The Life-Giving Spirit - Do The Impossible

Amen.

Psalm chapter 9 verse 10, King David

Psalms 9:10

writes, "Those who know your name," he's

talking to God. "Those who know your

name, they trust in you because you have

not abandoned those who seek you." So,

we need to know the names of God so we

can position ourselves in a place where

we can receive what he has for us. And

so, for example, in Genesis chapter 22,

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Abraham and Isaac are going up to the

top of the mountain to offer a

sacrifice. And little Isaac is there

with his father. And he says, he says to

his dad, "I don't see a an offering. I

don't see a lamb. I don't see a

sacrifice. What are we going to do?" And

Abraham looks at his son and he says,

"The Lord God will provide." That's

Jehovah Gyra. That's God will provide.

We all need something. And so God

provided himself so that we could have

what we need. There's a story about the

Israelites when they were attacked by

the Amalachites as they were wandering

in the wilderness and you know they were

just a nomadic people and the

Amalachites were a fortified nation and

so when the Amalachites army rose

against Israel these the different

regiments within the army they had

banners signifying who they were and

what they were and so the people go to

Moses and they they say hey Moses where

is our banner and Moses tells them the

Lord himself is your banner. That's

Jehovah Ni. God is your banner. God is

your defender when you need him. In that

same wilderness experience, Israel was

suffering deadly snake bites. And so God

told Moses to create a staff with a

image of a serpent on top of the the

staff. And when the people were to look

at this staff when it was high and

lifted up, they would be healed from

their their snake bites. The Lord

himself will heal them. That's Jehovah

Rafa. God is our healer. We need

physical and spiritual healing and it is

God that provides those things. Gideon

was being attacked. He was being

belittled. He was being bullied by

people that were supposed to be his his

best friends. He was facing all these

trials and God says, "Seek peace in the

Lord." That's Jehovah shalom. The Lord

is our peace. When we suffer various

trials, the Lord is there to turn us

toward peace. Ezekiel was exiled in

Babylon, hundreds of miles from the

temple in Jerusalem. And he was having

one of those days where he longed to be

back in Jerusalem, inside that temple,

so he could experience the presence of

God. And God met him in that moment and

said, "Hey, I'm not far from you. I'm

right here with you." That's Jehovah

Shamal. The Lord is there. Whenever

you're on the mountain high or the

valley low, the Lord God is with you.

And in Romans chapter 15, we actually

Romans 15 · chapter mention

find three unique names of God that are

not mentioned anywhere else in

scripture. And I'm only going to talk

about one of them because I want you to

go back and read your Bibles and find

the other two. So, it's in Romans

Romans 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 if you want to find uh the

other two. But we're going to talk about

verse 13 specifically. This has been

called the the Christian Magna Carta.

Ent Wright says it's a summary verse

that says so much in such a a short

space that it would be worth learning

again by heart and mulling it over and

over again. Romans chapter 15 verse 13

Romans 15:13

says this. May the God of what?

All right. May the God of hope fill you

with all joy and peace as you trust in

him so that you may overflow with the

hope that is in the power grow in your

faith. So you're going to pres be

presented with things that that feel

impossible. And that's exactly where

this book of Romans came from. Paul is

in Corinth at this time and he's writing

a letter to the church in Rome and he's

he's addressing a struggle that's

happening between Jewish Christians and

Gentile Christians. So, Emperor

Claudius, he he got tired of the Jews

refusing to kind of get with the program

in Rome at that time. It was perfectly

fine if you wanted to invite Yahweh God

into the Roman pantheon of gods. That

was cool. They didn't care about that.

But then the the Christians started

telling the emperors that they're not

going to worship all the other gods.

They're going to do what the Bible says

and they're going to worship the one

true God. They're not going to look at

Caesar as a god. They're going to look

at Jesus as a god. So they're refusing

to to get with the program. And so

Emperor Claudius kicks all of the Jewish

people out of the city of Rome. Well,

the Apostle Peter had actually started a

a little house church in Rome. Just

small little church in somebody's house.

And all of a sudden, people are getting

saved. And the church is growing. And

the church is growing from Jewish

converts and also Gentile converts. And

by the way, the word gentile just means

anybody that's not a Jew, basically.

