Guarding The Gift of the Holy Spirit

I'll just read a few verses here. Romans 8 verse 31, you know, in Psalm 107 it says that those who go down on their ships to do business, you know, when you go to do business and make things happen and do business in the world, trouble is right around the corner. So we know that the Word of God lives and abides forever, but all flesh is like grass and its glory like the grass. When the breath of the Lord blows upon it, it all fades away. So in all of our pursuits and our seeking, trying to find a place in this world, know for certain that it will not satisfy and trouble is around the corner. You need to find your hope and your purpose in the Lord and our faith needs to be in Jesus and what He'll do for us. Now that doesn't mean we don't go to work, it doesn't mean we don't go do these things, but our intent and our focus and our ambition should not just be on these things, our ambition should be to please the Lord, whether it's at the job site or it's at home raising your kids, Lord help me to sense your presence with me and my hope is in you, that you will do it and that's where we should have faith and encouragement is our hope should be in the Lord, that He's going to bring us through, that He's going to finish the work that He started in us, that in every maybe monotonous situation that seems almost pointless, that the Lord has you right in the palm of His hand and that He's working all things together for good and sometimes we need faith to remember that, that it's Jesus who's going to do it in our lives and we need to trust Him. I'll share a few verses, 26, actually, I'll start in verse 26, and in the same way the Holy Spirit also helps our weaknesses for we do not know how to pray as we should but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. You know, this is encouraging that sometimes when you're really weak that the Holy Spirit inside of you can intercede on behalf of the will of God for His help. You know, sometimes when we're in a situation we're perplexed but we're not despairing but we don't understand the situation and what to do but you know what, the Holy Spirit does and He can intercede according to the will of God. So when you pour out your heart to the Lord and you say, help me Lord, carry me through, I have no words to say except thank you and praise you Lord. I know I'm going to learn to trust you that you're going to help me. The Holy Spirit inside of you will intercede on behalf of the will of God in your life. That's encouraging is that we've, by faith in Jesus Christ, we've received the gift of the Holy Spirit and that's a free gift because of faith in Jesus Christ. It's not something we've done on our own merits. It's only because God is good and that gift that He's given us that's working inside of us, we need to guard it because it's such a treasure. There's no greater treasure in this life, not money, gold, riches, than to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your hearts, growing, causing you to become more like Jesus, working in your midst but also helping you when you're weak and you don't know what to say anymore. You don't know what to do. You have no words. No matter what you say, you can listen to a thousand sermons and not one of them will speak to you. You want to know why? Because they won't. You need to hear a word directly from the Lord. It says in the New Covenant that no man shall teach you saying, know the Lord, for each of you will know the Lord. From the least to the greatest, you're going to have a personal relationship with Jesus. That's what matters is that you know the Lord and you recognize His voice, that He speaks to you individually and He gives you comfort and He gives you hope and strength for the day or He gives you perseverance or He brings conviction in your life or He says, hey, I don't want you to go that direction. I want you to stay put right now. Don't run. Don't run. I know many guys at the Joshua House, they would just run. They run. They run. It's our nature to run, you guys, whether you're at Joshua House or whether you're running your own business. You always are running in a direction. Sometimes we need to just sit still and wait to hear on the Lord. We need to wait on His guidance and His counsel. Those who want to go do business know for certain trouble's coming. You are. You're going to pierce yourselves with many pain. You say, Lord, not my will, but Your will be done. Help me to be patient. It says right here, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Guys, did you know that all things in your life, even the monotony, even the day-to-day regularity that seems so frustrating, raising children is hard. It's a joyful thing. I love it. I love going to the park and seeing my kids slide down the slide. Or you remember those moments where you enjoy time with your kids or your friends or your family. But you know what? Sometimes it can become very regular and sometimes it can become very challenging. It's hard to do this, but the Lord has us right where we are because He's using it to sanctify us. He's using it to perfect us. I'm only speaking about my situation. You guys know your own situation, but know for certain that the promise is sure that God causes all things to work together for good. That means everything in your life that He has brought into your path is going to work together for good to those who what? To those who love God. You know, do you love God? I love God. I love the Lord. He's been merciful. He's been patient with me. You know that the Lord loves you. You need to love the Lord. Pour out your heart to Him. Love Him. And if you don't have that love, say, Lord, give me that first love back. Give me that first love where I sense your sweet presence. Some of us have gotten so caught up in the rigamore or the regimented Christianity that we've lost our first love and the reason why we do these things in the first place, because He died for us and He rose again on my behalf and He's living inside of me. Remember to love the Lord. This is a personal relationship. I remember when some of us have gotten married, we love our wife, we love our spouse, or, you know, you care about that and you think about them often and you wonder what they're doing and you sometimes can't wait for a text or some sort of thing, right? And you think about these things. And, you know, we need to have that love for the Lord. Lord, when will you speak to me? When will you come to meet with me? When will you visit with me? It says right here, I want to skip ahead to verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake, Lord, we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. This is amazing. It's for God's sake that we're being put to death all day long. It's for God's sake that we're considered as sheep to be slaughtered. It's for God's sake that He's crucifying our outward man so that the life of Christ may become evident in our