfect English like me, but when the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes, revival comes !
Because it’s not by might, it’s not by power, it’s not by talents, or great music, but it’s by My Spirit, says the Lord.
The Holy Spirit is who we need , we need the Holy Ghost! We need revival!
We need to cry out, God send revival!
If you want the Spirit you need to cry out earnestly and say, God I need revival.
When the Holy Spirit comes things comes alive.
We need the Spirit of God that gives life, and life of God brings revival.
When we don’t have the anointing of the Spirit we need to create things in church to attract people.
If you feel that your spiritual life is dead, what you need is the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Ghost comes things will change, He knows how to change our lives, He knows how to change the leaders, He knows how to shift things in our town so town can provide us with a building. He know everything because He created the planet.
We need to beg Jesus for revival!
Jesus send revival to my Town, send revival to my church, send revival to my pastor, send revival to our leaders, send revival to me God !
Stop criticising your church and pray for your church, stop criticising your pastor and pray for your pastor and beg Jesus earnestly!
Before God brings revival to our church or ministry, He will bring revival to you, God is interested in you and He wants to wake you up.
God wants to wake up our prayer life, He wants to wake up your life of holiness, He wants to wake up your consecration life , He wants to wake up your fasting life , He wants to wake up your intercession life , He wants to wake up your giving life.
You are praying for some miracles, you are asking God for things but before God perform these miracle, before God saves your child, He will touch your prayer life. He’s going to deal with you about your computer addiction, He is going to deal with you about your gossip addiction, He’s going to deal with you because your mouth is dirty.
You need to go and beg before Jesus and repent !
I really believe that that the Holy Spirit is bringing a renewal to you before He brings revival to your family. He will bring renewal to you before He revives our church, He will bring renewal to you before He revives your situation, before He can bring dead things to life He will wake you up and break you out of your religion, tradition and what you have doing for so many years and bring you to a new level of holiness, new level of purity , new level of prayer, new level of fasting and new level with the Bible.
Stop blaming other people and take responsibility for your personal revival, stop blaming your church, your pastor or your leader and take responsibility for your personal walk with God.
Lift up your hands and start praying in the Spirit, pray like you never prayed before.
Pray for a personal revival, personal holiness, personal give-over to God.
May the Lord Bless you !