The Life in the Spirit

Please remain standing now for the reading of

God's word. We're looking at Romans chapter 8

Romans 8:9–11

verses

9 to 11,

and Romans 8 verses 9 to 11. And

Romans 8:9–11

I wanna say this too that,

of course, the whole Bible

is incredibly profound,

but within the Bible, if you had to

pick 1 chapter

that is especially

rich in every way in in the depth

of the doctrine,

in the in the majesty

of the way that it presents God

and in the clarity with which,

the grace of the Lord on behalf of

his church is presented to us. Romans 8

is that chapter.

And so even these three verses,

are so profound and there's so much to

say here that I'm actually gonna spend 2

weeks on these three verses. And I get

to do that and I'm excited

to do that.

Today we're gonna be looking as you'll see

about

the Holy Spirit. We're gonna look at the

Holy Spirit work in our life. But there's

so much more in here that it goes

even beyond the Holy Spirit and looks at

the triune God. We'll look at that next

week and I'm just preparing you for that

already. But let's look at Romans chapter 8

Romans 8:9–11

verses 9 to

11. You, however,

are not in the flesh,

but in the spirit, if in fact the

spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of

Christ

does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you,

although the body is dead because of sin,

the spirit is life

because of righteousness.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus

from the dead dwells in you,

He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead

will also give life to your mortal bodies

through His Spirit

who dwells

in you. This is the word of the

Lord.

Please be seated.

I was born and raised

in a city

called Reynosa, which is along the Mexican border

just over a 6 hour,

drive due south from here,

5 hours

if our constable is driving.

But, for most of us, it's 6. And

if,

one of the things about growing up along

the border

is that,

you are exposed to so many

very interesting

contrasts

in in in life

where,

just, when you when you cross the border,

you see a contrast,

across

countries,

across

cultures,

across

landscapes,

and across languages.

It's it's certainly a journey that goes beyond

just the crossing

of a bridge, but that's not all. In

a way the journey across the border is

also a journey across time or at least

it was when I was growing up.

You see the the way of life

and the customs in Mexico when compared to

those in the United States

appear to be a throwback to

time, to a generation

that had long passed.

For example, in Reynosa when I was growing

up, the idea that a child,

even a teenager,

would openly

disrespect,

his parents

or his teachers

was entirely unacceptable,

even to the point of being scandalous. Have

you heard it? Even as a child, have

you heard that somebody did this, you would

be scandalized by that just because it was

such an unthinkable thing.

One was always expected to be respectful

to anyone who was older.

In fact, as children and yes, even as

teenagers,

we were expected to wake up early every

day,

even on weekends,

even

in the summer,

and we were expected to immediately

get dressed so we could be presentable

if and when company arrived.

And company would arrive

on any day

and at any time.

Families were bigger and extended family lived in

the same city for generations, so

grandparents and uncles and aunts and first and

second and third cousins,

could show up

at any moment and they indeed would show

up at any moment unannounced.

And it would be considered very rude

if you weren't ready to receive them by

not being dressed,

by

not having brushed your hair, by not having

brushed

your teeth, and so on.

The governing principle

was that a way to show love and

respect to others

was to be ready to anticipate

their needs,

to count their comfort

as more important

than your own.

In short, one was taught

that it was right and necessary

to honor your guests.

In this morning's text, Paul writes about the

most important,

most significant guest anyone

could ever hope to have. If you're a

Christian,

then you have this honored guest living within

you.

If you're not a Christian,

then you need to let him in.

The guest I'm referring to of course is

the Holy Spirit,

And the main point I want you to

take from this sermon today is this,

if you have the Holy Spirit,

you have eternal life.

If you have the Holy Spirit, you have

eternal life because you see,

Romans 8 places

particular emphasis

on the person

and work

of the Holy Spirit. And as we shall

see,

the 3 verses we are considering this morning

highlight the role of the Holy Spirit

in salvation

from beginning

to end.

In fact, our three headings for this morning's

sermon are these.

1st,

the role of the Holy Spirit in our

justification.

2nd,

the role of the holy spirit in our

sanctification.

And 3rd, the role of the holy spirit

in our glorification.

Justification,

sanctification,

glorification.

Let us then consider the first heading, the

role of the Holy Spirit

in our justification.

