More Than we Realize | Jason Martin

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So the title of my sermon for today is this.

Make it the first slide. More than we realize. The

Holy Spirit is more than what we realize. More than

what we realize. You know that Jesus said, I will

send you a helper. after he ascended to heaven. Before

he ascended to heaven, he said, I'm going back to heaven,

but when I go back to heaven, I will send

you a helper. And a lot of times, we do

not realize how rich that word helper is. That word advocate.

It's also a word advocate. It's a word comforter. And

sometimes we say that, hey, we don't need help. But

what we don't realize is today, even as the Spirit

guides me, we hope to discover more of what the

Holy Spirit is, who He is, and how He functions

in us and leads us down the path that God

wants us to be. Okay? All right. Next slide. So

I broke this down into three different questions. that I

wanted us to answer. First question. Do all Christians have

the Holy Spirit? How many say yes? How many say no?

How many say don't know? How many say I'm waiting

for the next slide? Alright. So do all Christians have

the Holy Spirit? Why I'm going through this is because

we have to understand fundamentals, basics. We might have been

in church for so long, but if we do not

realize the fundamentals, the same thing, if Adam does not

realize what he was entitled for in the gym and

what God has promised us, we are missing out. So,

next slide. This is Acts 2 verse 38. Acts 2

Acts 2:38 Acts 2:38

verse 38. This was the first sermon which Peter preached.

And he preached it to people of all languages who

were down in Jerusalem for the Pentecost. This is what

he said. Peter said to them, Repent and let every

one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus

Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive

the gift of the Holy Spirit. So when you believe

that Jesus Christ is Lord and you accept His gift

of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit belongs to you. The Holy

Spirit lives in us. Alright? So I ask you again,

Go back one slide again. Do all Christians have the

Holy Spirit? How many say yes? Hopefully it's more hands. Yes.

All Christians have the Holy Spirit because that is what

is said in the Bible. That when we believe in

Jesus Christ and you accept Him as your personal Lord

and Saviour, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay?

Next slide. So, if anyone does not have the Spirit

of Christ, he is not his. So, if we do

not have the Spirit, Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Christ,

then we are not under God's covering. So, that's why

When we say the salvation prayer, the Holy Spirit lives

in us. And because of that, we belong to Him. Right?

So if there's no Spirit, it means that we don't

belong to Christ. But if we belong to Christ, it

means that we have the Spirit living in us. Okay? Alright.

Let me now... Okay. So that's the first question that

I wanted us to answer. So the second question I

wanted us to answer is this. When did the disciples

receive the Spirit? How many of us have been in

church since Sunday school? Yeah, me too, right? When did

the disciples receive the Holy Spirit? Any guesses? Anybody took

Bible knowledge in School. Pentecost. Okay. Before Christ was crucified. Okay. Okay.

Right.

So some say Pentecost. Some say before crucified.

Right.

Another one is Jesus blew it on them, right? And said,

receive the Holy Spirit. Okay, let's read this next. So

it says here that if you love me, keep my

commandments and I pray that the Father will give you

another helper that he may abide with you forever. The

Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it

neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him,

for He dwells with you and will be in you. Okay?

I'm not answering the question yet, but I wanted to

give you a bit more context. So let's look at

verse 15. Verse 16, actually. And I pray the Father,

pray the Father, and He will give you another helper.

The word another means there is an existing Helper. Who

is the existing helper? Jesus. So when Jesus says, I

will give you a helper, the original helper, the first

helper that came was actually Jesus. That's why when Jesus

says that, I will give you another helper and that

helper will abide with you forever because Jesus knew that

he will ascend into heaven. He will ascend into heaven,

but the Holy Spirit will be on earth with all

of us and will abide in us. The Spirit of

truth whom the world cannot see because it neither sees

Him nor knows Him, but you know Him for He

dwells with you and will be in you. So did

Jesus dwell in the disciples? No. Jesus was man, right?

He was, he dwelt with them. Jesus was with the disciples.

And that's why he says here, with para, which is

a Greek word, he was, Jesus was alongside the disciples.

