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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

IMPACT: Greater Than What Jesus Did?

To be an example in love, faith, and purity.

Because when we're an example in love, faith, and purity, we make an impact.

And if there was ever a preacher who impacted his listening audiences with powerful preaching, it was Jesus.

If there was ever a healer who impacted entire villages with powerful miracles, it was Jesus.

If there was ever an intercessor who impacted lives with prayers of deep compassion, It was Jesus.

And I know that our prayers are often that we would be like Jesus.

I find myself praying that and I'm sure you do too.

But could we ever make an impact greater than He?

My message today is entitled Impact, greater than what Jesus did?

You are our God and we are but your disciples.

And today, Lord, as we contemplate today's meditation on your Word, we pray, Lord, the Holy Spirit would make an impact in our hearts today.

Devon, could you bring me the remote control right there in the front row.

It's defined in the dictionary as a verb in the following way, to have a strong effect on someone or something.

You see it's 1 thing that I bumped into him in the foyer as I turned the corner.

It's another to say that I impacted him unexpectedly.

It could be said that her words impressed the listeners, but to say that her words impacted her audience, it's something different.

And the apostle Paul knew something about the impact that godly men and women can make.

He wrote in Hebrews 13.7, Remember your leaders, those who have spoken God's Word to you, think about the impact of their lives.

Paul said, think about the impact of their lives and imitate their faith.

An impact so strongly that it would go beyond just merely sculpting the images of leaders of the past that have made an impact in humanity.

I don't think that Paul is just limiting it that to that.

The leaders of old that Paul knows of were leaders that made an impact and Paul goes as far as to say, therefore imitate them.

But who are these leaders of old that Paul is referring to?

Well, I can tell you right now that these godly leaders of old were regular people just like you and just like me.

They weren't some superheroes with this extraordinary faith.

In fact, the Bible says that God has put a measure of faith within our hearts.

And it's for each 1 of us to exercise as did these leaders of old.

But just in case you wonder and you question whether or not we are just like them, well, let me remind you that David was a murderer and adulterer.

Peter, he denied Christ in person, not once, not twice, 3 times.

He went out looking for them to kill them before he became a Christian himself.

These are the kind of leaders that Paul says imitate their faith.

They were men and women just like you and I.

And more specifically, they earnestly pray for the baptism of the fire of the Holy Spirit.

The difference was not something that we need to really take long journeys or pilgrimages to be able to discover the secret of their success.

It wasn't something that was unreachable, so difficult to find that you would have to scale the highest mountain or go to the deepest ocean.

They express adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.

And prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But he also pleaded for the revealing fire of the Holy Spirit.

For I know, I recognize, I acknowledge, I am conscious, I am aware, I admit My transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

How is it that David could come to that conclusion?

And he pleaded for the fire of the Holy Spirit.

And then God said, David, you're a man after my own heart.

Isaiah, the man of filthy lips, remember him?

He confessed, he agreed with God, and he pleaded for the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit.

And then God said, Isaiah, Isaiah, your sins are as white as snow.

Paul, he pleaded for the cleansing of the fire, the Holy Spirit, and he confessed Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

And then God said, Paul, I called you before you were born.

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IMPACT: Greater Than What Jesus Did?

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