You might recall from last week that in

verse 8, Paul wrote that those who are

in the flesh

cannot please God.

He didn't write that those who are in

the flesh

will not please God,

nor that they would prefer

not to please God.

He wrote that those who are in the

flesh

cannot

please God.

For Paul to be in the flesh is

a technical term

referring to the moral or spiritual status

of unbelievers.

In other words, if someone is in the

flesh,

that person

has not been born again.

That person

has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

So that person is still under the dominion

of sin,

still in bondage to the tyrannical rule of

his father nature.

This is what it means

to be in the flesh, and it is

why those who are in the flesh

cannot

please God.

They're not merely

indisposed

to please God,

nor are they merely

predisposed

to displease God.

They are

utterly

unable to

please

God.

Now, think about the great peril

that such a person

finds himself or herself in.

They are created by a God

that they do not love.

They are liable

to a law

that they cannot keep.

They are guilty before a judge

that they cannot bribe.

And they are condemned to a punishment

that they cannot escape.

Such is the state or condition of most

people that you meet,

and most people that you interact with

each and every

day.

Perhaps that's your condition today.

It certainly is the wretched condition

that each and every one of us inherited

the very moment that we were conceived

as David himself tells us in Psalm 51

where he cries out, he laments,

in

sin did my mother conceive me.

In our heart of hearts, we were all

in total

rebellion

against God.

We were pursuing our own pleasure

instead of trying to please God,

and we were laboring to build our own

kingdoms instead of advancing God's kingdom.

We were

unapologetically

unrepentant,

unwise,

unrighteous

and unjustified.

We were created by a God we did

not love

and we were liable to a law we

could not keep

and we were guilty before a judge that

we could not bribe

and we were condemned to a punishment that

we, in and of ourselves,

could not escape.

That was our reality

when we were

in the flesh.

Now, look at what verse 9 says,

You, however,

are not

in the flesh,

but in the spirit, if in fact the

spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of

Christ

does not belong to him.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of

Christ does not belong to him,

because anyone

who does not have the spirit of Christ

belongs

to another master.

That person belongs to the flesh. That person

belongs to sin. That person belongs to death.

The person,

who does not belong to Christ,

but belongs to the flesh and to sin

and to death may be a baptized member

in good standing

of a bible believing in bible proclaiming church.

That person may partake or even administer the

sacraments.

But unless the spirit of God dwells in

that person,

unless the spirit of God has taken residence

in that person's heart,

that person is

unjustified

before God.

You, however,

are not in the flesh, but in the

spirit, if in fact, the spirit of God

dwells in you,

writes Paul.

In other words,

the

determining factor,

the decisive condition

for someone to be a Christian, for someone

to be justified before God

is the presence

of the Holy Spirit

in that person's life.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines justification in this

way.

Justification

is an act of God's free grace,

wherein he pardons all our sins

and accepts us as righteous

in his sight

only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to

us

and received

by faith alone.

So, our justification

is not because of our works,

it's because of God's act, right? Justification is

an act

of God's free grace. We are justified that

is to say our sins are pardoned

and we are accepted as righteous

through an act, a decree as it were,

of God.

Jesus does all the work

to merit the Father's favor.

He lives a perfect sinless life fulfilling

all the righteous requirements of the law.

He dies on the cross to atone for

the sins of his people.

And then

that

perfect,

complete,

finished,

saving work of Jesus is imputed

or credited to us

by an act

of God.

We were unjustified.

That is to say, we were guilty

when we were in the flesh. We were

in bondage to sin.

But now,

we have been justified

through an act of God

entirely

by grace.

Look at how Paul puts this

in Titus chapter 3, verses 3 to 7,

Titus 3:3–7

he writes:

For we ourselves

were once foolish,

disobedient,

led astray,

slaves to various passions and pleasures,

passing our days in malice

and envy,

hated by others and hating

one another.

What a wretched existence that it was.

Paul continues.

But when the goodness

and loving kindness of God our savior appeared,

he saved us

not because of works done by us

in righteousness,

but according to his own mercy,

by the washing of regeneration

and renewal of the Holy Spirit

whom he poured out on us richly

through Jesus Christ, our savior.

So

that being justified by his grace,

we might become heirs according to the hope

of eternal life.

Now, does that sound like something that we

did? No, it's the exact opposite of that.

