Dynamite the Spirit Filled Life

There can be only one answer to the question, why has the Church lost her power? The answer lies in the reality that the Church has forsaken the third person of the Trinity, replacing him with programs, money, and man-centered methodologies. Our reliance is one of self rather than reliance upon the Holy Spirit to empower us to pray, preach, and witness with an endowment from on high. The Christian life cannot be lived without this attending power.

This message is on how to appropriate that power in our daily walk with God. The title of my message today, friends, is Dynamite, the Spirit-Filled Life. We see in John's Gospel in chapter 15 and in verse 5, we see the answer as to why we cannot live the Christian life as we could or should.

Christ tells his disciples, I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing, and that's the kicker, friends, nothing lasting for God's kingdom, nothing noteworthy for God's glory, nothing pleasing to the Lord of glory because of our abject failure to live in obedience to him in a life of holiness unto God. It can't be done.

I submit to you, friends, that the Christian life is an impossible life to live in the flesh. If you try, you may hold out for a little while, but you will soon end in failure because of sin. You may make it for a few weeks for him, but there's a ditch waiting for you, and you soon will fall into it.

The Christian life is an impossible life apart from the supernatural power of Christ. Now, do you agree with me? If you don't, I pray that this message on the spirit-filled life will open your eyes to why we experience such inconsistency in our walk with Christ. For without me ye can do nothing.

Every failure, every fall, is due to the fact that the Christian life is an impossible life to live in. It cannot be done without supernatural power. The presence of Christ always had attending power from above.

In the last chapter of John, we find the disciples who had spent the entire night, and these were seasoned sailors, seasoned fishermen, and they labored with all their know-how and with all their skill, but they caught nothing. Why? The fresh, the flesh, the prophets little. They needed Christ's presence, and with his presence comes almighty power.

When Christ appears to them on the seashore, he directs them where to cast their fish in that, and a miraculous draw to fish is his result of Christ's presence and divine power. This message is on how to appropriate that power in our walk with God. The title of my message today, friends, is Dynamite, the Spirit-Filled Life.

I want us to look at this power as seen in Ephesians 1 and in verses 19 through 20. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power, to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. There are two Greek words used here for the word power, and I want us to examine them now, friends, when the apostle Paul makes mention of the exceeding greatness of his power.

He uses the Greek word dunamis, where we get our word dynamite from. Do you know how much power's in a stick of dynamite? One stick of dynamite can split and move 2,200 pounds of solid rock. Dynamite is powerful.

I've watched some videos of dynamite exploding on YouTube, and it's amazing to watch. So this Greek word dunamis means power. Vance Havner used to say, if we serve such a dynamite God, then why are so many of us living firecracker lives? So in Ephesians 1.19, the first use of the Greek word for power means special, miraculous power, power above that of man, like the resurrection power that raised Christ from the grave, as Paul goes on to say in verse 20, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.

Now, I want you to notice something, friends. We have this supernatural power available to us in Christ by his Spirit, but we fail to appropriate it. We serve God too much in the flesh, and it often ends in fruitlessness and failure, because the word of God states, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

So this dunamis power in the Greek means the great power of God, his almighty energy, like a million sticks of dynamite that spoke the world into existence. The prophets and apostles were empowered by the Holy Spirit. I have been fortunate and blessed by certain men of God, whom God has sovereignly placed in my life, but the man who's had the most impact upon my life was my homiletical mentor, Dr. Stephen Alford, and it was through his ministry that I came to fully understand the spirit-filled life and lordship of Christ.

Those two topics, friends, you won't hear much about today from our pulpits, but I submit to you, without them there is no power. Personality can only carry you so far in ministry, friend, but where is the power? Where is the dunamis power that Vance Havner made reference to with the dynamite God and firecracker lives? The second use of the word power in Ephesians 19 is the Greek word kratos, where Paul writes, according to the working of its mighty power. This speaks of the dunamis power that is synonymous with God's almighty power as ruler over all.

It's a noun meaning power from dominion and ruling control. It also means authority, and I believe it is here, friends, where the Christian taps into this supernatural power to live the Christian life by submitting to the ruling lordship of Christ in the life. I cannot place enough emphasis on this, friends.

