The Spirit is Central to the Church & Mission of King Jesus

[0:00] Well, I don't know about you, but an encore would have been quite good to have, wouldn't it? Thank you, Gene. Thank you, Eleanor. Thank you, Cammie.

[0:10] It's really, really great. I was standing there hearing what seemed like, I don't know, four times as many of you singing in the background and thinking about this time last year when we couldn't sing together.

[0:26] But it's kind of like, it reminds me of, you know, when you've got a child, when you meet a person with a child and the child's hiding behind their mother's leg and the mother says, are you kidding on? You're shy.

[0:39] And some congregations get quite shy when it comes to singing together, but you guys are not, so it's really wonderful. So we're in Acts chapter 13 this morning.

[0:52] And as Stephen was praying earlier as well, please remember and pray for Jennifer, who's struggling with shingles just now. Acts chapter 13.

[1:14] And I gave a little handout just to help you keep a track of the points. I must confess, this might be quite dense this morning.

[1:30] I was going to put one version with the full amount and the other version and then give you a set menu and give you a choice whether you wanted the meat or you wanted some salad.

[1:45] And depending on the kids as well, but the kids are not here, so we've got the time to do this. So Acts chapter 13, verses 1 to 12. And the little things just to help you keep a track or take home or whatever.

[2:00] But let me read from Acts chapter 13. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers.

[2:14] Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manion, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

[2:26] While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

[2:38] Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia.

[2:50] And from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

[3:03] When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

[3:24] But Elimas, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looking intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

[3:53] And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

[4:07] Then the proconsul believed. Then he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Now we pray that God would bless the reading of his word.

[4:24] Well, how can we know that this church in Bells Hill is a true church? How can we know that this gathering that we have here is not just some club of do-gooders, but that God is truly with us?

[4:42] We truly believe that Jesus is not some dead person with a missing body from 2,000 years ago, but that he truly rose from the dead and ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things, as Paul says in Ephesians 4.10.

[4:55] Jesus said to his disciples that he would be with them always, even to the end of the age. Was he lying? Does his ascension undermine the promise he made?

[5:09] We were just singing, standing on the promises. When he sent the Holy Spirit, was he tagging out and the Holy Spirit was tagging in? You see, Philip thought that seeing Jesus was less than seeing the Father.

[5:28] Do we think that having the Spirit is less than having Jesus? In fact, how can we actually be sure that this church does have the Holy Spirit with us?

[5:40] How can we be sure that this church is a church that belongs to Jesus and is being built by Jesus? How can we be sure that Jesus is with this church, just like he was with the apostles in the opening pages of Acts?

[5:56] Well, I believe that Luke is answering some of those questions in relation, at least to the Antioch church and also to the kind of people who were there. How can we be sure that this Antioch church is led by Jesus as much as the Jerusalem church was?

[6:14] And how can we be sure that the likes of Saul is a true apostle, just like Peter clearly was? Because if you go way back to the start of Acts chapter 1, Jesus speaks and he singles out 11 men and he sets them apart to be witnesses and tells them that they will do so in the power of the Holy Spirit.

[6:37] And now, in chapter 13, the Holy Spirit speaks and sets apart some men, Barnabas and Saul. And he speaks and he sets them apart.

[6:48] Verse 2, he sends them. Verse 4, and we know that he fills them. He fills Saul in verse 9 and we see the same for Barnabas when he was first sent to Antioch in chapter 12, verse 24.

[7:03] Now, why does Luke write in this way the Holy Spirit spoke? I want to take us briefly back to last week's text when Peter is rescued from the prison.

[7:17] Here's a question. When Peter was rescued from the prison, who was it that brought him out of prison? You remember? An angel.

[7:28] But when Peter told the others about it later on, who did he say that brought him out of the prison? He said, the Lord.

[7:40] So in Peter's mind, although the angel clearly brought him out and he knew that it was an angel bringing him out, when he's describing it to the disciples, Luke says that when he told them that the Lord had brought him out of prison.

[7:59] And we don't want to over-spiritualize everything or be quick to label things, but it's clear that there are times when you recognize who is really at work in the world. Now, is Luke, when he talks about the Holy Spirit here in chapter 13, is Luke over-spiritualizing things when he said that the Holy Spirit said this?

