The Active Ingredient
Pastor Albert Almore
"While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.””
Acts 19:1-2
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.””
On the back of every medicine package, and on the back of every medicine bottle there’s something called the active ingredient. This active ingredient is the main thing that’s active in helping you overcome whatever is taking place in your body. Tylenol has an active ingredient. Benadryl has an active ingredient. Zyrtec has an active ingredient. Believers in Jesus Christ have an active ingredient, and that active ingredient is The Holy Spirit. He’s active in our lives revealing more to us about our Heavenly Father. He’s active in our lives revealing more to us about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He’s active in our lives revealing to us who we really are, and all that God has for us. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? For them to say no, is for them to say we haven’t received THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT! That’s our sermon title for this morning….
THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT
I don’t have time to put Him into proper context to Who He is and what He means to me, so let me just say it like this…
📝 The Holy Spirit is my EVERYTHING.
Here’s why He’s my everything. In John 14:16 Jesus says,
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another HELPER, that He may abide with you forever—”
John 14:16
This is why The Holy Spirit is my everything.
📝 The Holy Spirit is my HELPER.
Jesus says this in John 14:26,
“But THE HELPER, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name…
John 14:26
“Likewise THE SPIRIT ALSO HELPS in our weaknesses...
Romans 8:26
The Holy Spirit helps us to do what God is calling us to do. The Holy Spirit helps us to live how Jesus instructs us to live. The Holy Spirit is THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT in all of this. He’s our Helper. He’s my everything.
He’s my Helper in MANY different areas, but let’s start with this…
📝 The Holy Spirit is actively CHANGING ME.
The Holy Spirit changes you from who you THOUGHT you were to who God KNOWS you are.
The Holy Spirit changes you from who you used to be, to who God is calling you to be. I can’t think of a clearer case of this than Peter.
Jesus looked at Peter and said, I say to you, you are Ceiphas, meaning you are a rock, you’re solid, you’re unmovable, you’re a foundation I can build on. At that time Peter was the furthest thing from being a rock. At that time Peter was the furthest thing from being a solid stable foundation to build on.
But the day that the Holy Spirit began to dwell in Peter, is the day that he went from being JUST PETER to being THE ROCK!
Peter went from DENYING Jesus, to actively ready to DIE for Jesus. This is the changing power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit partnered with Jesus in changing Peter to who God was calling him to be.
📝 The Holy Spirit is actively TEACHING ME.
He’s actively teaching me, who I am. He’s actively teaching me who I’m not. He’s actively teaching me Who He is, and what He has for me. He’s actively teaching me how God sees me. He’s actively teaching me how God loves me. He’s actively teaching me that I’m His beloved, and the apple of His eye. And when I forget ALL OF THIS…
The Holy Spirit is actively bringing things back to my REMEMBRANCE.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, HE WILL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and BRING TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE ALL THINGS that I said to you.”
John 14:26
Him changing me, and teaching me, and bringing His truth back to my remembrance is EVERYTHING here’s why….
📝 How I was and how He is can’t COEXIST.
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I ALSO SEND YOU.””
John 20:21
“And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “RECEIVE THE SPIRIT. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.””
John 20:22-23
I believe that this is Jesus’s way of saying, before you live in My name and preach in My name you must first forgive in My name—receive the Holy Spirit! You can’t go out here and crucify those that just crucified Me. You have to forgive them, love them, and share Me with them, and you can’t do this in your own strength—RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT!
How you were and how He is can’t COEXIST! We know this true because Galatians 5:17 says,
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Galatians 5:17
“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”
Romans 8:7
📝 The Holy Spirit is actively changing me through CONVICTION.
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, THE HELPER will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
John 16:7
“And when he comes, HE WILL CONVICT the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:”
John 16:8
📝 Where there’s no conviction there’s no LOVE. Where there’s no conviction there’s no RELATIONSHIP with God our Heavenly Father.
Let me prove it. Hebrews 12:4-5 says,
“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,”
Hebrews 12:4-5
WHY???
“because THE LORD DISCIPLINES THE ONE HE LOVES, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.””
Hebrews 12:6
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?”
Hebrews 12:7
“If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.”
Hebrews 12:8
Where there’s no conviction there’s no LOVE. Where there’s no conviction there’s no RELATIONSHIP with God our Heavenly Father, but I will say this….
There’s a distinct difference between condemnation versus conviction.
📝 Condemnation produces GUILT.Conviction produces CHANGE.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:17
Condemnation arrives on the scene with GUILT, but conviction arrives on the scene with GRACE.
“Therefore, there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus,”
Romans 8:1
Condemnation produces GUILT.Conviction produces CHANGE.
