Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website ecb .asia or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. We've been studying the
serious foundations and we started last week.
with saying that we are rooted in the Word. For
us at ECB, the Bible is God's inspired, inerrant
Word. And therefore, we use it and we study it
as the ultimate authority for doctrine, for life.
Therefore, that is how we do things here at ECB.
And the second foundation that we will be studying
today is the foundation of being empowered by
the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to the apostles that
the Holy Spirit was with them, but one day it
was going to be in them. And then Jesus said
that the Holy Spirit was going to lead us into
all truth, truth that sets us free. It was going
to be the comforter. It was going to be a central,
indispensable part of what it meant to follow
Jesus. And therefore, we cannot follow Jesus,
we cannot be making disciples for Jesus if we
are not empowered by the Holy Spirit. And this
is the foundation that we are going to be studying
today. Now, I understand that when it comes to
the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, in a church
like ECB where we have a spectrum of all denominations,
we will have all views about everything represented.
That's why it's important to remember that even
though we are a multi -denominational church
with people from all over the world and so many
denominations, we're not a multi -doctrinal church.
It's not that we believe about everything for
everybody. We have a doctrine. We have a doctrinal
statement. And I want to share that with you
just for you to get an idea of what this says,
where we stand at ECB. And we say it this way,
it is the will of God that each believer should
be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified
holy, being separated from sin and the world
and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby
receiving power for holy living and effective
service. This is accomplished through being filled
with the Holy Spirit, which is both a distinct
event and progressive experience in the life
of the believer. Now, pretty straightforward.
It's a paragraph that is actually long and wordy,
but the context is exactly what we're going to
be learning today. The Apostle Paul put it more
succinctly. He said it like this, Since we live
by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading
in every part of our lives. That summarizes what
we mean. Will you read it with me? Since we live
by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading
in every part of our lives. In which book is
this found? In Galatians. Remember that. Because
that will come later in this study. What we desire
is to be a church where we are equipped To grow
in intimacy with the Holy Spirit. So that he
can lead your life. And so he can lead our ministries.
Because if we are not aligned with the Holy Spirit.
Then we are not going to be able to have the
power that is needed. To break through the power
of darkness with the power of light. We are ambassadors
of the kingdom of light. And therefore we need
that power. And that power is only accomplished
when we are aligned in the deepest parts of our
lives with the Holy Spirit. In this way, following
Jesus is like taking a road trip. There is a
future destination that we hope to get to. And
that is to be able to be with the Lord, reigning
with Christ in eternity forever. But this destination
has a path where we are in today. We are traveling
in this journey. And whenever you are preparing
for a road trip, there are things that matter.
Some people, if I were to ask you right now,
what is one thing, the first thing that you would
do, apart from packing and loading the car with
your suitcases, what is the first thing that
you would do if you are preparing for a road
trip? Some of you would say, fill the tank with
gas. Other people say, I like to wash the car.
I like to travel clean. And other people say,
well, get my music ready. But one thing that
I learned is that traveling and driving for a
long time, it's good to have nice music and it's
good to have the tank full. But if your tires
are not aligned, it's a pain. Because as you
are driving, you need to stay on the lane. You
cannot be changing like that or driving in the
lane all the time. You have to stay in your place.
And if your tires are not aligned, then you are
constantly having to compensate. And that gets
tiring. And when we talk about life with the
Holy Spirit, it's like that. There are four areas,
four tires that we have in our car that need
to be aligned with the Holy Spirit. And we are
going to discover these because we will look
at the life of the Apostle Paul, who is the one
who taught us most of what we know about the
Holy Spirit throughout the Pauline letters. These
four areas include being sealed with the Holy
Spirit, the call to holiness, pursuing our calling,
And also discerning God's timing. All of these
areas have to do with our relationship with the
Holy Spirit. So to understand them, we have to
travel in time to the beginning of our era. First
century, when the Apostle Paul... becomes a Christian,
and then he becomes a missionary, and he starts
taking the gospel to the Roman Empire. And it's
through all his experiences that these four things
come to the surface, and he's going to experience
them, and he's going to write about them later.
