FIRE

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast

you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Back in 2017,

July. I was transporting a baptismal pool by

trailer for Angus's baptism. We didn't have a

beach in Gawla, so we had to use a pool. And

it was, I was hooked into this, it was really,

really, really heavy. And I had to go to small

group. But I didn't want to take the trailer

with me to this person's house because they lived

in a new development. And you know what those

places are like. There is no parking. I mean,

that would have been a nightmare to park my car

with the trailer with this massive baptismal

pool in it. So I thought it would be so much

more logical just to drop off this baptismal

pool at my house first before heading there.

Easy peasy. As you pull up to my house, this

is what my house looked like. Landay. Lundy life.

That was what the hashtag was. So I pulled up

to my house. Our hashtag now is called Mandy

life. So it's a bit derivative. And I thought

to myself, I do not want to reverse down the

drive. So you can't really see, but the driveway

just on the left there, it actually like dips

right down. And I do not want to reverse down

this steep driveway. That would take too long.

A car might come around the corner. I would have

to line it up probably and it'd probably take

me about 15 goes. It'd be a lot of hassle and

I was not confident that I could make it work.

So I pulled across the front of my house just

across the little in front of the little bushes

there. They weren't there at the time because

this is when I was selling it. So I pulled across

the front, I got out, I undid the chain, trailer,

car, undid the chain, lifted it up and then To

my utmost surprise, it rolled into me because

I was on a hill. And I was immediately crushed

between the trailer and the car because, again,

neglected to account for the fact that I was

on a sloping hill. But not to worry, I thought,

I can still do this. So instead of hitching it

back onto the car, I decided to push it with

every single effort and self -determination I

had. And you know what, it actually went great.

I got a bit of momentum and I was quite proud

of myself despite the very anxious and painful

start to my pelvis bone. But then I got to the

incline of the driveway and I had turned to the,

you know, I had the hitch of the trailer and

I had got it just down the lip and suddenly all

the weight of the trailer shifted. and in seconds

the momentum reversed and the trailer wanted

to go down the driveway into my closed garage.

But don't worry, because I was holding on really,

really tight. With all of my effort. And there

I was kind of basically on the ground. I'm not

going to have to get after this. I was holding

on like this, but even further to the ground.

