Theo Rule - The Temple of the Holy Spirit -21st July 2019 by The Grainery Church

Saturday - Mark Zschech by The Grainery Church

Saturday - Phil Camden by The Grainery Church

Saturday - Matt Stackhouse by The Grainery Church

Friday - Mark Zschech by The Grainery Church

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 is a well known passage about spiritual gifts. From its historical context of Paul’s church planting in gentile cities, Al paints a picture of a Corinth which was a multicultural, socially and spiritually diverse city with a thriving church. Paul wrote to this church to address some beliefs and practices regarding spiritual gifts. He stressed that all gifts are valuable for building up the local body of Christ - the local church.

Al applies this teaching to our context by stressing how much we need each other and how much each person in a church needs to find their area of gifting and service then get to it. Church is not a spectator sport.

Acts 1:6-8 is a seminal passage about the Spirit of God. Sue leads us through the implications of these verses for our transformation and for our engagement with the world. She explains how the Spirit leads us if we keep our hearts soft towards Him. Grumbling, complaining and fear can harden our hearts and Sue uses Old Testament stories of the Exodus to exemplify this. Alternatively a heart of worship can soften our hearts as many of the Psalms show (See Psalm 95).

The gods of success, romance, finance or anything else will control us if we let them but the Spirit of God will lead rather than control us, and transform rather than destroy us. So let us worship!

There are different types of obedience. One is obedience to the law - enforced by the police. The second is obedience to God’s revelations, which can help you to sail through life and flourish- from the inside out! Obedience to the Holy Spirit is definitely the latter of these, helping us to succeed in this world.

Pastor Sue applies this idea to the concepts of identity, purpose and God’s power, so that we can be healthy people in a healthy church which brings the love of God to this world.

She encourages us to be passionate people rather than jellyfish!!!

What does revival mean to you? Renewal? Reform? Fire? A return to something powerful. Josh describes two Old Testament transformational moves of God - one through form and one through fire. He applies this to the “Prozac generation “ and the need for a spiritual revival in Australia. Creating a godly lineage who are strong in faith, filled with Gods word and ready to impact the world is a key element in this revival. Josh is the only person in the GRAINERY’s history to use a dirty nappy as a parable of our own sinfulness before God! He encourages us to be honest before God about our sin and thus put ourselves in pole position for revival.

Historically preaching and beliefs about the Holy Spirit and about spiritual gifts has tended to divide Christians. We all have different past experiences of the Holy Spirit but in fact the Spirit wants to bring unity amongst Christians rather than division. Matt explains how the Upper Room coming of the Spirit, described in Acts Chapter 2, was after ten days in which 120 of Jesus’ followers were “in one accord”.

Do you recognise that you desperately need more of the Holy Spirit in your life? This message will encourage you to eagerly desire the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts, and spiritual fruit in the context of love.