It's something that God did.

Jesus did all the work, and then

he poured out the Holy Spirit on us

so that we could be justified by his

grace.

The act of God

by which we are justified

is the regeneration

and renewal

of the Holy Spirit.

This is why in order to be a

Christian,

you must have the Holy Spirit.

This makes complete sense.

In Genesis 1,

we read that at creation, the spirit of

God was present as he hovered

over the face of the waters.

That's at

creation.

Well, it is no wonder that at recreation,

when we are regenerated

and renewed, when we are reborn,

it is in the presence of the Holy

Spirit as well.

It's his work.

Think about this.

One of the biblical metaphors

for God's act of justification

is that of the separation of the wheat

from the chaff after the harvest.

The threshing floor

was typically located outside of the village

on a flat open area preferably on an

elevated place so that the wind would blow

and it could aid in the separation of

the wheat which was lighter from the chaff

which was heavier.

After the grain was crushed

to begin that process of separation between the

kernels

from the husks,

the thrust material was then tossed in the

air with a winnowing fork.

As it was tossed in the air, because

you were in a high place, the wind

would be blowing and it would take those

husks,

which were which were lighter,

and and and then the heavier grain would

fall to the ground and the discrimination of

the 2 would take place because of the

work

of the wind.

In the metaphor,

the chaff which was gathered

to be burned

as after after it was blown away, it

would be gathered and we sent away to

be burned, that chaff represented

the unrighteous

person,

the unjustified

person, the person that on the day of

judgment

will hear

guilty

as his or her sentence.

And of course, the,

the wheat

on the other hand represented

those who are justified,

those who will be declared

not guilty

on the day of judgment.

And the key factor in the separation

of the wheat from the chaff was the

wind and so too,

the key factor

in the separation

of the justifier from the unjustified

is the Holy Spirit which by the way,

both in Hebrew

and in Greek is the same word as

wind.

It is the wind, it is the spirit

that separates,

it is the spirit that

justifies

as it were.

It's no surprise therefore, that when in the

Old Testament,

when God calls King Solomon to build the

temple,

the very place

where

sacrifices would be offered day in and day

out to atone for sin,

He calls on Solomon to build it

on a field that David had purchased, a

field that used to be a threshing floor,

a field that was elevated. That's why,

it's the temple today is on a high

place in Jerusalem on where Moriah was.

And it was the wind that separated the

wheat from the chaff. And so it's also

the Holy Spirit

that separates

the justified

from the unjustified.

So that to be justified, you must have

the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit must do

the work.

This is why

we need many

good,

solid,

faithful churches

where the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed,

where the Holy Spirit works through the preaching

of the word to apply the saving grace

of justification

to sinners,

to regenerate

and renew

hearts of stone into hearts of flesh by

the work of the Holy Spirit.

This is why God is calling us to

plant this church.

The church of Jesus Christ is not meant

to be a social club

where people can come to be entertained

or to network

or just to feel good about ourselves, to

have a good time. That's not

the primary purpose

of the church.

The church of Jesus Christ is an outpost

of God's kingdom in enemy territory,

where the message of salvation

is clearly,

boldly,

and lovingly proclaimed not just by the preacher,

but by all her members

who through their words,

but also through their service in the community,

and their hospitality in their homes, and their

generosity with their time, and their talent, and

their treasure,

delight

in sharing the hope that lives within them

with gentleness and respect.

That's what the church is.

It is an outpost in enemy territory.

When Moses

guided the people of Israel

right up to the border of the land

of promise, knowing that he himself

would not be allowed

to lead the conquest of the Holy Land,

he called on Joshua

and he exhorted him and all of Israel

with him, to read God's word and to

take it to heart,

and to live according to his precepts saying,

for this is no ordinary word for you,

it is your very

life.

Christ now calls

you his disciples

to take every square inch

in the woodlands

and in Montgomery County and even to the

ends of the earth and claim it for

the King of kings and the Lord of

lords, it belongs to Him.

He calls us to do it by proclaiming

His word

which is our very life

and which will bring justification

for the unrighteous,

and joy for those who mourn, and hope

for the destitute, and peace for those in

despair. That's what the spirit will do. Doesn't

that excite you?

Isn't this a call worthy

of your commitment?

