“In this second part of Paul’s argument as to why the gift of tongues is not the supreme evidence of the Spirit’s working, Paul sets very clearly that love is the greatest spiritual gift. It is greater than tongues b/c it brings it is valuable, visible, and its vitality.”

<p>“In this second part of Paul’s argument as to why the gift of tongues is not the supreme evidence of the Spirit’s working, Paul sets very clearly that love is the greatest spiritual gift. It is greater than tongues b/c it brings it is valuable, visible, and its vitality.”</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Northampton SDA Church

Life With the Spirit

Sebastien Braxton

I Want to See Jesus

So, this is going to serve as the final message in our series that we started last night called Life with the Spirit.

And I want to kind of take a different direction to this 1 because I want to do a little bit of teaching, if that's okay.

And I want to talk about the Holy Spirit in the context of the sanctuary in the Bible and in specificity in relationship to Christ.

And so if I were to give this message a title, I would give it the title, I want to see Jesus.

Mighty God, everlasting Father, we are so grateful that you have counted us worthy, even though we are not worthy, to be recipients of your grace.

Father, we need all the grace that heaven is willing to bestow, that we may live before you and be perfect.

We ask that the Spirit of God whom Jesus promised, that when he has come he would guide us into all truth, that he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.

Guide us, Lord, as we study this all-important topic and continue in our final message, I want to see Jesus in an experience of life with the Spirit.

We thank you so much for how you're gonna answer this prayer in our hearts this evening And we trust that we leave this place blessed and encouraged Loving Christ more than when we came In Jesus name we pray amen I want to begin with a statement.

It says, Soon after this, I had another dream.

I seemed to be sitting in abject despair, with my face and my hands reflecting like this.

If Jesus were on earth, I would go to him, throw myself at his feet, and tell him all my sufferings.

He would have mercy upon me and I would love and serve him always." Have you ever felt that way before?

That going through a situation of great despair, of great sorrow, of great problems, and you said to yourself, I wish Jesus was upon the earth, and I could go to him and tell him all my sufferings.

She had been in such a place of pain and of discouragement she wished that she could go to Jesus's doorbell and know that Jesus was home and ring the doorbell and know that Jesus will answer and say Jesus can I come in I just want to tell you my sufferings and Jesus will say come in and so you can imagine that as we all go through different struggles as we all face different problems we can resonate with this desire can you say amen that if I could go to Jesus and think about my parents getting divorced or the fact that me and my wife are not getting along the way that I hope we could get along I could actually go to Jesus and tell him all my sufferings and I know Jesus would have mercy upon me?

And I know he wouldn't turn me away and I would love and serve him always.

But it goes on and says, just then the door opened and a person of beautiful form and countenance entered.

He looked upon me pitifully and said, do you wish to see Jesus?

He is here and you can see him if you desire it take everything you possess and follow me I Heard this with unspeakable joy And gladly gathered up all my little possessions every treasure trinket and followed my guide He led me to a steep and apparently fair stairway Frail stairway, excuse me as I began to ascend the steps.

He cautioned me to keep my eyes fixed upward lest.

I should grow dizzy and fall Lest I should grow dizzy and fall many others who were climbing the steep ascent fell before gaining to the top Finally we reached the last step and stood before a door and here my guide directed me to leave all the things that I had brought with me.

He then opened the door and bade me enter.

There was no mistaking that beautiful countenance that expression of benevolence and majesty could belong to no other as His gaze rested upon me.

I knew at once that he was acquainted with every circumstance of my life and my inner thoughts and feelings.

I tried to shield myself from his gaze, feeling unable to endure his searching eyes, but he drew near with a smile, and laying his hand upon my head said, fear not.

The sound of his sweet voice thrilled my heart with a happiness it had never before experienced.

I was too joyful to utter a word, but overcome with emotion, sank prostrate at his feet.

While I was lying helpless there, scenes of beauty and glory passed before me, and I seemed to have reached the safety and peace of heaven.

