Who You Are In Christ
Kurt Katzorke · Aug 3, 2008
Who You Are in Christ, No. 31
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492618104552

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're going to be looking at blessed with the earnest or firstfruits of the Spirit. And so the first thing we ought to do is just kind of get an idea of what these words mean. What does earnest mean and what are firstfruits? And up on the screen here, earnest, a simple definition of it. This is actually a definition from a Bible commentary.

And it was money which in purchases is given as a pledge or deposit that the full amount will subsequently be paid. We'll see later that this word is going to be translated pledge. It can be translated some other ways too, but earnest and pledge are the two most common translations that you see in the Bible. And a good thing to point out here is that it's a pledge or deposit that the full amount is subsequently going to be paid. So there's more to come. And so what we're looking at this morning is the Spirit was given to us as a pledge or a deposit and the full amount is still to come. So that's an important thing to have in your mind this morning as we look at this.

The next word, firstfruits. In the Old Testament, the firstfruits were given to God and his priests at a couple of the harvest feasts. And the first fruits were the choicest part of the harvest. In Exodus 23, 19, it's actually a commandment to take the choice part of the harvest and give it to God, offer it to God and to his priests. So that's another parallel to think about. We're giving the choicest gifts right up front. We're giving the best, the highest gifts right up front.

In the context of the New Testament, firstfruits conveys not only an idea of superiority, but also implies that there's more to come. So there's this idea of more to come still. So it's used several times of Christ, Christ being the firstfruits of the resurrection and our resurrection is going to be similar to his. Firstfruits is used a lot throughout the New Testament and tons of times in the Old Testament too. Common phrase. All right. Does anybody have any questions or comments about either of these words? All right.

Go to the next slide. Is it turned on? It sure is. It was working earlier. Your computer's going like crazy. You can see that. Oh, yeah. There's something you have to do. You need to ask the guys in the back. Well, and it was working. Really? That was going there? It sure was. The other day, when I had it, it would go on the... There we go. There's the button. I found it.

Okay, so what are the earnest or first fruits of the Spirit? And there's five things we're going to be looking at this morning. One is born of the Spirit. One is baptized by the Spirit. We have indwelt or anointed by the Spirit. sealed by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit. So these are the five things that we're really going to take a look at this morning as far as what our earnest or firstfruits are. And so the first one is born of the Spirit.

And the definition here, this is, what I'm going to do on all these slides is this first definition is right from Schaeffer. So paraphrased or quoted directly. And so the operation by which Christ is begotten in the one who exercises saving faith The operation by which Christ is begotten in the one who exercises saving faith and You know, it's funny on the slides there the verse didn't come up. I I I did it in one format with white text, and then I did it in another with black text, and it came across as white, so that's why it doesn't show up on your slide. Because white on white paper just doesn't work.

But John 3, 6 and 7, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed when I say to you, you must be born again. So our first question this morning is, what does it mean to be born, what does it mean born of flesh is flesh? What do you guys think that means?

It's without the spirit. Without the spirit, okay. How do you come into a position of having the spirit? You have to believe that God provided for your rebirth, for your forgiveness, Sure. Your intimacy with Him. And how does that happen? What is the belief? By faith. By faith in the gospel? I don't like the word the gospel. I think you need to understand more than that. Sure. But the basic principle of receiving the Spirit is belief in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Upon belief you're given the Spirit. Right.

So that's Then you want to learn more, certainly. You don't want to just stay in that position of not really understanding anything else. Stan, what were you going to add there? I was going to say you could say mathematically you could have born of the flesh equals not born of the spirit because they are two separate entities. Sure. The flesh and the spirit are not equal. You could say that they oppose each other completely.

Yes. You're sorry. We'll just work our way across. Go ahead. Well, the flesh is how everyone is born. Right. We're born. The spirit is a choice. The spirit. Yes. OK. The spirit is a choice. And it's given upon belief. Right. Right. And I want to try and learn names. Stan and then we have Pat. And then you had a comment as well. Bill. OK. Go ahead and read.

He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is really the process. We're being born again. Yeah, which is what we've talked about with this. We're saved by the Holy Spirit's work of salvation. He's the one that convicts and illumines and Yeah, there's a huge list of things that the Holy Spirit does.

Vern has one put together. It would have been a good one to have this morning. But I mean, it's a whole page, probably 50 or 60 items, and it's not conclusive. It doesn't have it all. So yeah, there's just a lot of different ministries for the Holy Spirit, yeah.