[8:20] I mean, what does that even look like? How does that even work that the Holy Spirit says something? I don't think that Luke is over-spiritualizing with that. Even though I don't think we know how it happened that the Holy Spirit spoke, but it should be noted that this moment in Acts chapter 13 is the first time that the Holy Spirit speaks to a group of people rather than an individual.

[8:49] So I think that Luke is writing in this way to distinguish it from previous instances when the Spirit would speak through one individual. So perhaps this gathering of prophets and teachers, perhaps the Spirit impressed this same message, not just on one of them, but on a few of them, so that it wasn't just one individual who spoke for the Spirit, but many of these people speaking the same message from the same Spirit.

[9:18] Whatever form it took, it was clear to those there who it was that was speaking. So there's this sense that it's not just men speaking, but like Peter described the angel freeing him as if it was the Lord himself, this message is described as if the Holy Spirit himself said it.

[9:39] And I think it's helpful at times to look behind and look beyond what we see with our eyes and to consider what is really going on in a realm that we just cannot see.

[9:53] Many times you can do that. Things that are going on, and if you just step back for a moment and think about it and think there is another realm where our battle is not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers.

[10:10] In the heavenly realms, you take a step back and you look behind it and say, well, there's other forces at play here. Someone persecuting someone, well, it's not just a human thing going on.

[10:22] It's interesting. In chapter 12, when the Jerusalem church first sent Barnabas to Antioch, it doesn't say that the Spirit sent him, nor does it say that he was set apart by the Spirit to be sent.

[10:43] Does that mean that the Jerusalem church was wrong to send Barnabas? Should they have waited? Or does it mean that their sending wasn't done in the Spirit just because it doesn't mention it?

[10:57] Well, interestingly, if you look at verse 3 of our passage, verse 3, these people in Antioch send Barnabas and Saul.

[11:08] That's what Luke writes, that after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on him and they sent him off. They sent them off. But the very next verse, if you look at verse 4, Luke writes, so being sent out by the Holy Spirit, not even in the Holy Spirit, but by the Holy Spirit, is Luke confused.

[11:38] Who sent these people off? Was it this group of prophets and teachers that sent them off or was it the Holy Spirit? But you see, Luke is seen behind us at who's really at work here. It's clear that things can be described in different ways and no doubt can be experienced in different ways that don't necessarily mean one is with the Spirit and the other is without.

[11:59] But before we go all the way through the passage, I want to show you that it would be wrong to think of the Holy Spirit as an added extra to Jesus. I don't know if you've ever experienced any Christians acting like that's true, like the Spirit is an extra thing on top of Jesus.

[12:22] As though you can have a Jesus church over here and then over here you can have a Holy Spirit church that does something a bit different. We mustn't think that the Holy Spirit has tagged in and Jesus has tagged out nor must we think that now that Jesus is by the Father's side the Holy Spirit is doing his own thing with the church.

[12:45] Jesus did his thing with the church and then he left and now the Holy Spirit is doing something completely different. You see, if Jesus is leading you then the Holy Spirit is leading you.

[12:56] If the Holy Spirit is leading you then God is leading you. You cannot be doing the work of Jesus and at the same time not be doing the work of the Holy Spirit. It's theologically impossible.

[13:08] In fact, it would be a heresy to teach that. I don't know if you've ever heard the term inseparable operations. Anyway, it's a theological term which has to do with the oneness of God and will and action and operation.

[13:23] God is not divided. Nor is God made up of parts. You cannot separate God's persons nor can you separate his attributes. Whenever God acts no matter whether it's the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit all of God is acting.

[13:41] Although there are three distinct persons they share in one essential essence. There's only one God with one nature. It's not like Jesus has a similar nature to the Father.

[13:53] It's not like they have a similar God nature. If that was true it would be polytheism. There would be more than one God. But there is only one God. And that God has only one nature and one essence.

[14:06] But here's a little way to help you understand this. Natures don't act. Persons act. Natures don't act.

[14:17] They don't do the acting. It's the person that does the action. Nature is the what. The person is the who. Think of it this way.

