The God of All Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Welcome! Today we begin a new series lasting about 5 months – a series on the entire book of 2 Corinthians. Over time, 2 Corinthians has become one of my favorite New Testament books, although it didn’t start out that way. When I first read it, I was struck by all the personal information Paul shared, by how his emotions were very apparent in what he wrote, and I thought, “Why is this book part of the Bible?” I was also confused by several parts of the book, and just didn’t understand it. But over the years I have grown to really love and appreciate this book, in large part because it is so personal. Paul is quite literally an open book in this letter, and through his example we learn what it means to really live as a servant of Christ, to really love God with all of your mind as well as all of your heart.

Today’s message has two parts. In the first part, I want to give some background about the time and circumstances that led to the writing of this letter. And in the second part, I want to look at these first eleven verses as they help set some of the themes of the entire book. So first, the background:

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.

The Holy Spirit Testifies to Christ

Carl Baum has been sharing on the Holy Spirit throughout the month of January. I have been encouraged by this series, as I hope you have. I was impacted on the message about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. I was really excited to see the Holy Spirit working to bring about God's purposes without fail, and it was also surprising how few people in the Old Testament were filled by the Spirit, only Moses, seventy elders, a few judges, two kings, and many of the prophets. It is amazing to think how strong a contrast that is to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at and after Pentecost, even up to the present time.

It's that work of the Holy Spirit until now that I want to talk about. In I Corinthians 12:3, it says,

Therefore I tell you that ... no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 12:3

I want to take a little while to testify that “Jesus is Lord,” how I came to Christ, and the role that the Spirit had in it.

The Holy Spirit In Acts

Welcome! Today’s message is on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Book of Acts. This is part of a two-month series on the Holy Spirit. Previous messages were on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit in the Gospels, and Jesus’ Teachings on the Holy Spirit. Audio and text transcripts for these messages are available on our website if you missed them and would like to hear or read them.

I will start today right with the beginning of Acts. Luke explains that Jesus died and was resurrected, and then Jesus over multiple occasions presented Himself to the disciples teaching them.

On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." – Acts 1:4-5

Jesus' Teachings on the Holy Spirit

Let me jump right in with two passages in the book of John.

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you must also testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning." - John 15:26-27

But I tell you the Truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in Me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. - John 16:7-11

The Holy Spirit in the Gospels

Welcome! Today we continue our series on the Holy Spirit. Last week we looked at The Holy Spirit as revealed in the Old Testament. We learned that the primary Hebrew word for Spirit is Ruach, which can be translated as Spirit, or as wind, or as breath. We talked about how there is this mysterious picture of the Spirit of God as the Breath of God, how God (or anyone) cannot speak without breath, how the content of speech is words, and how the Word is one of the names for Jesus (see John 1). So you see this wondrous interconnection between the God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. In the New Testament, the Greek word for Spirit is pneuma, and it also can be translated as wind or breath. Even in English, we have some words based on this word. Pneumatic means of or relating to or using air; a pneumatic drill is a power drill powered by compressed air. And you all know what pneumonia is, an infection involving the lungs.

We looked at many verses last week in the Old Testament that made reference to the Spirit. When the Spirit was on someone it was obvious to those around them. The most common results of the Spirit being on someone was that they would prophecy, that is, they would accurately predict the future, and often this was fully interwoven with praising God for who He is. When Joseph told of the coming famine, even Pharaoh, someone of totally different culture who worshipped false gods, understood that the Spirit of an overriding, all-powerful God had to be at work.

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

Welcome! Today we begin a new series entitled “The Holy Spirit.” To me, the Holy Spirit is kind of like a friend we have who is somewhat mysterious, who doesn’t volunteer a lot of information about himself. Imagine a friend who always points you to another, really great friend, but who just doesn’t draw attention to himself. He prefers to work behind the scenes. But just who is he? What is he really like? In this series I hope that we will learn more about the Holy Spirit, who He is, what He does, and how we can benefit the most from Him, but I am afraid He is going to remain somewhat mysterious, because this is how God chooses to reveal Him to us. We will shine the light on Him, but how do you shine the light on wind? How do you shine the light on a breath? There is much about the Holy Spirit that will remain beyond our senses and beyond our full understanding.

Today we are going to focus on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Old Testament. We are going to go through a lot of verses today, a lot even for me, so that we can get the big picture, the bird’s eye view, of the Holy Spirit throughout the Old Testament. Also called the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is mentioned almost from the very beginning; in fact, He is mentioned in the second verse of the Bible.