Living And Walking In The Spirit

Walk in to live in the spirit, so I want to talk about that a little bit tonight from maybe a little bit of a different angle But before that I'd like to pray and thank all of you who were part of the prayer meeting in Plymouth Last Tuesday night just a phenomenal prayer meeting that has touched a lot of people's lives and continues to do so throughout the nation even now thank you for those who came in and prayed with us and Believe God with us for a spiritual awakening for this nation at this time. I don't think there's anything more critical For our generation right now than to see a spiritual awakening I'd like you to turn to the book of Ephesians chapter 1 if you have any kind of a Bible or device that you can follow Along this evening. I'm going to be reading from verses 17 of chapter 1 to the verse Chapter 2 and verse 1 but let's pray together before this. So father. Thank you Thank you my God for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. Oh Lord, if you don't build the house, our labor is in vain. You have to build this testimony in this generation in each of our lives Individually and collectively as we meet as your people and so Lord We just simply bring ourselves to your throne tonight and we acknowledge Lord that your word is A lamp for our feet and a light for our path. So would you help us tonight to embrace your word? Would you help us to learn what it means to walk in the spirit? Would you give us great grace my God to be able to understand to lay hold of? your word and to rise up out of the ashes Lord of whatever our lives might be at this time and To see a temple built that will bring glory to your name So father we thank you for this tonight. Thank you my God for the wonderful worship tonight Thank you for the hope that you give in the midst of a despairing time in our world and in our society Lord, you're the hope of our life. You're the song of our heart. You're the light in our eyes God You're the bounce in our step. You are everything You're all in all as Paul once said in in you we live and move and have our being Oh God I pray tonight let every person lay hold of this great truth Lord Which is Christ in you the hope of glory Oh God, let it be let it not be just words on a page tonight But I do pray for every person. I lift up those that are in despair Tonight those who don't see a way forward. They feel like their life is a waste They they wonder if they'll ever get out of the imprisonment of their situation My God, I pray tonight And you would lift up Lord your church your people your bride It's of no honor to you Lord to have a beat-up bride in this world God at this time Lord fight for your bride fight for your church Lord and lift her up out of the ashes God and Make us a radiant people at this time and for this generation Lord we thank you for it in Jesus name Amen, and amen The Ephesians chapter 1 beginning at verse 17 right through to chapter 2 verse 1 This is the prayer of the Apostle Paul for you and for me That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory May give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? God has called you and me for a specific purpose on the earth through which His name will be brought to glory and he doesn't ask us to do this in our own strength. He's given us an Incredible treasure in the sense of life that every purpose that he has for us might be accomplished Verse 19 says and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe? According to the working of his mighty power. He has given us what we need to do the work He's called us to do which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places far above all principality power and might and dominion and Every name that is named he's above depression tonight. He's above suicidal thoughts. He's above captivity He's above a sorrow of heart or hopelessness whatever name tries to name itself over you Jesus Christ sits above that name not only in this age but also in that which is to come and he's put all things under his feet and Gave him to behead over all things to the church Which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all in other words He has a body on the earth we are that body and in which he has deposited this incredible life and Light of his presence and this wonderful victory that comes with power Chapter 2 verse 1 says in you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins now Elsewhere in the scriptures. It tells us that the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also quicken our Mortal bodies and bring us into this newness of life this this place that only God can take us into And so I want to ask you a question tonight What is going on in your church? And this is a this is a question that's trickier than it seems because a lot of people are asking this question at this time Especially those who are living outside of hope and maybe they're looking at you and they know that you are a believer in Christ At least you profess to be and they ask you just a simple question. So what's going on? In your church, what is your church? Look like and what goes on there? Now some would reply and they would say well My church the services are too long. Some would say they're too short. Some others would say they're just right Some would say well my church is good worship and somehow someone else will say my church There's there's no worship and somebody else would say my church. The worship is too fast or it's too slow Others would say well my church is a friendly church It's a cold church or it's an aloof church and in light of the coronavirus situation that we're facing in the world today Quite often I I would suppose that the answer would often be well, my church is open or my church is closed That's the way people see it church is either open or