The Temple of the Holy Spirit – A Change Was Made Inside of You

I am so excited that you're here this morning because we are jumping into a new series, and I believe God has something special for each and every person in this room.

God has something special for each and every person in this room.

Turn to somebody and say, God's got something special for you.

Oh, you don't even mean it.

Come on.

Turn to your neighbor and say, God's got something special for you.

Yeah, that's good.

I like it.

I like it.

This morning, when we pull it back to the roots, when we go all the way back to the foundation, we see that Jesus gives his life on the cross.

He offers us salvation and then does something that is game-changing for humanity, that is game-changing for you and I.

Prophesied throughout the Old Testament, there would be a time where the presence of God would abide within his sons and daughters.

Turn in your Bibles this morning to Ezekiel chapter 11, verse 18.

Ezekiel 11:18

And it says this when they come there, they will remove all their detestable things and all its abominations from it.

And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them.

Can you say new spirit?

And I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, so that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them.

Then they will be my people, and I shall be their God.

And when you stepped into God's family and you gave your life to Jesus Christ, something happened inside of you.

Something happened inside of you.

Did you know when you gave your life to Jesus Christ, something was placed inside of you, giving you the conviction to remove all the detestable things that don't belong in your life?

Something was placed inside of you that would unite you with your other brothers and sisters in Christ and take you to a whole new level of operation.

Not only when you gave your life to Jesus Christ, were your sins forgiven, your mistakes gone as far as the east is from the west.

Not only when you gave your life to Jesus Christ, not only was your name written down in glory, but through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I'm going to tell you this, and I need you to have a revelation of this.

The Holy Spirit was placed inside of you.

When the Holy Spirit was placed inside of you, it took you from a dead man to alive in Christ.

When the Holy Spirit was placed inside of you, it took you from a dead woman to alive in Christ.

Michael, follow me on the slides this morning.

In Romans chapter 8, verse 11, it says this, and we've talked about this.

Romans 8:11

But 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.

I read it fast.

Let's read it slower together.

Are you ready?

Here we go.

But 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.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead that caused Jesus to walk out of that grave, that is the same power that has been placed inside of you.

No longer are you a dead man or a dead woman, but you are alive through Christ.

Because the Spirit dwells in you.

Men and women of God, it's time to get a revelation of this.

Why?

Because it might not be natural to you.

Actually, I'm gonna say this: it might not be natural for you to talk about these things.

Sometimes we keep the Holy Spirit as taboo because we don't understand it, we don't see it.

It's not something that we can touch with our fingers.

It's not something that we can watch on a TV.

And so we keep kind of this mystery about it where we don't want to touch on it too much because we're afraid that we might get it wrong.

Or we're afraid we don't understand it fully.

You might not be confident in recognizing this truth.

It might be confusing.

Some people might even say, well, isn't that unrealistic?

But imagine, and I'm telling you this, imagine if you ref if you refuse to recognize that you had legs.

Imagine if you refused to recognize that you had hands.

Imagine if you refused to recognize that you had a voice.

Imagine all that you would miss out on if you never attempted to walk, if you never attempted to move your fingers.

Imagine what you would miss out on if you never attempted to speak.

All along you had these beautiful, useful things that God has given you, but you were afraid to use them or afraid you wouldn't use them correctly.

So you sat your entire life with your hands folded without saying a word.

Could you imagine how sad would that be?

You'd probably stay in the corner of your house with the lights off because I don't know how to use these things that God gave me, so I don't even want to try.

When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, a change was made inside of you.

I'm gonna say that again.

When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, a change was made inside of you.

Then you realized that all these things are not important.

There must be a bigger purpose.

There is something more to why I was created.

There is something bigger, there is something that's actually satisfying, there's something to fill the void, to revive our spirit and reveal the eternal purpose of our existence.

How do I know this?

Why am I talking about this?

If you look throughout all of history and you'll find it interesting, if you look all throughout history, you'll find that each culture, all throughout history and today, is searching for something.

Go through the history books.

Everybody is searching for something, and not just for something, they're searching for something spiritual.

It's innate, it's natural.

You look at the Sumerians, considered to be the earliest known civilization dating back to somewhere between 2000 and 4,000 BC.

This is your history books.

And what do we see?

We see people who are building temples, who are building sanctuaries, we see people who are worshiping gods, we see people who were searching for something outside of themselves.

Look at the history, look at the Egyptians.

Look at the history, look at the Chinese.

Look at India and the history going back, and not just them, the entire world and all these civilizations, they're searching for something in the spiritual realm.

So they offer incense, they offer sacrifices, they build temples, they do dances, they put holes in their face and in their ears and in their noses, and they're searching for something to satisfy what?

A deprived spirit.

But we are spiritual beings, listen, who were created to be in communion with God because God is a spirit.

We are spiritual beings who were created to be in communion with God because God is a spirit.

What does it say in John chapter 4, verse 24?

John 4:24

Read it with me.

God is a spirit, and those who worship him, worship, sorry, him must worship in spirit and truth.

Let's say it again, because I messed it up.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, a change was made inside.

Turn to your neighbor and say, a change was made inside of you.

That vessel that was depraved, sorry, deprived.

