How the Holy Spirit Transforms your Life

TRANSCRIPT

When I was about 10 years old, my older brother and I, we nearly burnt down our family home. And now some of you, I know some of you have heard this story before, I've shared it before, but this week I was just reflecting on that story with, in light of the message today. And I discovered, a fact in there.

Now it wasn't the fact that we nearly caused our family to lose everything. It wasn't the fact that I got in more trouble than you could ever imagine. But it was a fact to do with the process of what happened in that moment. I was clear as bell. I was just, I was 10 years old. I can remember it. My brother and I, we used to watch a television show, a show on telly called the Leyland brothers.

Yeah. Yeah. And the older generation, this guy's over here like, what are you talking about? The Leyland brother, that was like the Steve Irwin's of the seventies. All right. They used to get out there in their Land Rover and they used to go out, push. And they'd go camping and fishing and they'd build campfires.

And one day my brother and I were playing under our, we were mucking around under our house. Now we lived in a pole home, so it was sort of out over a hill. And we'd climbed up under the house and we were right up underneath, right near the floorboards of the house, right? And we're mucking around and my brother says, Oh, let's make a fire like the Leyland brothers.

Oh yeah, let's do it. So we went and got some, I know, we got some twigs and leaves and branches and things. We made this big pile. Yeah. My brother pulls out a box of matches. He conveniently had a box of matches. I think he had planned this a long time. And we're like, chk, chk, chk. And it wasn't working. It wasn't working.

So he was getting frustrated. And he goes, hang on. And he disappears and he comes back with my dad's lawnmower petrol can. I know, I know, you can see where this is going. And he sprinkles a little bit of this petrol over the thing, and then he gets the match, and the spark hadn't even left the thing. It's like, whoa, these flames were just, they were licking up against the floor of the house.

And we're just like, what do we do, what do we do? We're freaking out. I'm ten years old, I'm like, trying to spit on it. That's not working. There's no tap, there's no hose. And we just, we just froze. We're just, ah, looking at these flames all over the house. And then we realized, I'd had a lot of water to drink that morning.

So let's say, we got the fire out.

Every little boy dreams of being a fireman, all right.

But then, of course, that caused smoke, didn't it? There was a smoke billowing out from under the house. There was no hiding it. We were done. We were in big trouble. There was no hiding it. We got into more trouble than you can imagine. But as I think about that story, there is a fact in the process that took place that stood out to me.

And that is, nothing would have happened if it hadn't. There'd be no story to tell to this day. Nothing would have happened if we hadn't added something to that pile of wood. If we hadn't added anything, it wouldn't have taken off and scared the living daylights out of us. That pile of wood was transformed.

It was transformed from just an everyday pile of wood into a raging fire. But we needed something. We needed a change agent. We needed a catalyst. And in that case, it happened to be some lawnmower petrol. And I still have the singed eyebrows to prove it. And I can still, first thing my brother says, don't tell mom.

I said, she knows we could hear already coming down the outside of the house. So this morning we're continuing on our series, everyday gospel. And I want to look at spirit led transformation. A spirit led transformation. Kev reiterated and shared the quadrants of the gospel that I'm glad he, I'm glad you did that just to reintroduce and remind us all those stages require transformation to take place.

They require a transformation from someone who is a total nonbeliever. To someone who is, uh, a preacher, a street witness, or someone who's sharing the gospel with these friends and family, with their friends and family. There has to be a transformation process that takes place. And I want to look at the Holy Spirit's power to transform us.

The Holy Spirit, the power of God. The Holy Spirit is the person of God as well. Part of the, the, the three, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. You know, I looked up the definition of transformation, looked it up, got all scholastic or whatever they call it. And it says, it is a marked change in form, nature, or appearance.

A marked change in form, nature, or appearance. The key word here, obviously, is transformation. Change. Everybody say change. Change. It's change. So let's look at the Holy Spirit's role in our transformation, in our change. You see, as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us, there's the other key. We've got to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us.

As we do that, as you open your heart and allow him in, To make some changes. There should be a change. There should be a change in our, uh, our, our form, a change in our nature and a change in our appearance. It's got to happen. It's got to happen, church. And when we do that, we should see fruit. We should see results out of it.

So from the Holy Spirit's power in our lives, we should see some fruit. And the cool part is we actually have a guideline for this. A guideline. It's it's in the Bible. It's a scripture that a lot of us have heard and read before and I'm going to read it. It's a guideline as to the fruit that we should see when we allow the Holy Spirit to change us.

