Whose Brand Are You Wearing? Mark 1 & Galatians 6

Praise the Lord. I welcome you back to your seats as we so enjoy the fellowship, but we’re also going to enjoy God’s word. Amen. We’re going to dig into God’s word this morning. And today we’re starting a new series entitled branded. Whose brand are you wearing? And so I’m not really talking about your clothing necessarily, although that could figure it in. Yeah. Are you wearing polo or what are you wearing? But I’m really, I’m going to be working through the gospel of Mark and we’re going to be asking the question, what marked Jesus in his life and his teachings and his ministry and what marked his disciples. And the real question for us this morning and in the, in the, in the series will be if there were, if you were accused of being a Christian, would there be any spiritual or physical evidence in your life that you are a Christian? In other words, what marks you differently? What makes you unique? Because you’re a follower of Jesus Christ. And so let’s stand this morning and we’re going to read two passages. The first passage is Mark chapter one, Mark chapter one, and we’re going to read one through 13. That’s where we’ll be mostly this morning. And then I’m going to turn in my Bible and read in Galatians chapter six, verse 17, Mark’s gospel chapter one, verse one, the beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God, as it is written in Isaiah, the prophet, I will send my messenger ahead of you who prepare your way. A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, the whole Judean countryside. And all the people of Jerusalem went out to him confessing their sins. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message. After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I’m not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven. You are my son whom I love with you. I am well pleased. At once the spirit sent him into the wilderness and he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and angels attended him. And now I want to turn in my Bible to Galatians chapter six, verse 17 and read just this one verse as Paul wraps up his letter to the Galatian believers. From now on, let no one cause me trouble for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Wow. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your word. And we come to you this morning, Lord, with hearts open, with ears ready to hear. Lord, give us spiritual eyes to see. Lord, help your word to sink deeply into our hearts and take root so that your fruit can begin to grow in our hearts and in our lives. Let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Let your kingdom come into my heart even as it is in heaven. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. You may be seated this morning and keep your finger there in the gospel of Mark because that’s where we’re going to be primarily this morning. Followers of Jesus were originally called people of the way, right? You remember that in scripture. And they were called people of the way because of Jesus teaching in John 14 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so by around AD 46, disciples of Jesus were called Christians. So isn’t that interesting that disciples of Jesus were not, that wasn’t the first title, Christian. They were called Christians in Antioch around AD 46. But prior to that, they were just known as people of the way because of what Jesus taught. In the first century, without a doubt, Christians were unique. I’m reminded of Acts 4 13, as Peter and John are ministering and they are called on the carpet. They get in some trouble with religious leaders. And yet even the Jewish religious leaders say, it says there in Acts 4 13, they took note that they had been with Jesus. So they were marked by Jesus. The people around them knew, wow, these guys, they’ve been hanging around Jesus. They know Jesus. They’ve been paying attention to the teachings and the lifestyle of Jesus. And of course the apostle Paul, who would have written to the Galatians around AD 49, and I’m going to read it again, but we just read Galatians 6 17. Those are some powerful words. Paul must have been referring to all of the suffering that he endured because of his ministry, because of his love for Jesus, his willingness to serve Jesus. And so he writes in Galatians from now on, let no one cause me trouble for I bear on my body, the marks of Jesus. In other words, Paul is saying, I am a true follower of Jesus. I am a true apostle serving Jesus. So stop causing me trouble. Stop challenging. If you’ve ever read the letter to the Galatians, you know, there were some Judaizers who were trying to change the gospel. They were trying to challenge the apostles, apostleship. And so Paul, as he wraps up that letter, he says, Hey, stop causing me trouble. And he’s probably referring to second Corinthians chapter four, verse eight through 12, or in chapter 11, 18 through 33, Paul lists all the shipwrecks, the beatings, the, all of the trouble that he had. Why? Because he loved Jesus and he was serving Jesus. And he was living a life completely dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we begin our series this morning, I want to ask you that question. Are you marked because of Jesus? Now, I don’t think that has to mean that we’ve been shipwrecked or beaten. I realize we live in a different century in a different context. I’m not the apostle Paul, but as I follow Jesus, there should be something in your life that other people can look and go, wow, that’s a follower of Jesus. That person’s life attitude actions have been marked by the, by the reality that they’re following Jesus Christ. And so let me just share a few, before we get into mark, you know, why this, the title of this series branded? Well, I don’t know about you, but I love old Western movies. And I, I love, I’ve read a number of Louis Lemoore, Western books. And so that’s really where this series comes from. Just the idea that in the old West, cowboys were known for grit, for courage, for boldness. And really they were known for standing out from others. They were unique in who they were and they weren’t backing down. And I really believe we need some of that in our lives today as we follow Jesus. Yes, we need some grace, but we also need some grit. We’re living in a culture that more and more is persecuting the truths of Christianity and, and, and standing against what we believe as Christians. And we need some of that grit that they had in the old West, the grit that a cowboy has. And so Christians like cowboys, we are called to be unique. Amen. We’re supposed to stand out in a, in a culture that’s swimming downstream. We should be swimming upstream. We shouldn’t just be dressing like the culture or talking like the culture or acting like the culture. In fact, that’s