Sermons | FBC Boerne

Recharge | The Holy Spirit | Fall 2025: Week 1

• FBC Boerne • Season 1 • Episode 1

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The journey of faith begins with a profound mystery - how does a spiritually dead person come to life in Christ? During this Wednesday night Recharge service, we tackle a question that troubles many believers: "How do I know if I've heard God speak to me?"

The answer begins by understanding the Holy Spirit's foundational role in our salvation. Scripture paints a stark picture of our pre-salvation state - "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). This isn't metaphorical language but spiritual reality. A dead person cannot respond, cannot breathe, cannot make any effort toward life. Similarly, we did not come to faith through our own decision-making prowess or spiritual insight.

Jesus himself declared, "No one comes to Me unless the Father draws him." The Holy Spirit meets us in our deadness and, through various means - conscience, Scripture, nature, an innate sense of God - begins to kindle spiritual life. He convicts of sin and creates a hunger that wasn't previously there. When the gospel message arrives, those whom the Spirit is drawing respond with faith - a faith that itself is described as a gift, not a self-generated virtue.

The story of Cody Clausen, a lost Boy Scout rescued by Harrison Ford's helicopter, provides a powerful parallel. Like Cody - cold, helpless, and utterly lost - we were spiritually stranded until the Spirit of God searched for and found us. The profound comfort in this truth is captured in Philippians 1:6: "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Our spiritual life doesn't depend on our grip on God but on His unrelenting hold on us.

Take heart in knowing that if you've placed your trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has already been speaking to you, drawing you, and working in you. And He promises to continue that work until the end. That's not just good news - it's the best news.

Speaker 1:

All right, good evening, happy Wednesday to you. Wednesday nights are back. Recharge is back. If you are, this is your first time, welcome, we're really glad that you are here. This is what Wednesdays look like for most of right the fall semester and spring semester, and what we call this is recharge. It's we sing two songs and I try and limit my sermon to like seven to ten minutes. Sometimes I go over, but it's short and we get dismissed. And at the end tonight we're going to look at we have adult discipleship classes, children's classes, youth classes, all that's going on, and so welcome, very glad that you're here.

Speaker 1:

When the Lord grabbed a hold of me in college, he completely changed my friend group, and so there's a new group of friends that I was hanging around and I remember his name was Scott. I had this buddy named Scott and we were young in college, and what are college guys interested in? Girls, right. And so one day we went to church in the evening church, and I noticed that Scott was sitting next to this girl that he had befriended, and so we couldn't wait to talk to him afterwards. And when we talked to Scott afterwards it sounded like this guys, you wouldn't believe it, I sat next to this girl and the Holy Spirit was moving like crazy. Right, the Spirit of the Lord was there and it was awesome. All right, scott, that's great, that's great. And so you know, we had high expectations for where that relationship was going because the Lord was moving.

Speaker 1:

And then a week later we gathered around, hadn't seen Scott, and suddenly see him. He's like, hey, how's it going with this girl? He's like, well, you know, I don't, I don't know so so much about that. But now that classes had started and he had this, he had this other girl that sat next to him in one of his classes and he goes to tell that story and he again is like you wouldn't believe it, but the spirit of the Lord began to move in that class. Well, as it turns out, girl number two is just a little hotter than girl number one and it's like he just dumped one girl onto the next right. So I use that as an introduction.

Speaker 1:

True story, hysterical in our life, but all of us have had those encounters where someone plays the God card and you're like, well, what can I say? Right, okay, well, if God was moving, then I guess this is right. What can I say in return. A lot of times people play that God card. Let me switch and let me tell you something serious that happened just over camp.

Speaker 1:

A student came up to me at youth camp in Estes Park, colorado, and just began to have a conversation and the question, in a serious tone, was Pastor, how do I know if I've heard God speak to me? How do I know if it's God or if it's just me or feelings at that moment? How do I know? You ever had that question, you ever had that thought. All right, what we're going to do this semester?

Speaker 1:

The direct answer to that question is believer, let us begin to search the Scripture and find out the role of the Holy Spirit and what Scripture describes that the Holy Spirit does in the life, what he does, and then, when you see the work that he does, then you will know that it is the Spirit of God moving. So tonight, in a very short bit, we're gonna look at the role, the first step in this the role of the Holy Spirit in saving you. Okay, you did not come to Jesus Christ on your own. You did not place your faith in Jesus because you decided that that was a good idea. Okay, let's pick up in Ephesians, chapter 2. You can hold your spot there. I'm going to have a few verses on the screen.

Speaker 1:

But in Ephesians, chapter 2, listen how Paul begins. Okay, he says and you were dead in your trespasses and sins. You were dead. I don't think you actually believe that about yourself, but I want the Scripture to convince you. Before the Spirit of God moved in your heart and in your life, you were dead in your sins.

Speaker 1:

We like to think of ourselves as pretty good people. We like to think of ourselves as hey, what are you talking about? I mean, I grew up. I got saved at 15, but I grew up going to church. I considered myself a Christian. I got baptized and confirmed. I like to do good things. But then you come to the scripture and the scripture says Jason, you don't understand, you were dead in your sins. That is where God found you. Look at verses 4 and 5. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ.