Okay? So you got Jewish Christians and

Gentile Christians that have formed this

really healthy growing church in the

middle of the city. But when the

emperor's edict went into place, all the

Jewish Christians had to leave the

church. And so what you're left with is

a church that is just the Gentiles. no

more no more Jews there. And the

Gentiles didn't have the familiarity

with the Old Testament scriptures that

the Jews did. They weren't familiar with

the the customs. They weren't familiar

with all the traditions and things that

the Jewish people held to. The the

Gentile Christians were simply people

that went from one day worshiping all

the gods in the Roman pantheon to

worshiping Jesus as their Lord and

Savior. They're people that heard the

gospel and got saved and started going

to church after they were baptized,

right? So, so you got these Gentiles

without any knowledge of of this this

tradition that the Jewish people had.

So, then Emperor Nero, he comes in and

he took the the throne and for whatever

reason, he allowed the Jewish people to

come back to the city of Rome. And so,

now you have all these Jews that are

returning to the city and the Christian

Jews, they go back to their church, but

it' been a a pretty long period of time

where the Gentiles were running the

church. And so, the Jewish Christians

come back to the church and they're

like, "All right, we're back. It's time

to get back to tradition. Trying to get

back. It's time to get back to what we

grew up with. And so they start to push

their traditions back into this church.

Like no more bacon at the men's

breakfast, right? Cuz they didn't eat

bacon. And and no, they changed the day

of work. Could you imagine if I came in

here and I'm like, "Hey, we're going to

start worshiping on Saturday. we're

going to cancel Sunday morning service

even though we've been doing it since

1790 and we're going to do a church

service on Saturday instead. Well,

that's what they did because the Jewish

Sabbath was Saturday, but the Gentiles

knowing that Jesus came back from the

dead on a Sunday, had moved the day of

worship from the last day of the week,

Saturday, to the first day of the week,

Sunday. So then the Jewish Christians

come back in the house and they're like,

"Uh-uh, we're going to go back to the

way that it was." And then the most

controversial of all, they actually have

a business meeting about this. The Jews

wanted to get back to the old tradition

of requiring circumcision for

salvation, which is not great news for

an adult male that comes to Christ.

Okay? Could you imagine you come in here

and you're like, I want to follow Jesus.

I'm like, all right, got to circumcise

you. You know, that's what actually

happened. They had a business meeting

about this. Why? Because the Jewish

Christians were trying to bring their

beliefs, their their traditions back

into a church that was established by a

bunch of Gentiles that didn't have those

same traditions. This church had two

minds on every subject. By the way, if

you have two minds on every subject

within your church, you become a

two-headed monster, right? And we're

seeing that in a lot of our local

churches. You got one group and another

group and they both want things based on

their tradition. And what happens? You

wind up with two heads. And anything

with two heads is a monster. And we're

seeing the ramifications of this all

throughout our region as churches

continue to die. But anyway, Paul

encourages the church to form a spirit

of unity. That's what this book is all

about. We got to form a spirit of unity.

one mind, one voice around the

leadership, the headship of of Jesus

Christ. And the church in Rome upon

receiving this letter felt like what

Paul was asking them to do was

absolutely

impossible. Unity in the church. People

checking their traditions, their

backgrounds, their sacred cows at the

door so that they could make room for

Jesus leadership. leaving behind

personal preferences so that they could

gather together and encourage one

another to good works and share the

gospel in their community and meet the

needs of the the people around them. Are

you kidding me? To them, peace seemed

impossible. But Paul turns their

attention to John chapter 17, one of the

John 17 · chapter mention

greatest passages of scripture in the

entire Bible. I would encourage you to

read it over and over again. at least

read it once a year because you get to

see a full unedited prayer of Jesus

Christ as he talks to his father. And in

that prayer in John 17, it's called the

high priestly prayer. Jesus prays not

once, not twice, but three times for his

church to be unified the same way that

he, the father, and the son are unified.

So you got all these people from all

these backgrounds with all these

traditions and all these perspectives

and unity and peace, they seem

impossible. But Paul comes in and he

says when something seems impossible, it

is an opportunity for you to practice

faith. So yeah, I get it. Maybe your

your situation's not like theirs, but

there is things that God has called you

to do that seem absolutely impossible.

