Life In The Spirit-part twelve
Led By The Spirit!
Wouldn’t it be absolutely awesome to not have to make decisions on your own, but to be able to come to God and say God, this is Your day, You created it, You created me, now God, I don’t know what you want me to do, I don’t know what You want me to say, I don’t know the experiences that I’m going to encounter, but God, I’m asking You to lead me by Your Spirit? That’s life in the Spirit.
Are you ready Beloved? Beloved of God, do you know that’s what you are? If you are a child of God, you are beloved by Him and you always will be. You’re precious in His sight and that’s what the scripture has to say, not just me. And if you ever go through the epistles and you read what Peter and Paul and others have written, you will see Him saying beloved because you are beloved to God. And God wants you to know truth, because you are beloved of Him, God wants to lead you.
Now, as we were looking at Romans, chapter 8 we were looking at the contrast between those that walk according to the flesh and those that walk according to the Spirit, those that have the life of God inside of them. And we saw the contrast. And we came down to a verse that I do not want you to miss. So we’re going to start today’s study in Romans, chapter 8, and we’re marking every reference to the Holy Spirit.
Now in verse 14 it says, “For all who are being…,” and I love this, “…led by the Spirit, are the children of God.” So if you are being led by the Spirit then you are a son of God, you are a daughter of God, you are a child of God. Why? Because God moves inside of you. And He doesn’t move inside of you to sit down, lean back, relax and just say go for it. He’s there to move into the control, so to speak, of your life and say hey, you sit over here; let Me sit in the drivers seat. And as I sit in the drivers seat I will lead you. You can start every single day with Me and I will lead you. You may not know that I’m leading you, but I will lead you.
I want to tell you a story because it’s exciting to me. Years ago, I had a gal that got saved when I was going to Atlanta and teaching this class in the home of Grace Kinser. And I would drive from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Georgia, which was about two hours away, a little bit over that until the freeway got put in, and we did this for seven years. And in Atlanta, many, many women in that class came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And among them was a woman by the name of Norma Derosit. She had Indian blood, high cheekbones. She was just absolutely gorgeous. She was a red head; she was a knock out. She came, she got saved. She started growing under the ministry. And then her husband got transferred to, to California. And so when he got transferred, she wanted me to come out and see her because she had gone into Hollywood and she had all these gals that were doing this study with her. And so I said okay, I’ll come. But I got on a plane and I flew to California and we just have a good time together anyway, and I got to go to the class and I got to meet the girls and talk to them.
Well a friend of mine who was running Campus Crusade’s International School of Theology had heard that I was coming and so he called and he said while you’re out here could you come down to the school and could you speak at chapel and could you do a luncheon for the wives at the school and talk to them there? And so I said yes.
I remember on the way out, before I left, I scratched my eye and I was in horrendous, horrendous pain. I could hardly bear to move. I had to put a patch on my eye because any movement of that eye, you know, looking would just absolutely bring excruciating pain. So I show up and I’m in this patch and everything, and I’m teaching in chapel and then go to the luncheon and I’m speaking.
Now I asked God, “God, what do You want me to speak on? What do You want me to say, because after all, I’ve got the Spirit inside of me now. He’s in the drivers seat. And so I want to be led by the Spirit.” And I can expect that because that’s in the job description of a Christian. That is one of the benefits of Christianity, of Christ in you, is that the Holy Spirit can lead you. The Holy Spirit can direct you, so that you can commit your way unto God and trust in Him and know that God will bring it to pass because He delights to lead you. So I asked for the message; He gave me the message. I asked you know, that He would put it all together and He gave me an incredible illustration. And it was an illustration that came from Romania. It was an illustration from the life of Richard Wormbrandt, who had been taken by the Communists and put in prison and treated so brutally that when he was let out of that prison he would never be able to wear another pair of shoes. So I give this illustration. It’s a shattering illustration. And when I finish, I mean everybody’s just.. their eyes are popping open, their mouth is hanging open and many just sit there and weep. I gave that illustration; I closed the message. And afterwards this woman walks up to me and she said you know what you said about Romania, and she said this in a broken English, you know what you said about Romania is true. And she said but these women don’t believe you. And I said well how do you know that it’s true? And she says because I’m from Romania. And she told me later that I grabbed her, I put my arms around her and I said bless your heart. And she thought nobody has ever blessed my heart before because I’m from Romania. But you see Romania was on my heart because the Spirit of God had moved on my heart on behalf of Romania and I wanted to go to Romania. And I wanted to teach them how to study the Word of God.