In a world full of darkness,

and full of sadness,

and full of hate, God is calling you,

he's calling us

together

to be his light, and to share his

joy, and to demonstrate his love, to proclaim

the good news of salvation that is found

in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now, we cannot do this on our own.

We are not sufficient

for these things, but his grace is sufficient.

His grace is sufficient for us because his

power is made perfect in our weakness.

We cannot do this alone.

But here's the thing.

We are not alone.

We are not alone.

We have

the Holy Spirit. In verse 9, Paul says

that we have the Spirit

of Christ

and just like the Spirit of Christ transformed

our hearts, he will transform the hearts of

others.

He will

do it. He will do the work.

He will give the increase. He will regenerate

and justify.

Now having considered the role of the Holy

Spirit in our justification, let's turn our attention

now to our second heading, the role of

the Holy Spirit in our sanctification.

Look at verse 10 with me.

But if Christ is in you,

although the body is dead because of sin,

the spirit is life

because of righteousness.

The first thing to note in this verse

this morning is that it uses a parallel

structure to contrast the body with the spirit,

being dead

with life

and sin

with righteousness.

The point is that since Christians possess the

Holy Spirit,

they will no longer be governed

by the principle of decay which is germane

to death.

They will no longer be governed by that

principle which operates in their bodies as a

consequence of sin.

Instead,

because the righteous and life giving spirit

has taken residence in the believer's heart at

regeneration,

he will be working

righteousness

and life

in and through the believer.

The spirit is working righteousness and life

in and through us.

Although because of sin,

believers

are still subject to all the miseries of

this life

including pain and suffering,

including trials and sorrows,

including even

illness

and death.

So much for the prosperity gospel and for

the health and wealth gospel by the way.

Nevertheless,

because the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer,

Christians

can and will bear the fruit of the

spirit

in this life.

Though sin produces death

and as a result our bodies are decaying,

death will not have the last word.

Rather,

through the Holy Spirit,

we can bear good fruit that pleases God

and serves our neighbors. We can grow in

godliness,

we can become

through the work of the Holy Spirit in

our lives

more and more like Christ.

This growth

in Christ likeness,

this growth in holiness is known as sanctification.

From the Latin, sanctus which means holy, we

are being made holy, we are growing in

holiness, we are growing in godliness.

That's what sanctification means. Look at,

how the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sanctification.

It says,

sanctification

is the work

of God's free grace,

whereby we are renewed in the whole man

after the image of God

and are enabled more and more

to die into sin

and live

unto righteousness. Look at those contrasts

there in sanctification.

The contrast between death and life,

the contrast between sin

and righteousness.

And it's because it's the work of God's

free grace. It is the work of the

spirit.

Remember, justification is an act

of God's free grace.

Sanctification is the work

of God's free grace.

Justification is a one time act whereby the

Holy Spirit

imputes,

credits

the righteousness

of Jesus

to us by divine decree.

It's a one time act. He declares it

and it is so.

Sanctification

entails the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit

whereby the Holy Spirit is working righteousness

and life

in and through us.

He's moving us away

from the sinful acts

and sinful choices

and sinful

lifestyles

that produce death.

It's a mercy that he's moving us away

from that.

And instead he's working in us the righteous

deeds,

decisions, and habits that produce

life. The Spirit is life

because of righteousness,

writes Paul.

In other words, if the Holy Spirit dwells

within you,

your life will demonstrate it,

your actions will reveal it,

your spiritual fruit will bear witness

to the life giving spirit dwelling in you.

Because the true Christian has the holy spirit

dwelling within him or her,

the Christian will not behave

or act

or even speak in the same way that

unbelievers do.

The world will know you

by your fruit.

Good works are not the root

of your justification, but they are the fruit

of your justification. We should expect

good works.

This is also why we are planting

this church.

Our call isn't merely to make new converts,

although that is an important part of our

mission,

but Christ specifically calls us to make disciples.

So the Holy Spirit doesn't only work through

the church, particularly in his proclamation of the

gospel to apply Christ's work of justification

through regeneration.

He also works in and through the church

to grow people in godliness,

to sanctify us.

This certainly happens in the church on Sunday

mornings

when we read God's word, and we hear

God's word preached, and when we learn God's

word in Sunday school and when we pray

God's word and when we sing God's word

and when we see, touch and taste God's

word in the sacraments.

