Holy Spirit – The Centre Community Church

Acts: Spirit-led Discipleship

Admin — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 14:31:36 +0000

One of our Core Values at The Centre is discipleship. We are striving to be a church with disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. More than growing numerically at The Centre, we want each person who calls us home to grow in depth and maturity in their relationship with Jesus (what the apostle Paul calls growing up into Christ – see Ephesians 4:1-16). But the only way that will happen is if we’re led and directed by the Spirit.

Acts 8 gives us a great picture of what it means for people to be led by the Spirit in their discipling relationships. The first half of the chapter tells the story of Simon the Sorcerer who wanted to buy the power of the Holy Spirit so that he could give the power to other people, likely for a fee. He wanted to control the Spirit rather than being controlled by God. The very next story is about Philip and the Ethiopian. Here is a man who was being led by the Spirit into truth and saving knowledge of Jesus. He wanted to live in obedience, and without delay.

This is a good reminder that in each of our discipling relationships there needs to be three parties involved: the disciple, the one being discipled, and the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is not guiding and directing this relationship then what will likely happen is the person may become more morally upright, but they will not be any closer to God.

At The Centre we do not want to pursue behaviour modification, we must pursue heart transformation, and this is only done through the power of God’s Spirit.

To help you prepare for this Sunday’s message, read through all of Acts 8, and compare the different responses of Simon the Sorcerer and the Ethiopian Eunuch. See you Sunday at 6pm!

Pastor Mike

The Trinity: The Holy Spirit

Admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 19:59:47 +0000

Who is the Holy Spirit? What is His role and place in the Trinity? How can we know Him? Why do we address the Holy Spirit as male? Of the three persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is often the most misunderstood. In the recent past a book was written by Francis Chan entitled “The Forgotten God” that talks about how many in the church today have sadly neglected the power and truth of the Holy Spirit, believing that once they are saved through faith in Jesus that that’s about it, they have their ticket into heaven and are free to coast there. For those who live that way not only are they missing out on a rich, wonderful relationship with God, they are actually going against Him! This is a sad and dangerous place to be.

A. W. Tozer says, “We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low. We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone . . . . [We] have imitated the world, sought popular favour, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost.”

This Sunday as we look at the the third person of the Trinity, my prayer is that we would have a deeper understanding of who He is, and what role He plays in our life as followers of Christ. In order to help you prepare for this Sunday I’d encourage you to read John 14:15-31, 16:5-16, and Romans 8:1-27. You can also look at the New City Catechism questions 36 and 37 (http://www.newcitycatechism.com/q-parent/q36.php) — there are some good videos that go along with these questions that will help you have a better understanding of the Spirit.

Pastor Mike