Now let me just show you how the Holy Spirit leads. When I went down to that school I thought O Lord, if only these people would take one of these Precept courses and study, they would learn how to study inductively, discover truth for themselves and then they would have a tool that they could teach others through that book of the Bible. And I thought O that is just a marvelous idea. And so I took my Precept books. I laid them all out on the table. And as I laid them out on the table and went to eat lunch I didn’t know that this Romanian woman had walked around that table, had picked up those books and had looked at them and said to God, “God, I want one of those books and You know that I don’t have any money. Would you please tell that woman to give me one of those books?” I knew nothing of this prayer, nothing whatsoever. I’m standing here hugging this Romanian woman, saying bless your heart and all of a sudden, now listen, out of my mouth is coming this concept. I mean it’s amazing me too. I said “Oh, Oh! I said you know I want to go to Romania. My board won’t let me go to Romania. They’re afraid that I’m going to be put in prison, but you know what? You could go for me. You know what you could do is you could take the Precept books that I’ve written. Here, let me give them to you.” And I gave her every book that was on that table. He’s the God of the exceedingly abundant of all that we ask and pray for. And I said, “Here, take these books and you can translate them and you can go to Romania and that’s even better because I don’t know the language and you know the language. I don’t know the culture or the customs; you know that because you’re from Romania.” I said, “Now we don’t have any money but if you can get to Chattanooga, Tennessee we can take you through the training. As a matter of fact, this summer we have a two-week training program coming up and you can just fly out here. We will feed you. We will house you. We will take care of you and it won’t cost you anything, just a plane ticket.”
All of a sudden what is happening? What is happening? Well you know what’s happening by the end result of it. I was being led by the Spirit. I wasn’t cognizant of this voice in my ear saying now, pick up the books, now hand her the books. All right, now explain to her. Nothing like that. I had committed my way unto Him. And because the Spirit was there and because it’s His job to lead me and to guide me and to direct me, because this is what it says: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” This is life in the Spirit. This is Christianity 101. I mean this is what it’s all about.
Well, do you know what happened? They didn’t have the money either, but she didn’t tell me; she just prayed. And so when the time came I said can you get the plane tickets? And she said no, God has not provided. Well my friend, Norma and her husband said hey, we’ll buy the tickets. That day, when that couple gave that money for two plane tickets to fly from California to Chattanooga, Tennessee, they made an investment that was absolutely phenomenal, the returns, the dividends that have come from that investment. Because by them buying the tickets for the people to come here and the people’s names are Mia and Costel, they opened the door for us to reach Eurasia. I mean there are thousands of classes going on now. And through that couple, Mia and Costel, we now minister in many, many countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. Isn’t it incredible? Life in the Spirit, this is what it’s all about. And God wants you to understand that. And God wants to do exciting things through you. Not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit.
Welcome back. Isn’t it exciting to hear stories like that? I just, O, let me just tell you one more quick story about Mia and Costel and being led by the Spirit, because the Spirit even leads you in prayer. Mia and Costel grew up under Communism. They grew up under the reign of Checheklov. He was a terrible, terrible man. I mean sick to the core. He had an incredible, incredible palace while these people were so hungry and just absolutely dirt poor. He had a system of the secret police whereby houses were bugged. You couldn’t say anything without them knowing. Or if the house wasn’t bugged, there were spies in every single apartment building. They were ugly, ugly concrete buildings that; he tore down these beautiful homes and put them just like masses in these concrete towers. And so a spy always lived there. But Mia and Costel and a group of other young people at that time, prayed fervently. They would pray at a certain time every morning, led by the Spirit asking God, “God, put the gospel over the radio. Put the gospel on television. Let Your good news be broadcast across this country.” And they thought O, there’s no way that that could ever happen, but they were led by the Spirit to pray.
The Spirit helps our weakness and we don’t know how to pray, as we ought. But the Spirit who knows the mind and heart of God intercedes through us. And the mind and heart of God was that someday the gospel would be preached across Romania on the radio and on television. Now, do you know what happens in that world communications center here at Precept Ministries? Mia and Costel both are broadcasting on radio and on television in Romania. This is life in the Spirit.