So I want to know what he wrote, but I also want
to know what he experienced. And this is where
the study is going to take us. Starting first.
At his conversion. He is in Jerusalem. He thinks
he is serving God. He is very passionate. But
his service to God. Was persecuting Christians.
Taking them to prison. And seeking their death
penalty. And as he is going from Jerusalem. To
the north in Damascus. Somewhere along the road.
Jesus appears to him. And at that moment, the
life of the Apostle Paul becomes completely changed.
He's so disoriented. Because this person he thought
was a fake. And the followers of Jesus that he
was trying to kill. Now suddenly, all of that
is true. Jesus is real. It's not fake. And these
followers of Jesus are engaged in truth. And
now that he has this encounter with Jesus, he
becomes blind. He's taken to the house of a Christian
man, follower of Jesus, right there in Damascus.
And as he's there waiting, not knowing what's
going to happen next, a man called Ananias shows
up. Because God had told Ananias, Ananias, I
want you to go to where Paul is. I know, you
know who Paul is? Yeah, that's the guy. The one
that is trying to kill Christians? That's the
guy. I want you to go and pray for him because
I have a calling for his life. But he has not
yet been sealed with the Holy Spirit. So I want
you to go and pray for him. And that is where
we encounter this section where the Apostle Paul
will learn about the sealing of the Holy Spirit
on his own life. So Ananias went and found Saul,
and he laid his hands on him and said, Brother
Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on
the road, has sent me so that you might regain
your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And at that moment, as Ananias prays for him,
says instantly, something like scales fell from
Saul's eyes, and he regained his sight. Then
he got up and was baptized. Afterward, he ate
some food and regained his strength. That is
the moment in which Saul of Tarsus became the
Apostle Paul. He became a follower of Jesus,
and this was the moment, using the words of Jesus,
in which Paul became born again. Because to be
born again means that before this moment, you
did not have the Holy Spirit in you. But now
you do. And why? Because you believed in Jesus.
And the moment you believed in Jesus, the Word
of God says the Spirit of Jesus comes to live
now in you. And that Spirit is called the Holy
Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible says
we are spiritually dead. And if we die in that
condition, we cannot go to be with the Lord.
Instead, we will have to be separated from Him
for eternity. Instead, He wants you to believe
in Him, trust Him with your life so that He can
forgive you and give you His Spirit. And for
those who have been born again, the Holy Spirit,
the word of Jesus said to make disciples and
teach them to obey everything he commanded, including
the being baptized in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So here, Paul is
simply experiencing that. He hears the gospel
now from Jesus himself saying, yep, I am the
Messiah. I am the fulfillment of all of these
things. And I have a plan for your life. And
now Paul follows Jesus. Gets baptized. And begins
his ministry. He's going to talk later to Christians.
To explain this. And he's going to say to them.
Guys. You also were included in Christ. Just
like me. When? When you heard the message of
truth. One message of truth. The gospel of your
salvation. Oh, the good news that Jesus died
for my sins and he wants to forgive me. If I
repent, I give him my life, he will forgive me
completely forever. Yes, that's the gospel of
Jesus. When you heard it and you believed in
it, when you believed, you were marked in him
with a seal. And what is that seal? The promised
Holy Spirit. At that moment, the words of Jesus
become fulfilled. The Holy Spirit is with you,
but now he's going to be in you. The Apostle
Paul says to us Christians, when you heard the
gospel and you believed, at that moment, God
gave you the Holy Spirit. And at that moment,
you became part of the community of Jesus. And
this Spirit that He has given you is a deposit
guaranteeing our inheritance until when? Until
the redemption of those who are God's possession
to the praise of His glory. The Holy Spirit in
us is the guarantee that when the time comes
for us to face the Lord, we'll be in. We fear
no condemnation because we have the guarantee
that we have been redeemed until that day. And
this is the foundation that any follower of Jesus
has to stand on. So I have to ask you, is the
Holy Spirit living in you or not? Because if
you do not have the Holy Spirit in you, you cannot
be aligned with the Holy Spirit. There's nothing
to align with. You are spiritually in a position
of disconnect from God. You do not belong to
his people. You have not been adopted into his
family. Because that happens the moment you are
given the Holy Spirit. And when do you receive
the Holy Spirit? The moment you believe the gospel.
