The Power to Change

At this time of year, nearly 2,000 years ago, a most momentous event took place. We celebrate this weekend. The New Testament church was founded because God on that day, in a rather dramatic manner, poured out His Spirit upon those who were gathered there at that time. Let's consider Spirit, the Holy Spirit, today. There is any number of directions from which we can approach the topic of Holy Spirit and meanings of the Day of Pentecost, and you've probably heard an awful lot through the years. But I want to address the topic of the Holy Spirit, the power to change. The power to change. Now, different times during Christ's ministry, you remember we read some of those words of the night of the Passover service. They're in John 14, and John 15, and John 16. You talked about how this helper will come, or this comforter, or this Spirit of truth will come. It will teach you all things. It will bring all back to your remembrance what I've said to you.

And so that night, just before he was betrayed, he reminded them that that was going to come. Let's turn over to Acts 1 now, though. Because, as you remember, he was with them most of the time between his resurrection and the Day of Pentecost that year. Forty of those days, he was with them. And we read of that here in Acts 1 and in verse 3, verse 3, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs. You remember some of those stories that are written there at the end of the Gospel accounts, the times when he might just be walking along the road with some, the times when he would appear behind closed doors with them, and then one time up to 500 people. So, being seen by them during 40 days, and so I say most of the time between his resurrection and Pentecost, most of that time he was there with them. And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you have heard from me. Which surely would refer back to those times that night of the Passover when he reminded them of this promise.

For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And so it couldn't be more than a week and a half if this was right at the end of that 40 days. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Here is, again, this promise of a Holy Spirit. We need to understand what the Holy Spirit is and what it is not. There are plenty of people in the world around us, the Christian world around us, who look at some of the statements about the Spirit and have come to the conclusion that it's another being, another person of a Godhead.

And yet, if you've looked at our booklet, Scott Ashley wrote about His God of Trinity, we realize that it has nothing to do with the scriptural account, that it long predates the time of when Christ walked the earth.

Now, what does the Bible teach about the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do? I think to understand it will be helpful for us to go back to the Old Testament, first of all, and then through the New Testament. There are four words, four key words, two Hebrew and two Greek words, that are translated Spirit, either with a capital S or a lowercase s.

One Hebrew word and one Greek word only appears once or twice, so I'm not even going to spend time on those, but rather on the key words that are used. Now, the Hebrew word, first of all, is Ruach. R-U-A-C-H, as it's transliterated in English. R-U-A-C-H.

And that final consonant of that word is one of those difficult sounds, because English really doesn't have anything that compares. It's kind of like clearing the throat. Ruach.

But generally we'll say it's probably closer to a K, maybe a C-H or somewhere in between. So Ruach. Now, in checking Vines Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, here's what it says about Ruach.

Ruach, it says, means breath, air, strength, wind, breeze, spirit, or courage.

Ruach means breath, air, strength, wind, breeze, spirit, courage. It appears 378 times in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Now, the vast majority of those times when that word appears, it is translated as Spirit. 272 times, it's translated Spirit.

Then it is also translated as wind, 92 times, and then breath 27 times.

And there are 20 some other occasions when it's translated a variety of words, but these are the main ones.

Spirit, wind, and breath. And it's good to have this foundation because we're going to go to the story in John, and then we're going to go to Acts 2.

And we see that all of this ties in. And there is a lot that it does say, and there's certain things it does not say. Like it does not denote personhood of Holy Spirit. Now, let's go to Ezekiel 37.

Very likely, last year on the last great day of the feast, in a message, or maybe more than one, the speaker may have taken you back to Ezekiel 37, where we have this valley of dry bones.

And you have these bones that come together and have muscle and sin you. And you have these bodies there.

In this passage, we have the Hebrew word ruach used many times. And sometimes it's translated wind, and sometimes breath, and sometimes spirit. So let's look here at Ezekiel 37. And first of all, verse 1.

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and brought me out in the rock, the Spirit of the Lord, and sent me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones.