it's closed, but I wanted to suggest to you tonight There's a fundamental flaw in all of the answers. I've just given you Because you haven't answered the question The question is what goes on in your church now what you have just done is you have answered? The question about the place where the church meets you've actually answered the question about a building you see God doesn't dwell in physical buildings anymore As a matter of fact, the Bible says that you are now the temple of God You are actually the church remember you are the church you are his body He's the one who fills all in all and we are called his church on the earth As a matter of fact, let me just read it to you from 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19 Where Paul says do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Who is in you? Do you not know that you are the church? Do you understand it church? The church comes together into a building Generally, it's been in our society on Sunday or maybe some gathering in the midweek times Wednesday or Tuesday night Whatever your case is of of the particular building where your church the church meets that you're part of it's the church is the body Of believers in Jesus Christ. You are the church of Jesus Christ the glory of God resides in you And as as the church of Jesus Christ, we simply come together once a week to just give thanks to worship God to encourage one another to that our lives are just an absolute expression of thankfulness for what Jesus Christ is doing for us what he's that's why we can even present our petitions with Thanksgiving when we come together into the building as the church to worship our God and to encourage one another and to exhort one another to as the scripture says to Love and good works and even so much more as the day Grows darker all around us and so many people confuse the building with the church. The building is just a building The building can be taken away, but the church can't be taken away. I am the church You are the church God does not there's a we have a building here Times Square Church We have a theater on Broadway, right, but I'm telling you when we're not there. The church is not there. It's just a building We are the church we meet in the building and so here's the Let me give you an Old Testament example of what what this should look like Being the church now there was this This ruler she's called the Queen of Sheba and she has the best that this world can offer I mean, she's got she's got a palace. No doubt. She's got power. She's got servants. She's got cupbearers She has all of this stuff because she's the queen of an empire, but she heard of a place where there was something That this world cannot produce you see no matter no matter who's got what in this world if they haven't got Christ You have something inside of you that they can't produce it. There's a life there that they can't imitate There's a they can give their best but it will always fall short of the glory of God so the Queen of Sheba She came to the place where Solomon wasn't to the temple that Solomon had built and the scripture says it this way in first Kings chapter 10 verses 4 and 5 When the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon the house He had built the food on his table the seating of his servants The service of the waiters and their apparel his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord There was no more spirit in her You see what she encountered is something that can't be done by man. It can only be done by God She encountered wisdom that humankind doesn't have no matter how much they study There's a wisdom that God gives that can only come from God when she had seen the wisdom of Solomon You see as the people of God we are promised a new mind. We are promised a new tongue We're promised new speech We start speaking about things that this world knows Nothing about and when the Queen of Sheba had seen this wisdom that God had planted in this man The house he had built in other words The house he had built was a place of sacrifice Where we live in a sense not for ourselves, but we live for the benefit of others See the world can't some maybe can try but the world essentially can't do that The people who don't know God the people who have a physical body But the Spirit of God is not dwelling in this earthly temple They can't fully be given because there's a measure of selfishness in the human heart That no amount of human effort can ever escape its confines its walls that are all around it when she saw this this place of worship this place of prayer this place of Sacrifice when she saw the food on his table this this provision that God Provides that this world can grow food. I suppose and can put some kind of wisdom on the table But nothing like God gives matter of fact, he told King David Yeah I said a banquet table before you even in the presence of your enemies you can sit down you can feast at this table when she saw the seating of his servants this the service of his waiters and their apparel and his Cupbearers when she saw like everything around them seemed to be moving with a divine order I had a man one time visit this this church and he was Involved in a university a major university and he wasn't a believer in Christ and We were walking around and we you know for me It was just an ordinary day looking at Staff here at Times Square Church and what they do and how they do it We stopped outside the elevator and he said how do you do this? He said everybody in this place is is just moving He said there's a there's a an attitude here that I don't see in the university that I'm a significant part of and he said Everybody seems to know what they're doing and they seem to have a happiness About doing it and I said well what you're looking at is the Spirit of God It's not