But the Holy Spirit will dwell in us. And the

Holy Spirit will dwell in us when we believe that

Jesus Christ is Lord. You know that during this time,

did the disciples believe that Jesus was the Son of God? Yet,

what do you think? May or may not be. Because

when Jesus died on the cross, all of them ran away.

If they believed that He was the Son of God

and He will rise to life again, They'll be like, hey,

it's cool. You know, they wouldn't be scared. They wouldn't

have run away. But they thought it was the end.

But when Jesus rose again, then they recognized that He

is the Son of God. Then they believed in Him. Okay?

So next slide. So this is when the Holy Spirit

dwelt in the disciples. This was after Jesus resurrected. It says,

So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As

the Father has sent me, I also send you. And

when he has said this, he breathed on them and

said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. So well done, Max.

Jesus breathed on them and the disciples received the Holy Spirit.

This breathe, the word breathe, is also the same one

that is found in Genesis. where God breathed upon men

and gave them life. And this is the second they

were born again. So, Jesus breathed upon them and they

received the Holy Spirit. So then, you say that, hey,

then why did Jesus ask them to wait for the

Holy Spirit? You know? Just now, Auntie Margaret said, Pentecost. So,

I was struggling with all these questions and thoughts as well. So,

bear with me. This is the journey that we're going through. And,

there is more than what we know, right? There's more

than what we realize, okay? So, let's see. Next slide. So,

this is in 1 John 2, 1. Do you remember

just now I said that Jesus said, I will send

you another helper? So, the first helper was actually Jesus.

And the word helper is also the word advocate. It's

also the word comforter and helper. So it says here

in 1 John 2 verse 1, My children, these things

1 John 2:1

I write to you so that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous. So Jesus was and is God.

Our advocate. And what does Jesus advocate for us? What

is an advocate? Any of you all know what's an advocate?

The picture there is a hint. Yeah, it's a defense attorney.

It's a lawyer. Why do we need a defense attorney?

Who is throwing accusations at us? The devil, the devil

is throwing accusations at us. And we need the best

defense attorney, which is Jesus. Because by His blood, we

are saved. He has taken away all our sin, all

our shame. And before God, He is saying, God, I

have paid the price. I am defending them. And that's

why they will receive eternal life. So Jesus is our advocate.

He's our advocate in heaven, constantly petitioning on our behalf.

Whenever the enemy throws any blame, any lies against us,

he defends us. And he defends us against our sin,

our failure. He opposes Satan's accusation. and ensures that we

have forgiveness, so that we have eternal life. So how

many of us want Jesus as our advocate? Right? Right now,

how many of us want the Holy Spirit as our advocate?

You want? Well, you know that Jesus and the Holy Spirit,

although they are three in one, they are two different people.

And Jesus is advocating us, for us, to the Father

against the accusations of Satan. So what is the Holy

Spirit advocating for us? Next slide. So this is in

Romans 8, 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.

For we do not know what we should pray for

as we ought. But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for

us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So the Holy

Spirit is our advocate here on earth. He is here

to help us in our times of weakness. He is

here to help us in our times of need. He

is here when we are down. We are being attacked

here on earth. And He is here now. Even as

we struggle with our flesh, sometimes we don't know what

to pray. We reach a stalemate or we reach a

dead end. It can be a financial need, it can

be an emotional need, it can be a physical need.

But that is when the Holy Spirit, He advocates for us.

In our times of weakness, He is our strength. In

our time of need, that's where He shows up and

takes control. He opposes the flesh. So our flesh is

the one that is pointing us towards death. But the

Holy Spirit will guide us towards what God wants us

to do. And because of that, it results in power

and boldness to take on whatever the enemy or the

world has in store. So do we need the Holy

Spirit as we enter the year of evangelism? Of course.

Because the Holy Spirit will... Just now I asked us

a question. How many of us are excited about evangelism?

Or it's your favorite word. It may not be a

lot of people's favorite word. It's because of fear. And

if we try and overcome fear on our own, we

will fail. But with the Holy Spirit, then there will

be boldness. Just as the kids are educating us on boldness.

They are bold because for them, Jesus says this, invite

my friends. There is no right time. Just invite. Just share.