Well, we don't need to read all of this account, but let's skip down a few verses to verse 4.

And he said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

Breath. Again, same word, ruach. Spirit, and now breath.

In verse 7, so I prophesied as I was commanded, and there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

Indeed, I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over.

But there was no ruach, no breath in them.

Also, he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, Ruach, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, Come from the four winds, winds, Hebrew, ruach.

O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

But I don't think we need to read further there, but we see in just this short passage, reading portions of 10 verses, that Ruach is translated three different ways. Spirit, and in this case, referring to the Spirit of God, it is translated as breath and as wind.

Alright, we file that away, and let's consider the Greek term that is translated Spirit.

The one that is used most of the time, translated Spirit, is pneuma.

Now, that's a word that we're familiar with, because of the fact that from that Greek word, we have a number of English words.

For instance, we are all familiar. We've heard of someone. Maybe you have had it, but we've heard of individuals who get pneumonia.

And it comes from that, and that is an infection of the respiratory, you know, the breathing in and out, the lungs become infected.

We are familiar with the word pneumatic.

We drove a long way to get here today, but we were riding on four tires filled with air, and you may have pneumatic items that are powered by air pressure.

You have pneumatic tools that function on that.

And we're also familiar with the science of pneumatic, which is the study of the properties of air, or more specifically, the individual gases of what we find in the air.

So, let's go to Luke 4, and I should read the little excerpt here I have from Vine's Expository Dictionary on this word, pneuma.

Vine's on the word pneuma says that the word primarily denotes the wind, also breath, and then especially the spirit, which, like the wind, is invisible, immaterial, and yet powerful.

So, it's a similar definition that we read about Ruach, but it is translated wind, breath, and spirit.

Invisible, immaterial, and yet has tremendous power.

Now, in Luke 4, we have a story that ties together the use of these two words.

We have the word Ruach use all of those times in the Old Testament, and when the New Testament quotes from one of those passages, it always uses the term pneuma in the Greek.

And in this case, we have the words that Luke wrote that are quoting from Jesus Christ.

In Luke 4, beginning in verse 16, we have him back home at Nazareth.

His custom was to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath.

Their custom was that different ones were acknowledged and given the book of the law, and they read from portions of it.

So, Christ stood up to read.

Verse 17, he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it is written.

Now, verses 18 and 19 are a quotation from the Old Testament.

You may have a marginal note that would point you back either to Isaiah 49 or Isaiah 61.

For instance, Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2.

Now, Jesus read the words.

Verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

Now, as this was written by Luke in the Greek, the manuscripts read pneuma.

But if you go back to the Old Testament manuscripts to Isaiah 61 verse 1, the word that is translated Spirit comes from the Hebrew, ruach.

So, it shows that there was a connection between the translations.

That they realized that if you say ruach in Hebrew, but if you're writing it in Greek, the word to use is pneuma. And it still communicates that idea of spirit, wind, or breath.

And then it goes on because the Lord has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And then he reads portions of that section there in Isaiah 61.

All right. The Septuagint translation.

The Septuagint came out around the third and end of the second century before Christ.

It was a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.

And as they translated it, they consistently, when they came to ruach in the Hebrew, they translated it in pneuma.

Okay. Now, so we see these concepts are connected.

Either word, the Greek word, or the Hebrew word, spirit, breath, wind.

Now, let's go at this point to John 20.

Because I skipped over an event that's tucked away here.

I wonder how many people read this and do not make the connection between Christ blowing air on them with the fact that just a very short period of time later, the Holy Spirit came upon them in such a dramatic manner.

In John 20.

And let's pick it up in verse 21.

This is a portion where His resurrection has taken place, and we're looking at some of the times when He revealed Himself to His disciples.

Verse 21. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you, as the Father has sent me, I also send you.

And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

So, as the Father had sent Him, Jesus was sending these disciples.

And then, at that point, He blew air. He blew His breath on them.

And said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Now, we don't need to read further.

