Remembrance

At least 275 times in the Bible the word remembrance or a word form of the word remembrance is used. The word forget or a word form of the word forget is used 55 times.

Genesis 9:8-17 (from The Message)

Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals –that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”

Filling and Staying Filled

Welcome! Today is a special day for our church – a little later we will recognize John Farmer as a pastor, as an elder, celebrating the work God has been doing and John has been allowing God to do over the past years to bring John to a point of maturity and leadership here at Clemson Community Church.

First, I wanted to share some thoughts from Scripture about how this journey to maturity happens in believers’ lives. God desires that every believer grow to maturity in Christ. Not only does God desire this, but He provides us with exactly what we need for this to happen. And what has God provided us? His Holy Spirit.

I hope you enjoy the picture above. This is of course a fuel gauge for a gas tank in an automobile, and I cannot think of a more appropriate image to go with our title, Filling and Staying Filled. Now, how many of you have cars, or your families have cars, in which when the needle points on empty, you still have quite a bit of gas left? You are not quite sure how much, but it is still going to be a while before even the warning light will turn on. 

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Welcome! Today we will continue our series on the Holy Spirit, and will focus on the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is spelled out most clearly in Galatians 5.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. – Galatians 5:22-23a

One little sentence, and yet, so much to talk about! In the first two-thirds or so of this message, I simply want to expand on this verse, to paint a Biblical picture of what the grand scope of what is being said here, to explore what these words really mean. Let’s start with the word fruit. In Greek, the word is karpos. Karpos literally means, well, fruit! Jesus used the word repeatedly to describe the fruit of trees and vines. But more often, the word was used symbolically; the fruit of a tree or vine was used as a symbol of something else. In such cases, perhaps the best translation of karpos, other than fruit, is result. The fruit of the Spirit is the result of the Spirit. And by the way, this word karpos is singular; it is a singular fruit of the Spirit. What this passage is saying is that the result of the Spirit at work in your life is that your life will exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Welcome! Today’s message is on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is a part of our continuing series on the Holy Spirit. I have a lot I want to cover, so I will get right down to business.

I think a good starting point is to first look at the Greek word for “gift” in the Bible. This word is charisma. The reason I think this is so helpful is because this shows that the word is very closely related to another word, charis, which means “grace,” that is, unmerited favor.

Now, this is so important, I want to go deeper. Herschel Martindale, one of the leaders in our association of churches, the Great Commission Churches, has a wonderful way of talking about grace. He says, and I agree, that although grace is unmerited favor, the definition tends to not connect emotionally with most people. Herschel loves to define grace this way: Grace is God’s love at work in my life. Grace is God meeting our needs. I love grace explained this way because it so clearly communicates the idea that God loves us, not just at the moment when He allowed Jesus to die for our sins on the cross, and not just at the moment of our salvation, when we turned to Christ in faith to save us, but every moment. He is interested in us right now, eager to help us to grow spiritually, eager to help us in all things.