A future to your soul.

Watch this.

When the Holy Spirit moved into your life, it brought purpose to your body.

People want to use their bodies for all sorts of things, disgusting things.

But when the Holy Spirit moved into your life, he brought purpose to your body.

He brought a future to your soul.

That's eternity.

He brought life to your spirit.

That's what happened when the Holy Spirit moved in.

When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and we said it, the Holy Spirit united with your spirit, and guess what happened?

You finally, finally became a complete person, the way that God intended you to be when he formed you in your mother's womb.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23, it says this.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

What?

Complete without blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How is it complete?

Because of the Holy Spirit is in residence in your life.

You are no longer a searching vessel, you are a complete person because the Holy Spirit is living inside of you.

Finally, you weren't just an empty, fruitless, purposeful house with no life.

The Holy Spirit stepped in and made you complete and it brought purpose.

The Holy Spirit made you alive.

And now as the Holy Spirit steps into your life, he takes residence in your life.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

You're not just a hotel room.

You're not just a short-term living apartment.

When the Holy Spirit came into your life, he took residence in you, he set up home in your life.

What does that mean?

That means this is different.

This is life-changing.

This is eternal life altering when the Holy Spirit took residence.

If there is a certain flag flying over Buckingham Palace, do you know what it means?

The Buckingham Palace in London, if there's a certain flag flying over it, guess what it means?

It means the king is at home.

Yeah, the queen was home, but now she's home with the Lord, so the king's home.

In the Old Testament, you knew that the Spirit of God was there because a cloud would rest over the tabernacle, representing the presence of God amongst his people.

There's an old hymn, and I asked them to put up the words, it goes like this.

I don't know if you know this one.

It goes, you got it?

Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart, from the castle of my heart, from the castle of my heart.

Join is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart, for the king is in residence there.

Have you ever heard that before?

There's another uh stanza to it that goes this Let it fly in the sky, let the whole world know, let the whole world know, let the whole world know, let it fly in the sky, let the whole world know that the king is in residence there.

I ask you this this morning.

Is there a flag flying from the castle of your heart?

Is there a flag flying from the castle of your heart, from your body, from the way that you operate?

That there is a king in residence, that something has moved in, that somebody has moved in.

Realize this.

When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, you traded your filth for his unrightness, you traded your filth for his righteousness.

The Spirit of God takes residence within you, and guess what?

You become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

I'm gonna read that again.

When you give your life to Jesus Christ, you traded in your filth for his righteousness.

And the Spirit of God takes residence within you, a change happens, and guess what you become?

You become the temple of the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Spirit.

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19.

1 Corinthians 6:19

It says, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own, for you have been bought for a price.

Therefore, what does it say?

Glorify God in your body.

I want you to turn to the person next to you, and I want you to remind them this morning with all humility and all respect and all grace.

I want you to turn to them and say, Did you know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?

Can you do that?

And if you hadn't heard it, now you heard it.

You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is inside of you.

I'm gonna say it again.

The Holy Spirit of God, it lives inside, He lives inside of you.

What does that really mean to be the temple of the Holy Spirit?

What does that really mean?

Because if we fail to recognize the residence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, like we said earlier, if we fail, if we fail to recognize the residence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it would be like failing to recognize that I had legs, that I have hands, that I that I have a voice with that type of neglect or ignorance.

Imagine all that you are missing out on.

Because you never realized you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine never allowing the Spirit to add life and purpose to your broken vessel.

Imagine never walking in the Spirit.

I want to say this.

Imagine never being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Imagine missing out on the overflowing fullness of the Holy Spirit operating in your life.

Could you imagine missing out on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit?

Missing out on the fearlessness, on the wisdom that comes.

Why do I say this?

Because we said it, we read it earlier, Romans 8, chapter 16, chapter 8, verse 16.

What does it say?

Read it with me.

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

Let's not be ignorant.

Let's not miss out any longer.

The Holy Spirit is living inside of us.

What a game changer it would be in your life if you finally came to the realization that not only am I a new creature in Christ, how many new creatures in Christ do I have here this morning?

Praise the Lord.

Not only am I a new creature in Christ, the old things have passed away, my name is written down in the book of life, praise the Lord.

But guess what?

A game changer to know not only am I a new creature in Christ, but that the Holy Spirit is inside of me and I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine walking up to somebody and saying, Hi, I'm Stephen Fava, and I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine telling yourself that in the mirror.

When you wake up in the morning and your hair's all messed up and your eyes are all itchy, or is that just me?

And you look a mess, and you look in the mirror, and I said it, and I go, You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

What does that do?

It's like a it changes your whole life when you realize what has been placed.

You're not an empty vessel, you're not an empty purpose, broken, you're not falling apart.

How could you be falling apart when the Holy Spirit has brought life to a dead man?

We're gonna talk about it.

There's different aspects, there's different things.

Can we say that together?

Hi, I am so and so, and I am the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Don't say so and so.

I want you to say your name first and last.

Can we say that?

Don't be embarrassed.

Actually, yeah, be embarrassed.

Turn to the person next to you and let's say it.

Ready?

Go.

Hi, I'm and I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.