when I actually get concerned when I’m looking a little bit too much like the culture around me, I get concerned, Lord, am I talking like I’m supposed to talk? Am I acting like I’m supposed to act? Am I, am I just going with the flow or am I standing out for you? And so what marks you as a Christian? What is your reputation with those who know you as a Christian whose brand are you writing for? And so we’re going to read through the book of Mark. And I love the gospel of Mark. It’s one of the earliest gospels and it’s fast acting. I mean, he even we’ll see here this morning that when Mark writes about the temptation of Jesus, it’s like two verses. And yet when Matthew writes about the temptation of Jesus, it’s, it’s like a few pages or a couple, like it’s a lot of verses. And so Mark is, is, is a very concise gospel and, and he’s, he’s moving very fast. But let me ask you that question as, as we think about being marked by Jesus, I wonder what we will discover in the gospel of Mark. What marked Jesus? Well, he was marked by love. He was marked by boldness. He was marked by authority. He was marked by compassion and generosity. There, there’s so many things we could point out and that’s, I hope you’ll begin to get curious and maybe with me, read through the gospel of Mark, even as you prepare your heart over the next few weeks for this series and just ask yourself that question, what marked Jesus? What made him unique and what marked the lives of those who, who followed Jesus? Well, what I want to do first this morning is just move very quickly through about seven or eight truths as I look at this text, but I want to tell you where I’m headed right from the beginning. I’m headed to verse eight. I really want to talk with us this morning about what the Holy Spirit does in the life of a believer, because I believe verse eight is not just talking about what we call the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit, but, but verse eight is talking about a whole bunch more. It’s talking about all that the spirit does in the Christian life to make the Christian life real and to make the Christian life work. But before we get there, let’s look at seven truths concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. Number one, Jesus is the good news. Let me read it again in verse one, in the beginning or the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. And I just want to remind us that gospel means good news. Your version, ESV says gospel, NIV says good news. That’s because the Greek word means good news. And I want to encourage you as you’re sharing your faith and as you’re following Jesus, don’t take good news and make it bad news. I know that’s simple, but I just want to say it. We have good news. Jesus came as the savior of the world. Jesus came to us because God loves you. God loves your family. God loves your neighbor. And as Christians, if we’re going to be marked by Jesus, we’ve got to be marked by that love. We’ve got to be marked by that good news. And so don’t take the good news of Jesus and somehow turn it into bad news. Jesus wants to rescue us. He wants to regenerate us, rebirth us. He wants to restore us into a relationship with God. And so as the church and as an individual Christian, you’ve got good news. And that’s what Mark says to us in verse one, as he begins to share the story of Jesus Christ, he says, it’s good news. That’s the Greek word he was using as he began to talk about Jesus. I love Luke chapter four, verse 18 and 19. Here’s Jesus in a synagogue. I believe he’s in Nazareth and he’s quoting from Isaiah 61. He stands up and he really prophesies, here’s what my ministry is going to be about. Here’s what my ministry will be. He says, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Amen. It’s good news. God wants to set you free from addictions. Jesus came to set you free from shame and guilt and anything in your past. Today is a new day. You, I love the worship songs you were singing this morning about freedom. We have freedom in Jesus to live for him. We don’t have to be bound to the old person. We can live the life that God is calling us to live. It’s good news. Secondly, Jesus is the son of God. Look with me again at this first verse. This is the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God. The first description here is the Messiah. The Greek is literally Christos or Christ. He’s the anointed one. He’s been anointed and we see that in Luke four. We see that in Mark’s gospel, John’s gospel. Jesus is anointed at his baptism by the spirit and Christ or Messiah is a title. So it’s for Jesus. It’s a title that helps us understand that Jesus is special. He is anointed in a very special way. He’s so special that he, he has the title son of God. You see in the old Testament, Messiah is throughout the prophetic writings. They were looking for a day and a time when God would send a special messenger. He would be a king. He would be a priest. He would be a prophet. In fact, I think there’s something like 351 prophecies related to the coming of the Messiah. And one of the beauties of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as they write their gospels and tell the story of Jesus, is they’re always going back to the prophets in the old Testament. They’re always going back to the old Testament. And what I believe is Jesus is concealed in the old Testament, but he’s revealed in the new Testament. And so as Matthew writes, as Mark writes, as, as Luke and John write the story of Jesus, they have experienced it firsthand. They’ve heard the teachings of Jesus. They’ve witnessed his miracles, but as they write the story, they’re going back in their knowledge as Jewish people of the old Testament. And they’re saying, well, look, this is that, this is, this is exactly what Isaiah spoke about. This is what Jeremiah saw. This is what the old Testament prophets saw that God was going to do when he brought the Messiah. There’s something special about Jesus. That’s what I want you to see as Mark begins his gospel. He is unique. He is marked by the spirit. He is the unique representation of all of the promises of God in the old Testament. He’s predicted as a king, as a priest, as a prophet. And even God’s one and only son. Check out Micah 5.2 that refers to the Messiah as the son of God and as a savior. A third truth is the prophets. And I’ve already touched on this a little bit. The prophets predicted Jesus arrival. And there’s so many 351. Can you imagine that old Testament prophecies pointing that a Messiah will come? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 2nd Kings, 1st Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Micah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi all include predictions or allusions to a coming Messiah. So it’s not a vague idea in the Old Testament. It’s not just one prophet kind of added on to their message that, well, yeah, one day there may be a special messenger that will come. No, it begins in Genesis. And it runs throughout the Old Testament that a part of God’s plan is that God was going to send the Messiah, his one and only son, to rescue the world from our brokenness and from our sin. The prophets predicted the timing and the place of his arrival right down to all the details. Number four, the gospel, the good news, is a message of repentance and forgiveness. And I want to go a little slower on this point because it’s a big part of the message this morning as I look through these verses. As Christians today, we should be marked by repentance and we should be marked by the Spirit. You’ve heard me say this before, and I believe it. I want to be a good repenter. I want to be quick to repent. I want to be quick to come to the Lord and say, Lord, if there’s any way in me that needs to change, if there’s any thinking in me that needs to change, when you’re spirit puts your finger on that, Lord, may I jump towards you and say, Lord, I’m ready to change. I’m ready to change. The gospel is a message of repentance and forgiveness. Look with me, I’m just going to read verse four and five. And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now, your Bible might say remission of sins. Remission is a little bit different in meaning than forgiveness, but remission just means a cancellation of debt. And that’s certainly true that when Jesus came and John the Baptist is his forerunner, and so his message also was a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Let me keep reading. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him confessing their sins. They were baptized by him in the Jordan River. Praise God. What a move of God, right? It’s a wonderful verse that describes what true repentance looks like. That here comes John the Baptist, and he was kind of a unique dude, right? I mean, I think it’s verse seven or verse six, I forget, describes the way John the Baptist dressed. He was not trying to fit in. He was very unique. You know, he was one of the guys that shows up at the dinner party and everybody else is having some wine and some cheese and crackers and, you know, doing their thing. And he says, no, I’ll just take some honey and a grasshopper, please. You know, he was a little bit unique. Now, I’m not saying this morning as Christians that we should be unique for unique sake. But what I am hoping that you’re hearing me say, Christian, as you’re following Jesus, Jesus is going to transform your life and you’re going to stand out in a dark world. You’re going to stand out in a dark culture. And churches, if that’s not happening, it doesn’t really matter what we’re doing on Sunday morning. If when we go out into the world, this is a dark world that needs the light of Jesus, that needs the love of Jesus, that needs to interact with people who’ve been marked by Jesus. And so when we go out and interact with the world today, be unique, be who you are as a child of God, be who you are as a follower of Jesus, because the darkness of the world needs to see the light. And a part of being marked is being marked by repentance. Repentance and forgiveness is taught in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and especially the prophets. The prophets emphasize that genuine repentance rather than just, you know, lip service or just going through the motions is what God wants. Over and over again, we see in Scripture that God wants a contrite heart, a humble heart, a repentant heart. I love this, that the very first message of Jesus in every gospel is repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. It’s his very first public words. Recently, it was either on a television commercial or social media, I saw the promotion that God loves you too much to ask you to change. And I just thought, I don’t know what Bible they’re reading, but they’re not reading the Bible I’ve been reading. The opposite is true, church. God loves you so much that he will ask you to change. And in my years of walking with the Lord, he repeatedly asked me to change, and he doesn’t give up when I refuse to change. He keeps coming back and putting his finger right on our shoulder and on our heart and shining the light of truth and saying, yeah, you need to change that heart level attitude. You need to change the way you’re looking at other people. You need to change the way you’re thinking about that person or thinking about that subject. You need to change. Jesus, that’s the heart of his message. Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near to you. And so the slogan, God would never ask you to change. It’s just not true. It’s just not biblical. God is asking us to change. In fact, the word for repentance means a change of mind. It’s like doing a U-turn. And so it’s a change that starts in our mind and it touches our heart, and then it impacts our behavior. And so when I look and I read these verses of the ministry of John the Baptist, and I see how all of the Judean countryside came out to hear his words, and then it says they confess their sins, and then they follow through by being water baptized. It wasn’t the water that cleansed them. You see, that’s kind of a, John the Baptist is kind of an intermediate figure, right? He kind of represents the old Testament, but he’s telling people the new covenant’s coming. Jesus is coming. So he’s representing the old Testament, even in how he’s dressed as a prophet. He comes from the desert and he’s definitely unique as a prophet of God. And he’s got this water baptism thing going on. And if you know anything about the old Testament, it’s very focused on the tabernacle and the temple and special holidays and the day of atonement. And you had to wash in certain ways before you could enter into the presence of God. And there were all of these kinds of rules, regulations of how we approach God. And so in one way, John the Baptist represents that, but he’s also pointing to something new is coming. The new covenant is coming. But the good news is really centered on repentance. Jesus is coming. The new covenant is coming. But will we repent and confess our sins? Will we think like God thinks about our sin and our brokenness, or will we keep going our own way? And then a fifth truth, and I’m supposed to be moving through these quickly, because I really want to focus on verse eight. So I’m trying to go quick as I can. Look with me at verse nine. Jesus water baptism can be confusing to some of us because we read this and go, well, why was Jesus water baptized? I mean, he was perfect. He didn’t need a baptism of repentance for sin. Well, let me read verse nine. At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Where’d I go here? I’ve got