Through Christ Jesus, I’m no longer condemned, but I’m actively convicted to change by The Holy Spirit, but here’s the good news as it relates to that change….
📝 The Holy Spirit is actively SUSTAINING ME.
““If you love Me, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.”
John 14:15
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—”
John 14:16
📝 The Holy Spirit SUSTAINS what He whispers to you to CHANGE.
When you let Him work, the Holy Spirit will produce and sustain your new nature. We call this new nature, the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says,
“BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT PRODUCES THIS KIND OF FRUIT in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
Galatians 5:22-23
When it comes walking out the fruit of the spirit, we must fully rely on Zechariah 4:6
…'Not by might nor by power, BUT BY MY Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6
Joseph said it best when asked to interpret a dream in Genesis 41:16,
"I MYSELF CANNOT DO IT," Joseph replied, "but God will give Pharaoh a sound answer." Genesis 41:16
📝 The Holy Spirit SUPPLIES the power to meet the COMMAND.
📝 The Holy Spirit is actively LEADING ME.
Romans 8:14 says,
For all who are LED BY THE SPIRIT of God are sons of God. Romans 8:14
The Holy Spirit is actively leading me to my next.
Have you ever noticed that the life of Jesus was always on the move from THE MANGER to THE CROSS?
His entire life He was being led by the Holy Spirit.
“Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. HE WAS LED BY THE SPIRIT in the wilderness,”
Luke 4:1
Allow the spirit to take the lead in wilderness.
“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”
Mark 1:35
“And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.””
Mark 1:36-37
“But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because FOR THIS PURPOSE I have come forth.””
Mark 1:38
We get this sense from this text that while in prayer, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to what He would have Him to do that day.
Allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead in your day to day life.
Why?
The Holy Spirit is actively leading me to my next. I Corinthians 2:9 speaks of my next like this….
“But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which GOD HAS PREPARED for those who love Him.””
I Corinthians 2:9
“But God has revealed them to us THROUGH HIS SPIRIT. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
I Corinthians 2:10
The Holy Spirit leads you to what’s prepared for you.
Through the Holy Spirit actively changing you, convicting you, the entire time He’s been preparing you as He leads you to what’s already prepared. Jesus gives a glimpse of what’s prepared for us in John 14:12 when He says,,’
““Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and GREATER WORKS than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
John 14:12
God has a greater work for you to do that eyes haven’t seen, that ears haven’t heard. It hasn’t even entered into the heart of mankind.
The first question that comes to our mind when we hear that God has a greater work for us to do is HOW?
That’s the same question that Mary asked when the angel told her that God had the greatest of works for her to do, and the greatest of works for her to carry. Mary replied, "HOW???” Luke 1:34 says,
“Then Mary said to the angel, “HOW can this be, since I do not know a man?””
Luke 1:34
“And the angel answered and said to her, “THE HOLY SPIRIT will come upon you, AND THE POWER of the Highest will overshadow you…
Luke 1:35
📝 The Holy Spirit is actively EMPOWERING ME.
The Holy Spirit actively empowers me to accomplish whatever He’s leading me to do.
📝 Whatever the DEMAND is for my assignment, He will SUPPLY the power.
“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been CLOTHED WITH POWERfrom on high.””
Luke 24:49
““And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and FILLS YOU WITH POWER from heaven.””
Luke 24:49
“But YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””
Acts 1:8
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS POWER THAT IS AT WORK WITHIN US,”
Ephesians 3:20
The Holy Spirit is actively EMPOWERING ME.
Can I let you in on a little secret? We have a greater promise than the patriarchs of old. We have a greater promise than David, and all of them. We have a greater promise, a promise that says He won’t just come upon us, but that He will dwell in us.
1 Corinthians 3:16 says,
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit DWELLS IN YOU? 1 Corinthians 3:16
The same God that came upon the face of the waters. The same God that came upon Moses. The same God that came upon Joshua. The same God that came upon Sampson. The same God that came upon Gideon, Saul, and Isaiah, is the same God that NOW DWELLS IN YOU!
He’s the active ingredient in your dreams. He’s the active ingredient in your calling. He’s the active ingredient in your walk with God. He the active ingredient in your pursuit of holiness. He’s the active ingredient in your day to day life.
He’s actively changing you. He’s actively convicting you. He’s actively empowering you. He’s actively showing you things that eyes hasn’t seen, ears, haven’t heard. Things that haven’t even entered into the heart of mankind, but He’s trying to reveal them to you. But the question is this….
WILL YOU ALLOW HIM TO TAKE THE LEAD?