But before I read the one I want to read, which is in Galatians chapter 5, verse 22, I'm going to read the precursor scripture beforehand so we can just get a contrast and you'll, you'll see what I mean when we get there. Yeah, so in verse, uh, 19. It says the acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Nah, they're obvious.

Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage. We've seen that. Selfish ambition, dissension, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. There's, and the like, there's more. What's going on? And it says, I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this, so those who display those fruits, will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ouch. They won't live for eternity with God? Anyway, move on. This is the scripture, verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit, talking of yet. The Holy Spirit, God's power. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things, there is no law.

So there's the contrast. It's a pretty wild contrast when you look at it, but it's there. The contrast is there. The difference between given to the Spirit, the sinful nature, or given to the Holy Spirit. and allowing him to change and transform you. You know, these verses encapsulate what the transformed life in Christ should look like through the Holy Spirit.

You know, God desires to cultivate these virtues. That's his desire. His plan is to stir those up within us, to create that change. And that molds us and allows us to reflect him through us. And that was the fourth part of that quadrant that Kev shared about. Christ living through us. Christ living through us.

That's, transformation has to take place for that to happen. So the nature, what's the nature of transformation? Transformation, here we go, is a process. We don't like hearing that. It's a process. It's not gonna happen overnight, but it will happen. It's a process. It's not an overnight change, it's not an instant.

But it's a continuous journey. And as Kev, once again, I keep going back to that quadrant. That was awesome. It's a continuous journey. You might feel like you take two steps forward and then you take one step back, but then you get back on, you go two steps forward again. It's a continuous journey. And it's a, it's a journey of growth and renewal.

And the apostle Paul in that letter that he wrote to the Galatians, he emphasizes that transformation comes through the Holy Spirit. That's the key. The Holy Spirit. It's God's power. God's power. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, that raised Lazarus out of the tomb. That same Holy Spirit is with you right now.

That's pretty cool to think about. That's very cool. And then the fruit of the Spirit, the result is not something that we produce on our own. But it's a manifestation of God's work within us. We can't make it ourselves. No matter how hard we try, you can't make it yourself. The fruit of the spirit is a manifestation of God.

And we need to understand that transformation, that transformation is vital to the Christian life. And it starts with a heart that is open to God's influence and a willingness to surrender to his will. And that's the other word. Surrender. You got to surrender. You got to give up what you feel like you want to do.

Give up your control and surrender to God. And when you do that, you get the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the Holy Spirit is central to our transformation. You know, when Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit, I don't know how many people, Grew up through Sunday School, there was lots of little songs about Fruit of the Spirit.

my wife, she teaches little ones at school and she, they love this particular song. So we've been listening to it this week and it gets in your head. It's cool and, no, I'm not gonna sing it. I'm not gonna sing it. Oh, all right. No, no , no, I'm not gonna, I'll not give it Justice , but it's central to our transformation.

So when he speaks. of the fruit of the Spirit, who refers to the results, who refers to the results of the Spirit living in us. You know, just like a tree produces fruit, we bought a little mandarin tree. My little daughter Gracie and I went and bought a little mandarin tree and we're planting it. We're going to let it see and hopefully get a mandarin out of it.

Hopefully, we're not very green thumby. But you know, a tree produces fruit when it's given life giving nutrients you when it's given care. Our lives produce spiritual fruit as a result of the Holy Spirit's nutrients. So you think about a tree for a moment, a healthy tree that's given plenty of water and plenty of sunlight and care.

It's naturally going to bear fruit. It can't help itself. It's just going to naturally do it. So in the same way, if we stay connected to Christ and are nourished by his presence. Then we will naturally produce the fruit of the Spirit. We won't be able to help ourselves. That's cool. Naturally, it's just kind of naturally, but you gotta stay connected.

The fruit is not something that we can generate by sheer willpower. You can't make it happen. You can't, you can't form it yourself. It's the evidence of a transformed life. Spirit led. So, Fruit of the Spirit. Okay, the box, here we go. Alright, look at this. It's a bowl of fruit. Hey Tom, can you put that table up here for me please, man?

Good man. I didn't need a hand, he did it one handed. Didn't need a hand. You alright mate, you alright? Yeah, almost. Okay, Fruit of the Spirit. So I thought I'd get to use a little bit of visual aid. Obviously, the Fruit of the Spirit's not physical fruit, just so you know that, but I'm just trying to give a bit of a visual aid.