And that's what they are doing. They are not allowing

fear to dictate. But they are going with what the

word of God says. And that's what the Holy Spirit

does with us. Okay? And this picture here is the

Holy Spirit is like the wind in our sail. When

we are stuck in the middle of the sea, there

is no wind. How you try and paddle your boat,

you will go how far? Not far. But with the

Holy Spirit, the wind in our sail, He will just

push us further, faster. So how many of us want

the Holy Spirit? We want, right? Okay. And now is

the third question. So the first question, I just recap, right?

The first question just now was, Do all Christians have

the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes. Okay? Second question is,

when did the disciples receive the Spirit? The disciples received

the Spirit when Jesus breathed on them. Right? So they

received the Spirit. And we also receive the Spirit when

we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. Okay? So if

we have received and the Holy Spirit is living in us,

the third question is this. If we have the Spirit,

then why do we need to be filled again? You

already have the Holy Spirit, so why do you need

to be filled?

Huh?

We have a lot of holes. Yep, true. We have

a lot of holes. That's a simple question as well,

a simple answer as well. But it's true in terms

of it. And how many of us, you ate on

the 1st of January? And you ate this morning? Don't

you have to constantly eat, right? To edify yourself, to

nourish yourself. You can't eat once and then it's over.

But you need the Holy Spirit. Although the Holy Spirit

dwells in you, you need a constant feeling of the

Holy Spirit. So let's look at this. Okay? Next slide.

So this is Ephesians 1 verse 13. In Him you

Ephesians 1:13

also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the

gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you

were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So when

you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. That

is when you had your salvation. When you have your salvation,

the Holy Spirit sealed it. And it dwells in you.

So that is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As

long as Jesus Christ is our personal Lord and Savior,

the Holy Spirit dwells in us. So this is called

the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Turn to your neighbor

and say, indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So indwelling means

the Spirit moves in permanently. The Spirit, Jesus lives in you.

in your life, or the Holy Spirit lives in your

life permanently. Okay? So that's indwelling. Next. So just now

was Ephesians 1, right? Now it's Ephesians 5. Then Paul

also said this. Do not be drunk with wine in

which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Why

is Paul asking them to be filled with the Holy

Spirit when just now in Ephesians 1, they were already

sealed with the Holy Spirit? It's because being filled by

the Holy Spirit, right, is that we are allowing the

Holy Spirit to take over progressively. That means we surrender

more and more to Him every single day. When the

Holy Spirit moves into your life, it does not mean

He is the master of your life yet. You may

just park Him in the guest room or storeroom or

you just use Him as Google, you know, or whatever

it is. But being in fill of the Holy Spirit

is saying that Holy Spirit You tell me what to do.

You are now in control of my life. And I

die to self each day. You take control. You tell

me what to do and you lead me and guide me. Okay,

let's go to the next slide. So there are a

few examples of this. There are a few examples of this.

This was Acts 4 verse 8. So Acts 4 verse 8,

Acts 4:8 Acts 4:8

just now we talked about Acts 2, the first sermon

where Peter preached about. That was when the Holy Spirit

filled the disciples with power. The disciples were filled with

power and because they were filled with power, they could

go and speak in tongues. And then Peter preached the

most powerful sermon that 3,000 people got saved. So how

many of y'all agree that Peter already has the Holy

Spirit in Acts chapter 2, right? And he was also

Acts 2 · chapter mention

in the upper room. But then why in Acts chapter 4, 8,

Acts 4 · chapter mention

it says here, when they had sent them there in

the midst, they asked, by what power or by what

name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the

Holy Spirit, You see, Peter was again filled with the

Holy Spirit. Said to them, rulers of the people and

elders of Israel. And then he started to rebuke and rebut.

So when we are in need, when there's a new crisis,

when we go through new challenges, we need a fresh

feeling of the Holy Spirit to tackle the latest storm.

And we see that over and over again. We cannot

depend on yesterday's strength for tomorrow's troubles. We cannot depend

on our experience because then you'll be depending on experience.

You know, they say another level, another devil. But we need.

That's why we need a fresh feeling of the Holy Spirit.