Again, I wonder how many of them even sitting there did not even understand the connection of what was going to happen a very short period of time later.

So, breath, and receive the Holy Spirit, Numa.

He had earlier told them of this Helper, or this Comforter, this Spirit of Truth that would come, and now He reiterates the promise, and He blows on them.

And says, Receive the Holy Spirit. Now, we're ready to go to Acts 2.

Acts 2. Interesting here in the context of all of that, Spirit, whether it's the Hebrew word or the Greek word, carries the basic connotation of Spirit, wind, breath, breeze.

He blew on them and connected that with the time when they would receive the Holy Spirit. And here we are, a short period of time, just a week and a half or so after His ascension, when the Day of Pentecost had fully come.

Verse 1. They were all with one accord in one place, just like He had told them in Chapter 1. Wait there in Jerusalem until the promise from on high comes.

And suddenly there came a, notice a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.

Now, I've read through this different times years ago. I used to read that, and I would, we know about rushing mighty winds around here, don't we?

We happen to see them skipping around or cutting paths after the big tornadoes there of April 27th. You could, there was a website you could go to, and you could see the satellite pictures and see these scars across northern Alabama going from southwest up northeast.

So we know mighty rushing winds. And yet when that happens with what we think of as you or as we are huddled in a back bedroom, in the inside room, or down in a hole in the ground, and we find our religion and our prayers get very fervent for a while.

And we look outside, or we go out later, and you see all of the destruction and all of the debris that has been thrown around. And that didn't happen on this day.

They heard a sound as if it were a rushing mighty wind, but the destruction, I think that God didn't want to communicate that the Holy Spirit equals destructive force.

But what was important was they heard the sound and made the connection to a wind. And that should have reminded them what we just read in John 20, that He breathed on them, He blew in their faces, and said, You'll receive the Holy Spirit.

Well, continuing, they filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared to them divided tongues as of fire.

Marginal note here says, tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each. So I don't suppose they were being burned by that fire. But again, it was as if it were fire.

And one sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues or languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Verse 5, And there were dwelling ends Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

You see, it was a festival occasion. You had the disciples of about 120, but you would have had, who knows how many tens of thousands of Jews who were also in the area from all over creation.

And when this sound occurred, so it wasn't just heard within that room of Christ's disciples, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in their own language.

And of course, the story goes on as far as people from every nation under heaven, and they heard what was being said by these Galileans as if it was given as spoken in their own language.

I think the miracle of tongues in this case is more so in the hearing, or just as much so with the hearing as it was with the speaking.

But the sound, again, the sound was of a mighty wind, and again demonstrates a connection between wind and spirit.

They heard the powerful sound, but they did not experience the destructive force.

Now, let's back over to chapter 1 again. We read this, but there is a connection between the coming of this spirit and of being sent out to all the world. There's a connection between that and receiving power.

Acts 1. Just notice again verse 8. So Jesus directly connected the power that would be theirs with the work of taking their witness to the end of the earth with this occasion when the Holy Spirit would come upon them.

Power. There's another Greek word we should think about a little bit. Power. I may not be pronouncing this the way it should be, but dunamis, or dunamis, in the Greek. And there again, we're somewhat familiar with it because of the English words we have that come from that Greek root word.

We are familiar with dynamite. Fellas across the line in Mississippi, they go fishing with dynamite. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding.