to find my notes. Got it. So let me just direct you to Matthew 3.15, if you will. Matthew 3.15. Here’s what Jesus says, because if you read Matthew’s story of the baptism of Jesus, John the Baptist actually at first refuses. He won’t baptize Jesus. He says to Jesus, you need to baptize me, not me, you. Like John the Baptist recognizes who Jesus is, and John’s gospel tells us that he says, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So John the Baptist recognizes Jesus is the Messiah, the promised one of God. But here’s what Jesus says. To John in Matthew’s gospel, chapter three, verse 15, it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Well, what does that mean? Well, sometimes we have to go to other places in scripture to kind of help us understand what that scripture is talking about. And when I read through the book of Hebrews, what I begin to understand is what Jesus was saying is not that he needed, he already was righteous. There was no sin in Jesus, but Jesus wanted to fully identify with you as a human being. Think about that. And that’s what the message of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews tells us. You can look in places like Hebrews chapter two, verse 17, that Jesus fully identifies with us. That’s what makes him such a great high priest in the new covenant. He’s a better high priest in the old covenant and priest in the old covenant. They had to go make sacrifices for themselves before they could make sacrifices for you, but not Jesus. He’s the perfect high priest who identifies with you and I in every way. Think about that. Jesus is one of us. He didn’t just stand at a distance and offer a salvation, but he came down and he became one of us as a baby born in a manger as a human being who lived and who died. Jesus is one of us. Look with me at verse 10. Here’s a six, a sixth truth that relates to Jesus, water baptism and the gospel. And that is that Jesus is anointed by the spirit at his water baptism. Look with me in verse 10, just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. I love this, that Jesus did not minister out of his divinity. He ministered out of his anointing in the spirit. Now he was the son of God. He was divine. And I’m not going to unpack Philippians chapter two this morning, but Philippians chapter two, five through 11 kind of helps us understand that Jesus was fully God, but he, he, he, he limited him his divinity in some way. But here, as we read about Jesus being water baptized in the gospels, we recognize that as Jesus began his public ministry, he was, he was setting up the pattern that ministry would be done in the power of the spirit. Even Jesus who was fully God and fully human, he wasn’t 50% God and 50% human. He was a hundred percent God and a hundred percent human. Even Jesus was led. He was anointed by the spirit to do ministry. And then verse 11, and, and, and our, we, we kind of already mentioned this verse 11, but I read it again. Jesus is declared as the son of God again in, in, in this water baptism and a voice came from heaven. You are my son whom I love and with you, I am well pleased. And so in the baptism, we have the Trinity, the father, the son, and the Holy spirit all present as Jesus is getting ready to begin his ministry. But the seventh truth, seventh truth from these verses is Jesus is sent or he’s led by the spirit. He’s led by the spirit. Now, John says led, Mark uses a stronger word. He uses a word more like driven or sent. So here in Mark’s gospel, we see a picture of the Holy spirit, a little more forceful, if you will, than the picture that we get in Matthew’s gospel at the baptism where, where the Holy spirit leads Jesus. And I, and I hope, I hope this helps you understand. And we preached on this a few weeks ago, how God uses trouble in our life. It’s not that the spirit drove Jesus toward temptation. The Bible says he led him or sent him into the wilderness. And then when he was in the wilderness, he was tempted. You see the difference? So again, God is not your tempter, but God will lead you into situations in life where then you will face trials. You will face temptation. You will face trouble. And God wants to use that in your life to help you to grow. One of my, one of my prayers that I pray over my own life and my kids and my family is Lord put a hedge of protection around my life so that anything that comes into my life, Lord, I know you’re allowing it. And it just wasn’t, uh, it didn’t just happen, but Lord, you’re going to put a hedge of protection around me. You’re going to put a hedge of protection around my kids to protect and provide so that anything that comes into my life, I can know, okay, God, you want me to grow. You’re going to use that in my life to work all things out for good. And you want me to grow and mature in Christ Jesus. Even Jesus who is fully divine was led by the spirit that encourages me. I got to be led by the spirit. If Jesus needed the spirit, I need the spirit. I need the spirit to lead me, to guide me, to send me. And so again, it’s not that, that the spirit led him to temptation, led him into the wilderness where he was tempted. I want to go back now and look at verses. I’ll read verses seven and eight, but I really want to focus on verse eight and just think about what does the spirit do in the Christian life? What does the spirit do in the Christian life? Let me read verse seven and eight. And this was his message after me comes one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I’m not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And other gospels say Holy Spirit and fire. And fire represents cleansing just like water. So when the Bible says that Jesus will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, it’s not talking about emotional energy. Sorry, it’s not. It’s talking about cleansing. It means that the Holy Spirit, when he comes into your life, he’s going to do more than water can do. It was interesting as we were walking through the house praying and boy, they did such a great job with their different Bible verses. And I walked into the laundry room and I thought, man, what verse are they going to put for laundry? But boy, they found a doozy. And I can’t remember the actual Bible verse, but it was something like, you know, may he cleanse us of our sin. Wow. And so that really got me thinking, you know, how often we’re washing our clothes. I mean, our laundry over the last 20 years that we’ve lived in our house, I don’t think there’s ever been a day when our laundry washer and dryer hasn’t been spinning. I mean, I mean, raising five kids, we’ve, we’ve always had laundry going on. So we’re constantly trying to get the dirt out of our clothing. Right. And as I was standing there at their house and praying over their laundry facility, we weren’t praying for dirt in