I was six years old when that happened to me.
I heard the gospel in Sunday school. I spent
the whole day thinking about it. And that night
I told my father, dad, I learned about this in
Sunday school. I would like to accept Christ.
And he said, what do you mean by that when you
say that? And I explained, well, I heard about
the gospel that Jesus died for me. And I want
him to be my savior. So he asked me to wait for
him because he was taking a shower at that moment.
And we went to my bedroom. And that's where.
He shared the gospel one more time. And then
he invited me. To pray. In my own words. And
on that day I repented of my sins. And I asked
Jesus to save me. And I remember. Crying like
a baby. Because I was feeling overwhelmed by
two things. The realization that I was a sinner.
And yet. The awareness of God's love. So undeserving.
And that moment was the moment that marked the
rest of my life. It's an experience that is different
for different people. But what is true is this.
You know you have the Holy Spirit in you if you
have believed in Jesus. Because that is what
the Apostle Paul said. So if you are a follower
of Jesus that is always wondering, do I have
the Holy Spirit? Maybe I don't. Maybe I have
it, but now he's not happy with me, so he left
me. And you live in that place of insecurity
all the time. Let me assure you what the Apostle
Paul just told us. If you truly believe in Jesus,
if he is truly your Savior, you have been born
again, and the Holy Spirit is in you until the
day of redemption. And you can rest on that.
That's the first thing that has to be aligned.
So do you have the Holy Spirit in you? Have you
believed in Jesus? The second thing is something
that he's going to experience a little bit later,
but almost immediately. Because as he's in Damascus
and he becomes now a follower of Jesus. From
there, he goes back to Jerusalem. And something
interesting happens, because remember, a few
days ago, he was killing Christians, you know,
taking them to prison and oppressing them. So
he gets to Jerusalem, and as he gets there, he's
going to start learning about this transforming
power of the Holy Spirit within him. We are told
that as he gets to Jerusalem, When he came there,
he tried to join the disciples, but they were
all afraid of him, not believing that he really
was a disciple. Imagine the Apostle Paul showing
up in the middle of the worship service, you
know, in ECB in Jerusalem on those years. You
know, he walks in and people start saying, Is
that Saul of Tarsus? Yes, that's Saul of Tarsus,
you know. And everybody, you know, trying to
sit apart from him. And then he's suddenly left
alone. Because nobody wants to be around him.
Everybody's afraid of him. Until they realize
that he was the real thing. And a guy called
Barnabas takes Saul to the apostles. To corroborate
what had happened in his life. That he was truly.
a follower of Jesus now, that he was not faking
it. And at that moment they confirmed, oh yeah,
yeah, this is real. And the apostle Paul starts
preaching the gospel right there in Jerusalem.
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely
in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of
the Lord. He talked and debated with the Hellenistic
Jews, but they tried to kill him. Now the tables
turned. People tried to kill him because he was
a follower of Jesus now. Rather in Jerusalem
where a few weeks before he was doing the opposite.
He was the one trying to kill the Christians.
But there's something that has changed within
him. How does a guy turn from hating Christians
and hating Jesus to loving Jesus and want to
hang out with Christians? How does that happen
in a matter of weeks? The answer to that is Holy
Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit is called Holy
Spirit for a reason. He's going to write to the
Galatians later about this topic of the Holy
Spirit, saying, look, the moment the Holy Spirit
came to live in us, now the Holy Spirit is almost
like a good cup of coffee. If you're brewing
coffee in the morning, if you're a coffee drinker
like me, by the way, I love good coffee. So I
brew the coffee in the morning and something
happens. It's unavoidable. The whole house starts
smelling like coffee. So if you hate the smell
of coffee, sorry, cannot avoid it. I cannot brew
coffee and try to keep the smell in. It will
naturally come out. And try to fill every space.