I got accused of doing that. If I had held a stick of dynamite, I would have been scared to death, let alone go out to try to bomb somebody's farm pond to gather up the fish that float. But dynamite. We're familiar with dynamite. Tremendous power that can be unleashed by that. We are familiar with the word dynamic. Something that is dynamic, is active, energetic, and forceful. We're familiar with also dynamo, a device for the generating of electrical power. All of these have the connotation of power. So Jesus said, you're going to receive power. He blew on them. And then we read in chapter 2, where they heard the sound, and then this power that He promised them in chapter 1 came upon them. And that power was that which was going to allow them to do the work of taking their message to all the world. So these are all connected. Now, let's go over to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, here we have another place where we find this word dunamis that is used. And the Apostle Paul writes here to his fellow minister, Timothy. And let's notice in 2 Timothy 1 verse 6, Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear. No, God does not give us a spirit where we want to draw back, or run and hide, or cower in fear, or be ashamed. It's not a spirit of fear, but of power, dunamis, and of love, and of a sound mind. Of dunamis, power was given when the Spirit of God was given to Timothy when Paul laid hands on him. As we find that to be the basic rule most of the time, whenever a person is given God's Spirit. Let's go over to Acts chapter 10, because here Peter, looking back at the time of the ministry of Christ, he also is inspired to use this word in reference to the work of Christ when he was here.

Acts 10, verse 38. Peter is coming to understand that you don't call any man common or unclean. There's no partiality with God.

But in verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, the pneuma, and with dunamis, power, who went about doing good. So because Jesus was anointed with this, then he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. For God was with him, and we are witnesses of the things that he did, etc., etc. The Holy Spirit, the giving of the Spirit of God, is synonymous with the receipt of power.

Now, I want to give you four steps of progression of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives as an agent, as a force of change. And this is where we start with number one. We start with number one, power.

We receive a strength that we did not have before.

The Spirit of God enables us to, like Jesus Christ, have the same power that he had when he walked the earth.

Different places. You could do a search for that word, power. Look for the places where it comes from, the Greek dunamis.

And you'll see how Jesus went about in the power of the Spirit as he did his work.

Now, let's go to Romans 15.

Romans 15. And we pick it up in verse 13. It's worthy that we choose God with power and power to suggest over heaven's Since Lit, that you may promotion one another.

And Luke is resonance orlectation on Jesus! Well then, he goes on to describe what that power is! Matthew 16, would like to bring into effect within your own life. In verse 14, now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness. The Holy Spirit can work that in a person's life, filled with all knowledge, because Jesus spoke of that Spirit that would come and it would bring all things to your remembrance.

And also able also to admonish one another. It will give you the ability to admonish, to encourage, to exhort others, to be the iron that sharpens iron. Now, if we go on down a few verses, the Apostle Paul in verse 19 referred to how that power had worked in his life and had enabled him to preach the gospel. Verse 19 in Mighty Signs and Wonders, "...by the power of the Spirit, the dunamis of the Numa of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." Let's go a few pages more forward to 1 Corinthians 2.

1 Corinthians 2. Here we have Paul writing about some of the differences there that were rocked. There was a wisdom of men, a human wisdom, and there is this wisdom that comes from the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 4, "...and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The Spirit of God is consistently identified or connected with the individual receiving a power, a strength, that was not there before.

We can see that with Peter. If you wanted to take the time, Peter is the one who that night, Jesus mentioned, you're all going to forsake me. He was triply sure he wouldn't. He would never forsake his Lord and Master. And then we know that story and how bitterly he wept when he realized that he had betrayed or rather he had denied his Savior. He also then can pick it up with Peter and the tremendous power that had come upon him. If we read on through Acts 2, where events led to where Peter is the dominant one, began speaking to that group.

No, we're not drunk on wine. And he went on defining what was going on. And he led to the point that you, through wicked hands, have taken this Holy One and you have killed him. He was a completely different man. Weeks earlier, he fled for his own life. But now he had a power and in his case, a very remarkable dramatic change.

All right, let's take the second step. And that is, point number two is revelation. The Spirit of God provides along with power, but it provides revelation. The opening of the eyes to see that which we could not see otherwise. We're here in 1 Corinthians 2. Let's drop down to verse 9. Verse 9, But as it is written, I has not seen nor hear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them unto us through His Spirit. So here is something that is revealed to those of the church through the Spirit of God.

For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, except the Spirit of the man which is in him? And that speaks of the Spirit in man, that non-physical elements that makes the distinction between animal brain and then the human mind capacity. There is a Spirit in man, as we know the Bible teaches.

