Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Recently, I was working on my personal devotion time when I can across a verse and specifically one word in the verse that stopped me.

I spent about the next hour of my devotional time breaking down this verse and following the lead of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible.

As I walked through this moment that seemed to stand still there was this feeling that something was being unraveled just for me.

It was something that was there to help me grow deeper with God, grow deeper in His knowledge, grow deeper in His love.

It seemed that over the next couple days any time I would read the Word, a devotional, or just be in prayer this unraveling continued.

This unraveling even continued with conversations with others as they would tell me about their experiences that they had been having recently.

There moments of joy.

There 30 seconds in His presence.

I pray that today as I share this with you I give it justice in what has been revealed to me.

I can tell you that even as I was putting together this message it is something that still continues to grow in me and has me amazed by His Glory.

I pray that today as I share this with you I give it justice in what has been revealed to me.

We are going to look at three different areas of The Holy Spirit in our lives and what this represents.

We will get to it, but I want to say upfront that all of this is tied back to the actions that took place on The Cross.

These three areas of The Holy Spirit are only possible in our lives with one, the blessings of the Father above, and two, with a personal commitment in faith to believe in the actions on The Cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days later.

We are going to look at the seal(s) that are upon us, the first fruits that come with faith, and the down payment representing just the first installment.

Sealed

When I was going through this personal revelation with Christ the last piece that was shown to me is really the first piece in all of this.

We understand that when we have committed our life to Christ we are accepting in faith the actions that have taken place on The Cross.

We may not fully understand what this all means at the time, but we do know that in the commitment something has changed in our life.

In the time that follows this commitment, through personal study and time, we learn more about Jesus and the blessings that come with Him and this commitment.

One of the things that we gain is greater understanding in the protection we have in God and His Armies.

We understand that this does not equate to all good times, but that it really means that the devil is looking at us closer, looking to tear us down.

If the devil was ever unsure if we had changed sides, it is in this closer look at us that he discovers that we really have committed our lives to Jesus Christ.

It is in this look that he sees that we are sealed by God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

(Need to tell them to put I am sealed to make it personal)

(CSB), "He has also put His seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment."

(CSB), "He has also put His seal on us ......"

Now I understand that this is not a big shock to any of you because you take the time to stay in God’s Word, prayer, and small groups to continue to grow in God.

Honestly, this was not the shocking news of the day for me either.

It is more comforting to know that I am sealed by Him.

But it is what is all tied into this seal that is part of this revelation.

First it is important to understand what sealed even means.

According to the Dictionary of Theological terms it is defined as something of ownership or responsibility.

It can also denote security, authenticity, privacy or secrecy, proof of genuineness, and or to confirm.

First it is important to understand what sealed even means.

According to the Dictionary of Theological terms it is defined as something of ownership or responsibility.

It can also denote security, authenticity, privacy or secrecy, proof of genuineness, and or to confirm.

When I look at this in the terms of Jesus, I see ownership, authenticity, privacy, and to confirm stand out.

With this seal that is put upon us, through our step of faith, we verbally agree with God through Jesus Christ that we hand it all over to Him.

We are saying that we are no longer wanting the ownership of our life, we no longer want to struggle in the dark.

We want to be part of something that is greater than us, we want to be part of the light upon the hill.

We are asking to have the mark of a new owner, and in this case, it is Jesus Christ.

When we commit to this new mark, this new seal, we are confirming to all, we follow only one, Jesus.

Within this we are gaining something new, again, we may may not understand it all, but we are willing to step forward.

Within this step we gain a washing of our sins that are sealed by the blood of Christ and they are no more.

It is the Blood of Christ that still remains on The Cross for our actions that shows the proof of authenticity of what the Father has done for us.

This represents just one of the seals that is upon us.

It is in this second seal that this revelation was coming together for me.

(CSB), "In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (meaning in addition to the first seal) when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.

(that first step of faith)

We see Paul is telling us that when we heard the Word of Truth and gave our life to Jesus in that first step of faith, in our belief in The Cross and The Resurrection, we gained a second seal.

This second seal represents another layer to who God is.

We can acknowledge that we do not deserve the actions that were taken by Jesus, but we are forever thankful for it.

We can also acknowledge that there is nothing we can do to fully repay the cost.

Yet, we are given this second seal because of His love that He has for us.

What comes with this second seal?

What comes with this gift of love?

When I look back at what a seal is and look at what the Holy Spirit is, I see a few things stand out.

I see this seal as proof of genuineness, responsibility, and security.

All of us at times have struggled with trying to understand and or explain how you can believe in something that you cannot see.

When you are trying to explain the greatness of Him and what He can do in your life we struggle in putting the physical proof in front of someone, especially someone that did not know you prior to your salvation.

You may be a seasoned Christian and all they see is a Bible thump-er, so it could be difficult to explain.

That is where I believe the proof of genuineness of The Holy Spirit lies.

When you became a believer, when you truly handed it all over, there was a moment that occurred that is unexplainable.

It is different for each, and for some it may not happen that moment.

But each of us that have walked through it can acknowledge that there was something that we felt.

It may be explained as a warmth, a comfort, a blanket in the cold, clarity, peace, light, completeness, and many other terms, but no matter the term, it was something that was at the same time unexplainable.

This is what I call proof of genuineness, this is when you know God is real and that step of faith just became as real as the seat you are sitting in right now.

It is that step of faith into the water that was needed to have the waters part.

The Holy Spirit is more than this proof of genuineness in our walk.

The Holy Spirit has a level of responsibility and security in our life.

Now this does not negate what we are responsible for in the choices we make.

What it does mean is that the Holy Spirit guides us in our walk, intercedes for us, recognizes the enemy around us, teaches us, gives us the words needed, and so much more.

But none of this is possible if first, we do not believe in The Cross, and second, trust in The Holy Spirit.

First Fruit(s)

The verse that sparked this revelation for me is .

(CSB)," ...but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits..."

It was this word first fruits that was holding me up.

When I think of first fruits I think the harvest and what was stated in (CSB), “Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields” and (CSB), “Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest.”

When you look at this set aside it is the first of the harvest, it is the best, the finest of the harvest, it is giving back to God what is His.

It is one of those verses that is used to explain why we tithe.

So, if the first fruits is tied to what we give to God, how is it that we see here that The Holy Spirit is the first fruits to us?

Additionally, if The Holy Spirit is one, why is it plural?

Before we can understand this we first have to understand what truly is the first fruit for us.

It was this word first fruits that was holding me up.

When I think of first fruits I think the harvest and what was stated in (CSB), “Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields.”