At length my strength returned and I arose.

The loving eyes of Jesus were still upon me and his smile filled my soul with gladness.

His presence awoke in me a holy reverence and an inexpressible love My guide now opened the door and we both passed out He bade me take up again all the things I had left without This done he handed me a green cord coiled up closely This he directed me to place next to my heart.

And when I wished to see Jesus, take it from my bosom and stretch it to the utmost.

He cautioned me not to let it remain coiled for any length of time, lest it should become knotted and difficult to straighten.

I placed the cord near my heart and joyfully descended the narrow stairs, praising the Lord, and telling all whom I met where they could find Jesus.

The green cord represented faith to my mind.

And the beauty and simplicity of trusting in God began to dawn upon my soul.

When I read this, not the first time, but the second time in my life, I was running a missionary training school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 6 blocks from Harvard University.

And as I read this, I was really impressed with it, and I was going through a lot of difficulties in my life, and I said to myself, man, I wonder if this thing will work, right?

So I started getting up early in the morning, and I would go down to the basement of the home where we were staying at the missionary residence.

And I would go down and I would pray and I would pray and I would pray and I would say, man, I'm going to stay here until you show me Jesus.

And I recall that When I stopped doing this and I kind of gave up and was like yeah, you know, there's not really nothing to this I reread the statement again, and when I read it again, I realized Something I did not pick up on at first You remember that she started off by telling the dream by saying in the dream.

She was in abject despair She was discouraged.

She was broken in life and all she was thinking was man I wish Jesus were upon the earth.

I would go to him and tell him my sufferings.

But do you also remember that when she got into the presence of Jesus?

She didn't say anything She said as soon as his eyes met her, she immediately knew that he was acquainted with every thought and feeling of her heart.

In other words, we may think that if Jesus was upon the earth and we could go see him, we would go and tell Jesus all of our challenges.

We would tell Jesus all the things that we're afraid of.

We would go to Jesus and say Jesus, you know what?

I should study in university What do you think about this young lady or this young man that I'm considering for a relationship?

What do you think about this young lady or this young man that I'm considering for a relationship?

What do you think about this struggle that I have with music?

Sometimes I wonder, should I listen, should I not?

But yet you find the fact that we are thinking something that is not actually going to take place.

That if we were in the presence of Jesus, we would say nothing.

Because immediately, as she told us in the dream, I already knew that he was acquainted with every thought and feeling of my being.

To such a degree that she said she tried to shield herself from his gaze, But she couldn't get away from his searching eyes.

To recognize this reality bids us to the fact that this desire to see Jesus, to be in his presence, To want to be with Him, to bring our cares, our sorrows, our burdens, our pains, our problems to Christ, we would recognize He already knows.

But what we do realize is that there's something healing about the presence of Jesus.

There was something encouraging about the presence of Jesus.

There was something that ministered to her heart and to her life, to her mind, that gave her new courage, that gave her fresh resolve by being in the presence of Jesus.

But you see, our message tonight is about the fact that we don't have to despair.

We don't have to be discouraged and say but Jesus is in heaven.

But Jesus is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary.

Because tonight's message is about the fact of how then can you and I find ourselves in the presence of Jesus when Jesus is there in heaven?

And my answer is very simple It is through the agency of the Holy Spirit and I want to show you this from the Bible.

All right take your Bibles and I want you to go to the book of Psalms chapter 36.

Psalm 36 when you're there if you could say amen.

Okay, if you don't have a Bible just say pray for me.

The Bible says, through the words of David, he says, For with you is the fountain of life.

The Greatest Spiritual Gift

I serve as the president of an organization called R3.

R3 stands for redeeming, rational, and radical.

It is a nonprofit organization that seeks to create opportunities for young people to be mobilized into meaningful service.

There's a lot of young people, but connecting those 2 is why this organization exists We recognize that there's a lot of inspiration there's a lot of training, but there's not a lot of service and Service is what is actually going to finish the work.