[14:27] You have a human nature. You are a human person. Your human nature doesn't act because your human nature is what you are not who you are.

[14:40] Your actions come through you who you are as a personal individual. But your actions as a person are according to that human nature. nature. So I know it's confusing but it's important.

[14:56] My dad told me this story when I was a wee boy. You might have heard of it. It's about a scorpion and a frog trying to cross a river. Have you heard of it? Anyway there's this scorpion that's trying to cross the river but it can't swim.

[15:10] And so it asks a frog to carry it across. Now the frog hesitates of course because it's afraid that the scorpion might sting it.

[15:23] But the scorpion says well if I did that then both of us would drown. The frog thinks yeah that's a sensible argument. I can see your argument there.

[15:34] It would be counterproductive for you to sting me because we would both drown. Okay hop on. So the scorpion goes on the frog's back. The frog carries it across the river but halfway across the scorpion stings the frog.

[15:50] Sealing both their fates and the dying frog asks the scorpion why? Why would you do such a thing? We're both going to drown now. To which the scorpion replies I couldn't help it.

[16:04] it was in my nature. Now in the story the nature of the scorpion didn't sting the frog. The scorpion did.

[16:15] But it did so according to its nature. You see natures don't act persons act. And this helps us understand the actions of God. The actions of God are the actions of the persons of God.

[16:28] And although distinct from one another each are acting according to the same one nature. and thus all the actions are inseparable from one another.

[16:39] Whenever the Son acts God is acting. Whenever the Holy Spirit acts God is acting inseparably. Now I know that may be a little hard to wrap your head around but it's vitally important because unless we actually have a God like this salvation doesn't work.

[16:55] unless God is triune three persons yet one nature and unless the operations of the Father Son and Holy Spirit are inseparable from each other as they all act according to one nature in which they all subsist.

[17:11] Unless that's true our salvation cannot happen. I know that's confusing but did we think that God the creator the one who is unlike any other being in creation did we think it would be easy to understand who God is when he exists in a category completely on its own and separate from everything we know.

[17:32] God is one and because his inseparable operations his actions are inseparable in persons then we know that whatever the Holy Spirit does is in complete accordance and unity with what Jesus does.

[17:51] I know that's a whole load of theology there but when somebody makes you feel like there's something going on over here with the Holy Spirit and it's not happening here you just have Jesus but you need the Holy Spirit that's just false.

[18:06] What Jesus is doing is what the Spirit is doing and what the Spirit is doing is what Jesus is doing. Just like when Jesus said you'll remember in John's Gospel that he does not act according to his own will but he does what he sees the Father doing.

[18:25] That's a biblical example of inseparable operations. Jesus says I don't do this on my own accord but only what the Father does. Only what I see the Father do.

[18:36] Only what I hear the Father say. If the Holy Spirit is not leading the church then frankly Jesus is not leading the church. If the Holy Spirit is not speaking then Jesus is not speaking.

[18:48] And whether we say it like that or not it doesn't matter. Simply that's just to say that there aren't two levels of church. There isn't two levels of spirituality one with Jesus and the other with the Holy Spirit.

[19:02] You either have all of God or none of God. So when Jesus said that he would be with us always to the end of the age yet he ascended and sent the Spirit he wasn't lying.

[19:14] If you have the Holy Spirit then Jesus really is with you because they each subsist in the one same nature and cannot be separated from one another. God cannot be divided.

[19:25] God is not made up of parts. And although that's a bit of time spent on that it helps us to know why Luke writes in the way that he does.

[19:36] Because if you remember from last time perhaps people to Theophilus to be certain of the things that he's taught way after this event.

[19:52] But perhaps Theophilus has heard these rumors people accusing Paul of being a fraud people accusing Paul of being a fake apostle even today some people say that Paul wasn't teaching what Jesus thought.