Speaker 1:

The work of the Spirit of God began to. Here's the truth the Spirit of God met you in your state of being dead to the things of God and the Spirit of God came and met you there. Okay, let me state it plainly like this Jesus says in John 6, 44, no one comes to the Father, no one comes to me, sorry, unless the Father draws them. Okay, unless the Spirit of God came and began to work on your heart. Okay, through your conscience, through this next verse, through the conviction of sin. This is what the Spirit of God does. He comes and he begins to convict you of sin, begins to convict you of the separateness between you and the Lord. That is a work of the Spirit. Go to the next verse. Okay, jesus is telling His disciples listen, I'm going to go away, the Helper's going to Spirit. Go to the next verse. Okay, jesus is telling his disciples listen, I'm gonna go away, the helper's gonna come. But, by the way, one of the main roles of the Spirit of God is he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

Speaker 1:

So the picture that the scripture paints is you were dead in your sin. A dead person does not respond in the least bit. There's no pulse, there's no breathing, there's no effort in any way. And Jesus says you didn't come to me. I came and I awakened deadness, through the conviction of sin, through a conscience. Okay, there are lots of means that the Lord uses. The Lord has placed an innate sense of him inside of each of us. His power and invisible attributes are in nature. We have a conscience that gets convicted. We have an understanding of judgment that is coming as a way that Paul argues in Romans, chapter 1. But none of that works until the Spirit of God comes and begins to kindle deadness, okay, and produce a flame and awaken you from the dead. That is where you came from and you heard the good news, as Jesus says in John 27,. My sheep hear my voice. This is what happened to you, believer. Someone came and preached the good news and the Spirit of God was stirring in your heart and life and convicting you in producing a need, a thirst, a hunger that suddenly, when that good news of Jesus came, when the gospel came, you began to latch onto it like water, like food. You're like I need that Suddenly there's a hunger, a thirst, a desire that was not there before, because the Spirit of God began to work on you. And look, ephesians 2, 8 and 9 even says that the gift of faith, faith is a work of the Spirit of God. Saving faith is a work of the Spirit of God that your eyes were open to the truth of your need of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1:

In July of 2001, a 13-year-old named Cody Clausen he was a Boy Scout and he was out with his troops. And he was out with his troops, okay, and they were going to camp at a camp just south of Yellowstone and his whole troop is out there and they are making treks back and forth to his father's truck. His father is part of the one of the leaders. They're going back and forth to father's truck and Cody takes a trip back to his dad's truck on his own, picks up stuff, begins to walk, walks for miles in a particular direction when he stops and suddenly realizes he is absolutely and utterly lost. It began to get chilly, it began to rain, as darkness set in. All he had was a t-shirt and shorts and sandals. He attempted to build a shelter, but when the winds came in, they blew it all over. He was in a daze. He would rush to a cave and he would spend the night in the cave, completely scared and helpless. Now he knew that his father and that they would begin to look for him. So in the morning. He found a clearing and he sat himself in the clearing. He found a clearing and he sat himself in the clearing and after two hours of searching that morning there was a local Wyoming resident who would volunteer. At who would volunteer? He was a novice helicopter pilot but he would volunteer to go on these rescue missions and so he volunteered, brought his own helicopter and he had spent two hours in the air searching in the areas with teams and at 8 30 am he saw Cody down and he swoops down and the rescue team comes out and they latch on to Cody. Now when Cody sees the helicopter pilot, he's stunned. He stopped in his tracks. They wanted to rush him to the hospital, but Cody insisted that he was just fine. In fact he needed to go back to the Boy Scout camp because he needed to tell everyone who it was that flew that helicopter that rescued him. Here is a picture of that day Indiana Jones himself, harrison Ford.

Speaker 1:

Now I tell you that because it's a perfect illustration that you were lost in your sin. You were completely cold and scared and helpless on your own, and the Spirit of God came and found you and saved you. Now, why does this matter? Why does this matter? Listen to this verse, and then I'm done. Philippians 1.6 says this Paul is writing to believers. He says listen, I'm convinced of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Listen to me, believer, you're going to have good days and bad days. You're going to have days where you're very discouraged and very encouraged. You're going to have days when you want to come up to your pastor and ask a question like how do I know if God is ever speaking to me? Okay, listen to me when you know and you understand biblically, you did not come to Jesus on your own. The Spirit of God came and found you and he opened your eyes, and any thirst, any hunger, any desire that you have to know Jesus comes from the Spirit of God. Suddenly, it takes a lot of the pressure off and you realize wait a second. Philippians 1.6, he who began this work in me has promised that he's going to continue to work on me all the way until the end. In other words, jesus is holding on to me, the Holy Spirit is holding on to me, I'm not holding on to him, and that's good news. That's really good news, okay. So the first work of the Spirit of God is to open your eyes to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So if you are a believer, if your hope, if your trust is completely in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross and not your own, guess what the Holy Spirit did that in you. Praise God for that, amen, amen. All right, I'm done Out of time, overtime, as usual.

Speaker 1:

Here we go. You've got your classes. Okay, we're about to ready break here in just a second. Here's a list of classes formed by Grace. In the Fellowship Hall, that is a class on the spiritual disciplines, the spiritual disciplines that's being run by Daniel Justice and Casey Mussetti.

Speaker 1:

All right, heart for Missions is in the library. God's Heart for Admissions the Heart of God Admissions that's Chad in the library. Financial Peace, soul Care, training, men's Bible Study you can see all of those. The foster care group study. You guys are awesome. We love you. If you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer these down front. Let me pray over us and we're dismissed. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for the truth of your word, the truth that even for us to come to know you, king Jesus, that your spirit had to work in us. That gives us a confidence that you are working in us okay, and you have promised that you're not gonna stop, and we thank you for that assurance. Father, throughout this semester, help us to understand deeper, more and more, the promises of the spirit and the way that he works in our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. All right, god bless you.