That's actually what's going to hasten the coming of Jesus And I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go home And so as a result This is why our 3 was created.

This is why it continues to exist Our 3 is a very young organization You probably haven't heard of it because we have not advertised it very heavily.

And the reason for that is we are in the process of building things and also recognizing you cannot ask young people to do what you yourself are not doing.

And so as a result, as most of our board members, we are actively doing the very thing that we're trying to encourage young people to do.

And so we've been building and building for the past year and a half, almost 2 years.

Our media director's there in the back with the camera, the good looking fellow from London.

She could have blessed you with a song, but she felt it best to stay home because we're gonna be heading to Dubai, to the Middle East for a two-month project there on Monday or so.

He's actually overseeing our technology department, web development, applications on mobile phones and things like this that we can utilize, obviously, for God's work.

And also, we have the missions departments.

Callie is already there in the Middle East right now, getting everything set up for the mission to start on October 15th.

Alongside the co-founder, her name is Katie, as well as Clive's wife, Her name is Charlene, and she's the 1 that oversees our special projects, which I can't tell you about because they're special.

And so you have to wait until we finish the projects and we introduce them to you.

We have no complaints, as since we started this organization.

We've seen God's hand open doors and continue to create opportunities to do what he's called us to do.

Some of you may also know that I used to serve as a general vice president for GYC, Generation Youth Christ.

It's a North American division conference that is organized annually.

It started in 2002 with just 200 people, young people organized and said let's invite our friends and invite our favorite preachers.

Since 2004, it has grown to over 6, 7, 000 annually.

We've also established a conference in Europe, GYC Europe, which happened in Linz, Austria, earlier this year.

If you want more information, go to YouTube, online, gycweb.org.

And so that was also an organization that I served in for many, many years and continue to partner with them as well as God creates opportunities for that.

But the reality is, is that there is a huge need.

And that vacuum is there are no young people.

This church was started by youth, it has been perpetuated by youth, and continues to be behelden by the fact of where are the youth is really the pulse of the church.

The proof in the pudding is not in what are the older people doing, are they able to teach Sabbath school?

The real test is what can our young people do?

This shows whether the knowledge and the experience that older individuals in the church have that has been passed down.

And so as a result, R3 exists simply for this purpose is not to create an organization, not to create an institution, but to create a movement, to kind of create the inception of a collective state of mind, that we could actually be that generation that sees Jesus come in our lifetime.

Too many individuals don't believe that and we recognize that if we do what the previous generation has done, we will be here another generation.

And therefore if we want something we've never obtained before, we have to do something we've never done before.

And that means to take decisions and steps of faith that our parents and our forefathers did not take.

And so as a result, if anyone has gifts or interests or desires to give their talents and all that they are and all that they have into God's work, we're more than happy to talk to you, to support you and to encourage you and to partner with you so that we can finish this work and we can go home.

And we can see what England looks like as God intended it to look like.

It's beautiful, but it's not as beautiful as what God intended.

So let's pray together as we start our sermon for this morning.

Heavenly Father, we are nothing before you, and yet you've given everything to redeem us, all of heaven in 1 gift.

Lord, we pray that as you have poured out your love upon us in the person of Jesus, that as we gather here about your feet, that you would take this man who is but dust in your sight, that you would speak through him and you'll speak to him.

We pray, Father, that Jesus may be seen, that your word may be exalted, and that we may leave this place with more ardent desire to seek God, to know him, to love him, and to serve him.

This is our prayer, and we trust that you will help this to be our experience.

For we offer this prayer from our hearts, in Christ's name, amen.

Take your Bibles and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 12.

The title of our message is, The Greatest Spiritual Gift.

1 Corinthians chapter 12, when you're there, if you could say amen.

If you're not there, just say have mercy.

We began last night, I was at North Hampton Church, and we've started a series of messages entitled Life with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a topic that is all essential and yet not often discussed.

And so as a result for this weekend, I've decided for my theme and subjects of meditation to talk about the Holy Spirit in very pointed and specific and personal ways.