And the Holy Spirit is like that. The moment
he's in us, he wants the aroma of Christ to start
permeating all of our lives. And start coming
out into our relationships, into our jobs, into
our marriages. There's that desire that is coming
out from within us that is not us. We are not
the coffee. The Holy Spirit is. We are just experiencing
the aroma of Christ in us. And the Holy Spirit
desires for us to experience His life, His holiness,
His character, His goodness. So that where before
we were enslaved to bitterness, now we can experience
forgiveness. Where before we experienced hatred,
now we can experience love. When before we were
just angry and rageful, now we can have self
-control and peace. He wants us to experience
that in our lives. And that transforming power
is what he started experiencing at the very beginning.
And you can see him in moments perhaps being
surprised with himself about how much he had
turned around. That is the power of the Holy
Spirit. But understanding that, he later writes
about these things. Because something is going
to happen with the Apostle Paul. When the believers
learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea
and sent him off to Tarsus. And now, because
his life was at risk, the Apostle Paul is going
to move all the way to the north, and he's going
to be there in Tarsus, waiting until eventually
Barnabas goes and gets him, and they move to
Antioch. That is going to come in a second. But
about this, he writes to the Christians in the
church of Ephesus, two things that are very important
for our understanding. One of them, he tells
them, don't be drunk with wine because that will
ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy
Spirit. He says there's influences in your life
that want to control the way you think, the way
you feel, the way you behave. And if one of those
influences is going to be alcohol, that's not
going to be good for you. If you let alcohol
affect the way you think, the way you feel, the
way you behave, that's not going to be good.
Instead of letting your life be filled with that,
What should fill you instead? The Holy Spirit.
Not because I need more amount of Holy Spirit
in me. I already have all the Holy Spirit I'm
going to have. He already came to live in me.
It's not that I have like a foot of the Holy
Spirit in my life, you know, and years later
another foot, you know. It's not like that. I
have the presence of the Holy Spirit in me the
moment I was born again. But that is not the
same to say, That the Holy Spirit controls every
aspect of my life. Because I have other things
influencing me instead. And instead of having
areas in my life that are closed doors to the
influence of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul
says, open those doors. So let the Holy Spirit
and the aroma of Christ fill those spaces. If
you are rageful and bitter. Open that door. So
now the Holy Spirit can transform that part of
your life. And you can experience forgiveness
and grace and peace. Let the aroma of Christ
fill you. And that's a beautiful picture. Because
we are all in this journey in which we are wrestling
with sinfulness in our lives. And it's a constant
struggle. But we are reminded. I am not that
anymore. I am this now. I belong to Christ. Holy
Spirit is in me. And how do you know you have
the Holy Spirit in those moments? It's because
you can sin. Alright? But you cannot enjoy sin
anymore. You can't. Now you know better. And
how do you know better? Because the Holy Spirit
is in you. And He is the one telling you. That's
called the convicting work of the Holy Spirit
in our lives. And you will engage in things you
shouldn't. And you're going to feel miserable
after. Because you know this is not aligned with
the Lord. That's why the Apostle Paul also tells
the Ephesians, guys, the Holy Spirit wants to
see you heal, wants to see you grow, wants to
reach the deepest parts of your being. And every
time you act in a stubborn way and you close
your ears to his influence, to his voice, you
are grieving him. So do not grieve the Holy Spirit
of God with whom you were sealed for the day
of redemption. You are meant to grow in intimacy
with him. Don't grieve him. And in those moments
of conviction, you will know you are grieving
the Holy Spirit because you yourself are grieving.
So I have to ask you, is this aspect of your
life aligned with the Lord? Are you currently
grieving the Holy Spirit? Are you engaging and
practicing things in your life that you know?
Deep in your heart that this is not aligned with
whom God called you to be, what he saved you
for. And there are certain things that we'll
have to address, that we'll have to confess,
that we'll have to put in order in our lives.
Because if this is not aligned, then the way
you follow Jesus is going to be compromised.
A couple of years ago, I shared with you my own
journey, how when I was in Bible college, ready
to start teaching and learning the Bible so I
could serve in ministry later, I started feeling
convicted about something I had done when I was
a teenager. And it was years later, I was in
college. What was that thing that I was being
convicted about would not go away? It was like,
keep coming to my mind. And it was that when
I was a teenager, 14 years old, I had stolen
money from my dad. And I denied it. I never confessed
it. And now that I'm starting to serve God, that
thing is coming to my mind. And I don't want
to think about it. I don't want to do anything
about it. I just want to rest in God's grace.
