The Holy Spirit Breathing in You

Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Ephesians 4:30-5:2 Mssg

God’s Holy Spirit moving and breathing in me? How do I become aware of such a thing? How do I come to believe that the Holy Spirit is moving and breathing in me? Could the answer to those questions be in the paragraph about watching what God and then doing it – learning to imitate God as children learn proper behavior from their parents?

I would add to Paul’s analogy “and grandparents.” When our granddaughter Madison was with us week before last, she used some wrong grammar. She said something like, “Mommy and me went to the store.” Fleda said to her, “It would be Mommy and I.” I tried to explain that if you leave out the other person, you can get the correct pronoun. You would say, “I went to the store.” Not “Me went to the store.” So it is Mommy and I went to the store. Fleda who is Grammy to Madison encouraged her saying, “You will get it.” Last week Fleda talked to Madison on the phone and she said, “Mommy and I went swimming today. Did you hear that Grammy? I got it right.”

We are given an example of what it means to imitate God. “Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.” When you can forgive someone who has hurt you, you are imitating what God has done for us all.

I was talking with one of our members recently about our study of forgiveness on Wednesday nights. I had shown a brief report on the Amish story from Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. After a deranged man shot ten little girls in the head and killed five of them, the Amish community amazed the world by immediately going to his family to tell them that they did not hold a grudge against them and that they forgave the man who did the killing. As the church member and I talked, we agreed that forgiving someone whom you don’t know and don’t have to deal with anymore can be easier than forgiving someone in your family or in your church who hurts you.

When we think about how quick to forgive God has been, we stand amazed. His ability to forgive is downright startling. Last Wednesday night I asked the question, “When you think about Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who do you remember Jesus forgiving directly?” The first response was, “As he was being placed on the cross, he forgave those who were driving nails through his hands.”

Here is the amazing story. It gives us a clear image of forgiveness. We watch what God does in Jesus and then learn to do it ourselves. When the soldiers came to the place called "The Skull," they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus. Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people! They don't know what they're doing." While the crowd stood there watching Jesus, the soldiers gambled for his clothes. The leaders insulted him by saying, "He saved others. Now he should save himself, if he really is God's chosen Messiah!" The soldiers made fun of Jesus and brought him some wine. They said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!" Above him was a sign that said, "This is the King of the Jews."

One of the criminals hanging there also insulted Jesus by saying, "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and save us!" But the other criminal told the first one off, "Don't you fear God? Aren't you getting the same punishment as this man? We got what was coming to us, but he didn't do anything wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into power!"

Jesus replied, "I promise that today you will be with me in paradise."

Look what an awesome display of forgiveness Jesus makes. First the very people who nail him to the cross are the ones he forgives. They don’t appreciate what he has done. In fact, they throw dice to see who will get his clothes. They poke fun at him and respond to his forgiveness with nothing but contempt as they toast him with sour wine. One of the criminals joins in the mocking, but the other criminal shows openness to who Jesus really is and says to him, “Remember me when you come into power.” Jesus responds immediately to his openness and says, “Don’t worry. I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”

I think of the hymn we used to sing a lot in the church of my childhood: “I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be, How marvelous! How wonderful is my savior’s love for me.”

How is it that God’s Holy Spirit can be breathing in you? It happens as you learn to be like God and forgive those who hurt you. Didn’t we pray it again this morning? “Forgive us for our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.”

Who has sinned against you? Who do you need to forgive?

When you are dealing with somebody close to you, you have to let go of your desire to hit back,

to let go of thoughts of revenge

to release your anger.

It is like getting the poison out of your system instead of letting it continue to flow through your veins until, like snake venom, it kills you. Forgiveness is healing the hurt that you don’t deserve. You may have convinced yourself that you have some control over the one who has offended you if you don’t forgive and just keep on holding the grudge, keep on thinking about what a terrible thing she has done. You have to give up your desire to have control and give control over to God. It is not easy. That is why you need the Holy Spirit breathing in you, giving you the energy it takes to do what God does.