the organization of man. You see God's Holy Spirit inside. The people is telling them what they're to do and Most if not all do it with all of their heart and what you're seeing is is so here's a man Who's involved deeply in the university and he's not with they have a budget that's probably way beyond ours but they can't produce anything like the Spirit of God can produce that really is the point and Lastly she saw his entryway by when she went up to the house of the Lord when she saw the scriptures There was no more spirit in her. She just is up The way he walked into the presence of God The the reverence maybe he had for God there the countenance that was on him the way the way he approached the work The things that he was given to do on the earth at least in his initial years What she witnessed was something that she knew That with all the money and all the power and everything she had as the queen of an entire country She could not imitate this could not fake it. There was something there that could only Come from God and so taking this Old Testament example We now ask the question. What do people see when they come to your church? You see you are the temple of the Holy Spirit this Solomon's temple. You now are You are this place of worship. You are this place of sacrifice. You are the Church of the Living God Christ dwells in you if you're a believer in Christ you have the power of the Holy Spirit inside this earthen vessel and Everything the Queen of Sheba saw in Solomon's temple people should be able to see in you through Christ the same Spirit that was in that temple is now in you the same power that raised Christ from the dead is now in youth Oh Paul said that your eyes could be open that you could see the exceeding greatness of the power of God that you could understand His love for you that passes all understanding and knowledge that you could you could finally hold of the reality That he is the head he is above every name that is named You are his body on the earth and he is the one who fills all in all Oh that you could be quickened who were once dead in trespasses and sins who once walked according to the as the scripture goes on to say that the Spirit of disobedience that now operates in the the children of this world. Oh that you could see That you are the temple of the Living God Yeah, I mean you tonight I'm talking to people you consider yourself a drug addict or maybe a loser in society I don't know what you consider yourself, but that's not what you are If you're a believer in Christ, you are the temple of the Living God and I do believe it's time that people started living in the reality of who we really are I'm not speaking to you about some pipe dream. That's unattainable. This is a reality This is who you are with the Spirit of God in your life So when people come to your church, I'm talking about you when they come to you They're actually coming to church. You are the temple of the Living God you they coming towards you They are the Queen of Sheba in a sense coming to where God is coming to this temple She heard about coming to this place where she heard there was a a wisdom that was beyond the wisdom of her own Experience in her own kingdom. Oh, yes, people are looking When you profess to be in relationship with God you you better believe they they'll come to you and they're going to be asking questions Matter of fact the Apostle Peter said you and I are to be ready to give an answer In this generation in particular when people ask you and I for a reason for the hope that is in us And if they haven't asked yet Trust me They're going to ask very very shortly this world is devolving now very very quickly into a despair Into a darkness and you and I are the last and best hope for everyone Who's looking for a way out looking for a future looking for a hope through a relationship with God So I have a couple of questions for you What's going on in your church? So when people come to you as the temple of the Living God What do they see number one are the lights on? Can they see Christ in you are the lights on or is it a dark place where they have to try to? Feel the way around you say, you know God, but they can't really see so they got to kind of feel along the walls And and try to guess where God is if he is even in the place Can they can they can they see Christ in you? Have you allowed him to be the center core of your heart? Have you laid hold of his love for you? Have you laid hold of his power and his desire to give you all you need to fulfill the calling? That he's placed on your life. Can they see Christ in you? I'm ready, but Matt put it this way, too Can you see them when they come are are are we so engrossed in our problems and our struggles and trials that you just don't? see that Your name is already written in God's book of life. Heaven is already gonna be your home Is it so dark in your temple that you can't even see the people that are outside? looking to you Looking to find oil in your lamp so you can show them the way to eternal life How about at the door of your temple is there a warm greeting there is there a smile is there a handshake Are people welcome in your temple or is it aloof? Is it cold? Is it is it a is it a church in a sense that? Really has no attraction Are you allowing the love of God to be shed abroad in your heart for people is? What's the worship like in your church? You know? Are you are you dependent on circumstance to worship God? Does the band have to strike the right note or do you have a song in your heart? Is there something in there, you know that that melody that's just part of your life. I Remember one time I was I was walking to the church I've taken the train in from New Jersey and I got off at Penn Station. I had to walk all the way from 32nd I think it was 34th all the way to the church and