One of the things that I wanted to bring out, born of flesh is flesh. What's another... Some of the things that we have when we come into this world, we're in the flesh. We're in Adam. So this flesh and Adam are kind of one same idea. Where you're in a position of being only in the sin nature. And being born of the Spirit is something that only happens through faith in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. And then it's a gift that's given to us upon belief.

And we'll actually look at, this is a good starting point because the next few slides are going to build upon that. Does anybody else have any other comments more on the spirit? Yeah, I think Romans 8 is a good, incredible section of scripture to go to.

Yeah. Because it really makes the difference or distinction between being in the flesh and in the spirit. Absolutely. We're not in the falsities that we're no longer in the flesh. Because we've been taken out of Adam and placed in Christ. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah, that word which we're going to look at here in a minute, baptized, being placed into. Each believer is placed into the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Just like we were there, just like our hands were on the cross too, Christ did it for us. So here it is, baptized by the Spirit.

The work of the Holy Spirit by which the believer is joined to Christ's body and comes to be in Christ and therefore a partaker of all that Christ is. So that's kind of a cool statement. The work of the Holy Spirit by which the believer is joined to Christ's body and comes to be in Christ and therefore a partaker of all that Christ is. So upon your belief and upon the Holy Spirit being given to you Each one of us, each believer, becomes a partaker of all that Christ is.

That's a pretty big statement because Christ is a lot of things. We've talked about this before in this class. Well, that's actually totality of what we're studying. We're studying all those wonderful things. Another neat word is, we're in union with Christ. We're in this wonderful union which He has paid for, He has established, and He maintains. is back to our contribution as faith. Right.

The verse that I have up there is 1 Corinthians 12, 13. For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we are all made to drink of one spirit. And so that verse actually, it brings out a little bit more and you know, One of the common things that New Testament authors had to deal with was, you know, this God, this Yahweh was only for Jews. And now all of a sudden we get, he's for Greeks, he's for slaves, he's for free, he's for men, he's for women, it doesn't matter. And we're all baptized, placed into Christ's body. I don't really have an answer for this, but I think it's an interesting question.

What do you guys think it means to drink of one's spirit? That means it becomes internalized. It's part of you from the inside out. It's part of you from the inside out? Stan? A lot of times spirit is an analogy of a liquid like oil or water. And so as you said, the drink needs to kick in just like it is to eat. And so I think it's obviously a picture of what happens when you have faith and God does the act.

Yeah, and I think another thing to look at there is the emphasis on one spirit, not two spirits, not a multiplicity of spirits, but one. And that's something that Paul dealt with on a fairly common basis in a lot of his letters. In Philippians he speaks over and over of being of the same mind, of being of one mind, of one spirit. And so there's not, this verse is also bringing out not a Not a multiplicity of faiths. Not your faith is good and my faith is good, even if they're different. But one faith, one spirit. One gospel. One God. To that Christ came for everyone. Right. Like it says, whether or not they're Jews or Greeks or slaves.

Absolutely. Yeah. And obviously, I could have said baptized by water. this is possible. What do you mean by that? Well, to be baptized by the Spirit, to receive the Spirit. Right. Prior to that, they would like John, and he would baptize in water, and it was an external washing, and it was still a picture. Right, it's just a symbolism. Right. Right. But when Christ came, this was possible now, because of his death. burial and resurrection. Bill, do you have something to add?

Yeah, there's a verse I think that's really beautiful. In the original language, it covers the idea of in John chapter 7 verse 38 and 39. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Holy Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified. And the neat thing about the original language of the on me, if you believe on me, you see this a lot in John, on me, but if you look at it in the original language, it's a preposition ice, which means those that believe into me. It's really unique. It's not on me, it's into me. And that, to me, is really unique.

I was looking at that verse last night, and another thing that I thought was really neat of it, at the end, he talks about because Christ, you know, the Spirit had not been given because Christ had not yet been glorified. It was prophetic. Yeah, it was prophetic. And that's what's, you know, you see the continuity between the Gospels and the Epistles. Christ said this stuff is going to happen. And the Apostles are saying, look, it's happened.