I was holding on with all of my effort. My arms

were burning. I was at the absolute point of

physical failure. I couldn't get it back up over

the incline, and I could not get it down. I was

trapped in my own stubborn pride of needing to

do this all by myself, which is a shock to all

of you. I was shaking and sweating and completely

out of strength. And just then... like an angel

from the sky. My friend Sean Garner was on the

afternoon walk, the evening walk from up the

road and he walked by and he saw me struggling

so he quickly pacinged and came over to me and

grabbed the trailer and helped me put it onto

flat ground and we put the blocks behind the

tires. It was chocked and safe. I was bent over

and my hands were like shaking. and he just looked

at me and he shook his head and he pointed to

my car a few meters away and said, why did you

unhitch it from your car? Why didn't you just

reverse it down? Why did you try to do this on

your own? It's like, Sean, have you met me? Why

was I trying to do this without the engine that

was there? You know, I had access to all the

power available. that I could ever need, but

because of pride, impatience, or stubborn habit

of self -pride, I thought I can handle this on

my own. And when I think about this moment in

time, I reflect, this is exactly how I've spent

so much of my life. You know, God has called

me to move some incredibly heavy things in my

life. He's called me to live a holy life. to

love difficult people, none of you, just my old

church, to forgive those who've deeply hurt me,

to overcome the darkest parts of my flesh. And

God has provided a massive limitless power to

accomplish all of it. But so often I look at

my life and say, I don't need God's power. I'll

just do this all by myself. You know, when we

rely on human effort, we might get a little momentum

on flat ground. When life is easy, willpower

looks like it's working. But the moment you hit

the incline of real life, grief, temptation,

conflict, stress, human effort fails. And I'm

sure I am not the only one in this room who's

trying to push a heavy trailer up a hill by hand

metaphorically and hopefully not literally you've

done that right you have done that everyone's

tried that right think about your own life yeah

i see some faces think about your own life right

now where are you currently stuck sweating spiritually

exhausted you know some of you in this room might

be newer to faith Maybe you've recently given

your life to Jesus and that initial moment was

life -changing and beautiful. But then Monday

rolled around and you looked at your life and

thought, okay, I'm a Christian now. I need to

clean up my act. And so you treat your new faith

like a spiritual New Year's resolution. Maybe

you make a mental list or an actual list. I'm

going to stop swearing. I'm going to stop losing

my temper. I'm going to read my Bible every day.

I'm going to cut out all my toxic habits. You

grit your teeth and you try to accomplish this

massive life change overhaul with sheer willpower.

And maybe it does work for like a week or two.

You get some momentum on that flat ground. But

then stressful day hits. at work or an old friend

calls or you just get tired and you slip up and

you fall right back into that old habit. What

happens next? All I know for me when that happens

is that immense wave of guilt. Maybe you think,

maybe God didn't really save me. Maybe I don't

have what it takes to do this whole Jesus thing.

You don't realize that you were never meant to

clean up your own life. Maybe you're a brand

new Christian trying to push the heavy trailer

of sanctification all by yourself, ignoring the

power of the Holy Spirit that's available to

you. But let's be honest, this doesn't happen

just to the new believers. Some of you, a lot

of you, are genuinely mature disciples. You've

been following Jesus for a lot longer than me,

10 or 20 years. You serve on ministry teams.

You lead small groups. People come to you for

advice. You know your Bible. You know your theology.

You know what theology means. And you're doing

incredibly good work. But if you pull back the

curtain of your life right now, Maybe you're

secretly or not secretly exhausted. You're dry

and maybe you're even quietly cynical. Because

somewhere along the way, your spiritual life

has shifted from dependency to competency. You

stopped relying on the Holy Spirit's fresh power

and started relying on your accumulated experiences.

When someone comes to you in a crisis, you don't

pause to ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom. You

just give them good advice from your own experiences

and intellect. When you serve at church, you

just execute the task out of your own organizational

skills or well laid out systems that Tim put

in a sandbox. You are carrying the heavy burdens

of your family and your friends. on your shoulders.

Gosh, you look great on the outside. Everyone

thinks you have it all together, but inside your

spiritual life is shaking. You're running on

fumes, living on the memory of God's power rather

than a current reality of it. You are trying

to do the work of God without the breath of God.

Now, whether you are two weeks into following

Jesus or two decades into it, or even more because

Nathan's the oldest person in the church, the

trap is exactly the same. Human effort. We forget

that life is not just hard. It's literally impossible

without the supernatural empowerment of God.

And we end up like I was in the driveway, trapped,

tired and frustrated. We have to stop trying

to be the engine. We need the power from the

outside to come in and dwell on the inside. And

the beautiful news of the gospel is that that

power has already been given. You know, when

we talk about hooking up to the power of God,

we need to be very clear about what that means

because I'm not talking about like a line in

your crystals. We're talking about some mystical

energy field. I'm not even talking about the

force from Star Wars. And we're not talking about

just that adrenaline you get on a Sunday because

the drums are playing. The power of God is not

a what. The power of God is at who? It is the

Holy Spirit. So who exactly is the Holy Spirit?

He is the third person of the Trinity, co -equal

and co -eternal with God, the Father and God

the Son. He isn't an it or a mindless force.

He is a divine person. He has a mind. He has

a will. He has emotions. He is fully God. And

the Holy Spirit has been actively working since

the very first sentence of the Bible. If you

open to Genesis 1, you find a world that is formless,

carved in darkness and chaos. But in verse 2,

it says the Spirit of God was hovering over the

waters. Right there in the beginning, the Holy

Spirit is the presence of God bringing life.

order and creation out of absolute chaos. Throughout

the Old Testament, we see flashes of His power.

