SERMONS BY BISHOP E S HENRY Dip Theo MIET

THE DOMINANT SPIRIT IN YOU

Romans 8:5-17

  5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Son ship Through the Holy Spirit

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

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 Introduction

When thinking about the spirit of man I cannot help but to think what drives men and women to do the things they do? As a spiritual person you cannot but think about the spirit of man which is devilish, sensual and corrupt. In another light we have the Spirit of God the Holy Spirit which is truth, peace, love, humility, merciful and righteous.

I now can ask the question:

Is the dominant spirit which guides our lives the Holy Spirit or is it the human spirit which is fleshly and devilish?

To answer the question we need to understand who we are as God’s creation and as children of God our lives should be governed by the Holy Spirit.

We need an understanding of how God created us. God made us a spirit, a soul and a body. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

THE BODY is the flesh, blood, and bones which gives man “world- awareness” (Gen. 3:19). A. The body of man has 5 senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

B. Dust has been analysed to have at least 96 elements which are also found in man this is an amazing proof of creation. C. After Adam sinned, the body became a dying body and was appointed unto death (Rom. 5:12; Heb. 9:27).

THE SOUL is a different “body” shaped like the flesh which gives man “self-consciousness.” A. The soul is above the body of man but beneath his spirit. It stands for the personal, individual life. B. The soul is midway between the human body and spirit but it is NOT a mixture of the two. C. The Bible speaks of a human soul as being weary & sorrowful soul (Jer. 31:25), thirsty soul (Psa. 42:2), grieved soul (Job 30:25), loving soul (Song 1:7). D. It is for the SOUL of man that Christ died for to redeem him from hell (Jas. 1:21; Psa. 49:8 cf. Isa. 53:10). E. The soul joins two worlds, the physical and spiritual. When a man is saved, his soul keeps the body (lowest) in subjection to the spirit (highest) (I Cor. 9:27). THE SPIRIT is like the wind and gives man “God-consciousness.” (Ezek. 37:5, 14) A. The human spirit is the breath of life which God breathed from himself (Gen. 2:7; Job 33:4). B. God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and the spirit of man is that part that closely resemble God himself. That is why the worship of God is a spiritual matter and never fleshly. C. The spirit of man enables direct communication with God. The Holy Spirit gives us assurance of salvation through our human spirits (Rom. 8:16). D. An unsaved man has a dead spirit and needs to be born of the Spirit of life in his spirit (Eph. 2:1; John 3:5-8). E. Every man has a spirit in him (I Cor. 2:11). There are 4 spirits= spirit of man, spirit of the beast (Eccl. 3:21), the Spirit of God, and spirit of the devil (unclean spirit).

Are we allowing the human spirit to be the dominant factor in our lives, which consists of?

Jezebel spirit one which is controlling, manipulative, aggressive Deceptive Spirit which is untruthful, misleading, disobedient Backbiting Spirit which is full of malice, envy, slander, gossip Absalom Spirit which is full of hatred, un-forgiveness One of the last letters to the churches strongly addressed the subject of tolerating the jezebel spirit. Revelation 2:20-23 gives a clear picture that it leads astray the best of servants into wrong teachings or sexual immorality.

Jesus, through John in the Book of Revelation, gives a strong warning of judgment on the Jezebel spirit. Jezebel seeks to destroy true worship. It misleads and corrupts the church and seeks to refute the life of the believers and other male authority, by any means- sexual enticement, physical illness, financial misconduct, and devastating discouragement.

  Jezebel is out to destroy the family, morality, and God-ordained authority. It is the spirit behind disorder in churches and families, feminism, sexually immoral lifestyles, and disobedience.

 These spirits are of the dominant evil authorities over our nation. It is in the church, in our family, our society, and individuals personally have been attacked, subverted, damaged, and robbed by these spirits. They are no respecter of persons.

 The Bible has quite a bit to say about human spirit and about spiritual battles between the human spirit and that of God. In Galatians 5 we see conflict between the Holy Spirit of God and the human spirit.  Yet the dominant focus is on knowing God, not on knowing “Satan’s so-called deep secrets” (Rev 2:24; Rom 16:19-20; Phil 4:8-9).

As children of God our dominant spirit should be the Holy Spirit.   The spirit of man enables direct communication with God. The Holy Spirit gives us assurance of salvation through our human spirits hence allowing our dominant spirit to possess.

Spirit of Truth Spirit of Forgiveness Spirit of Humility Spirit of mercy Spirit of Love Spirit of Self-control Spirit of Faithfulness Spirit of Peace Spirit of Kindness Spirit of Joy Spirit of Patience Spirit of Goodness Spirit of Gentleness

The spirit is the place where the Holy Spirit dwells, and everything that God does in us comes from the Holy Spirit. It is through our spirit He works out to soul and body, not from outside in! The devil knows this, though we do not, and he brings things from the outside life to burden the spirit within. From the outside the devil also gives supernatural power, working upon the emotions and the senses, and gets hold of the bodies even of the children of God.

 It will help us to detect and to discern for ourselves, to know that everything that the Spirit of God does is through the organ of our spirit. It is in our spirit that we learn to know God for the spirit is the sanctuary, the temple, the organ of the Holy Spirit, and it is there that He bears His witness—”The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”

We have seen that the first thing the Holy Spirit does in regeneration is to give a renewed spirit, when we are “born of the Spirit,” and we receive the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of son ship, when from our spirit comes the cry, “Father!” Then we know God as our Father. Then

we next receive the Holy Spirit as a Person, as the Sanctifier, and He fills our spirit and makes it the tabernacle where He dwells, and the centre from which He works, and in that templeHe brings us into union with Christ when we become “joined to the Lord, one spirit.”

 From the centre of the spirit He applies the Word of God, and cuts away the soul’s entanglements with the knife of the Word; and as we obey that Word and submit to its requirements, the spirit becomes clarified, and drawn away from the soul-envelope into a deeper, closer, desirable, perfect union with Christ the risen and ascended Lord. It is only in this real union of one spirit with Christ, that He is able to exercise His authority through and over our spiritual adversaries.

 Conclusion

I Corinthians 2:10-16

10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy[d] Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?”[e] But we have the mind of Christ.

Our spirit is the real us, with our spirit we communicate with God. This part of us is complete and restored when we accept Jesus as our Lord and saviour. John 4:24 (NKJV) 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” In the light of these facts about the spirit of man, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the eighth chapter of Romans is simply wonderful: “If we walk in the spirit,” “if ye live in the spirit,” “the mind of the spirit is life,” “ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit.” “The mind of the flesh is death.””The minding of the spirit is life and peace.

The ACTIVE EXERCISE OF OUR WILL is governing moment by moment, which is determined by our obedience to the mind of God through the Spirit, or our walk “after the flesh” is not a state to which we are brought into, but a position, where we have to choose every moment what we will do. Therefore it is important that we understand what flesh is, and what the spirit is, since we have to hourly decide which we will obey.