life. That people would see and say, that person is a representation of Jesus. That person has a sweet aroma about them. That's why the Lord allows these trials in our lives, to put to death my old man, not my old man, but my character, my nature, so that I will become more like Christ. That's why all things work together for good, because the Lord wants you to die. The Lord wants you and your strong will and your pride and your rebellion and your frustrations. He wants it to die so that you can become like Christ, so that you can become like Him. This is the reason why. This is why He's given you the Holy Spirit so that you may be able to endure the trials, that you may be able to endure the sufferings. You couldn't do it on your own, but the Lord has given this to you. Why? So that you can remember that all these things are working together for good. When you're going through those trials, it's really hard to have faith, but then the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance something that the Lord has spoken to you or done in your life or you've reflected on that the Lord has brought you through in the past and you know what happens? It produces faith in you and you realize that it's nothing that you can do. It's only what the Lord can do. We have to trust the Lord. If He's humbling us, it's for a good reason. It means that we need to get a little bit humbler. I always say, Lord, why do I have to go through the same lesson all over again? How come? It's like my children. They all reach a certain age and at each age I get a little more frustrated with them. I get a little more impatient with them. I wish it would just be so easy, but the Lord continually allows that same trial. Why? Because I have more education. I'm obviously not past grade two. I still haven't learned it. I haven't become like Christ in this area. Then I say, okay, Lord, help me. Help me to remember this, that you're working this together for my good. Maybe I need a little more patience. Maybe I need a little more love. Maybe I need a little more compassion. You know how you get compassion? The Lord puts people in your life that you have to show compassion to. You have to. You see them in their ignorance. You see them in their bliss. You see them in their abnormalities, and yet the Lord says, I don't want you to judge that person. I want you to show compassion to them. Because why? Because the Lord showed compassion to you. If I look down on the man who's smoking a ton of cigarettes, or he's smoking a bunch of pot, or he's drinking a bunch of beer, or he's living a life of sin, and I look down and say, I want nothing to do with that man. We have to remember where the Lord saved us from, unless the Lord hasn't saved you. If the Lord hasn't saved you, you're going to show no compassion to these people because the Lord saved us. We're sinners. We must remember this. And if you don't have that revelation, then you need to ask the Lord to show you. Say, Lord, why can't I show compassion to the sinners? You didn't come to call the righteous. You came to save sinners. Maybe that's why the Lord doesn't bring sinners into my path. Why? Because I have no love or compassion for them. May the Lord allow it to work in your life. And you know, this is why the Lord allows us to be put to death all day long. This is why. So that we learn to show compassion to people, because we all can lack it. Verse 37, it says, but in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. This is how we conquer is through Christ in us. It's not of your own strength. It's not of your own will. It's because of him who loved us. I'll read another verse here in 2 Corinthians. I'll finish here. There's a number of verses about conquering, but it's because of the Lord and our faith in Jesus that we get the victory. It's because of him working in us that we get, we overcome. It's not something that we do on our own strength. It's in 2 Corinthians 2. I want to speak a little bit about unforgiveness. Some of us here, we need to ask the Lord to help us to forgive people, to forgive them in their, maybe their ignorance, or they may not even know that what they've done is wrong, but we can't hold bitterness in our hearts towards people, especially in marriages. You can't have hidden bitterness. You need to bring it to the light. You need to bring it to the Lord and say, Lord, give me the victory in this. Bitterness will take us down, you guys. It will separate a husband and a wife. It will separate friends. It will separate sisters. We don't want that. We want the Lord to help us, and if somebody has wronged you in any way, you pour it to the Lord and say, Lord, I was hurt by what that person did, but I'm going to choose to forgive. I'm going to choose to forgive. Why? Because the Lord has forgiven us in such a great event. Ask the Lord to help you with that, and then you won't find your relationship with Christ to be so boring. Some of us don't have that first love because we have unforgiveness in our heart. We've forgotten what the Lord has done for us, and this is why we find it boring. This is why people don't want to come to church. This is why people don't want to talk about Jesus because of their unforgiveness, because they hold grudges against people. They look down on people. No, I'm so glad that the Lord has chosen the simple and the lowly to inherit the kingdom of God. He hasn't chosen the wise and intelligent, the prim and the proper, the rich and the famous. He hasn't. He's chosen the broken and the poor, those who've put their hope in Jesus, who's the greatest of all. Let us love the Lord. It says right here in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14, but thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ, and he manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. We are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved, but among those who are perishing, the one an aroma from death to death, but the other an aroma from life to life, and who is adequate for these things. We are not adequate for anything in this life, but one thing is for certain here, guys. Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph. You may not have victory in an area in your life right now, but the Lord is going to lead you in that victory. That's by having faith in Christ. Lord, I haven't had victory with my children. I scream at them still. I yell at them. I get impatient with them, Lord. I get frustrated with them, Lord. Lord, I trust that you're going to lead me in triumph in this area. You're going to help me through Christ, but we have to judge ourselves rightly. We have to humble ourselves and say, Lord, help me. I'm not receiving your grace, but I'm going to believe in you that you're going to help me in the circumstances ahead. I believe that you're working all things together for good, and I'm going to trust you, and you're going to guide us to our desired haven. May the Lord bless you.