Which I thought was really neat, too. That's a neat thing about the entire Bible, is that it all works together. Another aspect of what's related to drink is it satisfies thirst. And it talks a lot about in scripture how we hunger and thirst. So there's an element of satisfaction and fulfillment, quenching a thirst and need and so forth. I like that. Yeah, I agree. Absolutely. Do you have something to add? You raised your hand at one point in time. He realized that he is the living water. He meets all of your needs.

Well, and that brings forward a little bit of the idea of the Trinity, that they're different but they're the same. Christ is in us because we have the Spirit. One of the difficult things for unsaved people to understand, especially when Christ was on the earth, was when he talked about eating bread, to partake of meat, eating Him, and what the Lord was speaking of was a personal relationship that would take place if the Holy Spirit would baptize us into Christ and that union and that relationship would be like one, it would be like partaking of the same spirit and the uniqueness of the life of Christ, the nature of God I just couldn't grasp. Yeah, there's a, in either the first or second century, there's actually a Roman historian that writes about the Christians and viewing them as cannibals because they would talk about eating, you know, taking the body of Christ and drinking his blood and they thought, what are these crazy cannibals? I know. You know, but that's not the idea. No. Yeah, it's symbolism. Right.

Anybody else, anything on baptized by the Spirit? We'll jump to the next one. The next one is indwelt or anointed by the Spirit. And Schaeffer's definition here is, the presence of the Spirit equips the believer for every conflict and service. I really like his definition, so I'll read it one more time. The presence of the Spirit equips the believer for every conflict and service. That's pretty inclusive. It's going to take care of everything.

And one of the things, Billy, you talked earlier about some of the ministries of the spirit. You know, you talked about convicting and when we're walking in the spirit, when we face a conflict, I mean like Doug's dealing with his body. There's several other issues of conflict that we could bring up, but that one seems to be relevant at the moment. If Doug is walking my faith and resting in the Spirit, he's equipped for his conflict.

And those around him, if they're Christians and they're resting in the Spirit, they're equipped for every work of service that they're going to perform for Doug. So it's really neat to know that that's how God has supplied his body to not only glorify God, but also lift each other up and be there for each other. That's pretty neat.

Anyway, the verse I have there is 1 John 2.27. As for you, the anointing which you received from him abides in you. And you have no need for anyone to teach you, but as his anointing teaches, is His anointing teaches you about all things. It is true. It is not a lie. And just as it is taught to you, you abide in Him. So there's a few things there where it teaches you about all things.

Whether or not you should roll through that stop sign or not. Probably not. I do it all the time. But all things. And Randy's brought up a few times about God using all things to working together for the glory of God. That's the same idea here, all things, not this one or that one, and we'll leave those ones out, but all things.

And the second verse I have there is 1 John 3.24. The one who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. We know by this that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. This indwelling is constant. It's always there.

It's not... One of the things that commonly comes up in some other aspects of Christianity that aren't consistent with the Bible is that you can lose the spirit. They don't come and go. Which was the case in the Old Testament. The spirit would come and go. But the New Covenant that we have Christ is always, the Spirit is always with us. He never leaves. And that's a pretty phenomenal blessing that we have. Does anybody have any comments on this one? Bill?

There's another verse I think that you put down that's very important. Well, I think you got it. It's from 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 21 and 22. It says, Now he that establishes us, you and Christ, and given us the earnest of His Spirit in our hearts. Yeah. So we're established, spiritually we're established because of the work of the Holy Spirit in placing Christ in us. It's incredible. Yeah.

Yeah, and that ceiling, we'll look at a little bit closer here in a minute and do some, the ceiling is really neat because there's so many cultural insights that just tie right into, you know, established, the word established you just used is one of them, that it's just really neat, the cultural insights that parallel what we have in our ceiling, yeah. All right, so our next one, here it is, Sealed by the Spirit. The work of, the work of, excuse me, the work of God, the work of God the Holy Spirit by which the believer is made secure unto the day of redemption.

So, Ephesians 1.13, in him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. So this is, we get back to that, we get back to receiving the Spirit. It's from, you hear, you listen to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, you believe, that is the key, you better believe, and then you are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

So, there's a lot of different Places where seals, and I'm not talking about, Vern had some goofy things when he did this. He put up a picture of a little baby seal, put up a picture of some baby seals, but no. The seals that we're talking about are ones like this. They would have a ring or a seal, and they'd heat up wax and put it on a letter, and then they'd seal it. And that seal had very specific meanings, and there's different places where it's used in scripture. And one is protection from tampering. And there's some verses there that if you'd like to look at them, you're more than welcome to. But protection from tampering.