There are seasons of your life that

you're walking through right now that

seem impossible for you to get through.

There are relationships that are so

damaged in your life that it seems

impossible for those relationships to

ever be restored. And God said, Paul

says, it's as you trust in him. Welcome

the Holy Spirit into those impossible

situations. And your faith is going to

trigger God's Holy Spirit to bring three

things. And I stole these headings from

Levi Leco because I really liked them.

The first one is hope beyond

containment. Hope beyond containment.

First Peter 1:3. Praise be to the God

1 Peter 1:3

and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In

his great mercy, he has given us new

birth into a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the

dead. Your hope is alive because your

savior Jesus is alive. You have hope for

a future. You have hope for your family.

You have hope for your church. You have

hope for your relationships. You have

hope for your career because the same

power that raised Jesus from the dead is

now living inside of

you. And maybe you haven't welcomed the

Holy Spirit yet, but he's there. and

he's waiting for you to just trust your

situation over to him so he can overflow

you with so much hope that it leads to

two different things. The first one is

peace beyond

comprehension. So the Holy Spirit brings

hope. What's the hope look like? Number

one, it looks like peace that goes

beyond comprehension. Philippians

Philippians 4:7

4:7, the peace of God which surpasses

all understanding will guard your hearts

and minds in Christ Jesus. I say this a

lot. I'm like, I don't know how that

happened. I don't know how I got through

this. I don't know why I'm up here. I

don't know why God did what he I I don't

know how I got from point A to point B.

I don't know how I survived this. I

don't know how emotionally I'm not

destroyed by this thing that has been

going on for months and months in my

life. Like, how did I get from here to

here so

peacefully? And the answer is I don't

have to

know. That's Jesus job. He carries

creation. He carries the cosmos. He

carries it all. I don't have to know how

I got from here to here. Jesus is the

one that knows how I got from here to

here. If he was able to carry the cross,

he's able to carry me. So that peace

that Jesus gives you today by the power

of the Holy Spirit, it literally

bypasses your comprehension. You don't

have to know because you're not going to

understand how you got to where you are.

Even in your darkest days, you don't

have to know because Jesus. Jesus knows.

So when hope overflows, it produces

peace that goes beyond comprehension.

And then secondly, joy beyond

expression. 1 Peter chapter 1 vers8

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

again, though you have not seen him, you

love him. And even though you do not see

him now, you believe in him and are

filled with an

inexpressable and glorious, what's that

word?

Inexpressable. So I was trying to figure

out what this meant and I was taken to

Luke chapter 10 where Jesus had sent out

Luke 10 · chapter mention

70 of his disciples to the ministry

field and they had a a wonderful

experience and they come back to Jesus

and they're like, "Dude, you would not

believe what we were able to do without

you. Like you weren't even there." and

and and stuff happened. They're like,

"Even the demons listen to us. Even the

demons." And you would think Jesus would

be like, "Yeah, good job, guys." No, he

he says this in verse 20. Do not rejoice

that the spirits submit to you. All

right? Don't That's not what you should

be excited about. That's cool, but

that's not the main thing. Here's what

he says. Rejoice that your names are

written in heaven.

What you should be excited about is that

what he's saying to them is that what

you've experienced over these last

couple of days being with me and being

in my presence is what heaven is going

to feel like every single second of

every single day. He's like, "This is a

glimpse of what it's like to to stand

under the waterfall of of God's glory."

And so you might say, "Well, well, PK, I

can't have that joy because you don't

know my circumstances." And I'll say,

"You're right. I don't know your

circumstances, but I do know this. Joy

is not contingent upon

circumstances." Now, happiness is

happiness goes up and it goes down.