But He's talking about something even above and beyond that. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. So there is a revelation. Understanding is revealed when the Spirit of God joins with the human mind. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

So Paul here identifies the source of divine revelation as being the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the power by which humans can understand and grasp spiritual concepts mentioned in the Word of God that they could not see before. Remember, during Christ's ministry, there were those who went to Him and who asked Him, you know, what He's speaking parables. And He said, because it's given to you, but to everybody else, it's not given.

It has to be revealed, and God does that through the working of His Spirit in our lives. Not everyone can understand. There must be a calling, as Jesus said. No man can come to Me except the Father in Heaven. Draw Him. There has to be this invitation that then the person responds to. Let's go over to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. Looking back, Peter writing here, looking back at prophecy and different ones who were writing the Holy Scriptures, it wasn't their own thinking. It was inspiration. It was revelation of the Spirit of God.

2 Timothy 1, verses 20 and 21. Verse 20, knowing this verse, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. You remember, for instance, Daniel. Daniel was given some rather hard things, painful things to write down.

Daniel wrote a lot down at the end, and he wanted to understand more, and he was told it's not for you to understand. You just write it down, then it's sealed until the time of the end. Surely, there were other prophecies of other men who just merely wrote things down, and understanding was not given to them yet, but the words to write were revealed to them, were impressed upon their minds. Alright, the third step that we go through. Number three is understanding. It begins with a power we didn't have before. That leads to having the eyes open, to having things revealed that we did not understand.

And then, over time, number three, there is an understanding that grows, certainly as we respond to the working of that Spirit in our lives. A continued understanding. Now, let's go back to John 14. John 14, and let's read verse 26. One of those places where on that Passover night, he promised this help that would come. John 14, verse 26, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Now, the Spirit of God did just exactly that. The disciples grew in comprehension. They grew in the depth of their understanding. It's interesting to me that God chose four different individuals to write a Gospel account. Each one is different. We have no record that they were taking detailed notes of the when and the where, what was said and how it was said, and what the interpretation was.

And you have different estimates on the dating of the writing of these four Gospels, but at least 20 years, maybe as many as 60 years. In John's case, later, these four men are writing their Gospel account of the coming of, the ministry of Jesus Christ, the training of the church. Two of those men weren't even there. Mark and Luke weren't there.

Matthew and John, at least, were there as disciples traveling with Him, and they probably saw and heard John in particular. John was always among the tighter group of three, Peter, James, and John, who were always taken, you know, transfiguration, or a bit further in Gethsemane when he went to pray. They were always included, and some of the others were not. But here, years later, years later, they're writing down the Spirit of God bringing to their remembrance the things that Jesus had said or had done, and God inspired what they had written.

Let's go to 2 Timothy 3. You know, when all of these events that they later wrote about took place, the disciples were very limited in their spiritual understanding. Again, while those events were taking place, their understanding was very limited. And yet, we see in their lives a tremendous growth that took place in their quotient theory of understanding. 2 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 15, that from childhood, you, Timothy, and Timothy, had been around quite a while.

Paul refers to his mother and his grandmother having been in the faith. You have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

All inspiration is given by inspiration of God. I did not look up that Greek word. There's a mouthful to say, but that phrase, inspiration of God. That Greek word only appears one time, and this is it. And it paints a word picture. It's kind of like, well, you remember back with Genesis 2, God formed the first man out of the altar of the earth. Did I do that?

Thank you, sir. God formed Adam from the elements of the earth, and then it says He breathed into him the breath of life. And this word, as it's used here, paints a similar picture. Although the picture is of spiritually breathing life into us, and hence we should daily search the Scriptures, because God breathes spiritual life and power, revelation, and understanding into us as we go through that process.

So all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine reproof, correction, and for instruction in righteousness. I mentioned Peter again, the dramatic change that took place. Early on, he and the others, well, they were not converted. They lacked conviction. They lacked understanding. And yet we find that it grew by leaps and bounds as God's Spirit came upon them. The Spirit would teach all things. It was not to be an instantaneous process.

