Full sermon notes - Love, Truth & Power from the Holy Spirit
1. Introduction
- The Scriptures speak of three ways in which the Holy Spirit transforms us;
- He needs to be working in all three areas for us to be growing as balanced Christians
Our micro “values-pack”
1. Love is about a relationship with God that spills out into love shown to others
- This personal relationship is at the core of what it means to be a Christian
- Jesus came to bring us the love of the Father, and the Spirit applies this love to our hearts
- Heart: ♥
2. Truth is what sets us free
- not just teaching, but a new way of thinking and believing, down to the very core of our being
- Jesus is “the truth”, he came to teach us the way to life
- The Holy Spirit caused Jesus’ words to be written in Scripture and applies this truth to our hearts and minds
- He leads us day by day in the paths of truth
- Mind: ☺
3. Power
- Love and truth lead to action
- Hands: ☞ , so we can summarize: ♥ + ☺ = ☞
- The gifting and fruits of the Spirit bring about this power in our lives
4. Conclusion
- Three verses that put it all together:
- Rom 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Paul “joy and peace” flow of course from our relationship with God
- Paul ususally uses “hope” to refer to the truth of the gospel in which we put our trust
- 2Tim 1:7 For God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
1 Corinthians 13
- 1Cor 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
- faith —Paul has been talking about faith to do mighty works
- hope —Paul has just referred to understanding the deepest mysteries of the truth of our hope in Christ
- love —the greatest of them all
- but we do need all three—and God has promised to give all of them to us if we ask him!
- It is when we are demonstrating the love of God and declaring his truth, that he steps in with the power:
- Acts 14:3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Updated on 2012-02-06 by Andrew Fountain
