St. Michael’s Church
Charleston, sc
Sunday May 22
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
Preacher: tHE rEV. Al Zadig, Jr.
HELP US LORD TO BE SO CONNECTED TO YOU THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE SERVANTS OF OTHERS.
TAKE OUR LIPS AND SPEAK THROUGH THEM,
OUR MINDS AND THINK THROUGH THEM,
AND TAKE OUR HEARTS, AND SET THEM ON FIRE.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This has been a very different kind of year for the Zadig family.
After 17 and a half years, my wife went back to work full time, as a teacher to the hearing impaired.
This means that most of the day, she is doing sign language, translating for the deaf.
(sign loops)
This work,
This translating is my wife’s passion.
And frankly this gift of
· Interpreting
· translating
· and reading lips
· Often comes in handy.
Just this past Monday night during my son Hudson’s baseball game, the umpires got confused as to how many outs there were in the inning.
The fans weren’t all that confused..
But the umpires circled up & we had a perfect line of sight into their huddle..
And the first words from the umpire captain..
)(*&)(*&()*&&(*
Were translated perfectly by my wife, something to the effect of…
we messed up..
Though not as polite as that.
It’s been such a joy to see my wife live out her Holy Spirit gifting!
+++++++++++
This is what we talked about last Sunday..
The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower us with unique gifts in every area of our lives.
But further, like my wife:
The Holy Spirit is literally our translator of truth from Jesus!
John 16…
The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth,
He will not speak on his own but speak only what He hears from Jesus..
So,
Like any school translator to the deaf..
The Holy Spirit:
· Will never speak on his own,
· Will speak only what he hears
· Will translate the teaching of the teacher..
PERIOD.
Again:
· Notice the Holy Spirit doesn’t create truth,
· The Holy Spirit doesn’t rewrite truth,
· The Holy Spirit speaks truth from Jesus.
So, trying to know the truth of Jesus without the Holy Spirit is like a deaf person in class without an interpreter, it doesn’t work!
But slow down..
What is this truth?
In the Hebrew truth means something that is
· Established,
· Certain
· Reliable
God and God’s word is truth.
God loves us so much he gave us the living breathing definition of truth…
Jesus.
Truth in one word is:
Jesus.
Jesus said:
· I am the way
· THE TRUTH
· And the life.
So because the Holy Spirit is the translator of the Truth of Jesus..
Then, the closer we are to the Holy Spirit, the closer we are to Jesus.
And not just in churchy religious ways..
The Holy Spirit exists to translate that truth into:
· Our everyday lives
· Our daily decisions
· Our joys and the sorrows of life.
The nearer we are to the Holy Spirit,
The more this truth is unveiled and continually revealed in every arena of our lives.
+++++++++++
And this is where it gets critical.
TEENAGERS, SENIORS, CONFIRMANDS, LISTEN CAREFULLY.
Just as we have a voice that translates and speaks truth in our minds..
There is another voice that translates lies into our minds.
The voice of truth is the Holy Spirit
The voice of lies comes from Satan.
How do we know the difference?
Simply put,
THE VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL NEVER EVER CONTRADICT SCRIPTURE.
The Holy Spirit will never translate the words of the Savior wrong.
The voice of the Holy Spirit will never contradict Scripture, which means we need to be students of the Bible to know if what we’re hearing is true.
It’s why we place such an emphasis every day on Bible in a Year!
People have died over listening to the wrong voice, the wrong translator of what they thought was truth.
Remember this…
The voice of the Holy Spirit leads to hope…
The other voice leads to condemnation and despair.
Do you think it’s a coincidence that:
· The name Satan
o means accuser..
· While the name Jesus
o means rescuer?
Let me give you some for instances…
· Maybe you’ve said in my head I’m hearing I have no gifts, no purpose,
o You’re listening to the wrong voice
o The Holy Spirit reveals in Ephesians:
o You are the handiwork of God created by Jesus to do the good things he planned for you to do!
++++++++++++++
· I’m hearing I could never be forgiven
o You’re listening to the wrong voices
o The Holy Spirit reveals in 1 John, If we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and will forgive us!
Like a school room translator:
· The Holy Spirit will never translate the teacher wrong,
It’s why it drives me crazy when I see signs even on church buildings that say….
God is still speaking today.
Yes, through the Holy Spirit that’s true, but increasingly that sign is used to say
God is still speaking today, anything we want him to say about
· marriage,
· gender
· or anything else
· regardless of what the Bible says.
Yes, even churches can be deceived.
++++++
When the Holy Spirit speaks and translates truth,
· It always leads back to Jesus and our need for Him
· It always leads to a place of hope,
Paul writes in Romans:
We know:
· Suffering produces perseverance,
· Perseverance character
· and character hope.
· God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit-WHOM HE HAS GIVEN US!
Yes sometimes Godly truth can hurt us,
can convict us of our sin, but only for the purpose to heal, forgive and restore us,
He, the Holy Spirit
· Always
· Always
· always
· leads to hope.