The Spirit would come upon the leaders like Moses,

would come upon judges like Samson, would come

upon the prophets to speak the Word of God. But

under the covenant, His presence was selective

and temporary. He would come upon specific people

for specific tasks, but He didn't permanently

dwell inside the everyday person. But Jesus promised

that was going to change. He told His disciples

that a day was coming when the Spirit wouldn't

just be with them, but would be in them. So He

told them to wait in Jerusalem for this gift.

And so we open to Acts chapter 2 like Page read

Acts 2 · chapter mention

out. The disciples were huddled in the upper

room. Jesus has died, been resurrected, and then

ascended to heaven. They are fragile, they are

uncertain, and they have no power of their own.

Then the day of Pentecost arrives. On the day

of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting

together in one place. Suddenly there was a sound

from heaven, like the roaring of a mighty windstorm,

and it filled their hearts where they were sitting.

Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire

appeared and settled on each other. And everyone

present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began

speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit

gave them this ability. Luke, the author of Acts,

gives us three distinct physical signs that accompany

the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the wind, the

fire, and the languages. And so we're gonna go

through them. Luke tells us that suddenly it

will sound like the blowing of a violent wind

came from heaven. But why wind? In both the Old

Testament and the New Testament, the words for

spirit, wind and breath are the exact same words.

In Hebrew it's ruak, in Greek it's nyuma. I'm

not gonna make you say it. When the disciples

heard the wind, they weren't just thinking about

a severe weather event that was happening. Their

Jewish minds thought back towards history to

the origin of human life. In Genesis 2 -7, God

formed Adam out of the dust of the ground. Adam

was perfectly constructed. He had a lungs, heart,

bones and a brain. But he was just beautifully

organized dirt. He had no life, no energy, no

capability. But God leaned in and breathed the

breath of Ruach. into his nostrils, and the dirt

became a living soul. In Ezekiel 37, the prophet

sees a valley of dry, disconnected dead bones.

We were singing about this earlier. And God asks,

can these bones live? God doesn't tell the bones

to try harder. He doesn't tell them to pull themselves

together. He says, come, O breath from the four

winds. breathe into these dead bones that they

may live. When the violent wind fills the upper

room in Acts 2, God is saying, I am doing a new

creation. The same spirit that breathed new life

into the first man, the same spirit that breathed

new life into old bones, is now the same spirit

breathing new life into the church. And so church,

if you feel like a valley of dry bones, if you

feel burned out today, spiritually dry or tired

of trying, God's answer for you isn't to try

harder or do better. His answer is new breath,

new life. Next, they see what seems to be tongues

of fire that separate and come to rest on each

of them. In the story of the Bible, fire almost

always represents the holy, manifest, unapproachable

presence of God. In Exodus 3, God appeared to

Moses in a burning bush that was not consumed.

Moses was exhausted, washed up shepherd who had

failed to deliver his people on his own strength

40 years earlier. God uses the fire to show Moses,

my presence will provide the fuel that never

burns out. In Exodus 13, when the Israelites

were wandering through the dark, terrifying wilderness,

God led them with a pillar of fire. It was their

light, their warmth, their guide, their protection.

They didn't have to use Google Maps or map out

their route using human intelligence. They just

had to wake up and follow the fire. In 2 Chronicles

7, when Solomon had finished building the temple

in Jerusalem, God accepted it by sending down

fire from heaven. The glory of God filled the

temple so powerfully that the priests couldn't

even enter it. The fire signaled God has entered

this place. But then we come to Pentecost. The

fire comes down from heaven. But it doesn't come

down into the physical temple down the road.

It doesn't go into a building at all. The fire

comes down into the upper room and then it divides.

It separates into tongues of fire and rests on

the head of every single person in that room.

For centuries, people had to travel to a physical

building, offer a sacrifice, just to hope, just

to get a glimpse of the presence of God. In Acts

2, God is relocating. He's officially moving

out of the building and He's moving into you.