Peter was already filled at Pentecost, but then right now

when people were bringing charges against him, the Holy Spirit

filled him again and he was able to speak to them. Okay,

that's one example. Let's see another example. Also in Acts

Acts 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, the community, right now the whole church was

filled again. And when they had prayed, the place where

they were assembled together was shaken. And they were all

filled with the Holy Spirit. And they spoke the word

of God with boldness. You know that before, this was

after Peter was released, after he spoke to the Sanhedrin,

and the church was shaken. The church was shaken because

they were in fear because all the authorities were coming

against them. But what did the church do? The church

came together and prayed And they seek God and the

Holy Spirit filled them. And what happened? Suddenly, their fear

turned to boldness. From fear, they had courage because they

had a new infilling of the Holy Spirit. So the

boldness was then restored. Because again, they had a different challenge.

But as long as they continue seeking the Holy Spirit,

the Holy Spirit came. and continued to be their helper.

Can you see how powerful this word helper is? He

became their advocate. He's like, come on guys. He became

their personal trainer. He became someone who is at a

level that can guide each and every one of us

towards our next victory. And the sad thing is sometimes

most of us, we say it's okay. I can do

it on my own. Or we don't seek God. And

we think that, hey, I have done it before this way.

So I will use my experience to get out of it.

And then we crash and burn. You know? But why

not seek the Holy Spirit? So next slide. This was

another one. The church walking in the Spirit. This is

Acts chapter 9. Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee

Acts 9 · chapter mention

and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in

the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of

the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. The key word here

is walking. It's not walked. They were walking together in

the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of

the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our comforter. He's

our advocate. He's our helper. And they were walking with

the Holy Spirit daily. And because of that, the church grew.

Because of that, they prospered. It's not because of what

they did or who they were, but it's because of

the Holy Spirit. they were fully aligned to the Holy

Spirit and continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. So there

was peace, there was growth, and there was multiplication because

they constantly seeked out the Holy Spirit. So even as

I draw towards the end, right now, this is the

last portion. So we want to be filled by the

Holy Spirit. I want to ask us, how many of

us want to be filled by the Holy Spirit? Right?

But why? Why do we want to be filled by

the Holy Spirit? To operate.

Okay?

To operate is one. I wouldn't put you all on

the spot too much. There will be many reasons. Of course,

it's to help us towards our times of need. Right?

To get us through life. Life is tough. Life is hard. Right?

In terms of it. And we need someone on our

side who will help us, who will guide us. But

what is God's purpose for us being filled with the

Holy Spirit? Because Jesus said He will send an advocate

and He will guide you. Right? Next slide. So the

purpose of daily infilling is this. Next. Next slide. Acts 1.8

The purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit is this.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come

upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem,

in all of Judea, in Samaria and to the ends

of the earth. That is why we need the daily

prayer filling of the Holy Spirit. It's to fulfill the

Great Commission. So even as we prepare for the year

of evangelism, if we are going to depend on our

own strength, it is impossible. But that's why we want

the filling of the Holy Spirit. Because when we have

the filling of the Holy Spirit, we will have the

power of the Holy Spirit. And the power of the

Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us into doing

what God wants us to do. Right? So it's... when

we have salvation, when we accepted Jesus Christ as our

personal Lord and Savior, we were enrolled in God's army.

Put it like that. So we are enrolled in God's

army already. Alright? But when we have a daily filling

of the Holy Spirit, we are being continuously trained by

God to become a better soldier, to become a better sniper,

to become a better medic, to become a better.

Leader.

And that's why we need the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

You know, we know that in the natural, but what

more in the spiritual? So even as I get the

band up, this morning. So the last slide is this.

The question is not, do I have the Holy Spirit

or not? The question is, is He God or a

guest in my life? Because if the Holy Spirit is

God in your life, then you will ask Him to

direct your path. If the Holy Spirit is a guest

in your house, then you will take everything that that

person says with a pinch of salt. You might just

be cordial. You might just park that person aside. So

the Holy Spirit may be indwelling in you, but He's

not God. So this morning, let's check our hearts and say, God,

are you a God? Are you God in my life?

Or am I treating you like a guest? A guest

has no say over what I do in my life.

You know? But a God is saying that, God, I

surrender to you.

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