[20:07] Rumors of Paul being someone who was not called by the Holy Spirit or someone who didn't even have the Holy Spirit again Luke is making it clear that Paul is not so different from Peter both are filled both are moved and both are directed by the same spirit perhaps people are saying that since Paul wasn't with Jesus like the other apostles that he's not a real apostle remember back in chapter 1 Peter said that an apostle should be someone who was with that's when they were replacing Judas perhaps people are applying the same criteria to Paul rumors are going around trying to discredit him and Luke is showing Theophilus especially in light of this Jewish opposition many Jews that went about trying to discredit Paul for his Gentile mission and Luke has shown Theophilus in this book that Paul not only met Jesus on the road to Damascus but

[21:08] Paul was set apart by the Holy Spirit sent by the Holy Spirit and filled with the Holy Spirit you see in our passage we have both Barnabas who's full of the Holy Spirit and Saul and they both are teaching the Antioch church for over a year and we've seen these two men already been sent on a mission when they took relief to Jerusalem because of the famine we've already seen the work of the Holy Spirit in this church of Jesus through these men and we'll go on to see the work of the Holy Spirit and the mission of Jesus through these men specifically through Paul which from this moment on in Acts is mostly about Paul so you might be looking at a little handout and be thinking we've not even got to point one I'm going to go through these points fairly quickly now so this is what we're going to see first the church whether it's

[22:11] Antioch or any church the church is led by the Spirit the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus starts his church in the first place we saw that in chapter 10 and 11 Luke gave us a pattern that one only becomes saved by hearing the gospel and being filled with the Holy Spirit and so when we come to chapter 12 although it's not stated explicitly when people are preaching the gospel to the Greeks and Antioch the hand of the Lord is with them and because we've already read chapter 10 and 11 we should expect that the Holy Spirit saved all of them just as he did with Cornelius so this church in Antioch was started by the Holy Spirit saving them upon hearing the gospel just as way back in chapter 2 Peter says to the thousands of people on Pentecost repent of your sins and believe in

[23:12] Jesus Christ and you'll receive the Holy Spirit secondly the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus teaches his church now remember Barnabas Barnabas was the one who taught the church here in Antioch he was the one sent to teach them and when he was sent to them it was noted that he was full of the Holy Spirit and if you go through the Bible cover to cover you'll notice that wherever the Holy Spirit is more often than not the Word of God will be there too whenever a person is filled with the Holy Spirit the result is mostly speaking the truth of God in John chapter 14 Jesus said these things I've spoken to you while I'm still with you but the helper the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I've said to you the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus teaches those who leave this church

[24:16] Barnabas and Saul when we think about this is the Spirit's work people leaving the church to go off on a mission but we might miss that the two people who are sent off by the Spirit were the two original teachers of the church Barnabas and Saul taught that church for over a year so think of it this way if the Holy Spirit wants Barnabas and Saul to move on from Antioch then the Holy Spirit must consider this church in Antioch ready for them to be away the Holy Spirit obviously wasn't worried about how this church would be without them isn't that an encouraging thing for Antioch see the Holy Spirit's work here is not just for Barnabas and Saul the Holy Spirit's work here is in what it's doing in the church in Antioch they've grown they've matured they no longer need Paul and

[25:16] Barnabas they are with them why do they no longer need Paul and Barnabas with them to teach them well because the Holy Spirit is the teacher of the church thirdly the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus leads his church clearly in our passage the Holy Spirit is the one directing not only the teaching but the setting apart and the sending so back in Matthew 16 when Jesus said I will build my church he's doing so through the Holy Spirit and Matthew 28 when Jesus said I will be with you always he's doing so through the Holy Spirit and Acts chapter 1 when he directs his disciples to wait until they receive the Holy Spirit or Acts chapter 6 when the apostles tell the church should be full of the Holy Spirit it's clear to see that the Holy Spirit is the means by which

[26:17] Jesus leads his church and again that's not to over spiritualize things but that's to have the assurance that teaching and leading is all done in the Holy Spirit fourthly the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus speaks to his church again in our passage it is the Holy Spirit who speaks back in John chapter 16 Jesus said when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak of his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come he will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you see again we see this inseparable operations here the Holy Spirit is not doing something that Jesus isn't doing and whenever you hear people who are all about the