So maybe, when you go out into your week, and you grab something off the fruit bowl at home, you're gonna go, Oh yeah, that's right, I remember that. So the first one, let's look at the fruit. There's nine of them, Fruit of the Spirit. First one is Love. Love. Love's gonna be an apple. This morning. All right.

Love. This is the greatest of all virtues. And the greatest of these is love. The greatest of all virtues. It's selfless, it's sacrificial, and it's unconditional. Jesus love for us is the model that we strive to emulate. Once again, the quadrants that Kev shared, very first one, Jesus died for us. Because he loves us.

God sent his only son because he loves us. As we allow the Spirit to work in us, this is cool, as we allow the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to work in us and transform us, our capacity to love actually gets bigger. It grows, that you can fit more in. I don't know, those of us who are parents, something happens when you, when the kids arrive.

Your capacity to love seems to just get that little bit bigger, doesn't it? Most days. But it does, it does happen. Your capacity to love. So love, love's an apple. And if you ask anyone, if you ask anyone who's ever had to pack a school lunch, you can't go wrong with an apple. You just can't. Pop it in there, And it's done.

It's a staple. It comes home in my lunchbox. And the same thing, you can't go wrong with love. You just can't. Alright. So love. Joy. Wow. Joy. It's a bananas. It's a smiley face. Instantly, there you go. Joy. They just look joyous, don't they? But the joy that we're talking about, and we actually sung about this morning, the joy, it's not like a ha ha ha, laughy, fun thing.

We're talking about, we're not talking about happiness that's based on circumstances. Oh, you eat ice cream and you feel joy, that's yummy. No, this is a profound sense of delight in the Lord. And this delight or this joy, it transcends or goes beyond what we're feeling right now, goes beyond our circumstances.

True joy comes knowing that our lives are anchored in God's promises. So when stuff goes on in our lives, we can still have joy because we know that God's got it. God's got it. So there's joy. All right, peace. Peace is a passion fruit.

Cut that baby open and you get into the nice juices and the seeds and it's just peaceful, isn't it? Mmm.

Peace is tranquility. Tranquility. It, it comes from trusting God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty. So in other words, God is over everything. He's over everything. He's everywhere. He's everywhere all the time. He's all powerful, He's all knowing, He's all seeing, He is just God, He's sovereign. And peace comes when you just understand that, and you own that, and you realize that, you know, God is everywhere, I can't hide from Him.

This whole situation, He knows all about it. He's over everything, and you find contentment in His plans, to know that He's got a plan for your life, and that brings peace. It's a calm assurance that God is in control, even when our circumstances feel like they are out of control. God's in control. He's got your back.

That's peace. Patience. Well, patience is an orange. Obviously. The term often refers to tolerance. Tolerance, particularly in the face of adversity or of struggle. It's the ability to endure difficult situations. difficult people. You don't have to say any names right now. You know who you are. But you endure different difficult situations and people with a spirit of grace.

Although that person grace. Pauline shared beautifully about that the other day. Grace. Dealing with situations and people, but doing it in grace. And the Holy Spirit that transforms you, helps you do that. That's what this fruit is for. Patience. You gotta, it's, you gotta get through the thick skin first, don't you?

You gotta get through the thick skin to get to the good stuff inside. So you don't give up. Keep going. Be patient. Be patient. All right. Kindness. Kindness is, Kindness is a pair, because it's a pair. It's a funny looking thing isn't it, right? Pairs. Kindness involves being considerate, compassionate and generous.

Kind, being a kind person. It's an outward expression of the love and the empathy that we hold within. And it comes in different shapes, sizes and colours. I could have got this little tiny little pair about that big but I didn't because you wouldn't be able to see it. Comes in all different shapes and sizes.

Kindness. Kindness to others. Kindness to people in your family. Kindness to people at work, at school, uni. Okay, goodness. Goodness is a strawberry. Woohoo! Strawberry! This denotes, that was part of the song anyway, this denotes moral integrity and a desire to act in ways that reflect God's righteousness.

It's goodness. It's about doing what is right, even when it's difficult. Ruth shared about that last week. Talking about counterculture. She talked about lots of things last week, but that was one thing she shared about being counterculture. When everyone else is doing something, and you choose to do the opposite or do different.

That's goodness. Okay, faithfulness. Faithfulness is a rock melon. It's a rock melon. Faithfulness is steadfast. It's loyal and it's trustworthy. It involves being reliable and consistent in our commitments and particularly in our relationship with God. We are rock solid. Rock. Melon. Rock. Get it? See what I did there?