So as God seals us with his Holy Spirit, nothing's going to mess with what's inside of us. Nothing's going to change what's inside of us. God has put himself in us, and there's nothing that anyone's going to do to tamper with that seal, to change it, to go inside and make us different.

The next one is protection from disclosure. There's some places where that's used in scripture. Protection from judgment. So as God seals us, we're protected from any judgment. And there's also a thought there that our sins aren't going to be judged. Christ is taking care of that on the cross and through our belief.

In that there's no there's no judgment for sins that God just use us as righteous because he sees Christ not our not our works The next one there is authorization You could draw some parallels there Certificate certification of contents and This one's interesting because culturally the they made ISAV At that point in time, they made an ISAB that was kept in a canister.

The people that first came up with it liked their patent. They didn't have patents then. But they would seal it with a special stamp saying, this is the real stuff. This is the good stuff. Because there were a lot of other people trying to mimic it. But that one indirectly referenced in Revelation. This isn't fake. This is of God. This is the real deal. Ownership or possession. God has sealed us with his spirit and we are his. We've talked about that several times where we're his inheritance. We're his saints. There's just a lot of different things that we are. But the main idea is we're his. And the other thing there on that ownership, once that was placed, it wasn't going to get sold, it wasn't going to get transferred. This is yours. And then the last one, off the tin, wow, you can read it. That's a tongue-tangler for me.

But kind of the same thing that, same idea there that It's the real deal. It's authentic. It's not anything phony or fake. Does anybody have any comments or thoughts on anything that's on the screen here? There's another verse I think that would be appropriate.

2 Timothy 2 and 19, it says, Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." I think it's identity. The Lord knows those that are His because the Holy Spirit witnessed our salvation in Romans chapter 8 verse 14. It talks about the Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I'm a child of God. So with that seal, the Lord knows who belongs to Him. The other side of that is we know we belong to Him too.

All these wonderful things are to give us assurance and comfort. It's a rock to stand on, a rock to... unchangeable. Alright, so our last one here, filled with the Spirit. The believer is filled with the Spirit, and I've got it duplicated there. The believer is filled with the Spirit. In this ministry, the Spirit releases his power and effectiveness in the heart of whom he dwells.

In the verse we have there, Ephesians 5.18, And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. And this brings up the idea of what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? So a good question to always ask here, and I always love how we do here. What's the Holy Spirit filling us with? That's a question to ask. Okay. So what is the Holy Spirit filling you with? I'll share something. I just think it's so neat that in verse 17 you have a main verb which means It's an imperative to be filled.

And then following that, you have five present participles, which deal with submitting, singing, giving thanks, and so forth. There's five of them. So in the rule of the grammar, it means that the action, I hope a lot of us know grammar probably in English, but in the original language, the action of the main verb is simultaneous to the action of the present participles. So that means in the context, being filled really means you're singing and making melody in your heart. It means that you're giving thanks. It means for all things. It means that you're submitting. So that's what it means to be filled. Because it's simultaneous. It's not like being filled with another tongues or something. Because in Ephesians tongues are not even mentioned. And it's one of the most deepest books written and yet to be filled with the spirit is defined here. See? Along with that many kinds of people think. As he's showing there, it's a being filled. It's a present tense.

A lot of times people think that it was a one-time feeling when you were baptized a long time ago and you got all you're ever going to get. But that's not the connotation of that, as he's saying. And I think it has to do with maturation and growth. I think it's part of the process of Christian growth, that you're being filled. you empty it out, because if you're in Christ, it's an integral part of the person. So it's not necessarily the emptying out of it, but it's something happening to the person. And it almost has to be that word mature and growth and becoming more like Christ. And somehow the filling and the in Christ all work together to cause that to happen.

See, when we're drunk with wine, you would do things you normally wouldn't do. And what he's saying here is that when you're filled with the Spirit, you're going to do things you normally wouldn't do. And that would be singing to make him know what you're giving thanks and submitting one to another. And that action, that activity, demonstrates that you're filled by the Spirit. You will not submit yourself one to another apart from the Holy Spirit.