You are the new temple. You don't have to go

far into the fire anymore. The same holy fire

that spoke to Moses, the same pillar of fire

that guided the Israelites, the same glory that

filled the temple that now dwells in your chest,

providing permanent internal fuel source for

your life. Finally, they began to speak other

languages as the spirit enabled them. We think

back to Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel. Babel

was the epitome of human effort. Humanity said,

let's build a tower that reaches the heavens

so that we can make a name for ourselves. It

was humanity trying to reach God through their

very own sweat, bricks, and striving. And what

was the result of this human effort? Well, God

confused their languages, their striving ended

in exhaustion, division, and a complete breakdown

in communication. But at Pentecost, we see the

exact opposite of Babel. Instead of humans striving

towards a tower up to God, God's spirit comes

down to humanity. Instead of human effort causing

division and confusion, the Holy Spirit provides

a language that brings perfect understanding

and unity. When we live in our own strength,

our language eventually becomes one of complaining

and bitterness and burnout and division. But

when the Spirit fills you, He changes your internal

and external language. You stop trying to build

a tower to prove yourself and can rest down on

the fact that God has come down for you. God

speaks your language. He speaks the language

of the Parthians and the Medes and the Elamites.

No. He speaks the language of the broken. He

speaks the language of the hurting. He speaks

the language of the divorced, of the orphaned.

He speaks the language of the frightened, of

the suicidal, of the weary, of the skeptical,

of the doubting, of the troubled and the confused.

He calms down for you and speaks. Now if you

are a follower of Jesus, the very same Spirit

that breathed life into Adam, the same Spirit

that led Israel as a pillar of fire, that filled

the temple and empowered Jesus is living inside

of you. That power is available. But how do we

actually hook up to it? How does like a normal

person experience this on a Tuesday morning?

Well, there are three practical ways that we

can transition from human effort to the power

of the Holy Spirit. And this is going to be your

Henley homework, so start taking notes. I'm assuming

you're already taking notes. Homework point number

one. Stop trying and start yielding. Life is

not about trying harder. It's about yielding

faster. Yield means to give way to. A sailboat

doesn't move across the ocean because the sail

pushes the mast. It moves because the sailor

raises the sail and catches the wind. I'm assuming

I don't sail. We have to catch the wind. Tomorrow

morning, before your feet hit the floor, or your

husband brings you coffee in the morning like

mine does, I want you to pray a prayer of yielding.

Confess your lack of power. Lord, I have no power

for today. I cannot love my spouse on my own.

I cannot handle this stress at work on my own.

I am dropping the bricks. I'm raising the sails

of my soul. Feel me. Breathe on me. I yield my

schedule. I yield my anxiety. My relationships

to your spirit. Stop pushing the trailer. Turn

the engine on. Back it up. For me, I do this

by I have a little notebook next to my bed that

has notes in it and I read it in the morning.

Maybe you could do the same. Maybe you could

write it on a piece of paper and blue tack it

to the wall next to your bed. Maybe you could

write something on your phone, if that's not

too distracting. How might you allow the wind

of God to breathe through your life this week?

Your second homework point. Treat the temple

with honor. If you actually believed you were

the physical dwelling place of the creator of

the universe, how would it change your daily

habits? How would it change what you put into

your body? How would it change what you look

at on your phone when you're alone? And I'm not

just talking about porn, but obviously. But like,

social media. Instagram reels. Read it. How would

it change what comes out of your mouth? The tone

of voice you use with your children, your parents,

your friends. Take inventory of your life this

week. Is there anything in your temple that is

grieving the Holy Spirit? Bitterness, secret

addiction, unforgiveness. repent and clean house.

You don't clean the house to earn God's love.

You clean house because a holy God already lives

there and you want to honor His presence. You

know for me this looks like taking my medication

regularly. I'm not saying I'm great at this.

For me this means caring and loving my body so

not to put it in harm. For me this means repenting

for the times when I have put it in harm. And

for me this also means starting the couch to

5k. How do you need to repent and clean house

this week? Your third and final piece of Henley

homework this week is listen to the fire. The

Holy Spirit is not just a cosmic force. He's

a divine person. He guides. He prompts. He convicts.