clothing. We were praying according to that scripture, Lord, may this be a household, may this be a relationship, may their lives be cleansed of sin and brokenness and anything that’s not pleasing to you. Wow. Let it be Lord. Let it be. Give us that. Give us that, that Holy spirit and fire in our lives. Remember Jeremiah in the old Testament, he says, I’ve got to preach because it’s like fire shut up in my bones. See something happens when the spirit of God comes into your life. See John the Baptist, he’s like this transition. If he represents the old Testament, but he’s saying something new is coming in the old Testament, the spirit would come on a King or a priest or a prophet in the old Testament. The Holy spirit would work on people groups and move in some big ways, right? Like a pillar of fire, a cloud, but in the new Testament, when Jesus came where there’s repentance, the spirit comes. See that’s new covenant stuff. Wherever there’s repentance, God’s looking at every heart, wherever there’s repentant hearts, the spirit comes and the spirit and his fire began to cleanse and to purify and to change and to transform your heart. That’s true religion. We need repentance. Lord, give us a heart of repentance. We need the spirit. Lord, give us your spirit in each and every heart and each and every life as Christians, we should be marked not by our traditions and whether or not we show up for church every Sunday. Although by the way, as your pastor, you need to show up for church every Sunday. Come on church, because it can, it can make a difference in your life. It can make a difference in your life. I know what’s going on in the culture today that most people in among the Christian culture are showing up once a month. Friend, we can do better than that. And I’m thankful. We do a lot better than that. You’re here every Sunday, but when we’re here every Sunday, we give God an opportunity to speak to us. We give God an opportunity to bring a spirit of praise and worship into our lives. We get a part of the fellowship. We grow. We begin to serve. So be present, but you know what? God is not concerned with just the outward traditions that we have as church members at Columbia first assembly and how we worship versus how the Baptist worship or the Presbyterians worship. If that’s all it is, and there’s nothing happening in your heart, then we’re missing it. Then we’re missing it because when, when the spirit comes in hearts, begin to change attitudes, begin to change the way we think begins to change. That’s what repentance really is. And then the way we behave and the way we treat one another, that’s true Christianity. We should be marked by repentance. We should be marked by the spirit and his fire. I see the ministry of Jesus represented a new covenant, a new day when the spirit would change hearts and minds. I want to turn just to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah chapter 31 is one place we see the new covenant described. It’s also an Ezekiel 36 verse 26. Verse 31 in Jeremiah 31, the days are coming declares the Lord. When I will make a new covenant, this is old Testament stuff. The old Testament talking about a new covenant. That’s going to come with the people of Israel, with the people of Judah. Verse 32, it will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors. When I took them by the hand and lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel. After that time declares the Lord, I will put my law in their minds. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbors, say to one another, know the Lord, because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord. Wow, that is a wonderful description of the new covenant. But I have to ask, how is that possible? How is that going to happen? Well, as we read the beginning of the good news of Jesus in Mark chapter one, we’re beginning to see that repentance and the spirit is how that’s going to happen. The Holy Spirit is going to be poured out in a fresh, in a new way in the ministry of Jesus Christ. And as Jesus brings the kingdom of heaven to earth, the kingdom of heaven is going to come near your heart and near my heart. How’s it going to happen? It’s going to be the spirit. It’s going to be the spirit as you repent, as you soften your heart. And really it’s you, but it’s also the spirit that does that. It’s the very presence of God in your life that begins to soften your heart, begins to humble your heart. And I want to encourage each of us when you, when you sense the spirit of God and you sense the presence of God working in your mind, working in your heart, working in your life, respond. You see that that’s what we read here. They, John the Baptist, look with me again at verse four. And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance and the remission or forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside, you see, they responded and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him confessing their sins. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river. And so they responded. And so if the Holy spirit is speaking to you today, if the Holy spirit is speaking to me today, don’t harden your heart. Don’t resist respond. Lord, where is it in my life that I need to change? What, where, where is it my thinking that I, I need to repent. There’s a number of different words in the new Testament or the old Testament for sin. There’s transgression, which means just to rebel against God. There’s sin in the new Testament. That’s kind of the most common it’s harmonious. It just means to miss the mark, like someone shooting a bow and arrow. There’s also iniquity and I could go on and on and on. Iniquity is more the idea to pervert or to twist the truth of God. There’s a lot of that going on in our culture today. People who are calling themselves Christians, but aren’t interested in biblical truth. There’s a lot of twisting going on. Psalms 32 verse one and two blesses the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered, blesses the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and whose spirit is no deceit. I’m so thankful that when the spirit comes into my life and I readily and quickly repent and say, yes, Lord, thank you for revealing. I’m going to revealing that area of my heart to me. I’m going to respond. I’m going to confess my sin that immediately the spirit bears witness with that. And there’s freedom and there’s a clear conscience and I can sleep well at night and I’m empowered to serve the Lord. I’m so thankful for the work of the Holy spirit. And that’s what I want to really focus on this morning. So that was the introduction. And now I’m going to begin to preach the message well, or at least the altar call. Okay. As Christians, we should be marked by the spirit, but what does the Holy spirit do in the