It was something that was going to take place over the rest of their lives. It was years. I mean, you look at the early church, and early on, the early church was a very Jewish church. They were exclusive. Remember when Christ walked the earth, He went and He spoke to the woman at the well there in Samaria, and she was amazed that He as a Jew would have anything to do with her. But when we go to the early chapters, say the first half of the book of Acts, you have devout Jews from every nation under heaven who are there around Jerusalem.

You have about 120. That's where it starts. 3,000 are added. You begin to see little things. Christ had told them, you start here, you go to Samaria, Galilee, to the end of the earth, but we finally tended to want to just huddle around Jerusalem. Well, you have times of persecution like what led to the death of Stephen. You have, as it says there in Acts 8, Saul wreaked havoc among the churches, and the disciples were scattered everywhere, and where they went, they preached the gospel.

But we get to the point, Acts 10, here Peter is going about his business, and through the events of that day, he's come to realize these men are coming, go with them, and he ends up there at the household of Cornelius, who was not Jewish. And through the events of that day, it was impressed upon 1 Peter, who then taught the church, who accepted it when they heard what God had done. But God then, through Peter, as Peter said, that he has learned, you don't call any man human, or common, or unclean, that all have the same incredible potential.

And yet, we still see the church. You know, you have those, even after that point, for a period of time, you have those who wanted to go and teach among the non-Israelites, or the Gentile areas, that where we have men that are now newly converted, they have to be physically circumcised, until you get to Acts 15, and the decision was rendered, no, don't bother them with this. But we see that that continued, even so there in Galatians 2, where Paul says, you know, with this separation that took place, even Barnabas got caught up in it.

But you see, the church was taking steps, step by step, of understanding, and they were growing. And that's the same that happens within us. It's not momentary, it's not instantaneous, but we have those times when we are forced to check our own foundation, and suddenly we may study the Word of God, and something hits us in a way we never saw before. So that third step is that of understanding a slow but certain and steady growth in our comprehension of what God would have us do, what God would have us understand.

We with conversion receive that little earnest of the Spirit. We are on the milk of the Word, but as time goes on, we become better able to move on to stronger and stronger meat.

Alright, the fourth step then is change. The fourth step is change. The Spirit of God gives us a power that wasn't there. It begins to open our eyes, reveal things we've never seen before. It leads us down the path of continued growth and the depth of our understanding, and as the process continues, we as individuals become different.

We are changed from what we once were. The Spirit of God leads to a transformation in life. Let's go to Galatians 5. We spent a sermon weeks before the Passover. We spent quite a bit of time here looking at the works of the flesh as far as assessing our own lives. But in Galatians 5, verse 19, this is where we all started to differing degrees in different people, different lives.

We're all different, but we share that in common that we are the imperfect sons and daughters of God. Casting stones at others is dangerous business because we are missing the mark ourselves. Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, and contentions. Again, we went through these in quite a bit more detail, not that long back. Jealousy is outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.

Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then on the other side of the spectrum we read of the fruit of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit of God. Again, these... well, it's kind of like in gardening. I suppose a lot of you have gardens out. I was looking at my father-in-law's garden just earlier this week. Here are all types of different plants. But when you start and you've got an onion set, and you put them in early, or you get your potatoes and you put them in early, you get your English peas, put them in earlier than a lot of other things, you don't expect to go out there three or four days later and harvest a crop.

It's a period of time. And then later you reach the point where danger freezes past, you put out your tomatoes and peppers and, you know, just different things at different times. Every one of them. Probably a radish is about as close as you get to you. You put that seed in the ground. It seems like days later you can get little radishes out.

But it takes time. And fruit to be born in our lives takes time. We have trials and tests, and sometimes we get life hits us on the side of the head, and we have the eyes open and we can see something. Or at least we stop and take stock and ponder what we have done, where God would have us go. But we ought to...we should have already committed to memory these fruits of the Spirit. Love is this deep, outgoing concern for other people because by nature we are the center of the universe.