it was a nasty day The people were really really nasty. There's a lot of cursing going on on cell phones Everybody is looking like they're going to run you over if you get in their way on the sidewalk and in the middle of it All a song a song just came to my heart and I started singing out loud You can do that in New York City people don't even they don't even pay attention to you So I just started singing out loud and by the time I I got to the church I I got a hold of Greg because I had written a whole song called I walk in the presence of God and We've sung it here several times over the years in the church. And you see what's what's the worship like in your church? Is there a song there are you making melody in your heart to the Lord? Do you have this this inner rejoicing? I'm not suggesting it's there all the time But the song is there quite often and even in the worst of times there's a song that comes up inside this church In your churches there. Is there a good word? Is the word clear can people actually find direction from the word in your church? This temple you have a clear presentation of the gospel Can you clearly explain the way to salvation to people and can they find hope as your speech? Are you? involved in the Negative discourse of our time the cultural discourse or the political discourse or are they is there a good word there? Are your words? seasoned with salt are they filled with grace do they do they do they stir a longing in the heart of the hearer for Something that you have that that they know they need in their hearts. What kind of word is in your church and Can people find God there and can they pour out their heart there? Is there time for people at your church? Or are you just busy? busy and engrossed in the everyday affairs of life and When people come to your church Does everything just stop for them? Do they matter? Is there a heart for them You see your church can't be these things the your temple of the Holy Spirit can't be like this Unless it's a supernatural place. See that's the point. That's what I've been saying from the beginning That's why Paul says the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give to you the spirit of revelation and now and wisdom in the knowledge of him the eyes of your Understanding being enlightened you could know the exceeding greatness of his power You could understand that everything He is and does is far above all power and principality and might and dominion that every name is in subjection to him Everything is under his feet. He's the head of the church, which is you his body He's the one the fullness of him who fills all in all and he has made you alive Who were dead and trespasses and sins by giving you? That inward presence of his Holy Spirit when you came to Christ as your Lord and Savior We're no longer dead our church is no longer dead Our worship is no longer dead Our word is no longer dead the lights are now on people can find Christ inside of us Let me close with the scripture in Ephesians chapter 3 Verse 16 where Paul says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might and Through by his spirit in the inner man that he would grant you Accordant that you would understand that you would see and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith That you being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all the saints What is the width and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge in other words? God loves you so much. It's in his heart to give these things to you. You don't have to beg him for it He died to give it to you. He died to raise you up from death He died so that you might be his church. He died to put the lights on in your temple He died to give you a new heart a new mind and a new spirit. He died to give you a new wisdom He died to give you things that you could never do in your own strength. He died to make you as supernatural as Solomon's temple was The people of this world no matter how good they think they've got it would hear the report of what God is doing in you And their breath would be taken away as they see This divine ability that's given to you this mind that's given to you this ability to do things That you can't do in your own strength, and you know it God knows it and they know it and to know this love of Christ that passes knowledge that You may be filled with all the fullness of God you don't have to prove anything to God for him to do this He loves you so much. He holds it in his hand and even tonight. He's waiting to give it to you It's so strange Knowing these things we we draw back with such a deep reluctance and when we draw back our church our church our body our temple It becomes a place that's dark and cold and It's strange isn't it? When when it's not God doing any of this he's got his stills got his hands out He's still the scripture says when he rose from the dead he took captivity captive and what gave gifts unto men I mean, it's there. It's in his hands. It's it's for you. It's for you. I'm talking to you tonight Sitting on the couch depressed. I'm talking to you that feels like you have no hope you have no future You feel like you're the biggest loser to ever inherit the kingdom of God You're so wrong about who you are because that's not who God calls you. It's not what he sees you Now, here's my final two verses now to him who was able to do exceedingly Abundantly above all that we ask or think According to the power that works in us to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations Forever and ever now. I want you to think about these verses Ephesians chapter 3 verses 20 and 21 now to him. That's Jesus Christ who's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all all that you could ask tonight all that you could think or hope or dream for or Believe for he's able to do above