Just like the Israelites woke up every morning

and looked for the pillar of fire to see if they

should move or to stay, we need to learn to look

for the Spirit. Practice the pause this week.

Before you hit send on that mildly angry defensive

email, ask the Spirit for direction. Before you

make massive financial decision, ask the Spirit

for wisdom. Before you walk into a difficult

meeting, ask the Spirit for peace. Expect Him

to guide you. Expect Him to prompt you to encourage

someone. Listen to the fire. What is one area

of your life that you need to ask for God's direction

and wisdom this week? and ask someone to pray

for you for guidance tonight. Guys, I know that

you have something in your life that you need

to ask God's guidance with, because you're all

doing stuff. You're all busy people. And so I

know that there's something, there is something

that you can ask someone to pray for you about.

I'm gonna light the band back up. Look, I've

just told you that the Holy Fire of God Almighty

wants to come and dwell inside of you. And you

might be sitting here thinking, like I know myself.

I know what I did last weekend. I know the thoughts

in my head. I am too messy, too broken, too sinful

for a Holy God to dwell inside of me. And a fire

consumes what is impure. If God's holy burning

fire comes near my sin, I'll be destroyed. And

if you are thinking that, like, you are absolutely

right. In the holy, in the Old Testament, you

couldn't just stroll into the presence of the

fire. Sin and holiness cannot coexist. If you

walked into the Holy of Holies with sin on your

hands, the fire would consume you. So how did

Pentecost happen? How can sinful, broken humans

become the Holy Temple of God without becoming

incinerated? Well, it's all because of the cross.

Before the Spirit came down in Acts 2, The sun

went up on the cross in Luke 23. Jesus Christ,

the only perfect and pure temple, allowed himself

to be torn down. On the cross, Jesus absorbed

to the holy fire of God's wrath against your

sin, your pride, and your self -reliance. He

paid your debt in full. When Jesus took his final

breath, the thick curtain of the physical temple

was ripped from top to bottom. Jesus was clearing

the way. His blood washed you perfectly clean

so that the Holy Spirit could move in without

destroying you. And hear me clear you so clearly

today. You are not filled with the Holy Spirit

because you are so good. You are filled with

the Spirit because Jesus was so good on your

behalf. Some of you here today come absolutely

exhausted. You've been pushing up a massive weight

of up a steep hill for years. You've been pushing

the weight of your marriage, of your addictions,

of your religious competency. Your arms are shaking.

Your feet are slipping. Your muscles are gonna

give out. And you're terrified of what happens

if you finally let go. Well, I'm here to tell

you today, as a friend that's walking past on

their walk, walking past your driveway, Stop

trying by human effort. Look at what Jesus has

provided for you. The same Spirit that hovered

over the waters at creation. The same Spirit

that kept Jesus tended to the Father's will.

The same Spirit that birthed the Church in a

rushing wind and tongues of fire. The same Spirit

that is here right now offering to take the weight

off your shoulders. You don't have to live out

of breath anymore. You don't have to live burned

out anymore. You don't have to push the trailer

anymore. Back up the car, hook up the engine,

yield your life to the Holy Spirit, and watch

what God can do with a life that rests entirely

on His power. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Thank

you for not leaving us alone. Thank you for not

leaving us to our own exhausting devices. Thank

you Jesus for shedding your blood to make our

hearts a clean temple. Holy Spirit, breathe your

breath through this room and blow through our

lives. Forgive us for our pride. Forgive us for

trying to do your work in our own strength. We

stop pushing today. We drop the weight. We yield

to you. Breathe on us. Set us on fire for your

glory so the world might see your power in us.

Thanks so much for tuning into this week's message.

If you felt challenged or need prayer, we'd love

to hear from you on Instagram. at Encounter Henley.

Or if you're interested in how you can support

this ministry please go to our website encounteradelaide

.com .au Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.