By My Spirit (Part 1 of 4) | Andy Elmes | 7th May 2023
Pastor Andy begins a new series “By My Spirit”. This is the first of four parts. Zechariah 4:6 is a key verse Andy refers to where it says “Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit says, the Lord Almighty”. This series will be looking at being filled with the Holy Spirit, being led by the Spirit, being empowered by the Spirit, then the coming of the spirit and what Pentecost means for us today.
We often refer to Spirit-filled Christians, meaning that but we're a Spirit-filled people of people who know and believe that God's spirit is now resident in our lives. The moment we consider that the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now lives in us, everything begins to change, if we dare to believe it!
Pastor Andy describes how the Holy Spirit was present at the beginning of time (Genesis 1:2), throughout the Old Testament (in the Temple and Tabernacle), how in the Old Testament we see glimpses of everyday folk doing supernatural things. God’s Spirit was present but not in them. Racing through to the New Testament, when Jesus on the cross says it's finished and the veil in the temple was rent in two from top to the bottom; that was the Holy Spirit saying everything that Jesus needed to do to purify people had been completed in order that the Holy Spirit could live within people.
The atonement of Jesus enabled the veil to be torn. If Jesus had not paid for our sins, God’s Spirit would not be able to live in us. He is a holy God; we were an unholy people due to Adam sentencing us to separation because of sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from every sin that separated us, so God could no longer just be with us but reside in us. This was God’s eternal plan, foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament and promised by Jesus himself in the (John 14:17). In verse 18 Jesus says He would not leave us as orphans and that the Holy Spirit would reside in us - Pentecost.
Pastor Andy speaks about how the difference between the Spirit of God just living in us but also residing in us. Some of us keep the Spirit of God locked in a basement; we need to be sealed with the Spirit but also “be being filled” with the Holy Spirit. Then, the Holy Spirit can reign in our lives and empower us to do supernatural things on earth.
