First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

Refreshment is such a wonderful word. We love things that are refreshing. It’s life coming back to life. The Greek word connects to both pulse and breath. So, to be refreshed by God means we have a spiritual pulse again. Our heart beats with the joy of being loved. We breathe a sigh of relief that we are forgiven. Our heart leaps to learn how much we are cherished.

A trajectory was being set in the early church of the 1st century, and God was protecting his church from hypocrisy because the mission is that important. God takes sin seriously because the world desperately needs a sanctified church. Sin doesn’t have to be dramatic to bring about death. A little bit of poison getting into one’s digestion system over time will bring about the same. Death is death, no matter if it comes about prolonged over time or instantaneously.

The name of Jesus is the only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. For millennium, countless Christians can testify that when they called on his name in faith, the Holy Spirit moved, and the power of God began work in their lives. The gospel continues to go forth. It began in Jerusalem, quickly overflowed into Judea and Samaria, and has now impacted you and me 6,880 miles and 2,00 years away.

The more we daily release our minds and hearts to Christ, the more we will change. Someone may ask, “What happened to you?” We will say, “This Jesus of Nazareth came into the world with signs and wonders and teaching like never heard before. He came to save humanity. But we put him to death. We couldn’t stand that much light. But God’s plan would not be thwarted. I crucified Jesus. The Spirit raised me from the dead with Christ. Nothing has been the same. It can happen for you more and more as you repent, change your mind, and believe the gospel.

To the Christian struggling with compromise and sin, the Spirit was given that you might be made holy, to refine you like gold. To the Christian who fears for her salvation, the Spirit was given that you might be held fast in the grip of God the Father and to testify in your weakness that you are his. The one who perhaps doubts the existence of God, doubts the existence of this God, or doubts that God could in any way be for you, the Spirit was given that dead bones might live. He can do that today.

The path of Christ is uncomfortable, but you do not walk on that path alone. For he prays for you that your faith may not fail and he gives you his Spirit beyond measure. He has not run the race to bark at you to run faster. He has given you all you need.

There is no freedom from fear without surrender of our wills. There is no strength to carry on in the face of the worst if we have not bowed the knee of our hearts to our King. There is no guidance through the valley of the shadow if I insist on following my path not God’s. We are called to entrust ourselves completely to Christ.