Here is one implication I see in this passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Christians: When you let the Holy Spirit move and breathe in you, God loves it. When you don’t, you grieve the Holy Spirit. Or to put it another way, God feels sad when you don’t let the Holy Spirit work through you as you imitate God, learn from God, and let God’s love flow through you.

So how do we make the Spirit happy? How do we not grieve the Holy Spirit? Look at the things we are called on to do in this part of the letter. We are to recognize that we are a community and celebrate our love for each other. There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. I don’t stand alone. You don’t’ stand alone. We need each other. Look at the things we are asked to do for each other.

· Tell your neighbor the truth. Why? Because “in Christ's body we're all connected to each other. . .. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.

· Don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

· Get an honest job so that you can help others who can't work.

· Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth, but say what people need, words that will help others to become stronger.

· Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.

Look at that list. What is it all about? What is the reason

for telling the truth,

for not staying angry,

for helping those who can’t work,

for watching the way you talk and saying only words that will build people up,

for being kind and loving to each other?

It is all for the sake of building up the church. It is all for the sake of staying connected to each other in Christ’s body.

What the church is about is learning to love the way God loves us. Here is the way Paul says it.

“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.”

That is why we are here in this church. That is why you and I are here in this world. We are learning to love like God loves: not cautious but extravagant, not in order to get something for himself from us. Christ loved us in order to give everything of himself to us. That is the way we are learning to love.

Greg Baer writes, “This era in which we live has been called the Information Age, and certainly we are swimming in knowledge. Surrounded by computers, books, telephones, satellites, faxes, and television, we can learn almost anything while sitting in the comfort of our homes. In an instant, we can see the latest transactions of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, learn how to cure a myriad of diseases, or track the current migration of humpback whales.

But with this ocean of knowledge, are we genuinely happier? Ten to twenty percent of us are addicted to alcohol or drugs. We greedily pursue the pleasures of money, power, and sex. More than half our marriages end in divorce. Staggering numbers of our children feel unloved and alone. Clearly, something is missing.

Greg Baer is a counselor who has talked to many people about their need for unconditional love. One of these people was Matt, sixteen years old. He was a bright child whose behavior was utterly baffling his parents and teachers. He was rebellious and angry. He acted out in many ways that were socially unacceptable. He was often withdrawn and moody.

He spoke with Matt and was impressed with his intellectual tools and skills. He’d read a great deal and surfed the Net to acquire a broad scope of knowledge about many things. After a short time together, Greg took his face in my hands and asked him a question: “Who loves you without any conditions? Who accepts you completely no matter what mistakes you make? Who cares that you’re happy?”

This child dissolved in tears. No one had ever shown him that kind of concern. Instead they expected things from him, pushed him, and were disappointed in him when he made mistakes. Despite his wealth of knowledge, he didn’t feel loved and certainly didn’t know how to love others. He was a frightened and lost little boy who was acting out only to gain some feeling of power and place in the world.

Children and adults sit in front of their computers and televisions for staggering numbers of hours in a day. Exposure to all that information and entertainment, however, is worthless if we’re not happy, which comes from feeling loved and from loving each other.

Information itself isn’t bad, but we get distracted by it. The more we know, the easier it is to convince ourselves that we’re accomplishing something when we’re not really going anywhere that matters. Without receiving and giving unconditional love like God, the world is a dark place, no matter how much information we have.

I’ve stood at the bedside of many people as they approached the end of their lives. I don’t recall a single one of them wishing they’d spent more time on the Internet, or made more money. The only thing that matters to them is the people who love them and the people they love.

Our children and grandchildren, more that anything else, need our love. The time and acceptance we give them are much more important than computers and job skills. No amount of knowledge and power will give us the joy and peace God wants for us if we’re not loved and don’t know how to love others.

God is offering us the opportunity right here at New Hope, right within your life and mine to begin the process of finding love and learning how to share it with others. Then we can know that Holy Spirit breathing in us.

Being a Faithful Church

Our church is growing. I am grateful for those who are deciding to join us, to be baptized, to serve God alongside us. I find myself asking God what we are to do to be a faithful church for those who are becoming part of our family. These are some answers I think I hear God giving us.