[27:20] Holy Spirit you remember the Holy Spirit is all about glorifying Jesus Jesus if people if people claim to be doing this and that and the Holy Spirit but Jesus hasn't been glorified I would be very suspicious of that but the Holy Spirit only speaks what he hears from Jesus and he takes what is Jesus and declares it to the church so we see that the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus speaks to his church Jesus is always speaking to his church bringing to remembrance everything that he taught when the Holy Spirit says in chapter 13 set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them according to John 16 the Holy Spirit is only speaking what he hears Jesus saying he's only taking what Jesus does and declaring it to them these are the ways in which the church of Jesus is led by the Spirit the mission is led by the

[28:27] Spirit the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus sets apart his people we see that here in verse 2 don't we the Holy Spirit sets apart Barnabas and Saul but we also see it throughout back in the beginning of Acts the Holy Spirit sets apart the apostles as witnesses and then the Holy Spirit sets apart the 120 disciples on Pentecost when the Spirit comes sets apart these 120 disciples from the rest of the nation again the Holy Spirit sets apart every believer from the world everyone who repents and believes in Jesus set apart by the Holy Spirit from the world and although some of these things are different setting apart in one way and then other times setting apart further for a specific work whatever the case the Holy Spirit is the means by which

[29:27] Jesus sets apart his people and the mission of Jesus the great commission the only reason why any of us can do that is because we are already set apart by the Holy Spirit secondly the Holy Spirit is you see although we read in verse three that these men sent Barnabas and Saul the next verse states that it was the Holy Spirit who sent them off again we don't always see this language Barnabas originally went to Antioch being sent by the Jerusalem church it's not like in every instance it's going to be obvious and we shouldn't hope for it to be obvious all the time we don't need to be waiting for some obvious spiritual encounter before we do anything that we know is good to the Lord the people who first took the gospel to Antioch were actually doing so because of Saul's initial persecution yet it was no accident none of us would say it was an accident that they were out there in

[30:32] Antioch preaching the gospel the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus empowers his church back in Acts chapter 1 Jesus said that the gospel going out to the world can only be done so through the power of the Holy Spirit we've seen that time and time again with Peter and now we begin to see it time and time again with Saul Peter had an encounter if you remember back in chapter 8 Peter had an encounter with a magician called Simon this magician in Samaria wanted to buy the power of the Holy Spirit remember that and Peter warned him sternly likewise now Paul has a similar encounter with a magician and that's not to say these people are men who pull rabbits out of hats but this is a person who claims to have special revelation a person who was an advisor to the governor of

[31:37] Cyprus and this passage calls him a Jewish false prophet yet the work that Barnabas and Saul have been doing their preaching in Cyprus has reached the ears of the governor Sergius Paulus you see this proconsul actually summoned them and he actually wanted to hear their message this foreign governor actually wanted to hear the word of God yet this Jewish man bar Jesus a man who should have known better didn't want them didn't want the proconsul to hear the word of God he tried to prevent the governor from hearing the word of God this man should have known better this is the really terrible thing here he was Jewish he knows the Jewish law he knows what is forbidden not not only should he have known better than to dabble in the occult not only should he have known better than to not falsely prophesy these things were condemned in the

[32:37] Jewish law he should have known better but he goes further not only practicing what is forbidden not only filling this man's ears with false prophecy but he tries to prevent him from hearing the word of God he tries to turn him away from the faith and so it's no wonder that Paul calls him a son of the devil you see that's that thing again about looking behind and beyond what's going on into the heavenly realms Paul knows what's going on here this is one of the themes that Luke draws out in Acts that there's the people of the Lord and the people of the world but behind that there's the Holy Spirit and the devil and every single time the devil loses preventing people from hearing the Bible and trying to put people off having faith in Jesus is a devilish thing you see people in the world try to do that is a devilish thing that comes from the devil that's the work of the devil that we see here in

[33:50] Acts chapter 13 so you see the world that we live in is not full of free speech like it pretends to be the world has already tried to shut up the Bible many times because the world is in the hands of the devil and that's why darkness ensues free speech in this world is for everyone but Christians it seems to the world this book the Bible is tantamount to hate speech what's that all about can you remember in our last chapter James the apostle was killed for no other reason than preaching good news preaching Jesus and he's killed the world does not want to hear the word of God and putting people preventing people from hearing the Bible it's like in America God was taking out the schools preventing people from hearing the Bible trying to shut it up trying to put people off faith in