Everything revolves around us. Remember how back centuries ago there were those who looked at the stars and they concluded that the earth is the center of the universe? And what a surprise it was as human beings have learned what a vast universe this is. It's expanding all the time. It's an old universe that has seen its cataclysms and ups and downs. But a love! And then there's a joy.

One of the great earmarks of the people of God should be a deep, abiding joy. Because we all get run over by that freight truck, freight train, that Mack truck too, called life. We get run over. We get back up. We put one foot in front of the other and we take steps again in the way that God would have us go. But even in spite of all that, we should have this deep, abiding joy, this delight that's beyond happiness, I think.

Because we see where God's plan is leading and it's right on time. And then peace. Peace. The condition of harmony. The ability to get along with others. That's a troubling one to talk about, isn't it? I'm going to try that one tomorrow afternoon. Because Pentecost is a feast of unity. The problem is, well, that person we see when we look in the mirror. Long suffering. I like that. Some translations say patience. But there are times we suffer long with something and we hold on and we go forward.

And there's kindness. Henry Drummond wrote a little book, The Greatest of These. It's looking at those early verses of 1 Corinthians 13. And he said that kindness is love and the little things of life. I like that. This is the little courtesies, the little kindnesses, one to another. Compassionate behavior toward each other. Goodness, as far as striving for moral virtue or excellence to take steps in the direction Christ went. Faithfulness, of being loyal, of being reliable, of being trusted. What a wonderful blessing that is.

What a wonderful blessing within a marriage. Those marriages that have that blessing. Where one or the other can be gone on a trip and is completely worry free whether the other one can be trusted wherever they are.

Faithfulness, gentleness, again, kindness, being polite, courteous, and then self-control. Self-control, the ability to stay in charge of one's own thoughts and actions and feelings. The Spirit of God plays this role in our lives. It dwells within Christians. God gives us a power. He begins to reveal, to open our eyes. He leads us down a path where understanding grows and through the process of time, we become different individuals. Let's close with two scriptures, two different places. First, go to Romans 8. Romans 8. Here Paul emphasizes the two ways to live. It always gets down to that choice, doesn't it? Like Israel was told of old. I've said before you, life and death, blessing and cursing, now you've got to choose. There are two ways. We've got to take one of those paths. Romans 8, verse 5. Verse 5. For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. So there is a way of life where our mind is focused on the flesh, the things of this life, and there is a mind that is focused upon the greater things, the spiritual things. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Down to verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

And then verse 11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So again, strength, power leads to revelation, understanding, and then leads to change. Let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 10. We'll wrap it up back here. 1 Samuel chapter 10. The previous chapter, of course, two chapters earlier, Israel wanted a king to be like the world around them.

And then Samuel is sent and he finds Saul.

And then as we get to chapter 10, we find something very interesting that's written about the Spirit of the Lord coming upon you.

The Spirit of God enables an ultimate change to take place over time.

That the carnal, self-centered human mind can become converted and take steps toward and ultimately be transformed or changed into the very children of God in this life.

And ultimately, as the very immortal, glorified sons of God, chapter 10 verse 1, Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, on Saul's head, and kissed him and said, Is it not, because the Lord has anointed you commander over his heritage?

Now, a number of things are said after that, but let's skip down to verse 6.

Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will prophesy with them, and then notice this last phrase, and be turned into another man. And that's what God began doing.

First of all, in the lives of about 120, and then 3,000 were added.

And then it says, the numbers of the disciples were multiplied, and that's a process that continues to this very day. But step by step, God pours out his Spirit. He gives us the power. He opens our minds.

He leads us to see things we never saw before, and then to come to deeper understanding.

And through the process, we become turned into another man. So, brethren, have a wonderful rest of the Sabbath, and look forward to seeing most of you, I suppose, over at the Feast of Pentecost.