You're happy one day, you're sad the

next day. That's happiness. Joy

completely different. Joy is not

contingent upon your circumstances. You

worship Jehovah Shamal, which means that

you might feel like God is far from you,

but God is present. Through the power of

his Holy Spirit, he lets you know that

you're not alone. And when you know in

those sad moments that you are not

alone, it gives you a joy that is

inexpressable. You can't tell people

what it's like because you don't even

understand it yourself. But it's this

joy that comes from knowing that your

God is always with you through the power

of the Holy Spirit. So where does that

come from? Two sources. Number one is

the Bible. Paul references this in verse

four of Romans 15. He says, "For

everything that was written in the past

was written to teach us so that through

the endurance taught in scripture and

encouraged they provide us, we might

have the encouragement they might

provide us, we have hope." Jesus says

this in his high priestly prayer in John

chapter 17:1 17. He says the same thing.

Sanctify them by

the sanctify them by the truth. The

truth. Well, what is truth? Glad he

clears that up for us. Your word is the

truth. So, how do you get this this

hope? You get the hope through the power

of the scripture. If you don't know the

Bible, it's going to be very hard for

you to receive the hope and the joy and

the peace and the power that come from

that. So Paul tells the Jews and the

Gentiles that are gathered arguing in

the Roman church, he says, "This is how

you're going to make it work. This is

how we're going to figure this thing

out. You're going to quit fighting about

all your traditions and your

non-traditions and all that mess. We're

going to put that to the side. And what

we're going to do is we're going to

order ourselves around the holy

scriptures of Jesus Christ. We're going

to look at the word of God because

ultimately it's all about Jesus." Paul

says, "Hey, Sabbath, that's a big a big

deal. Everybody needs to rest. God

created the Sabbath for us. We need the

Sabbath. But then he says, guess what?

The

Sabbath is in Christ. It's not some

tradition. No, no. The Sabbath happens

when you are connected to the vine. The

ha the Sabbath happens you you receive

rest when you are connected to Jesus.

Then he talks about circumcision. He's

like, "Yeah, it is a big deal, but it

was given to us to show us what God

would do to your heart one day through

the Messiah." He's like, "It's all about

Jesus. Jesus circumcised our hearts. He

He set us apart for his glory. He cut

the sin out and he left his his glory

and his righteousness there for us." And

he's talking about covenants. He's like,

"Yeah, covenants are super important.

They're very important. Abraham received

a covenant, but don't forget this. Jesus

said, "There's a new covenant that is

established by my blood, and it is given

to you for the forgiveness of sins."

Jesus said, "This this new covenant is

all about my promise to not just the

Jews, but also the Gentiles." And in

chapter 15, Paul quotes from four other

Old Testament scriptures just to prove

to the Jewish believers that it was

always, even since the beginning of

time, it was always God's plan to graft

Gentiles into the family tree of God. So

he's like, "Yeah, you're different

people from different backgrounds and

you you like different things. That's

fine. But you should have one mind

around Jesus Christ."

So we learn from the scripture. It's

where our hope comes from. But it also

comes from a person and his name is

Jesus. So what I don't want you to do is

walk away saying I just need to keep

believing. Friends, don't stop

believing. Just a small town

girl living. Why have you not fired me

yet? I have not figured this out. It's

like I try to commit career suicide

every single day.

But I don't want you to say that. I

don't want you to think that you just

need to keep believing. Again, Lusco,

I'm still in stuff. As Levi Leusco puts

it, as though your faith were in your

faith. I I don't want your faith to be

in your faith. I don't want your faith

to be in your ability to have faith.

Some of you are really hard workers.

You're you're type A. You're you're just

like, I can do this. And yeah, you

probably can, but I don't want your

faith to be in your faith because Jesus

is the object of your faith.

And that brings us to this unique name

of God that's used only in this passage

of Romans, and it's Jehovah

Elpis, the God of hope. It's the only

place you'll see it in scripture, the

God of hope.

See, you can have peace and joy and

power overflowing in your life because

living within you is the God of hope.

Jesus through the power of his holy

spirit on the day that you give your

life to him supernaturally, he speaks

this this spirit into your life that

takes up residence in your temple. You

have the spirit of God living within

you. And because of that, you have this

well of hope that can be cultivated as

you seek

him. I was left uh I left church a

couple weeks back. Um left the office

and I was going to a board meeting. No

big deal. Just a you know member of a

board on the other side of Elizabeth

City. And uh so I left at the time I

know I live in Elizabeth City. I know

how long it takes to get from point A to

point B. So I left in a reasonable time

to get there. But I had forgotten that

there was a thing called a potato

festival going on in Elizabeth

City. And uh by the way, if you're not

familiar with potato festival, uh it is

a a fair with um they have like music

and and rides and deep fried Oreos, you

know, all that all that stuff, right? So

So that's going on in Elizabeth City.