Nor will you be giving thanks for all things that are happening, not just things that end up good and then we give thanks. But Paul says to give thanks while they're happening, which is unique. And we just don't have that ability. Most of us will give thanks after the fact. If it turns out good, then we give thanks. But if we're going through a trial or a hard time or disease or death, or suffering, it's hard to give thanks. Humanly speaking, you just can't do it. But the Holy Spirit who fills us, we can actually give thanks while it's going on, and that's the present tense.

Yeah, you kind of go back to Doug, you know, dealing with what he's dealing with. If he's filled, he's thanking the Lord for this trial because it's an opportunity to demonstrate God's character to others, not feeling like, oh, woe is me kind of thing. We had an elder at the church we went to in Nevada that went through some really painful cancer. The pain level was 10 all the time. He was on morphine. There were several instances where he actually used words like, I'm thankful for this.

It's given me an opportunity to witness to my grandchildren. It's given me an opportunity to witness to these nurses. It was really a phenomenal demonstration of, I think, being filled. Living moment by moment with his focus on things above, not his trial right then and there. I think that's a good example of what being filled is.

Do you have something to add to that? Well, there's actually, you know, in this verse, I don't want to, you know, you can spend the whole, this could be a whole class. Yeah. There's a translation issue with that word with. And, you know, if you do a little study and look at that, that might be better translated by, and that's why I was kind of alluding to the fact that, and it throws a whole other light on that verse. It says to be filled by the spirit. And I think that's actually a better, translation, if you were to replace the with or by, and actually, if you look at the original language, there's a choice to be made there. There's a choice whether you can translate it as with or by. And by the Spirit is more consistent.

If you go back to John, and Christ said, you know, when I go, the Spirit will come. And he will show you me. He will show you the things of Christ. So you're being filled with the very person of Christ. That's what the Spirit's doing. He's filling you.

Christ predicted that, so that connection makes that with, you know, not as, it's unlikely, it's better I think, by is a better translation. That's not me saying that necessarily, that's, if you do some study and look at that. So the better translation I believe is to be filled by the Spirit. In full Bible context. Looking at the totality of Scripture.

So that's what I was trying to get to. obviously are not you. You know, making melody and singing, that's all, that's all the result of you having Christ in you. But I think in this particular verse, so that's something to, and someday maybe we'll get to say that verse in depth and do more with it, but it's a tremendous verse. We've got a little bit of time.

One of the things that I had had this presented to me as is it says, do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. I had had this presented to me as Wine can be any number of things that your flesh seeks out. It does say don't get drunk with wine, but wine can be anything that causes you to sin. Don't be filled with, you know, you get mad when you're driving.

Think of any number of things that's going to get you into a position where you're going to sin. And when you put yourself in that position, when you're faced with that, it's like being drunk with it. It's, you know, you can be drunk with anger, kind of the idea there.

Stan? Along with that, and I think that's absolutely right, what just struck me, when you're drunk with wine, the wine is in charge. And at the state of drunkenness, that's what that means. I mean, it's the wine that has control of your faculties. And so I think that's a really good comparison because, you know, like Roger said, if you're built by the spirit, the spirit should be in charge. The spirit is the one who rules. But if you're drunk with wine, it's the wine that rules.

And so we as human beings should never be put under subjection of anything of this world other than God or the spirit. Kind of like a metaphor for flesh or sin nature. There's really only two things you can be controlled by in this world. There's Adam and the flesh, the sin nature, and there's the spirit, you know, being in Christ. There's really only two options. You can't be somewhere in the middle. And so I think that's what I was trying to bring forward is you can either be drunk with sin and the flesh and Adam and the sin nature, or you can be filled with the Spirit. Either way, you're in control, or one of them is in control of you. You're not in control of either of them. One of them is in control of you, and that's really the only two options. It's one or the other. Okay. So the last thing I have here is attitude.

And I just, I went to these verses and it was, there's a place where here, gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. And I really started reading just the entire fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians and I thought, wow, I'm sure you've all read it and thought this is neat. But I think it's really neat, especially for what we're looking at in the context of earnest and firstfruits and the idea of we're given the choices gifts up front, but there's more to come. And I think this has a really, really neat It ties it all together. The idea of first fruits and that there's more to come. So I'll just read through it. For we know that if... Actually, does somebody else want to read? Because I keep stumbling on my words. Anybody else? I don't care.