Christian life? I think that’s important for us to think about in verse eight here, John the Baptist says, I baptize you with water that represented the old Testament, but he will baptize you with the Holy spirit that represents the new Testament. And so here as Pentecostals, we’ve got to be careful to understand. He’s not just saying he’s going to baptize you in the Holy spirit or fill you with the Holy spirit so that you have an ax one, eight boldness and ability to serve God. And you have a prayer language, although that’s a part of it. That’s a part of it. But John the Baptist is saying something much bigger, much more global. He’s saying in the old Testament, God gave the law, but the people couldn’t live up to it. God had a covenant with his people and there was the tabernacle and there was the temple and there was sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. But now Jesus has come and with him has come a better sacrifice and a better covenant. But also with Jesus has come the spirit now, not just resting upon King’s priest or prophets so that let me put that in modern day language. So the spirit’s not just available to the pastor. The spirit’s not just available to the missionary. The spirit’s not just available to maybe the person that we look at and go, okay, they’re the leader. Let’s see what the spirit wants to do in the church today. No, the spirit is now available to every person who wants to have a relationship with God through repentance and remission of sins and wants to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit is available to you to have that kind of daily relationship with the Lord. That’s what this verse I believe is really pointing out is in the old Testament. There was yes, cleansing with water and temple and tabernacle. And you’ve got to go to the temple on these certain prescribed days because that’s the only way you can honor God and have a relationship with him. But now Jesus has come and with Jesus has come the spirit and where the spirit is, there is the presence of God. And that’s what we have today. So number one, what is the Holy Spirit do in the Christian life? I want to look at the work of the spirit in our lives a little bit more broadly. Number one, the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus and makes him real in your life today. And I could go to a number of scriptures, but I think that’s so important to remember that whatever the spirit is doing in your life today, he’s not having us look away from Jesus. He’s having us look more intently at Jesus. The spirit glorifies Jesus. And it’s really the spirit of God today that makes our relationship with Jesus real. And I want you to hear that young person. You can have a personal, real relationship with Jesus. You can have the expectation that God through his son, Jesus Christ, and through the very spirit of God, you can have the expectation that he can speak to you. That may come in a dream, a vision. It may just come in a thought. Most likely, I’m just going to say it’s not going to be audible. Not saying God can’t or won’t, but in this era, it seems that God speaks more through dreams and visions, impressions, thoughts. He might give you a word picture, but can God speak to you because of the spirit of God that is everywhere all at once? Yes. God can speak to you. God can speak to you. In fact, the role of the Holy Spirit is to speak to us by pointing us to Jesus and pointing us to the word of God, which is Jesus, the written word. Number two, what does the Holy Spirit do in the Christian life is the Holy Spirit indwells us. How many times do we read in the New Testament that you are a temple? You are a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. So the spirit of God indwells a believer. When you have, by God’s grace, received Jesus into your life, you’ve confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You’ve put your faith in him. You’re walking with him. The Bible teaches us the spirit of God comes into our hearts, comes into our lives, and fills us so that we can experience and enjoy that relationship with the Lord. It starts at the moment of salvation and it continues to grow. It continues to increase. Are there seasons where God seems silent? Yeah, there is. But that relationship just continues to grow. And as we continue to press in and we continue to read our Bible and continue to spend time in prayer, that relationship of the Spirit’s presence in our life continues to grow. A third role of the Holy Spirit in our life is he illuminates or he brightens up God’s word and guides us into truth. And I love that. I can read God’s word and it’s like the author is right there with me. Because the Spirit of God breathed on these human authors to write the word of God and then now, thousands of years later, I can read the word of God and the Spirit of God is right there with me to illuminate, really to like shine light on God’s word so that I can understand it. And we need that so much in our life today. We need Christians who understand God’s word. We need believers who are people of the book, people who are getting into the word of God. And I’m gonna say it and I’m gonna keep saying it and I’m gonna say it again. You’re gonna probably hear me preach it every Sunday is we need to get into the word. Because we’re living in a culture where that’s getting harder and harder. Because it’s so much easier to pick up the smartphone and to scroll. And it’s a lot more difficult just to take time and say, you know, I’m just gonna read a book of the Bible tonight. I didn’t say a chapter. I’m gonna read a book of the Bible tonight. Come on church, we can do that. You know, or I’m gonna, I’m just gonna look at four verses tonight but I’m gonna really study them out. We’re living in a culture where we just don’t read like we used to read. So if you need to listen to the word on audio, do that. But I want to encourage you to get a Bible, have a Bible, read the Bible, study the Bible, pray over the Bible, begin to memorize and meditate on the Bible. And one of the roles, one of the most important roles of the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit in your life as a believer, as you follow him, is if you’ll read the word, God will shine his light on it. He’ll make it plain. He’ll make it clear to you. A fourth role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as believers is the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit baptizes or immerses or fills or refills us as believers in the Holy Spirit so that we have power for service and witness. And can I just say that in reverse? If you’re not witnessing, there’s no power. If you’re, if you’re never out talking with someone else about your faith in Jesus, there’s no actual one eight power. That the Holy Spirit baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, right? God or Jesus is the baptizer actually here. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit so that we can go out and be witnesses so that we can use our words, if you will, use our lives to share the story of Jesus Christ. And, and the Bible promises us in Acts chapter one, eight, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you so that you can be my witnesses. Is there a subsequent, a part of that, a prayer language that comes? Yes, there is. But what’s the real purpose of being baptized or filled to overflowing, immersed in the Holy Spirit is so that we can go be witnesses and we can experience the power of the Holy Spirit to help us have the words to share with those around us. Number five, the Holy Spirit gives a variety of gifts for service and leadership in the church. And again, we could go to Ephesians four, 11 and 12, first Corinthians 12 through 14, Romans chapter eight. There’s so many different passages. I’m sorry, Romans chapter 12, verse eight. There’s so many passages of scripture in the new Testament. And I don’t think any of them are exhaustive. In other words, I don’t think any list is meaning to list them all. But what we see in the new Testament is just as the grace of God saves us, the grace of God gifts us. So could you just say to yourself this morning, I’m gifted. I’m gifted. The Holy Spirit has gifted me with certain gifts. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. As you walk with the Lord, the Holy Spirit will give you gifts of leadership. He will give you gifts of teaching, of pastoring. He will give you speaking gifts to be a blessing to someone individually or to build the church up corporately. God gives us gifts. Now, can we use those gifts irresponsibly or responsibly? Yes. Can we use those gifts wisely or unwisely? Yes. Do the gifts mean I’m more mature than you? No. We know that’s true just when we look at athletes, right? When we look at gifted politicians, just because someone is gifted or talented doesn’t mean they’re mature. And we have to remember that in the church, that just because the pastor can speak in front of a crowd doesn’t mean he’s mature. We got to look a little deeper, right? We got to pay a little bit deeper, right? We got to pay a little bit more attention. Just because someone has this gift that God has given them or gifted them over here with this spiritual gift doesn’t mean they’re spiritually mature. It just means they have that gift. But the Holy Spirit gives us a variety of gifts so that we can serve the Lord and so that we can build up the church. Number six, the Holy Spirit also gives us revelation. And I love that word. Not too long ago, we studied through the book of Proverbs and we define wisdom as practical skill or insight. So that’s similar to revelation. What is revelation? What we’re saying is the Holy Spirit can tell you things you wouldn’t already know. If you’re walking with the Lord, if you’re praying, if you’re talking with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God is with you and the Spirit can reveal things to you about your own life, about situations in your life that you wouldn’t otherwise know. Now, is that a daily experience? Is that a weekly experience? Does that happen once a year? I think it’s different for different people. I think we can grow in that. I think we can learn how to hear from the Holy Spirit more. Church, I want to encourage you always start with the Word and always finish the Word, always stay in the Word. Because again, anything we’re hearing from the Spirit, we need to judge by the Word. Okay, we need to judge by the Word. But we shouldn’t be afraid of hearing from the Spirit. The Spirit can speak to us. The Spirit wants to glorify Jesus and make Jesus real in our lives. And He can give us revelation. He can tell us things we could not possibly know on our own. And number seven, the Holy Spirit prays for us and prays through us when we don’t know how to pray ourselves. Romans 8, Hebrews 7. Aren’t you thankful for that? And as we go through the book of Mark, we will see the prayers of Jesus. Jesus was marked by prayer. And we should be marked by prayer. But there’s sometimes we may be going through something where we don’t know what to pray. We don’t know what to say. It’s like we’re prayed up, we’re prayed out. And all we can do is just lean on the Spirit. Say, Lord, would you pray for me? Would you pray through me? What a comfort. And then eighth and finally, the Holy Spirit, and I shouldn’t say finally, because I’m sure there’s many more things here the Holy Spirit does that I haven’t listed. But in my list, eight and finally, the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit. And I know we already said the Holy Spirit indwells us. And as a part of that indwelling, he produces the fruit of the Spirit. And that makes us unique. And it’s the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, 22 and 23 that really is a measure of maturity. Do you hear what I’m saying? In other words, it’s what’s being changed in your character. It’s what’s being changed in the way you talk and how you treat others and who you are as an individual person. That is a measurement of your maturity in Christ. I love it that Jesus, when he described the Holy Spirit, he described the Holy Spirit as the paraclete, as a comforter, as a helper, as a teacher. And I find most often when the Holy Spirit is working with me or the Holy Spirit is using a gift, a speaking gift, a manifestation gift in the congregation, it brings comfort. Because that’s who the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is a comforter. The Holy Spirit can do shock and awe, but that’s actually not how the Holy Spirit works in my life most of the time. I want to just kind of pause here and just maybe underline this. The Holy Spirit wants to speak to you in your prayer life. The Holy Spirit wants to speak to you and work through you and minister through you and to you as you go to the grocery store. And the Holy Spirit wants to speak to us as we come together as a congregation. But I’m not sure that every time the Holy Spirit… I’m going to get real transparent here, okay? I’m going to just be really, really real. So if I say anything here that offends you, just know that it was the Lord, not me. No, it could be me. But you know, when I was a kid, I can remember in Pentecostal churches when every time the Lord spoke, and I believe He did, but it was always, thus saith the Lord. It was like somebody would cry out in old King James, and it had to be bold, and it had to be like thunder from heaven. I’m okay with that. Because that could be how God wants to speak to us. But I also want you to understand that God doesn’t have to speak to us like that. That could just be the human vessel. And so what I’m