and beyond all these things by his Spirit by his power That is already resonant within These earthen bodies then it finishes in verse 21 by saying to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever so this wasn't just for a few people in the beginning Wasn't for a few people maybe a hundred years ago this Wonderful walk in the spirit is yours and it's yours today if you want it All you have to do is ask All he ever required of you is to believe that he's good and that he wants to give it to you You don't have to beg him for what he died to give you. I Want to say that again? You don't have to beg God for what he died to give you It's in his heart all that you could understand this love of God that passes knowledge So tonight one more time. I'm calling you Just as when Jesus walked through this world It was the lame the maimed the oppressed the poor the marginalized and nothing's and nobody's of society that kind of crawled through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment that yelled out to him from the side of the road and If you read the the account of Christ in the Gospels, he never turned away from a single voice that was asking him for the things that only he could give and You'll see the the lame man leaping in the temple and giving glory to God You'll see the leper coming back and falling at his feet to praise him You see the former prostitute falling at his feet and washing his feet with their tears and drying them with their hair You you see these these temples of worship These places these testimonies of God's grace that we still talk about even today, but it's not just for them It's for you too tonight You see all of the all of what we do all of everything we say this evening is to no avail if you're not willing to Rise up and and lay hold of it for yourself And what do I have to do you say? nothing Just believe nothing Like a little child at Christmastime. Just just run under the tree and open the gifts Jesus Christ died on the tree to give you a new life and give you a new heart and give you a new mind to give You a new future and give you a new song and give you new words and give you new wisdom and give you a new Hope and a calling I know what I'm talking about. I Was probably the least of the least of the least of the least of the saints of God in my day, but I just believed him He just believed him And I got up and I got free By the power of God and started to do things I could never do and Know things I could never know Go places I could never go All by the power of the Holy Spirit See pastor Tim said on Sunday morning We have to learn now to walk in the Spirit And if we walk in the Spirit then the flesh has no power over us anymore Then you're not going to sit on your couch addicted to drugs anymore You're just you're gonna get up and begin to walk with God and you're gonna be another testimony of Grace to him what be glory in all ages forever and ever There's something is God to get into your heart tonight That just says I'm going for this When I first came to Christ, I said to my my wife who is now pastor Teresa I said if this is real I want the whole package and if it's not I want none of it And so that's that's been my heart from the first day I came to Christ and I was really really disadvantaged If you don't believe me ask my wife she'll tell you all about it. She knows I Was really really far down the wrong highway but I heard his voice and I started reading his promises and I Just was simple enough to believe it and started walking towards that voice. It was calling me and it's been a wonderful life it's been a Wonderful life I've been enabled by God to do things that I could never have done and See the Lord sets People like me and others. There's many others like me just sets us in front of you to say It can be yours. This is not some pie in the sky Theology is not attainable. This is for you if you will just open your heart and Start believing this is what God wants to do for you It's a father tonight In Jesus name, I Asked you Lord to raise up your church. I Asked you father in Jesus name to be God again in this generation. Oh Lord for too long we have We've rested on certificates and natural abilities. Oh God when all you've ever wanted was just a heart that says here my Lord send me You've just waited for that cry from the side of the road You've waited for that person to crawl through the crowd and just touch you. I Pray tonight Lord Jesus Christ that people would be raised up all over this world that are part of this prayer meeting tonight they would receive the giftings of the Holy Spirit and Become the people of God that you long for them to be The worship team is going to come and they're going to lead us in one song and while they do I want you to prepare for communion pastor. Tim is going to return to lead us in communion tonight Just get up get some juice of any kind if you haven't got juice get it get some water And get some bread or cracker or anything like that These are just emblems just symbols of what we're about to do. You see when you partake of communion tonight You are saying You died to give me a relationship with God Jesus. I accept that accepted you are willing to forgive my sin and this bread represents every promise you've ever made to me and Peter the Apostle said by these promises. I've become a partaker of this new life. That's mine in Christ And so I'm not going to sit on the sidelines anymore And I'm not going to let the communion just be a meaningless exercise in my church. Oh, no. Oh, no. I'm going with God Get up tonight. Just get up and go with God Don't sit on the sidelines any longer press through the crowd and don't worry about what other people are going to say Just go with God. So you get ready and after the song we're gonna have communion together. God bless you tonight