I already told the Lord to forgive me. I had
already done it. But now, it was not aligned.
And I was feeling convicted. And that summer
when I went back home, I knew I needed to talk
to dad, to mom, and said, look, remember that
day? A few years ago when that money went missing?
Well, it was me. And I'm here to ask you to forgive
me. This is something the Holy Spirit has asked
me to do. Here's the money back. They received
it. They forgave me. We prayed together. And
that wrestling with that guilt, that shame that
was there constantly convicting me went away.
And suddenly, my car is aligned again. It was
no longer something that was keeping me awake
at night. And I do not know what is the Holy
Spirit convicting you about. but there is something
that is a sort of guilt and shame, and this often
comes with secrets that you have never brought
to the light. Often, this area of our life, the
only way that comes aligned is that you bring
it to light. And I have worked with Christians
along the journey. And I have heard some of the
most heartfelt confessions that people have brought
to the light. Things that perhaps are the most
shameful that they felt about. And yet, in God's
grace, they were able to bring it to the surface.
And God healed that part of their lives. I have
sat with couples where infidelity is confessed.
And then I have to be there with them, walking
in that journey. And I'm here to tell you, there's
nothing. That the grace of God cannot heal. But
if the Holy Spirit is convicting you. Because
you've been grieving him. Then there's only one
way to align. Stop grieving him. That's not good
for you. That's not what he desires. So are you
grieving the Holy Spirit? That's only two of
four. We have four more wheels to see. Let's
see. After the Apostle Paul went to Tarsus in
the north, Barnabas goes and gets him, and they
go to Antioch because people were preaching the
gospel in Antioch, and a church was established
there, and they needed teaching. They needed
to learn the scriptures. So the Apostle Paul
and Barnabas went to Antioch, and they started
serving there, teaching for a long time. But
as that church grew, It was very unique because
in contrast to the church in Jerusalem, the church
in Jerusalem was a gathering of Jews that were
now followers of Jesus. But the gathering in
Antioch was kind of like ECB. It was a combination
of all these different people from all these
different places coming together. And it was
so diverse that outsiders did not know what to
call them. Because until that point, they were
known as people of the way. But from that point
on, people said, you know, it's kind of confusing.
All those people are so different. What do we
call them? Oh, Christians, which means followers
of Christ. And that's when Christians were called
Christians for the first time ever in Antioch.
So now that Paul is one of the leaders in that
church, He's spending time with the leaders in
worshiping the Lord, praying, fasting together,
and something happens. He's now going to experience
the alignment with his calling. And this is what
we are told. Now in the church of Antioch, there
were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon,
Carl Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manin. who had
been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul.
These were the leaders. While they were worshiping
the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set
apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to
which I have called them. So after they had fasted
and prayed, they placed their hands on them and
sent them off. It's like, what? I've been serving
you in this church for all this time, and now
you are sending me away to go and preach the
gospel now throughout Rome? Whose idea was that?
The Holy Spirit. And this was confirmed with
the leaders of the ministry, and then everybody
was on the same page, and Paul and Barnabas now
are sent. By the Holy Spirit, in alignment with
the leaders, everybody with their blessing going
for it. And that was the beginning of what we
call missions today. This is the first time where
we see intentionally a sending church, sending
one of their own to start reaching out with the
gospel, the unreached. In missiology, this is
what we go to as we see the beginning of the
missionary movement. This is very important because
now the Apostle Paul is going to start realizing
that there's a dimensional relationship with
the Holy Spirit that has to be aligned. And that
is that when God saved me, he saved me for purposes
that he has envisioned for me. And therefore,
growing in intimacy with the Holy Spirit also
means discerning and discovering what is God's
purposes and plans and calling for my life. And
that becomes clearer as you work with the Lord.
And often that is already indicated by the giftedness
that you have, by the passion that you have.
