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Lacking the Fruit of the Spirit Pt. 2

10/2/2021

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This week we are going to look at how we yield to the Holy Spirit. In a  continued effort to be totally open with you, I have to admit that this has  been the greatest challenge in my walk with Jesus. Thankfully for me and  everyone of us, our Lord is desperate to lead us to restoration if we are  willing to be led. God's answer is very simple and easy. If our train has  jumped the track and we have been ignoring the Holy Spirit, or gotten  caught up in trying to serve God in our strength; then like the Galatians we  have no other way of returning than to go back to where we went wrong,  to come back from religious effort in our own strength, and stop seeking  restoration by our own work, and yield ourselves humbly to the Holy Spirit.  This is the only way that God can restore us to His character. 
I mentioned in a sermon a while back that I believe God gave me a taste of  what He wants to give each of us through the Holy Spirit. It was the  greatest experience of my life! It was the greatest love, joy and peace that I  have ever known and I long to have that experience again. I am also  convinced that God wants and longs to give everyone of us, way more  than I experienced that year. God wants to give us so much more than we  have ever dreamed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Andrew Murray had this  great filling of the Holy Spirit and he puts it this way: 
"Is there any brother or sister whose heart is conscious: "Alas! My life  knows but little of the power of the Holy Ghost"? I come to you with God's  message that you can have no conception of what your life would be in  the power of the Holy Spirit. It is too high and too blessed and too  wonderful, but I bring you the message that just as truly as the everlasting  Son of God came to this world and wrought His wonderful works, that just  as truly as on Calvary He died and wrought out your redemption by His  precious blood, so, just as truly, can the Holy Spirit come into your heart 
that with His divine power He may sanctify you and enable you to do  God's blessed will, and fill your heart with joy and with strength. But alas!  we have forgotten, we have grieved, we have dishonored the Holy Spirit,  and He has not been able to do His work. But I bring you the message:  The Father in Heaven loves to fill His children with His Holy Spirit. God  longs to give each one individually, separately, the power of the Holy Spirit  for daily life. The command comes to us individually, unitedly. God wants  us as His children to arise and place our sins before Him, and call upon  Him for mercy. Oh, are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye  perfecting in the flesh that which was begun in the Spirit? Let us bow in  shame, and confess before God how our fleshy religion, our self-effort,  and self confidence, have been the cause of every failure." Absolute  Surrender p. 90,91 
Friends, our wonderful Lord, longs to give us His precious gift of the Holy  Spirit. But I have often wondered, and had people ask me: "Why do I  continue to hurt my Lord so much? I'm sure I gave my whole heart, and  desired to serve Jesus, why did I fail?" 
The answer always comes back: "You are trying to do in your own strength  what Jesus alone can do in you." And when they say; "I'm sure I know,  that only Jesus alone can do it, I'm sure that I was not trusting in myself,"  the answer is always: "You had to be trusting in yourself or you would not  have failed. If you were trusting Jesus, He could not fail." 
This "perfecting in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit" runs so much  deeper in our lives then we realize. We must ask God to show us that it is  only when we come to the place of utter shame and emptiness that  prepares us to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, and He can give us  this unimaginable blessing that we need. 
So I must ask myself, and ask you these two simple questions: Are we  living under the power of the Holy Spirit? Are we living as anointed, Spirit filled men and women before God? 
These two questions stop me in my tracks! I hope that we will not just rush  past these all important questions, but ask ourselves honestly before God:  Am I a Spirit-filled Christian living under the power of the Holy Spirit? 
As you consider this, if your answer is no, then I have a another question -
Are you willing to be set apart and give up yourself to the Holy Spirit to be  used by Him? We are so aware that we cannot of ourselves consecrate to  God. No matter how intensely we desire it, we will fail! Thankfully when we  look away from self and what we want, and look to our God in Heaven we  
find that acceptance, and He sends the Holy Spirit to do for us what we  can never do. 
So it comes down to: are we willing to give ourselves up to the Holy Spirit?  We can do it right now! There may be much that we just don't understand  yet, and we may not feel anything different; but come! With God the  change will come. Only Jesus who gave us the Holy Spirit, can restore that  Holy Spirit power in our lives. Only Jesus can give us the strength beyond  our power through His Spirit to give us the indwelling Christ that will make  us a "new creation." Our God longs to do this for everyone of us who are  willing to give up everything, and are willing to seek our God with all our  heart. His promise is that the answer will come! The gift is not far off, and  our God is delighted to help us. Through the Holy Spirit He will make it  possible for us to perfect, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, what was  begun in the Spirit 
I know this is what everyone of us want!

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    Pastor Brad

    Pastor Brad Traxler is the pastor of the Wrangell SDA Church. Brad Traxler is the husband of forty years to Cheryl, father to Kimberly and Ryan, and grandfather to Brad, Kevin, William, Eamon, Zairhen, Seraphina, and Zeelyah. He holds a BA in Theology and has been pastoring churches for twenty years. The greatest passion of His life has been to share Jesus. 

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