saying, and trying to share with you this morning, is what I have found in Scripture, and what I’ve found in my own life as a believer, and someone who wants more of the Spirit of God at work in my life, is most of the time when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us as a congregation through a tongue and interpretation, a word of wisdom, or the pastor speaking, the Holy Spirit wants to come. He’s a comforter. He’s a comforter. He’s not a shock and awe, scare you to death person. I’m not saying he won’t ever do that, because you can see examples in Scripture where God will do shock and awe. But I think most of the time he comes to us personally and like a small still voice. And he says, hey Tom, remember what I told you yesterday morning at breakfast? Come on now, let’s go in that direction. That’s how the Holy Spirit works in my life as a comforter, as a teacher. And I want to just go one more step further. If you’re not experiencing that in your life, but you’re waiting on God to show up as thunder and lightning, can I just encourage all of us to let’s just get back to hearing God in the Word, and hearing God in our prayer time, and hearing God in that small still voice. Because I think as we get better hearing the Lord in those moments, we’re going to be better equipped to use our gifts for someone else. To hear God in one of the public gifts, the Pentecostal gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 on a Sunday morning. Because we’ve been in the presence of God. We’ve been hearing God in the Word. We’ve been hearing the small still voice of the Lord. And then when we’re in church together, you’re going to hear something from the Lord. And it’s going to be familiar, because you’re going to be like, man that’s how God’s been talking to me all week. And then you’re going to be able to say, Lord, is this for me? Or is this for everybody? And God will lead you. God will help you. Friend, I want to see the Holy Spirit at work in our church. And I want to see the Holy Spirit, because we need the Holy Spirit in our Christian life. We, this community, though they know it not, they need the power of God. They need the voice of the Spirit. They need the Spirit of God to come alive in their lives. And often there’s a disconnect, right, between church culture and culture around us. And I’m praying all the time, Lord, give us the strategy of the Spirit. Help us to know how we can live Christian lives marked by repentance and marked by the Spirit, so that we can experience what you want us to experience. So that when people come in, they hear the Spirit and go, that was God. That was God. You’re probably going to hear me say more about that in the upcoming weeks, because I want to be a church that’s marked by the Spirit. I want to be a Christian that’s marked by the Spirit. And I want people coming and going saying, that was the Lord. That was the Lord. And I hope you share that heart. I want to invite the worship team to come back and lead us in a closing hymn. And as they’re coming, I want to lead us in a prayer of repentance. The message this morning has been one, an introduction to our new series, Branded. Whose brand are you wearing? But it’s also been a call to repentance. It’s been a call to repentance and inviting the Spirit of God into our lives. Would you stand with me this morning? And I want to just lead all of us in a prayer of repentance. We need a heart of repentance. And so will you pray with me, Lord Jesus, we come to you this morning and we just want to say, we need you. We need you in our brokenness. We need you in our sin. We want to be quick to repent when your Holy Spirit identifies an area in our life that needs to change. Help us to think like you think in regards to our sin, in regards to our transgressions, in regards to our iniquities. Lord, purify us and cleanse us with fire and with water. Lord, set us free from those things that would destroy our lives. Holy Spirit, come into our lives and make Jesus real to us. Make your word shine so that we can understand it. Empower us and gift us to serve you, O Lord. As we begin to sing, I want to just encourage you this morning to just take a moment and repent. And for you, that may look like just standing right there and say, Lord, I repent. And it may be a general prayer for somebody else. There may be a very specific topic, a very specific issue, a very specific burden that God is speaking to you about right now, and you need to repent of it. You need to let it go. You need to turn from it. Just take a minute and let God minister to you this morning. For somebody else, you may need to step out and come to the altar. And maybe it would help in your obedience to actually kneel at the altar and say, Lord, I want to fully repent of this lifestyle. I want to fully repent of this life choice. I want you to cleanse me. I want you to purify me. So as we begin to sing this morning, would you also just take a minute and have a moment of repentance? It can change your week. It’ll draw you closer to God. Thank you, Lord. Oh, I love that part of the chorus. We’ve repented. We’ve confessed. We’ve repented. The Lord has forgiven, and now there’s no turning back. We can go out and we can walk in freedom. Anybody feel that? I do. It’s like, thank you, Jesus. Whatever we’re repenting of today, whether we’re repenting of our unbelief, we’re repenting of a specific area, we’re repenting of how we treated somebody. Wow, you can confess it, repent. The Lord forgives it, and you can go live as if it never even happened. It’s done. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Hi, I’m Pastor Tom Ragsdell. I’m Pastor Ellis Bennis. And we’re from Columbia First Assembly. We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus. Our vision is simple. We want to make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community. Absolutely. Thank you so much for connecting with us online. We would also love to connect with you in person. We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School. So if you’re in the central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us. If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments. If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know, and we will be happy to engage with you in the comments. We believe God’s doing something special at our church, and we want you to be a part of it. We’re a multi-generational church. We have people from all different backgrounds. We’re a church of the Word. We’re a church of the Spirit. We believe Jesus can transform your life. That’s why we’re on mission with Him, and we want to help you know God. We want to help you grow in God, and we want to share hope in our community. So connect with us, and we want to connect with you. Awesome. Have a wonderful and a blessed day.