This giftedness, these passions that were given
to you by God himself, he is the one creating
you, designing you, and therefore the things
he gave you, you already have. But the problem
is that often we are not aligned with God's calling
because we have not even aligned with our giftedness,
because we are pursuing a life for other things.
And we live now in this place of insecurity and
in this place of pursuing things that were never
meant by God for us to pursue. That's why later
the Apostle Paul writes this to Christians. Because
he wants us to be aligned with our calling. That
the giftedness that the Lord gave us. We are
using for him. And this is what he wrote. There
are different kinds of gifts. But the same spirit
distributes them. And there are different kinds
of service. But the same Lord. And there are
different kinds of working, but in all of them
and in everyone, it is the same God at work.
Now, to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for the common good. The Holy Spirit
who is in you has gifted you. All of us. Have
areas of giftedness in our lives. From the things
that may seem the most mundane to the things
that seem the most supernatural. Everything that
we're gifted in comes from God. And therefore,
our callings are very diverse. Some of you were
called to be entrepreneurs and to start new initiatives
and to start new businesses and organizations
that are going to impact communities and nations.
Some of you have been called to be mothers and
to stay home and invest in the next generation
so that they can become followers of Jesus that
will be impactful for the future generations.
Some of you have been called to serve in pastoral
ministry. Some of you have been called to take
the gospel to their reach. Some of you have been
called to be pilots. Some of you have been called
to many things. Whose idea was it? The Holy Spirit.
How do you know that you are aligned with the
Holy Spirit in this area? Because if you are
not aligned with God's calling and you are not
pursuing it, you will know. And I'll tell you
why. You will feel deep. dissatisfaction with
what you're doing. You will feel busy, but irrelevant.
It doesn't matter how much money you're making.
Maybe on the outside, super successful. You made
it. But deep inside, you feel irrelevant. And
that is typically a symptom that you are not
using the giftedness that God gave you for the
purposes that he has called you. And this will
require for you to go on your knees and to start
first repenting for not aligning yourself with
his calling, for resisting it, for pursuing other
things instead. But secondly, it will require
for you to make yourself available to the Lord
and say, Lord, I'm here for you. What are the
things that you desire for me? Because I never
asked you that before. I'm always asking you,
bless what I want to do. Bless my plans. But
I never ask you what you desire for me. And once
you start entering that space, something starts
changing. Because the Holy Spirit will give you
new desires, will give you new things. In that
regard, I have a word for those of you who are
high school students. If you are here, would
you raise your hand? Good. The time is coming
where people are going to ask you, so what do
you want to study? What do you want to do with
your life? And the pressure starts increasing.
It's like, what do I want to do? I don't know.
I want to do this or that. I think I want to
do that, but I'm not sure. What if they don't
accept me in that college? What's going to happen?
It's going to be the end of my future, you know,
and you have all these things. Let me tell you,
the question people ask you is the wrong question
altogether. If you are a child of God, if the
Holy Spirit is in you, the question is now, hey,
what do you want to do? The question is, what
is the Holy Spirit leading you to? Because you
will have to make decisions. And those decisions
are about serving God with your calling. Maybe
you will become an astronaut. Great, that's God's
calling for you. But you're doing that not because
it was my parents' dream. But I'm doing that
because it's the Holy Spirit's leading. So remember
that. Feel free to seek the Lord and let him
see things unfold for you as things become clear.
The Holy Spirit will lead you to places you never
imagined. So that weight of what I'm supposed
to do with my life does not belong on your shoulders.
It's in the Holy Spirit's shoulders. He has plans
for you. Are you aligned with God's calling?
The last thing that the Apostle Paul learned
in aligning himself with the Holy Spirit, he's
already indwelled by the Spirit. He is aligned
with his walking with the Lord. He is pursuing
his calling. And yet, there's one more area that
he had to learn. And this was experienced later
as he was engaged in his second missionary trip.
In the first missionary journey from Antioch,
they went to some areas of the Roman Empire,
then they went back. And in the second missionary
journey, they had a plan. Let's visit some of
the churches, and let's take the gospel to Asia.
So they went all the way to the area of Lystra,
where they met Timothy, and then Timothy joined
their trip. But it was a whole strategic plan.