I love the story of the boy playing in a little league baseball game,
He’s in the dugout when a fan yells down..
Hey, what’s the score?
The player says:
Sir it’s 18-0, and we’re behind.
The man says wow, I’ll bet your discouraged!
Why should I be discouraged replies the boy,
We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!
That’s Holy Spirit Hope!
++++++++++++
If you hear a voice that sounds like truth:
· But there is no hope
· No Jesus
· You can bet it’s the voice of the evil one.
I say this because sometimes in our lives, it can be difficult to discern these two voices:
Like my wife’s students..
We are in many ways deaf to the truth.
There are so many voices speaking in here, it gets all muddled up.
· Social media
· this media
· that media
· Our culture
And pretty soon we’re upside down in truth!
Like smelling a bunch of perfumes at once…
You lose perspective.
But something even more terrible happens,
When you not only begin to listen to the lies as truth..
Even more horrible..
WHEN YOU AGREE WITH THE LIES.
+++++++++++++
When you hear and agree with voices saying to you:
· The situation is hopeless
· You blew it and you’re going to blow it again
· You’re all alone
· Give up
· You could never be forgiven
· Sure forgive others, but after what you did you could never forgive yourself..
· You’ll never amount to anything
The voice of continual:
· Cynicism
· Negativity
· and condemnation
The Voice of Temptation:
· This website won’t lead you astray, c’mon your fine.
We must be able to identify these voices as lies.
If we give them room, and then agree with them,
Destruction of some kind is the end result.
++++++
Tragically this week we saw once again what happens when a person listens and agrees with the wrong voice.
17 year old Legare Thrower took his own life on Wednesday night.
We really don’t know what happened,
but somewhere along the way…
This precious creation of Jesus
began listening to a lying voice in his head, and not only gave that voice a hearing....
But made an agreement with the voice of condemnation that successfully convinced him his life was not worth living.
And we grieve for Legare and his family and friends.
+++++++
This is why our youth ministry is one of life and death!
Our youth ministry partnering with parents to help train our children to listen to the Holy Spirit voice of truth!
There is a battle for the soul of our children,
and if the church is not walking with your children, they are in danger!
+++++++++
Who’s voice are you listening to?
Who’s voice is your child, your children listening and agreeing with?
++++++++
Do you know that through the Holy Spirit you have the power to reject the lies Satan brings into your head?
It goes like this, Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit
· I repel
· I reject
· I cast out
The voice of condemnation and the source of lies.
I reject your voice Satan.”
You have this power,
James tells us so:
James 4 verse 7..
· Submit to Jesus
· Reject the lies of the devil
· And the devil will flee from you.
+++++++++
My friends,
The Holy Spirit can be trusted!
· You don’t need to look elsewhere for truth and guidance about your life.
· You don’t need to look to astrology,
· Tarot cards, and all that worthless garbage.
· You don’t even need to look to social media for truth..
The Holy Spirit has been assigned to you personally to empower you by translating truth!
Confirmation is about praying Lord release the Holy Spirit!
he will always lead you to a place of:
· Truth:
· Love
· Joy
· Peace
· Patience
· Kindness
· Gentleness
· Self Control
++++++
One more thing…
The Holy Spirit translates the truth not just for you,
but for you to take this to the world!
How many people do you know who today are listening and agreeing with the voice of the evil one,
and are therefore living a cynical, negative and condemned life?
The translator of truth must be made known to others including your children..
Which is why we have mission trips not only to:
· Boston
· Kenya
· India
· And Burundi
· This year
It’s also the reason and for the first time,
We are conducting 3 major Bible Camps in addition to VBS this summer, to teach our youth the trusted voice of the Holy Spirit!
++++++
Let me share with you what this looks like in real life.
12 months ago a couple came to my office who wanted to get married.
When they came in, we talked about how the purpose of marriage is also to bring us closer to Jesus.
Well, they decided to give our pre-marital course a try and as part of the process they took the Alpha Course..
It was so exciting to watch this couple come alive in their faith!
Like a midwife witnessing new life!
They were confirmed last fall….
But then something else happened.
As The voice of truth swept over their lives,
That voice then gave them a desire to make that truth known to others!
How do I know this?
Well, I married Belinda and Logan Bryan last night,
This morning, Belinda and Logan are the first couple in my 19 years of doing weddings..
That have come back to church the morning after their wedding..
Why?
To sponsor for confirmation friends they made on Alpha!
To celebrate the Spirit of God being released in their friends Collin and Brittany!
+++++
Confirmands please stand up..
I need you, all of us..
· To not only know the difference between the voice of truth and the voice of lies,
· I also need you never to agree with those voices…
· I also need you to know through the Holy Spirit you have the power to remove the lies of the evil one
o and replace them with the truth of Jesus.
· And finally, like Belinda and Logan, have the courage to take this truth into the world.
Amen.
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