Wednesday, July 23, 2014

WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE MATTERS




Today’s Bible readings are 2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19, Romans 8:9-25, Psalm 18:16-36, & Proverbs 19:26


Romans 8:9-11
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

I once bought an old truck for $500.00. It was the junkiest looking truck that you could imagine. It was really about 3 trucks combined into one. It had white parts, red parts, & tan parts. From the outside, it didn’t look like it was worth much. But it was the best truck you could have ever wanted because inside it was build full of power.

I drove that $500 truck for 2 years & never did anything to it except change the oil & put gas in it. Then, I gave it to my brother-in-law who drove it for a 1 year. After he was done with it, he gave it back to me & I drove it for about another year. Then, a young man who I had mentored was getting married & needed a work truck so I gave it to him. He drove it for a short while then sold it for $500. That truck didn’t look like much on the outside but on the inside of that truck was a motor that wouldn’t quit.

This is a great illustration about what we have in us. Just like that truck, it looked flawed to the natural eye. There were all kinds of things that would cause some to think that it wasn’t much to brag about. Yet, under the hood & body of that truck was all the working parts that caused that truck to run with awesome effectiveness & power. This is what we are like now that we have the Holy Spirit in us.

On the outside it may look like we are still flawed but on the inside we are full of power. On the outside it may look like we aren’t much to brag about but on the inside we are full of a precious presence of the Holy Spirit. On the outside we may look powerless but on the inside we are powerful.

The bible declares to us that the SAME SPIRIT, WITH THE SAME POWER that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us. That means that in each of us is RESURRECTION POWER!

11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

This power will cause us to:

1.      Rise above the temptations that have overcome us in the past.

2.      Be healed when sickness attacks.

3.      Have victory when circumstance come.

4.      Outlast the storms of life.

5.      Enforce defeat over satan until the return of Christ.

6.      Live even though our bodies may die.


GLORY TO GOD!!! This the power that is in you. You are not nearly as powerless as you might think if you have the Spirit of the Living God in you. In fact, you are full of power. Don’t spend so much time focusing on the external things about your life; your age, your education level, your past, your weaknesses, instead, focus on the inner working power of the Holy Spirit. What is in you is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than anything else on the outside!


Pastor Richard Schlotter


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