You can see the geography right here. So they
are right there in the area of Lystra, which
is the area of Galatia. And they had already
made this strategic plan. They had a clear mission.
They had a clear vision. They had a clear set
of values, you know. And now they're ready to
go to Asia, except for one thing. As they are
there in Galatia, we are told, that there's such
a thing as timing in alignment with the Holy
Spirit. Paul and his companions traveled throughout
the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been
kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word
in the province of Asia. What? Do you realize
that the Apostle Paul wanted to come all the
way to Asia at the very beginning? Why didn't
he? Why didn't he? You read it clearly. Because
the Holy Spirit said, no. I don't understand.
That's a good thing. When we left Jerusalem and
then Antioch, we prayed about this, and this
was the plan. What do you mean, not Asia now?
It doesn't make any sense. We already made the
plans. Why don't we just do them? Because the
Holy Spirit said, not Asia. I want you to stay
in Galatia and Phrygia and that is where you're
going to stay. And that is how they started preaching
the gospel in Galatia and more churches were
planted in Galatia and that's where he writes
later the letter to the Galatians that I told
you earlier where that letter came from. It was
the result of The apostle Paul aligning himself
with the timing of the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit has the authority to veto our plans. And
to redesign everything without notice. Just immediately
like that. It's almost like when we became saved,
enjoyed by the Holy Spirit, there was a little
contract with a little footprint that said, Holy
Spirit reserves the right to change the plans
at any moment for no reason. And we have to agree
to that. And then, as they were waiting then,
they came to the border of Mysia. They tried
to enter Bithynia. But the Spirit of Jesus, We're
not allowed them to. It's like, plan B? Nope.
Come on, really? I thought plan A, okay. So plan
B for sure, we're getting it right? Nope. Let
me show you for a second here the map so you
can see. So, if you go all the way now to the
north, you see the border right there in Troas.
That is when they're going to go to, all the
way to that orange dot. And from there, finally,
they will get direction from God that will say,
hey, go to Macedonia, which is Greece, and they
will go across. And that is when the church of
Corinth, the Thessalonians, they are established.
The Philippians, they're established. All that
fruit will come later. Because the Holy Spirit
redefined the plans. So let me go back to the
text where we were now. So plan B, uh -uh. So
they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
Now you can picture it on the border right there
in the map. And during the night, Paul had a
vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging
him, come over to Macedonia and help us. And
that is when the Holy Spirit said, now you can
go. This was my plan all along. After Paul had
seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave
for Macedonia, concluding that God had called
us to preach the gospel to them. And he did.
And he blessed that obedience. And that is how
they ended up being there. That's why later he
writes it so eloquently and simply yet profoundly.
And he says this. Let's read it together. Since
we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's
leading in every part of our lives. Every part
of our lives. all your four wheels be aligned
with him, even that last one, which has to do
with timing. Are you following the Holy Spirit?
Or you're living like the Holy Spirit is following
you? What happens when the plans that we had
established are not what the Holy Spirit actually
wants us to do? Are you willing to stop being
controlling? And are you willing to let go? And
be in that space of liminality, that space of
waiting, where you do not know what's going to
happen next. The only thing you know is that
God has you waiting. And in that waiting time,
it's very hard. Because especially if you are
a person that is driven by action and results,
the time of waiting feels like you're wasting
your time because nothing is happening. But that's
wrong. It's not that nothing is happening. Nothing
is happening that you can see or that you plant,
but God is working in you and he is preparing
things around so that when the right time comes,
you can go and be fruitful. Are you willing to
wait on the Lord for his timing? The last years
we were serving in Dallas, my wife and I had
been 100 % committed to the ministry there. We
served for 18 years in one church. And it started
like this. When the elder board invited me to
be the lead pastor, I said to them, okay, we'll
commit for two years. And they said to me, okay,
you know, we'll leave it open. We won't put it
in the contract. We'll leave it open. I said,
sure. But at that moment, my wife and I thought,
yeah, two years to help. It was a dying church.
You know, we'll help them get their act together
a little bit. And then we are leaving the U .S.
because we were planning to work somewhere else
in another country we do not know where yet.
But those two years turned out to be 18 years.
