True Spirituality

DOING BEFORE BEING

VS.

BEING BEFORE DOING

DOING your faith requires you to own it!

11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? - 1 Corinthians 2:9-3:4

3 TYPES OF PEOPLE

1) The Natural Person - Someone who has not received Christ (No “Being”)

2) The Spiritual Believer - One who has received Christ and is directed by the Holy Spirit (“Being” and “Doing”)

3) The Worldly Believer - One who has received Christ, but who lives in defeat because he is trying to live the Christian life in his own strength. Jesus is in this person’s life but not on the throne. (“Being”)

The intersection of “being” and “doing” is the work of the Holy Spirit, it’s true Spirituality.

THE 7 MINISTRIES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1) The Spirit Restrains the work of the evil one - 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8

2) The Spirit Reproves the World of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment - John 16:8-11

3) The Spirit Regenerates Believers - John 3:6

4) The Spirit Indwells Believers – John 7:37-39, Acts 2:1-41, Acts 2:38, Acts 11:17, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:9, 1 Cor. 2:12, 1 Cor. 6:19-20, Galatians 4:6, 1 John 3:24, 1 John 4:13

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. - John 7:37-39

5) The Spirit Baptizes Believers - 1 Cor. 12:13

It is not a baptism related to power or service but has to do with forming the body of Christ – believers are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ.

6) The Spirit Seals Believers - Ephesians 4:30

7) The Spirit Fills Believers

“18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” – Ephesians 5:18

The filling-in of the Spirit leads the
believer to the living-out of Christ.

THE 7 RESULTS OF THE FILLING OF THE SPIRIT

1) The Spirit Produces the Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23

2) The Spirit Produces Spiritual Gifts

3) The Spirit Teaches - John 16:12-13, 1 Cor. 2:12

4) The Spirit Inspires Praise and Thanksgiving - Ephesians 5:18-20

5) The Spirit Leads - Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:18

6) The Spirit Witnesses with Our Heart and Mind - Romans 8:16, Galatians 4:6-7, Ephesians 3:16-19

6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. - Galatians 4:6-7

7) The Spirit Intercedes for Us - Romans 8:26

The Spiritual Believer is continually being filled with the Spirit, experiencing freedom in Christ, and living-out Christ to the world around them.

WHICH TYPE OF PERSON ARE YOU?
1) The Natural Person
2) The Spiritual Believer
3) The Worldly Believer

How are you filled by the Spirit?

SANCTIFICATION

- Sanctification is the growth of a believer in holiness, whereby the believer becomes increasingly close to God and lives out the “fullness of life” in increasing measure.
- Positional Sanctification = the “being”
- Progressive Sanctification = the “doing”

HOW TO BE FILLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
1) Confess yours sins to God
2) Affirm the truth of the gospel in your life
3) Submit to the guidance of the Spirit
4) Focus on Jesus