And I have the choice. I can go all the

way around and back down, which would

make me late for my meeting, or I can

just try to find my way through downtown

Elizabeth City during the potato

festival. No big deal. So obviously I

don't want to be late. So I go through

the middle of Elizabeth City and I was

doing really well. I was taking the back

roads and probably went the wrong way on

some oneway streets. No big deal. Um but

anyway, so I get to this parking lot and

there's a parking lot attendant there

and they got some stuff set up and I did

what I always do like when I come to the

Old Testament and there's this name of a

person that I cannot pronounce to save

my life. You just say it loud and proud

and with confidence because nobody else

knows how to say it either. And if you

say it that way, people will just boom,

they'll believe it. they'll be like,

"Yep, that's that's exactly how God

intended it to be said." You know, so I

used that same confidence as I went up

to this parking lot attendant. And I'm

like, "I just got to go over

there." And he's like, "Why?" I was

like, "Oh, they told me to be

there." He's like, "Who?" And I was

like, "The voice is in my head, man. I

just need to get over there." So,

um, actually, he did let me through.

None of that happened, but I said, "I

need to go over there." He's like,

"Cool." So, he just moves the barricade.

So, I'm going across this parking lot.

I'm almost home free. It was like Moses

parting the Red Sea. I saw my opening in

front of me and I'm like, "Yes, it's

going to work." Oh, that was cool.

Um, I'm like, "Yeah, it's going to

work." You know, and right when I get to

the edge of the parking lot, the

semitruck holding that 10ton ton potato

pulls right in front of me and blocks my

way out. Now, I'm not the kind of guy

that's brave enough to go up to a man

that's driving around a 10-tonon tater

in the back of a semitr and tell him to

move his truck so I can go somewhere.

So, I sat and I sat and I sat and

finally I did a U-turn. I went all the

way around. I'm 20 minutes late for my

meeting. And when I walked in, uh, one

of my friends that was there, she was

like, she was like, "Oh, thanks for

joining us." You know, shaming me on the

way in like, "Pass the tardy sauce, that

thing." Um, so I come in and, uh, and

they're giving me a hard time about it.

So, I do the thing. I'm like, "Potato

festival. Just getting that. It's pretty

good." The the I'm like, "The potato

festival is is why I'm late." You know,

I start throwing that excuse out there.

And she says, "You've lived here for 20

years. You should have planned for the

potato festival. You should have planned

for it." I was like, "Man, there's a

prophetic word from God somewhere in

there, and I don't know where it's going

to come out, but it's coming out today.

You should have planned for it. Every

gift you receive sends a message. So

when you get the ear hair trimmer for

Christmas, it's not because your family

is saying, "Hey, someday you might need

an ear hair trimmer." Right? They're

like, "No, you need the ear hair trimmer

right here." And that that's what the

gift says. Your gifts always have a

message behind them. So think about it

this way. Let's bring it back to Jesus

now.

When God promises you a gift, it is not

because you may need it one day. It's

because you need it today.

He's saying you should have planned for

it. Jehovah Gyra, God will provide. What

does that mean? That means that you are

lacking in some area of your life.

Jehovah Ni, God is our banner or

defender. What does that gift mean? It

means that the enemy is attacking.

Jehovah Rafa, God is our healer. That

means that there will come a time where

I am physically ill and I need Jesus in

those moments. Jehovah Shalom, God is

our peace. That means there will be

conflict and unrest and our minds will

race and our anxiety will build. And so

I'm going to need the gift of the God of

peace. Jehovah Shama, God is always

there. Even when there's times where I

feel like I'm in the valley of life,

that gift reminds me that God is always

there. So friends, Paul says, "It may

seem impossible to find what you need.

But as you trust in Jesus, your

impossible becomes possible. Because

when you trust in Jesus, as you follow

Jesus, as you welcome the Holy Spirit

into your life, it unleashes the power

of hope, which overflows into joy and

peace and