We are to be the family of God. This means we focus our thinking and our actions on the relationships we are building. We want our church to be a family in which there is love that comes through knowing each other, accepting each other, and celebrating each other’s gifts and abilities.

We are to be grateful for the spiritual gifts God is bringing to New Hope. In the Bible are these words in Romans 12: “God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” God is surely sending among us followers of Christ who have these gifts. Notice the list and think with me about how we can encourage all of our members to use their gifts to build up our church: prophesy (speaking out), encouraging others, giving, leadership, and showing kindness. God wants us to help our members to discover their gifts and put them to use.

We are to know the whole truth and teach it love. Being there for people when they are going through difficult times is part of what God wants us to do. He also gives us a harder assignment. We are to teach people to obey the hard truths that Jesus gave us: “You cannot serve God and wealth.” “Your life does not consist of the abundance of things you own.” “Looking at the opposite sex with lust is adultery.” “Anger can be destructive; it is your responsibility to learn to resolve your anger quickly.” “Be honest and direct in your commitments to others.” “Forgive those who sin against you, otherwise God will not forgive you.” “Love your enemies.” “Don’t seek revenge.” “Put God’s work first and do what he wants.” All of these hard teachings are in The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and they are the path of life, the path Jesus places in front of us.

In God’s family we call New Hope Baptist Church we teach that the way to love God is to obey God. Nothing in the world is more important than loving God and letting God’s love flow through us to others.

Growth and Unity in Serving Christ

It was a good week. At our fourth annual Vacation Bible School, attendance was around 20. I enjoyed seeing some adults and youth working with children this year for the first time at New Hope, namely, Beth Gibbons, David Gibbons, Mike Wright, Nell Vandiver, Aloma Briggs, Elaine Hardy, Joanne Kirk, Sam Senatro, Kaytee Williams, and Toren Ford-Jones. Several children participated who were new to our VBS.

My prayer is that their experiences with us helped them to know how much God loves them.

This is the fourth year in a row that Leesa Holloway has taken on the important task of organizing and directing our VBS. We thank Leesa and all the workers she recruited.

I spoke with Dr. Doran McCarty the other evening. Dr. McCarty was my immediate predecessor as pastor of New Hope. I invited him to come and be our speaker for our 13^th anniversary celebration on Sunday, August 16, at 5:30. He graciously accepted. I am very thankful, and we all are fortunate. In that same conversation, I told him that we were holding our fourth VBS. I knew this would be good news to him since the first one was under his leadership as pastor in the summer of 2005. As I expected, Dr. McCarty celebrated with me. Together we expressed our admiration for the people of this church family and our gratitude that God is granting New Hope growth and unity in serving Christ.

I Love to Baptize People

We baptized Ruthann Nearons in her own swimming pool on Sunday afternoon, July 12. She and her husband, Pen, made it like a party by serving us hotdogs and hamburgers afterwards around the pool. Baptism is a celebration of a new life. Baptism means a lot to us Baptists.

We baptize those who are mature enough to think clearly about choosing to give their lives to following Jesus. We baptize believers in Christ as a way of symbolizing that they are making a personal choice to trust Jesus to save them and giving themselves to following him. We baptize by immersion under water because Jesus was baptized that way, because every baptism in the Bible is by immersion, and because it is a great way to act out the meaning of salvation. Romans 6:4-5 describes it this way:

Don't you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death? When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father. If we shared in Jesus' death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him.

When we go under the water, we die with Christ. When we come up out of the water, we are raised from death to our old life in order to live a new life with him. This is where we express our faith in Jesus not only as the one who will give life to us after we die, but also as the one who will give us life while we live. He will give us the power to change and live a new life.

What does this new life look like? Paul describes it when he lists the fruit of the Spirit of Christ in Galatians 5. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

I love to baptize people, because when we baptize them we are helping them to say, “I am giving my whole life to Jesus Christ. I’m changing. I’m growing. I am becoming a person more and more capable of having and passing along to others love, joy, and peace. I’m going to live that way in this life and the next.”