[34:51] Jesus is a devilish thing but nonetheless Saul when he is about to confront this false prophet and magician look does an interesting thing don't know if you've studied this much at this very moment Luke tells us that Saul is also called Paul it's quite a looks deliberate and when he chooses to tell us that it's not it didn't happen at his conversion and Saul became Paul it didn't happen when he first went out to Gentiles because he went to Antioch and talk for over a year Luke is very deliberate in telling us when Saul is also called Paul you see he writes it just before he tells us Saul who was also called Paul filled with the Holy Spirit Paul think think think about

[35:52] Paul they don't know the name Saul they just know this guy Paul who's going about preaching stuff Luke says Paul this man Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit this is the moment when Luke highlights that the powers of darkness are no match for the kingdom of light the work of the devil to frustrate Jesus mission is completely destroyed by a much more powerful work of the Holy Spirit and that's what John writes in his letter doesn't he the spirit of the Antichrist is in the world but he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world finally the Holy Spirit is the means by which Jesus adds to his church the end of the passage we see that the proconsul believed when he saw what occurred the Lord to his people you might think wouldn't that be great to see such miraculous things happen here and now in

[36:57] Bells Hill well I don't want to be the guy running about making people blind or anything like that but we can be confident that anything that comes against us shall not prevail he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world but even more than that what we can have confidence in if we look at the very last line of our text when the proconsul believed for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord what a thing to be astonished at eh what what what what what what what what what do what do what do what does that happen to us do we trust that the gospel can astonish people that the word of God is powerful again it's interesting that Luke introduces Paul's name change at this exact point again a couple of reasons I think it's likely that Paul found common ground with the proconsul sergius paulus they've got the same name

[38:00] I think it's likely that Paul identified with him on this basis something shared something in common sergius paulus i'm paul i did that the other week when i was in subway i'd already ordered my sandwich and paid for it so it wasn't for a freebie but the guy who was serving me was named callum and i saw it on his badge and i says that's the best name i'm calum two l's and suddenly there was a warmth and friendliness because there was a connection and it wasn't to garner favor but it was to make a connection and i think that it's likely that Paul made a connection with sergius paulus on account of their name but also i think also that the first reader might have heard rumors about Paul not about Saul but rumors about Paul that he's not a real apostle that his message is not real but Luke shows at this exact point that the man named

[39:03] Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit the man named Paul speaks the truth of God powerfully the man named Paul his message is attested to by great wonders the man named Paul his message is something that makes even a pro you see no wonder someone like Paul can say in Romans chapter one I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes so in the church we can see that Antioch Antioch is indeed a real church it's a real church of Jesus because of the work of the Spirit and in the mission we can see that Paul Paul is a true apostle do we see the work of the Spirit even in things that we think maybe aren't as spiritual as we think they are or maybe aren't things that we maybe don't think are as spiritual as they are like teaching leading adding to the church so on you see it's not the teacher that astonishes but the teaching it's the

[40:22] Word of God it's the message of Jesus in the end that astonishes it's the truth of gospel on the lips of ordinary people filled with the Spirit of God any one of us with the gospel that is powerful to save let me pray our God and Father we give you great thanks that you have opened our eyes no one can come to faith no one can come to Christ unless you draw him no one can understand the gospel unless you illuminate it unless you shine the light of Christ in our hearts no one can be convicted of their own sin unless the Holy Spirit convicts us and no one can be transformed and renewed unless the Holy Spirit transforms us so we thank you that we can gather here in Jesus name and we proclaim his name we say that he is the

[41:24] Lord we praise him he is our savior your son the Christ and we can only do that because you have filled us with your spirit to do so that you are glorifying Jesus through your spirit even in our hearts and we thank you for it we thank you that you brought us together as your church and that it is your spirit that is leading this church that is teaching this church and that we can have great confidence that both in this church and in this town and in your mission to the world that you are with us because you have given us your spirit so we thank you and praise you give you all glory through Jesus name amen