So we began in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and we saw that the Bible says in verse 4 that there are diversities of gifts but it is the same spirit.

In other words, although there is a diversity of the Abilities and the talents within the church in Corinth Paul says they are all given by the same spirit they are all equal manifestations of the third person of the Godhead and That this concept of exalting certain gifts and certain positions over others is not biblical To think that because someone is the pastor or the preacher that they have more of the Holy Spirit than you is incorrect It is inappropriate theology.

It came out of your own conceptions and opinions.

Paul says whether you're the preacher or the lady who's cutting the pineapple for potluck or the brother who's collecting the offering or the elder that's visiting the members or the pastor that's going to the hospital To visit the sick and the shut-in it is all a manifestation of the same spirit There is no difference and Because of this he's addressing the issue in Corinth that they would think the gift of tongues is the greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

That if you do not speak in tongues, you do not have the Holy Spirit.

I hope that sounds familiar to many of us because it is still a concept and idea that is perpetrated today through the movement of the charismatic movement and the Pentecostal Church as a denomination which has now affected over 40 other denominations.

Because of this concept that certain gifts manifest the Spirit and others do not Paul says that is not true Speaking by authority of God.

He says there are diversities of gifts, but it is the same spirit and Because it is the same spirit It requires just as much of the Holy Spirit to preach a sermon as it does to teach Sabbath school But too many of us look at certain gifts and say if I'm not this gift then there's no point in me serving if I'm not in this role, there's no point in me serving because my talent is not this person's talent and Paul begins to address this look down with me in verse 8 Paul says for to 1 is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit then Paul says to another the word of knowledge through the what?

Paul says whether it's wisdom, whether it's faith, Whether it's words of affirmation, support, tongues, it is all through the same Spirit.

He was given the gift by the same person of the Godhead.

And so As a result, he ends in verse 11 by saying, but 1 and the same spirit works all these things.

So when the brother gets up and he's teaching a powerful Sabbath school lesson, it is the spirit working these things.

When You find a sister praying for you and it moves your heart to trust Jesus.

It's not just the Spirit behind the pulpit.

It is not just the Spirit that inspires us.

It is the Spirit behind every ministry of the church.

And the reason why the church suffers and dies is because we have focused only on some gifts and neglected others.

And just to go to Paul's point in verse 12, Paul says, For as the body is 1 and has many members, but all the members of that 1 body, being many, are 1 body, so also is Christ.

We were all baptized into 1 body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into 1 Spirit.

Verse 14, For in fact the body is not 1 member, but what?

The Same Spirit

So this weekend, I intend to share with you a series of messages that I have given the theme, Life with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is actually a very personal Interest of mine in studying and and constantly preaching because he recognized that in most places it is not preached It is not talked about it is not prayed for it is not taught It is not even understood and so as a result.

I wanted to take an opportunity to Use different passages in the Bible that may be familiar to you and some may be unfamiliar to you in order to Shed some light on this third person of the Godhead this person that is oftentimes neglected and yet is all essential and is oftentimes described as a gift.

Can you imagine to have a gift such as the Holy Spirit and not know how to get that gift?

Not know how to receive that gift and how to apply that gift and to make it relevant to your life And so this weekend I'd like to explore that topic in very specific contexts with you and I pray and trust that God will be with us as we speak of this topic because Before the Lord died.

This was the topic that was on his heart with his disciples This is what he was most interested that they would understand that they would receive and that they would take the heart this study of the Holy Spirit And so I trust that the Lord will be with us and He will guide us as He promised in John 16 verse 13 that His Spirit would actually guide us into all truth and He would show us things to come.

So bow your heads with me as we pray and we'll get started.

Before it gets too late, Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the gift of life.

We are grateful, Father, for your protection this week.

We know that it is because of your grace and because of your mercies.

Now Father, as we are here tonight to study your word, we ask that you would not lead us to hear the words of a man, but that we would hear the words of God.