I also love to baptize people because dipping people under water is, quite frankly, a lot of fun.

What Teenagers Need from Us

I write as I am preparing to go to our retreat for our youth at Epworth By The Sea on St. Simon’s Island, GA. My prayer for this time with 8 youngsters who have been attending our Wednesday night youth meetings is that the Bible study, the fellowship, and the fun will convince them of God’s love and purpose for their lives.

I have been asked to teach them about the spiritual armor Paul talked about in Ephesians chapter 6. He says that we are in a fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. We are up against far more than we can handle on our own. This is the way the Message translation puts his instructions that I want to communicate to our youth. “Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.”

I have had many conversations over the years with parents about the struggles their teenage children were going through: feeling uncertain of their worth, engaging in risky behavior, experimenting with alcohol. Our church wants to help teenagers to defend themselves against the Devil’s campaign to destroy them. They need the love of Christ from us. They need to believe deeply that God loves them and has a purpose for their lives. They need us to teach them how to love others. They need us to teach them by our example and our words how to live responsible lives.

Blessings at New Hope

I meet every Thursday morning with a group of pastors. It is our tradition to talk to each other about “burdens and blessings” and then close with a prayer for each other. Last Thursday, I talked about how grateful I am for the blessings of faithful servant leaders. Thinking about church members serving our church faithfully gives me encouragement. I will list a few. This is not an exhaustive list, because there is not room to list them all, and because New Hope members are out there being faithful in ways that I cannot see. But here is my limited list.

Erma and Garfield Dreas are preparing our Wednesday evening meals with such good care.

Elaine Hardy is keeping our bulletin board up to date, keeping our book corner supplied, editing our newsletter, “Connections,” and helping us to get committed to Bible study.

Bill Batchelor is chairing our church council with attention to the details of typing up the agenda for the meetings, setting dates for the church to receive reports and recommendations, and making sure that all appropriate concerns are given time to be heard at the meetings.

Betty Myers is chairing our deacons with attention to how our members and friends are being called or visited by their deacons so that we are constantly strengthening the ties of caring that bind us together.

Leesa Holloway is leading Vacation Bible School workers to get ready to teach and love children when they come to us in a couple of weeks.

Our staff is steadily serving: Dennis Bucher in worship planning, worship leadership, and solo singing; Armand Melnbardis in providing accompaniment and beautiful instrumental music for worship; Cheryl Secunda is preparing the next event to teach and love children and youth, drawing them in with her caring and constancy; Vernon Buchanan is cleaning, arranging, repairing, and improving our buildings and grounds.

These folks are representative of the self-giving that makes our church go. I am grateful to God for New Hope. I am going to close by borrowing and adapting Paul’s words in Romans 1:8, “I thank God in the name of Jesus Christ for all of you. I do this because people (all around the Port Orange area) are talking about your faith.”

Being the Family of God

The Lord’s Supper reminds us that we are the family of God. When we come together around the Lord’s Supper, we draw closer to each other, because we know that what God has done for all of us. We owe it to God to be a healthy family.

We know that on the night that he was betrayed into the hands of those who would kill him, “Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples.” In John’s Gospel he had already told them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” He was telling them and us, “You will find love, strength, and fulfillment in your relationship with me and with each other.” We symbolize our relationship with God and with each other by serving each other the bread. Jesus feeds us all and brings us together.

“He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” The cup of grape juice is the color of blood, which is life. It draws us into communion with Jesus who gave his life for us. We are his people. He loved us enough to give his life for us. “This is how we know what love is,” wrote John, “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for each other” (1 John 3:16).

The covenant in the blood of Jesus brings about a relationship between God and us. We fulfill the covenant from our side by accepting his love for us and loving him back by doing what he tells us to do.

This is the day after the Fourth of July. As we thank God for the freedoms we have in America, let’s commit ourselves to leading people to turn to God as we know him in Jesus, and to turn away from the false gods of pleasure, power, fame, and selfishness. The sins committed in worshiping those false gods are destroying our country. We can best serve America by being a healthy church full of people who love and obey the true and living God and lead by example.