So we are led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit helps our weakness. And then you say okay, well explain this to me. How can I know that I am being led by the Spirit? How does that happen? Well, God tells us. And I want us to go to Ephesians, chapter 5. Now Ephesians has a lot to say about being in Christ. Ephesians has a lot to say about spiritual warfare, because when you’re in Christ, you’re in warfare with the enemy because you’re no longer under his dominion, but you’ve come out and now you belong to Christ and so there’s a conflict there.
Well, in Ephesians, chapter 5 he wants them to understand where their power is. And so he comes down and he says in verse 15 of Ephesians 5: “Be careful, therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men…,” not as duh, you know, not knowing what’s going on, “… but as wise.” Now we’re going to look in our next program at how we get wise. How do we get the wisdom of God? But right now he says, “Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time.”
Now I love the King James Version because it says redeeming the time and it means this: that you see that you have this many hours in the day and this many waking hours and so what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna take those hours and you’re gonna buy them back. You’re not gonna fritter them away and you’re going to use them for eternal purposes. So he says making the most of your time, redeeming your time. Why? Because the days are evil. You’re in a conflict. There are two classes of people in this world, those that know Christ and those that do not know Christ. They’re saved and they are lost and there’s a conflict between the two. One belongs to God, the other belongs to the kingdom of darkness and never will the twain meet. Only God takes them out of the kingdom of darkness and brings them into His own kingdom. So he says, “… making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Now what is the will of the Lord? Well, first of all, do not get drunk with wine….” In other words, don’t get intoxicated. Because when you’re intoxicated you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re doing because you’re; you’re governed by that wine. You don’t have your act together and you can’t even talk straight. Right? Right, you can’t talk straight. I’ve never been drunk in my life. But I can tell you this, I’ve watched a lot of drunks and as a nurse, I’ve worked with a lot of drunks. He says, “Don’t be drunk with wine, for that is dissipation.” It’s nothing, it’s just frittering everything away. “But be filled with the Spirit.”
Hey, you have God inside of you; you have the Spirit inside of you. Now what I want you to do is I want you to be totally filled with the Holy Spirit. Why and how? Well, the Holy Spirit is inside of you. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to let the Holy Spirit have total control of your being, to let the Holy Spirit take over, to be led by the Spirit. So he says, “Be filled with the Spirit.” It’s a command. It’s in the imperative mood. And so that is a command. It is in the middle voice and that means that the subject participates in the action of the verb and it’s in the present tense. And the present tense means keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. So here’s a command from God. You wanna be led by God, you wanna be used by God, you wanna know that your life is counting for something, you want to redeem the time, then what you do is you let the Holy Spirit fill you.
In other words He’s there; don’t quench Him. Don’t grieve Him. Don’t suppress Him, but instead let Him have full and absolute and total control of you, Beloved of God. That’s what he’s saying. Now how do I know when I’m filled with the Holy Spirit? Well we’re going to look at it in more depth later, but right now let me just show you what Ephesians says. It says, “Be filled, keep on being filled with the Spirit…,” a habit of life, s”… speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
In other words, when you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, one of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit is joy. So what’s happening is you are singing and you are making melody in your heart to the Lord. You know sometimes I’ll just be walking along and I can’t sing, but all of a sudden there’ll be song in my heart and I’ll think O God, thank You. It’s the Holy Spirit, He’s singing and He’s making melody in my heart. And then it goes on to say in verse 20, “… always giving thanks for all things.” Have you ever gotten something done on your computer and then lost it? It happened to me the other day. Everything that I had done for those hours was gone, absolutely gone. I knew that I was to give thanks always for all things. Did I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes. I simply said, “God, You said in everything give thanks and so God, I am giving thanks. I want to walk in the power of Your Holy Spirit.” Well then he goes on, “… always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of the Lord.” When you are filled by the Spirit, when you are being led by the Spirit, you’re not saying it’s my way, I’m number one. Oh no, there is a mutual submission to one another. Why? You’re part of the body of Christ and you desire the highest good of another. Beloved, this is being led by the Spirit. This is what you want; this is life in the Spirit. Don’t miss the next program.