Rock solid. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Oh, gentleness is a kiwi fruit. Oh, Hebrew. Hebrew. And twofold, kiwi fruit is a kiwi fruit, but also kiwis. The, I have met so many beautiful, amazing Maori brothers and sisters, and they are beautiful people. Most of the ones I've met are big people. They're big, big guys, big Maori guys, but they are just like gentle giants.

Sweet, beautiful people. Kiwifruit. Gentleness. Gentleness is strength under control. You can have all the power that you need, but if you can have it under control, you can be a gentle person. It's the ability to be humble and considerate, especially with interactions with others, and always reflects Christ's humility.

Okay, and the last one, self control, Urgh! It's a pineapple. Self control, this one's tricky. If the world tapped into the Holy Spirit's transformation power and just focused on that one, self control, self control. The world would be a completely different place than we know it today. Self control is the mastery over our impulses and our desires.

We take control. It's crucial for living a disciplined life and making choices that honour God. It's hard on the outside. Where do you start even? Have you ever tried cutting up a pineapple? Where do you even start? It's hard. It feels prickly. Sometimes it hurts. It's hard to grasp. But when you go deeper, oh man, it is worth it.

It's so worth it. It's sweet and nice. Self control. So they're the fruits. Fruits of the Spirit. A little visual aid might help you during the week, I hope. Who knows? Might not. Anyway, it's done. They're the fruits of the Spirit, a product of a transformed life. So how do we live out that transformation? I want us to take home something today.

Living out the transformation, living out the fruit of the spirit requires intentionality and reliance on God's grace. It's about making daily choices that align with our identity in Christ. So we should regularly exam, examine our lives. Check up on yourself, see how you're doing. If you're close enough to some people, like in a small group or village, you can actually ask them.

Hey, how am I doing? And they, if they're close enough to you and they love you enough, they'll tell you. They'll be honest. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal areas where transformation is needed. You know, you can actually do that. You can pray to the Holy Spirit and you can say, Holy Spirit, show me where I need to change.

Show me where I need to be stronger. And he will do it. So some practical steps. So we're gonna look at those practical steps for cultivating the fruit of the spirit. We have prayer. That one's, that's, that's up there. Prayer, regularly seek God's guidance and strength. These ones are, we've probably heard these over and over and over for many, many years.

Those of us have been in Christian life for years. So you got prayer, you got scripture reading. Scripture reading, immerse yourself in God's word. That's why we are always so big on soap devotions and talking about it. Saying, it's not like cracking the whip saying, you've got to do your sabre devotions.

It's about, if you do your sabre devotions, you will see the benefits. It's just an encouragement really. And that helps you align your lives with Christ's will. And last one's community. Engage with others. Engage with other believers. They can encourage you, they can hold you accountable, they can tell you what's what.

in love, and they help in your spiritual journey. That's why, if you can, it's so good to be in family gathering on a Sunday. It's so good to be here, if you can. I know there's people that can't make it here, but if you can, it's so good to be here. So good to be in a village, or in a small group where you can have a hug.

Someone can give you a hug. That is powerful. Community. So as we allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate these virtues in our lives, we become a living testimony, a living testimony to God's transformative power, how He can transform us. The fruit of the Spirit not only changes us, but it also impacts those around us.

If you start displaying some of these fruits, in situations that are going on, maybe at work or at uni, at school or in home, your neighbors next door, you start displaying some peace or some joy when stuff's going bad. It will change the way people look at you and can sometimes even get them asking questions.

Hey, Tom, what is it, man? What is it about you? What do you seem to be able to charge on when stuff's not going right? And you say, well, let me tell you. In Welsh, yeah. Don't do it in Welsh. So as we surrender to the Holy Spirit we all see these things, these fruits will grow in our lives. As we surrender, that's the key word surrender, we won't be able to help ourselves.

It'll just happen naturally. But we've got to surrender, we've got to allow God to do the changing. So let's break it down, okay. How do we connect with the Holy Spirit in an everyday life? We've got prayer and scripture and community. But there's another one I want to add to it today. And I hope that we can even touch on it a little bit more.

And that's going to be, and something that we do quite regularly in our family gatherings and it's worship. Worship. Now there are many forms and ways of worshiping, but I want to specifically highlight the worship that we do with music and singing. Music and singing. It's a way of worship. I don't know if you're new here or if you've only been coming for a few weeks and you've come in and we've doing, we do this sing, the sing song part of the service.