The holy spirit disciples us through all of

these means of grace

molding us and shaping us into the image

of Christ.

This is why you must prioritize

worship.

Because you see, not only are you active

when you attend worship,

but the Holy Spirit is also active in

you,

growing you in righteousness

and in

life.

But Sunday morning is not the only time

when discipleship takes place.

And this is why we need more and

more church plants in more and more places

because it's not just about what happens on

Sunday morning when somebody might be willing to

drive

a longer

on a longer route. It happens every day.

It happens in the way

that we live.

The Holy Spirit works in you through your

personal devotions,

through your time in private prayer,

through your midweek bible studies

and through every decision you make

to avoid sin,

to choose righteousness,

to help your neighbor, to share the gospel,

in every one of those decisions and actions,

sanctification

is taking place

in

you and in those with whom you interact,

if indeed the Holy Spirit goes and works

in them.

Just like we want to

honor guests in our homes,

with the way that we behave when they

are there.

So too with our actions,

and with our words,

and with our behaviors,

Christians must honor

the distinguished guests

dwelling within us.

Remember the holy spirit dwells within you if

you are a Christian.

Think about how that needs to shape the

way that we act

when we think nobody else is watching us.

God is always not just watching us, he's

with us

in the Holy Spirit.

How are we honoring our guests?

Knowing that the Holy Spirit dwells in us

ought to curb our sinful behavior at the

very least,

and also should spur us to good works

that please God, that please

our guest.

The body may be dying because of the

persisting effect of sin, but the spirit will

bear the fruit of life

because of the righteousness

of our guest.

Does your life demonstrate

that the spirit dwells in you?

Is your love for and commitment to worship

growing?

Is your interest in and love for God's

word increasing?

Are you communing with God

through prayer?

Do you enjoy fellowship with other believers and

long for it and look for it and

prioritize it?

Do people know

that you belong to Jesus because of how

you live? Because of the things you prioritize?

Because of where you invest your time and

your talents and your treasure? Because of your

service to God, and your service

in your community.

Does this community know

that God has called us, all of us

to love him and to love this community

through our love and through our service.

That is our responsibility

and our privilege as a church plant as

the Holy Spirit works in and through us,

as the Holy Spirit works life and righteousness

in and through us, sanctifying us by making

us faithful disciples of Jesus. We are called

to make disciples,

both inside of these walls and outside of

these walls, both on Sunday morning and on

Sunday evening

and every day of the week. That's our

call, and that's our privilege.

Now having considered the role of the Holy

Spirit in our justification

and the role of our Holy Spirit in

our sanctification, let's turn now to our final

heading, the role of the Holy Spirit in

our glorification.

Look at verse 11 with me.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus

from the dead dwells in you,

he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead

will also give life to your mortal bodies

through His Spirit

who dwells in you.

It's difficult to imagine

a more clear and forceful statement regarding the

total victory of the believer

through the power of God.

This awesome text

teaches that if the Holy Spirit dwells in

you,

you share

in Christ's resurrection,

that what happened on Calvary and at the

tomb is actually part of you.

Is that not

amazing?

Is that not astonishing?

And it's a part of you because he

who raised Jesus from the dead

now has taken residence in you. He dwells

in you.

This is amazing.

This is why even when death claims your

body,

death's ostensible final word shall actually

usher in

death's

final defeat.

In a stunning turn of events

that evidences God's unstoppable power,

the Holy Spirit shall undo what heretofore

was death's uncontested dominion over you.

And he will do this by transforming your

mortal and then evidently lifeless body into an

immortal,

imperishable,

undefiled,

unfading,

and glorious body.

A body that will be full of vigor,

full of health, and brimming with eternal life

by the very

same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Dear Christian, listen to this. By the most

amazing,

unimaginable,

and undeserved grace,

God's glory

through the Holy Spirit

dwells within

your and mine sin infected

and sin afflicted body.

And this glory of God

which dwells in you and already is producing

life in you cannot be subdued by death

and will not be contained by the grave.

This is why

if the Holy Spirit dwells in you

with His

unstoppable,

glorious life,

death will not have the final word over

you.

For in a moment, in the twinkling of

an eye, death shall be swallowed up,

and you shall have the final word as

you cry out with a booming voice, oh,

death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where

is your sting?'

