Sabbath 8/13/16 Seventh Day Baptist Daytona Pastor Wray sermon �The Greatest Need of the Church�

Posted : 13 Aug, 2016 10:28 AM

Sabbath 8/13/16 Seventh Day Baptist Daytona Pastor Wray sermon �The Greatest Need of the Church� II Cor. 3:12-13

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What do you see as the greatest need in the church? Some surveys say better facilities, friendlier people, better preachers, shorter sermons, more love, better music, more outreach programs and more money. These are all important to any congregation but they are not the greatest need. The greatest need of the church is that all its believers be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said without Him we can do nothing. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can do things greater for Jesus. If we are not filled with the Holy Spirit, we can�t do much for Jesus.



We need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, to guide us in our decision making and to tell us when to witness to others about Jesus. Being filled with the Holy Spirit has been misused, misnamed or characterized as an emotional thing. Some people have eliminated the teaching of the Holy Spirit entirely. Satan puts two obstacles in the way of man. Don�t commit your life to Christ and don�t understand the importance of the Holy Spirit in your life. The devil tries to get men to think the Holy Spirit is an emotional thing or he gets them to ignore the Holy Spirit all together.



The Holy Spirit is the one who transforms us when we have faith in Jesus. It�s the Holy Spirit who makes us more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit makes us more and more like Jesus�s image. God is in the world and has no hands or feet or tongue to do the work. But our hands or feet or tongue are to do His work and speak of His grace. We may be the only Bible that people will see and hear. We need to be declaring the glory of God the Father and acting like we are a child of God. We need to let God work in us and through us so we will be letting the world know Jesus.



We are called to be like Jesus and be a model of Jesus. The Holy Spirit wants us to be like Jesus and have His forgiveness, His compassion and just be like Jesus. Paul says don�t be drunk with wine but instead be filled with the Holy Spirit. Just like booze can control a man, so let a man be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Being drunk in the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit in each thought and deed is the fruit of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit should possess all of us and we should yield ourselves to Holy Spirit�s control. We then can do all we can for Jesus. We need to turn on the power of God by using the Holy Spirit. Don�t be like the lady who was still using oil lanterns for light and wood stoves for cooking. She had electricity in her house but had not turned the power on.



Let the Holy Spirit fill us so we as humans don�t fail. There are four ways to be filled with the Holy Spirit.



1) Confess all Sin 3) Ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit

2) Submit to God 4) Believe that we are filled with the Holy Spirit



We then should expect an overwhelming desire to glorify God. We will have victory over sin and temptations. We will have a deeper understanding of the Bible. We will have more courage to share our faith. We will have more gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus said come to Him if we thirst. Jesus will fill us up with God�s Holy Spirit.

AMEN

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