The Available Spirit

Text:  Galatians 3: 1-3 ¹ ‍O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?‍ ² ‍This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?‍ ³ ‍Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?‍^[1]

Nathaniel Wilson said, “Even though it is not yet actualized in time, the future is often assumed to be “set”, much in the same way as is the past.  That is, unchangeable and already decided.  The question becomes, are we fated?  Is everything already decided regardless of what we do?  Is the great Commission, in fact, some kind of charade?  This line of thought leads to more and deeper questions such as, “If God knows the future (He does) then does that make the future already decided?  The short form answer to this is that the ultimate “broad-brushed” future of the government of the universe is, indeed, set by God and foretold by seers of old.  (in other words, the very large picture of the future is in fact laid out by God), However, within the context of this ultimacy, can one, by personal actions, create a preferred future for themselves and other contemporary individuals as to their eventual destiny?  The answer is a resounding YES – one can and should make a difference.  This is ministry.

He went on, “As a young boy, I felt an overwhelming compulsion to be a witness.  Our little country church had no organized outreach program, so I created one for myself.  Determining that I first had to be in tune with God, I made two parts to the plan.  First, after school, I would go to church and pray for at least one hour.  Then I would develop a strategy whereby I would knock on at least twenty doors a day and invite those who lived there to church.  This would continue until the whole town was covered.

When  started, it wasn’t easy.  I was scared and uncertain.  Terrified may be more accurate.  Sometimes it was difficult to stay focused and press on.  Nevertheless, over an extended period, bicycle and rider completed the task.  It took quite some time, but finally it was done.

The results were dismal.  With my very limited skills, and even more limited knowledge,  not only was no one saved, but no one even came to church!  That is, for a long time.  Finally a girl came.  She even got saved!  Then came her brother, then her two sisters, and their husbands, and also her mother and father.  Something broke!  Then Mrs. Hamilton received the Holy Ghost, then her sister, Tootsie, then Linda and her grandpa Odem, then Sis. Mays, and then Bill and Addis.  The race was on!  The dam was broken!  Over the next several years, many others received the Holy Ghost and our little church caught fire.

Forty-four years have passed since those days.  Many of these people have passed on (saved).  Others are still living for God.  But now there are children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren living for God.  People I have never met.  Preachers, pastors, and other leaders have emerged.  Perhaps it will never end until Jesus comes.

 

So the question is….is the future fated?  Are we to slavishly submit with bowed heads , awaiting the axe to fall with our fixed fate?  Or can man create a preferred future?  On a more personal note, can you create a preferred future?  If the answer is no, then why would he instruct us to pray, “Thy Kingdom Come?”

If we can indeed shape the future then are you doing so?  Does a shiver of courage rise from the deep of your soul to shout, “I refuse to cower any longer before the unknown?  Do we heed this shout?  Or is it even now slowly shrinking back to its musty resting place once more stared down by the demonic grip of fear, uncertainty, and unbelief?

The courageous man or woman may get killed, but if so, it will only happen once.  The coward dies a thousand deaths and never knows what it is to live.  If you are ready to break the chain of fear and do something really powerful but do not know where to start, I encourage you to join arms with the Holy Ghost and become involved in a Kingdom lifestyle.

You see, the Holy Spirit is calling us into a Spirit-led lifestyle that will make a mighty difference.  This train is not slowing down, and you have to want to get on board to get the blessing.

We underestimate the power of the Holy Ghost.  Salvation is not accomplished without Him being directly involved on a very personal level.  Nobody can neglect the ways of God and come out ahead, let alone in the race.  If a prayer room is built and dedicated for the purpose of prayer, we the people cannot expect a blessing unless we treat its floor.  If a pulpit is put in place for the delivery of the bread of life, nobody will be saved just by staring at the pulpit.  They may as well stare at a tree in the woods, it will make no difference.  The hearing of the word of God must actually go forth from the pulpit for there to be a result.  It does not matter what kind of fine leather your bible is bound by, if you neglect to read from the pages, you will miss a great blessing.

God has many means of grace and we should speak highly of Gods graceful ways.  At the same time, we must realize that apart from the work of the Holy Ghost, there is no blessing.  We must have the blessing command of the Holy Ghost or we miss the plane completely!

 

The Holy Ghost must have ownership of everything we do.  He must crown all of our efforts.  Everything we do acts like water pipe.  PVC pipe is of no use unless there is water flowing through it.  When you see water coming out your faucet, that means from the source of water to the faucet, the pipe is full of water.

We must stay full of the Holy Ghost if we expect any good thing to come out of us.  It is not Gods plan for us to be clouds without rain.

Not even the Apostle Paul himself had the power to convert one single person.  It had to be the Holy Ghost working in and through him to bring about salvation in even one person’s life.  The New Birth is from above.  It will never be commercialized on earth, at least not the true and genuine New Birth.

 

Man cannot manufacture Holy Ghost salvation.  It is from above.  It is beyond human engineering and ability.  Apart from God, man is spiritually dead.  He cannot chart his course because He has no course to chart.  The dead man may be made alive, but the dead cannot make themselves alive because the dead cannot do anything.  The uncreated cannot create.  Can Hell create Heaven?  Like begats like.  it’s a principal from Genesis.  Sin cannot create grace.  So apart from the work of the Holy Ghost, man cannot do anything of any real spiritual value.

 

Suppose a there was a man who could create peanuts out of thin air.  Whenever he got hungry, he would just speak the word and a handful of peanuts would suddenly appear in his palm.  Do you think that same man would create within himself a new heart?  Until a person can do the little things, he cannot do the big things.  In everything, that is the order of life.  Even Jesus himself said we must be faithful in the small things and only after that would he make us ruler over many things.  If people could convert themselves, they would not do it anyway.  If people really could convert themselves, they already would be converted, because the truth is that true conversion is just as available and free to anybody who truly wants it.  Nobody can say that they are not saved because they cannot afford it.  Salvation if free!!!!!  This is better than if Wal Mart had free day and you could take home as much as you could stuff in your car.  All that free stuff would eventually get used up, but this salvation wasn’t bought in a store, and it is as free as the will to choose.  Choose you this day whom you will serve!

Here is how the Holy Ghost operates:  He finds a dead sinner, just where Adam left him,  and he breathes into him  a divine influence.  The sinner knows nothing about how it is done, neither do we completely understand it.  We don’t understand the wind, “it bloweth where it listeth;” but we see its effects.

We don’t always understand how the Holy Ghost works, but many times it is that during a message, during prayer, during a song, the Holy Ghost will arrest the heart of the individual.  And although the person may not understand just how it happened, when God is complete in his work of regeneration, that person feels like something is different in them.

You may be in this place in need of a drastic change in your life right now.  I encourage you to surrender your soul to Jesus Christ tonight. Its really that simple.  I am talking to some who have been around the church for years, but right now you are not surrendered to Him.  For some reason your are holding back as though you are getting younger.

A committee of ministers in a certain city was discussing the possibility of having D. L. Moody to serve as the evangelist during a city-wide evangelistic campaign.

Finally, one young minister who did not want to invite Moody stood up and said: “Why Moody? Does he have a monopoly of the Holy Spirit?”

There was silence. Then an old, godly minister spoke up: “No, he does not have a monopoly of the Holy Spirit; but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly of D. L. Moody.”

 

Does the Spirit of the Lord have a monopoly of your life?  Is Jesus truly Lord over every area of your life.   Tonight, we must pray.  WE Cannot just leave something this important to chance.  You decide.  He will help you even while you are making your way to this altar.  Let’s make it easy for those who need to come by all of us stepping out and obeying the call of the Holy Ghost right now.