For we know that if the earthly camp, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling in heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is immortal will be swallowed up by life. Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge, therefore being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also, having as our ambition whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

And I really just think that Paul's attitude there kind of ties up what we've been talking about today. Having an attitude that He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge. And all the things that we've talked about today being born of the Spirit, baptized, and dwelt, sealed, and filled. All those things are given to us right away. And that's the pledge that we have, those things that God has given us in the Spirit. And the other thing there is it's not about us. Who prepared us for this purpose? I didn't prepare myself, and you didn't prepare yourself, but God prepared us for it. So it's not about us, it's about God.

And therefore we also having as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to him It's all about pleasing God and it's all because of him that we're able to please him and in this these verses also bring up The idea that there's more to come, you know, I mean this this life isn't it we're here now and God has given us his spirit as a pledge so that we can so that our ambition can be pleasing Him. But there's more to come.

I really just think it kind of ties up the whole idea of first fruits. Here's what you've been given. Here's the purpose of these things. Use what I've given you so that you can be glorifying and pleasing to me. Have that be your ambition. But also know that I've got more for you. You're going through trials and tribulations and all kinds of different things right now, but I've got more for you than that. So I think it really ties up the idea of First Fruits. Comments, anything, questions? See him? I was asked a long time ago, and for a definition for additives, also having been a child forever. It's so true because we ask for all kinds of things, but you don't receive a whole bunch. And usually, I know when I played football, it was one's attitude that really kept you from getting where you wanted to go.

The people with really, really good, strong attitudes. Rod Smith's a typical example today. At least he demonstrates a good attitude. And he receives a lot. And I think that's commonplace in this world, and I think it's common for God. And a good word to look up sometime in your concordance is, found favor with God. That's really, there's few. But the ones who did, they were awesome.

Well, and you talk about the difference between asking and receiving. The thing about this is, you don't even have to ask, it's just given to you. You just believe, and here it all is. So it's the difference between using it and not, really. But when we pray, a lot of people think that regardless of how you act or how you respond or what your attitude is, or what you're doing, that you just automatically scripture that what you ask you shall receive. But there's something more to it.

Yeah, what you ask you shall receive. God wants you to be happy. But it's His definition of happy, not your own. And it's the manner that you come to Him. Your attitude should be tremendously affected by what you have in Christ. That's the whole purpose. If you're not at that point where you see what you have, then you may have a warped attitude.

But when you see the overwhelming magnitude of His grace and what He's done for us, your attitude should not be different than to say, this is incredible. Why shouldn't I be tremendously thankful? Why shouldn't I be thanking and praising God all the time for what I have? Because I haven't contributed one thing to that, simply because I believe in what He's done. He's given me all these wonderful blessings.

Our attitude should be one of thanksgiving. and grace. And I totally agree with what Roger said. That's one reason I came to this class. Because, you know, without that attitude, it's really difficult to live, you know, with joy. Just to recognize, you know, the things that we have. I don't know if you used to be a person in the congregation here. Here's the old man. It's Sunday. He was an old buddy of mine when I was a kid. And he expressed that thought as well, and I can think of anybody I know in a Christian way.

His attitude, as far as what he's concerned, every time you'd ask him, well, how you doing today, Ed? Grateful. I'm grateful. It's always his answer. And I thought, he's telling me something here that I'm not picking up on. So grateful that luck got a game out of him. That's attitude. Yeah. He was great. Yeah, that is neat.

Because people ask me how I'm doing, and generally I just give a generic, good. Good. You don't really answer the question. You just say good and go on about your business. Grateful. And I think most of the time if you were to genuinely answer the question, you might say, tired. sick of dealing with all the carotid work or whatever you might answer, whatever you're actually feeling, but if your attitude is genuinely grateful, that's neat.

Alright, well we're going to finish up in prayer. Lord, we thank you for our time together this morning. We thank you that you've blessed us with the firstfruits of the Spirit. We thank you that we're born of the Spirit, we're made We're made to be Christ. That we're baptized by the Spirit, that you've placed us into His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, and that we are a partaker of all that Christ is. Thank you that the Spirit indwells us.

He's not going anywhere. You're always with us. You're always with us, Spirit, and we thank you for that. I just pray that our moment-by-moment actions would really just display your power and your effectiveness in our lives. that we would be controlled by by you spirit and It's neat that we're sealed.

There's nothing's gonna take us out of a position that we have in you And if our attitude could always be grateful you'd be blessed more and more Pray that you grow us into a position of maturity that we are always grateful We're not focused on things of this earth, but rather than things above. Thank you for our time this morning. Amen