And we never bought a house because we were going
to be just there temporarily. At the beginning,
we didn't invest in nice furniture. You know,
everything was garage sale because we're going
to be here two years and we're out. And then
all of our kids born in Dallas, grew up in Dallas,
our oldest son, all his life in one house. One
time I heard somebody said, if you want to make
a love, tell him your plans. Because we plan
things, but God's timing is his timing. But as
we were approaching the year 15, 16, around that
time, even though we were committed and believed
in what we were doing, there was something that
started within us that I call holy dissatisfaction.
You cannot explain it. The only thing that you
know is that there's something inside of you
telling you, this is no longer it. There's something
else coming that God is going to prepare you
for. You do not know what it is. But that place
of holy dissatisfaction is a place of waiting.
Where the Lord is going to make it clear. And
when the time comes, you'll know. Why will you
know? Because the Holy Spirit is going to tell
you. So on that 18th year, I am looking in the
internet at something. I forgot exactly what
it was that I was searching for. And I see a
Google result that says, Evangelical Church of
Bangkok is looking for a lead pastor. I thought,
is that ECB? We visited in 2017 on our vacation
here in Thailand. I said, is that ECB? Let me
click on it. And I see a result. And I see the
description. and I start reading it, and the
weirdest thing happened. As I'm reading that
description, it's like, that sounds like me,
that sounds like me. Wow, they're looking for
someone that sounds like me. And I told my wife,
and I said, Sarah, you won't believe, ECV is
looking for a new pastor. And she looked at it,
and we both looked at each other, and we thought,
Could this be it? Is this the next thing? So,
in the past, people had offered us, hey, why
don't you come to work with us here? And we never
felt like this was God's doing at all. It was
like, no, of course not. We are committed here
in Dallas. We have a ministry. At that time,
as we both stood there and looked at this, it's
like, I cannot explain it. The feeling was, I
cannot put it aside. It's like to say no to this,
it felt like disobedience. So I remember sending
that email to the elder email that was there,
and I said to them, I said, look, I'm not looking
for a job. I already have one. But there's this
thing that is happening within us, and we do
not know. Is this what the Holy Spirit is doing?
So I'm making contact just to let you know. Tell
me if there's anything to do next. And that is
how the connection with the CB began. And you
fast forward and I'm standing here today. The
waiting, the timing, the revealing, the unfolding,
all of that is part of following the Lord. But
we have to make sure. That we are pursuing his
plans and his timing. And that will test our
humility and our willingness to submit to the
core. But that has to be aligned. Because the
Lord calls us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Because in being aligned with the Holy Spirit
in all of these areas of our lives. The Holy
Spirit is empowering us for greater impact. For
his glory. For his purposes. And that's why for
us this matters so much. So look at the four
areas. Are you sealed with the Holy Spirit? Or
you are not yet a follower of Jesus who has been
born again? Are you grieving the Holy Spirit
or are you walking in obedience and holiness?
Are you pursuing his calling or are you living
a life of deep dissatisfaction because you are
not using whom he made you to be for his purposes?
Are you aligned with his timing or are you pushing
things your way rather than respecting his timing
and his plans? If the Lord is pointing to you
that you are misaligned, today is the time to
align with the Holy Spirit because that is the
life that God has called us to live in. For that
very reason, as we serve together, When people
ask me as a lead pastor, so Pastor Pablo, what
is your vision for the church? For me, the question
is a completely different question. I'm never
asking, what is my vision for the church now
so I can do this? I believe that if we are truly
a church that is aligned with the Holy Spirit,
we are asking a whole different question. And
the question is, Holy Spirit, what is your vision
for ECB? Give us sensitive hearts that we may
discern what you are doing. Let your will unfold
and give us the unity of your spirit so that
we can discern in unity, especially at the leadership
level, what you are doing. So now my will by
yours be done. That is how we serve in a place
where we are called to be indwelled and filled
by the Holy Spirit. Thank you for tuning in to
the ECB sermon podcast. Whether near or far,
if you are looking for community or are in need
of prayer, we welcome you to engage by sending
us an email to office at ecb .asia. If God is
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to join us next week. God bless you.