Lord, we have not come to hear the opinions and theories and pontifications of the human mind, but we've come to drink deeply of the well of the waters of life.

We want to hear your voice speaking to our hearts.

Revive us again and guide us through this all-important theme of your spirit is our prayer.

If you can take your Bibles with me and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians.

You have Acts, and then after Acts you have Romans, and after Romans you have the book 1 Corinthians.

And I wanted to give a little bit of an introduction.

So, 1 Corinthians, in the New Testament, the church in Corinth is a very critical church.

Corinth was a very central place to the Roman and Greek economy at that time.

There was immense amounts of diversity and culture and money and development and technology and advancements going on in Corinth.

This is where the Olympic Games were actually originated, was in Corinth.

Paul will use that as an illustration later on in the book.

But I want you to notice as the book starts out, Paul writes these words, beginning in verse 4.

Paul says, I thank my God, always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus.

That you were in circle enriched, I'm sorry, in everything by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge.

So I want you to notice that Paul first decides to bring to light the fact that this church, he says, you were enriched in how many things?

It says everything and the Bible does not exaggerate.

So the Apostle Paul says that this church was enriched in everything by Jesus, in all utterance, that means speaking, and all knowledge.

Verse 6 he goes on to say, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.

The spirit of prophecy was manifested within the Corinthian church.

He says, so that you come short in how many gifts?

Eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now the Bible says that this church is a gifted church.

In fact, this church, Paul says in verse 7, has not come short in any gift from God.

Whatever God has made available, the church in Corinth availed itself to receive this gift.

And he says, this church is a gifted church.

And you find that maybe perhaps you can resonate with the experience of the Corinthian church.

Because within a church that has diverse gifts, within a church that is diversified not just among its talents but also among its education, among its experience, among its culture, among the ages, among sense of technology and advancements, abilities.

Paul recognizes that this church does not come short, but yet the Corinthian church, being a gifted church, was also a very problematic church.

With all the gifts that it had, it had a lot of issues.

And it still rings true from the very beginning of time that the most gifted tend to have the most problems.

You start with Lucifer all the way back in heaven.

The most gifted angel was the 1 that had the most problems.

Then you come down to the earth and you recognize among all the creatures that God had made, the 1 that was most gifted was the 1 that had the most problems.

Then after man fell into sin, you track down the ages of all the leaders and The primogeniture, the passing down of the gift of the Messiah and there was Judah among the most gifted, had the most problems.

Jacob, the most gifted, had the most problems.

Abraham, the most gifted, had the most problems.

Then you even come down to the days of the disciples and Among them Judas the most gifted had the most problems Peter the most gifted had the most problems and now we come to the Corinthian Church and find this principle constantly ringing true if We sit down and look even among our children among our youth among our jobs among our academic institutions It seems to be the case That the 1 with the most gifts tends to have the most problems.

We look at individuals and say, why is it that the child with the most potential has the most behavioral problems?

Why is it that the child that is the brightest in the class is the 1 that struggles to focus?

Why is it that the 1, if they applied themselves, would go the farthest is the 1 that lacks discipline, self-control, an understanding and respect for authority?

Series

Life With the Spirit

The Greatest Spiritual Gift

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Living in the Day of Atonement

1h 1m

Pr. Mark Finley Analyzes Charlie Kirk’s Sabbath Book

1h 2m

2019: Evening and Sabbath Meetings

Father of the Fatherless

1h 13m

The Best and Least Used Promises

38m

To Have and to Hold on

Holding On - Part 5

1h 13m

Weimar - COVID-19

COVID 19 and Family Worship

21m

Tech Transformation Part 1

52m

Apologetics

The State of the Dead

58m

Vulnerable Yet Whole

42m

The Miracle Worker

The Miracle Worker- Part 1

32m

2019: Motivations of Bible Characters (Noon Meetings)

Charge That to My Account

33m

Plenary Sessions

Building a Wall of Protection While It Is Still Day

1h 43m

Sound Doctrine