If you grasp this message today and apply it to your life, it will literally change your life. Listen, friends. Our sanctification process is a continual process as we are made more and more into the image of Christ, but we must understand that our sanctification has two things in it, two hinges in this door of sanctification that operates the opening and closing of the door.

The one is mortification, and the other, vivification. They both go hand in hand. Mortification is dying to sin.

Vivification is living to righteousness. Mortification is expressed by putting off the old man. We must live no longer in sin.

Vivification is putting on the new man in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Vivify means to give life to someone. Vivification means adding life or energy to something.

This is the dunamis power of the Spirit of God, which enables and empowers us to live the Christian life. We see this aspect of vivification in Ephesians 3.16, which states that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. This is vivification.

As the Spirit of God vivifies the Spirit, he mortifies the flesh. Oh, don't lose sight of this, friends, this two-hinged door of sanctification that operates the door of enabling it to function. John Calvin and his institutes spoke plainly about the negative and positive aspects of sanctification.

Mortification is the negative, whereby we are putting to death the things in our lives displeasing to God. The positive is where we tap into this energizing, vivifying enablement and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, putting on the new man to live above the world and live above sin. Like I said, the Christian life is an impossible life to live apart from the Spirit of God.

Where the Spirit is Lord, there is liberty. This dynamic of the Lordship of Christ, where he rules and reigns on the throne of our lives, is where all this dunamis power originates, friends. The Lordship of Christ is the Spirit-filled life.

It's clearly seen in the following text in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 17, which states, Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Liberty through the dunamis power of the Holy Spirit by the Spirit-filled life under the daily discipline of the Lordship of Christ. Hear me, friends, and jot this down big and plain in your Bibles.

Notice the words, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. This verse can be read, Where the Spirit is Lord, there is liberty. This speaks of the Lordship of Christ in our lives, where his presence is by his Spirit, and there is supernatural power, this dunamis power, available to us, liberty from sin.

In John's Gospel, in chapter 8, verse 36, we read the remarkable statement of Christ, If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Jesus has already paid the price at Calvary's cross. Now this reminds me of the time I visited the ancient ruins of the city of Ephesus.

I'm sure some of you may have been there yourselves. While I was walking those ruins of that remarkable city where the Apostle Paul labored and where the Apostle John labored, I came to an area in the city that was an outdoor marketplace, like an outdoor mall today. This outdoor marketplace was called an agora.

And it was here where items were bought and sold, business was transacted, and some of that business was the slave trade. For it was in the agora that slaves were bought and sold. Now listen, friends, and listen closely to what I have to say.

The Greek word for redemption is the word agorazo, which means that Christ entered the marketplace of sin and bought us by his blood in the forgiveness of sin's penalty. We are saved from the penalty of sin. Now listen closer to this.

Another Greek word for redemption is ekagorazo, which means to take out of. So not only did Jesus save us from the penalty of sin, he brought us out of the marketplace of sin by saving us from the power of sin. Do you see, friends, that we cannot live the Christian life as we should without this power from on high, this dunamis power that comes to us through a spirit-filled life lived under the lordship of Christ? This is exciting news, friends.

We see this dunamis power mentioned again in Ephesians 3.20, which declares, Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, This speaks of God working in us by his almighty energy, his great power. And look also, friends, at Ephesians 6.10 for the dunamis power over sin. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

This refers to his lordship as ruler over all and his mighty power that he exercises. Summed up, the spirit-filled life is an exciting life, an empowering life, and the one life lived by the power of God. If the Son should make you free, you should be free indeed.

Stephen Offred had two messages that dominated his powerful preaching ministry. One was the spirit-filled life and the other was the lordship of Christ. You can't have one without the other.

Self must be dethroned and another must sit on the throne of your life and rule there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Stephen Offred used to pray, Holy Spirit, reign in me with your own authority that my life with constancy may flesh out your liberty. Well, I hope this message, friends, on the spirit-filled life, has been helpful to you.

Let's apply these truths to our lives today and appropriate the power to live above this world as we live unto God in a life of victory for him. Let us pray.