They've got the sing song part and there's people raising their hands. Some people raising two hands and you know, what's going on here? That's worship. That's opening your heart and allowing God to do some transformation, but doing it through you. worship in music and song. And it is, people, it is powerful.

It is very, very powerful. We play music and we sing, and it's not a new thing. This is not a new thing. Often we read in scripture how the prophets of old would actually ask, they'd call for the musicians to come first. They'd say, bring out the harpist, bring out the trumpet player, get them playing, and they'd wait for them to play.

And then they'd either pray, or they'd just wait, and then God would just speak. Through that, the power of music. There is power in it, there is emotion in music. And I believe that God can use music to get our attention. He can get your attention through music. So I'm gonna set you a challenge this week. I want to set you, is that alright?

Is that alright if I set you a challenge? Set myself as well, we're all, we're all in it. I want to give you a challenge to take out with you this week when you leave here and we go out into our everyday lives. When you get the chance, this week, when you get the chance, I want you to play some worship music.

No, you don't, not, you have to get an instrument and start playing. There's many other ways you can play. Play some worship music. Like, if you're in your car, you can pop on a CD. Oh, young people, CD, it's like a round disc about that big and it could hold 30 songs. And you'd collect a whole bunch of them and put them in a bag with little sleeves and you'd carry it around.

It's like Spotify, but not.

But you can put on some worship music wherever you are, if you're in the car, if you're at home, at the office. I've been on a job site, I've been on a construction job site and we've whacked on some, some worship music and it just, trust me, it changes everything. It does, it changes everything. Check, I encourage you to check your Spotify playlist.

If you, Spotify, you know, just see how much worship music you do listen to on there. Little challenge for you. But then what I want you to do is put that music on and I want you, if you can, maybe close your eyes or just sit still and focus, focus on the words, focus on the music and allow God to talk to you.

It's worship. It's worship that softens us, opens our heart and allows the Holy Spirit to do some work in there. change a couple of things around, transform a couple of things. And I guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised. I say that, I say guarantee because I, I can only speak from my own experience and it has never let me down.

I could countless amount of times, things going on and you pop on some worship music, it just changes the dynamic. Changes the dynamic. So, I thought we might try something practical. In a moment, the band is going to lead us and we're going to sing after I've finished. But I want to try something just quickly now, just to see if this is going to work, to demonstrate.

Okay, so there's a scripture that we have been highlighted, there's a couple of portions of scripture, actually. that have been highlighted through this series we're doing, Everyday Gospel. Phil shared on one of these, and I think Ruth shared another, like an add on to it. It was like right next to each other.

And, I thought I might read it, and then we're going to add some music to it. Alright, and just see if this works. This is all a bit experimental, but here we go. Okay, it comes from the book of Romans, chapter 12, verse 1. Most of you have heard it before, a lot of us have heard it. It's well known, but it's very, very powerful.

It's verse 12, chapter 12, verse 1. It says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to fulfill your Test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. Now we're just going to add some music to this.

And as the music plays, I want us just to not be moving, not be fidgeting. And I actually want you to close your eyes.

Close your eyes. and focus on the words that are being spoken and the music that's being played. Therefore,

I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is.

He's good, pleasing, and perfect will.

As we surrender to the Holy Spirit, as we allow him to work in us and through us, I believe we will see fruit that honors God. And ultimately it will bless others. If we allow God to change us,

it will change us. Allow the Holy Spirit to do the work to have a spirit led transformation in your life. I want us to pray. And as we pray, you want to just start playing And I'll get you guys to come straight in. I'm gonna pray and close, and then the musos are gonna lead us in some worship. And I encourage you, open your heart and just let God speak to you.

Let's just bow our heads. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you. Thank you, Lord, that you do have our back, Lord God, that you are in control, even when things feel like they are out of control. Holy Spirit, we thank you for your presence and we thank you for your power. And we thank you that we can just tap into you at any moment of any day.

Lord, I pray you help us to do that. Help us to open our hearts to come with a softness ready to receive from you. Holy Spirit, I pray that you show us where we need to change. Show us the words that we need to start speaking. Show us the actions that we need to start taking. We ask that you bring transformation.

Bring transformation into our lives. That we can then influence and affect others. Lord, I pray for each and every one of us in this room. Holy Spirit, I pray that you be real to us. And I ask that you fill us now with your mighty power. And we ask that in Jesus name. Amen.