Brothers and sisters,

we are all being transformed

into something that we cannot even begin to

imagine.

The great British author, C. S. Lewis, in

his famous thought provoking essay, The Weight of

Glory,

addresses the awesome or terrifying destiny that awaits

us all

in this way. He writes,

it is a serious thing to live in

a society of possible gods and goddesses

To remember that the dullest

and most uninteresting

person

you can talk to may one day be

a creature which if you saw it now,

you would be strongly tempted to worship

or else a horror and a corruption

such as you now meet, if at all,

only in a nightmare.

All day long, we are in some degree

helping each other to one or other

of these

destinations.

It is in the light of these overwhelming

possibilities.

It is with the awe and the circumspection

proper to them

that we should conduct all our dealings with

one another.

All friendships,

all loves,

all play,

all politics.

There are no ordinary people.

You have never talked

to a mere mortal.

Nations,

cultures,

arts,

civilization,

these are mortal and their life is to

ours

as the life of a gnat.

But it is immortals

whom we joke with,

work with,

marry, snub,

and exploit

immortal horrors

or everlasting

splendors.

Listen, because

you have never met

an ordinary person that is precisely

why we are planting this church.

The message God has given us to proclaim,

to be shaped by,

and to live out has eternal consequences.

No one should make the mistake of assuming

an eternal

changeless

status quo. It does not exist.

Sin is either shaping you into monsters that

would cause demons to shutter

or the Holy Spirit

is transforming you into glorious beings that would

tempt angels to bend their knee before you.

Everyone

is undergoing

a substantial

and awesome

transformation.

Let us begin

and contribute to this transformation by setting aside

the Lord's day

as holy.

God gives us the 1st day of the

week to restore us and to rebuild us.

This is

why

our worship service

might be uncomfortable to us

because it is the Holy Spirit's scalpel

as he performs heart surgery

to change our self centered arrhythmia

for a heartbeat

dictated by heavenly rhythms

and to

do brain surgery on us

to renew our minds

that instead of being filled with worldly content,

we might be enabled and excited

to think God's thoughts after him

and to perform eye surgery

to enable us to see reality as it

is,

to recognize both the snares of sin that

we might avoid them

and the footsteps of Christ that we might

walk in newness of life.

It is the Holy Spirit's scalpel to perform

ear surgery on us that we might discern,

hear and obey

our Shepherd's voice,

especially as he speaks to us through his

spirit

in his word.

It is the Holy Spirit's scalpel

as he performs mouth surgery on us that

our tongues might be subdued and disciplined

and that our lips

might proclaim the gospel and sing praises to

our God and king.

In the Old Testament,

God called his people to offer him the

first fruits of their labors as a sign

of their love and devotion to him.

Amazingly,

he has now given us

the 1st day of the week

for our rest and renewal

as a sign of his love and devotion

to us.

Christian, don't forsake this gift.

Use it to worship God.

Use it to instruct your children

in God's word.

Use it to rest

by disconnecting,

disconnecting from electronics,

disconnecting from the cares

of this world.

Use it to bless your neighbors

by welcoming them into your home

and enjoying fellowship around a meal.

Imagine if you committed

to this radical

transformation

even if initially

just on the Lord's day.

Now imagine

if we could do it together

as a church body.

How radical would that be?

What a blessing will we bring to this

community?

What a witness to our children,

to our neighbors,

to our friends.

Kids using their imaginations to play outside

instead of playing with electronics inside.

Filling our homes with guests

instead of filling our shopping carts with things,

enjoying a family feast around a table

instead of paying for it at a restaurant,

Playing games together

instead of spending money to watch strangers play.

And praising god for his goodness

instead of cursing in traffic

or at crowds.

If you want to feed yourself,

go fish with a fishing rod.

But if you want to feed a community,

grab a net

and go fish with your brothers.

Jesus calls us to be fishers of men.

Let us do it with a net.

Let us do it together.

Food,

fun,

fellowship,

rest,

refreshment,

renewal,

justification,

sanctification,

glorification, it is all the spirit's work.

If the spirit

dwells in you,

your life will be transformed.

Are you okay with that?

You need to be.

It will happen.

It is already happening.

It is happening now if

the spirit of God

dwells

in you. Let's pray.