THE BREATH
OF LIFE
Sunday, Sept. 21, 1997 pm
Gene 2:7 And the LORD God formed
man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life; and man became a living soul.
John 20:22 And when he had said
this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.
Spirit (pneuma - nyoo-mah) of
God is breath of God.
- Air from the spiritual realm
of God
- When you breathe this air
you are in two worlds.
- This world and the Kingdom
Of God.
Jesus said we must be born of
the water and Spirit in order to enter the Kingdom - this new world.
- Need God to breath the BREATH
OF LIFE INTO YOU.
- As Adam was new creature
when God breathed life into him, and became old due to sin, we become new
creatures when we receive the Spirit of God.
- New life.
- Breath of LIFE.
Bible speaks of Spirit-filled
Christians as new creatures.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.
- And having the Christian
profession without the breath is like a clay body with no life breathed into
it yet.
- Not alive yet.
When we lose air we become unconscious
of surroundings
- Unconscious - not aware.
- When we lose breath of
the Spirit, we lose consciousness of the Kingdom of God.
- How we need to get the
Spirit and remain in it!
- BREATHE this Spirit.
- It really is our breath
of life!
Our hearts have ears and eyes.
- But these ears and eyes
relate not to the things of the physical.
- They are meant to hear
God.
- The heart or spirit of
a person, the core of being, suddenly hears when a man preaches Christ and
the Gospel.
- God's Word is Spirit, and
it is what the human spirit can hear.
- Stunned into a dormancy
and unconsciousness due to sin in the Garden of Eden, the human spirit is
only there, that's all.
- When God's Word comes alive,
the same mouth that breathed the breath of life into mankind's spirit now
speaks again to the spirit, the spirit senses it.
- God's Spirit is touching
lives in this service.
- If your spirit is "just
there" and unconscious, something about the preaching tonight is awakening
it.
- Do not leave it there to
die, receive the breath of life.
John 6:63 It is the spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life.
Jesus said His WORDS are spirit
and life. BREATH OF LIFE to an unconscious spirit.
- A refreshing.
- Receive the WORD.
LIKE A SEED.
James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
RESCUE THE SOUL!
- Man became a LIVING SOUL
when God breathed the breath of life into him.
- Let God's BREATH OF LIFE
RESCUE YOU.
- Rescue from oncoming death
and spiritual comatose.
The spirit only hears words uttered
by one IN THE SPIRIT.
- Fresh life flows.
- Words are spirit and life.
- Revives the human heart.
- The preaching of the Bible
in anointing of the Spirit will freshen you and strengthen you.
- Send oxygen through the
blood to give your spiritual muscles power.
A DRY LECTURE WILL NOT DO THE
DEED!
Jesus called the Spirit rivers
of living water.
- Like oxygen.
- Air has currents and jet
"streams".
- You can get strength from
the Word, preached in the Spirit by one who is filled with the Spirit, but
get the tank inside yourself!
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life.
Breath is so fundamental to our
existence.
- A basic part of life.
- Without it we cannot live.
- Would it be any different
in the Spirit?
- Even a whisper requires
a breath.
Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
Since the fall of man, the human
spirit has gasped fro breath of life - unconscious until man's conscience
could not operate properly.
- Suddenly it came alive and
burned in fire.
- The candle BURNED AGAIN,
when wind struck the spark.
Matt 12:18-20 Behold my servant, whom
I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my
spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A
bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till
he send forth judgment unto victory.
The human spirit is barely surviving.
- It is comatose - dormant.
- A tiny spark is there,
just to say it is "there".
- A smoking flax is barely
burnt out.
- God's Spirit was upon the
man Jesus.
- And Jesus would not quench
or snuff out the spark, but BREATH ON IT and make it burn again!
- All it needed was God's
BREATH AGAIN!
In swimming, a person sometimes
slips up due to weakness and loses breath.
- Become unconscious.
- Receive no air they approach
death.
- A rescuer comes along and
breathes into the mouth.
- Life fills the lungs again.
- Consciousness is regained.
- SOMETIMES WE ARE CALLED
TO RESCUE A DYING BROTHER OR SISTER.
- A slip-up caused them to
stop breathing SPIRIT.
- A word spoke to them in
the Spirit will revive them and rescue them.
- Reading the Bible to them
will not do it alone.
- It must be Spirit-anointed
breath.
- Just the right scriptures
will come to the believer to rescue the one.
- When these words of anointing
come, speak them.
Dead words flowing from the mind
into the mind will not revive the dying spirit.
- It must come from your SPIRIT
in order to affect the person's SPIRIT.
God longs to reach into the spirit of all people.
- He needs preachers who can
minister in Spirit and go beyond the mind and soul.
- He needs believers who
can breathe into the spirits of unsaved people, and failing brothers.
What a responsibility we have
to BREATH LIFE TO THE WORLD.
- Jesus arose and talked
to two on the way to Emmaus.
- Afterwards they said:
- Luke 24:32 And they said one to
another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the
way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
- We are people with candles.
- Human spirits.
Prov 20:27 The spirit of man is
the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
- The lack of the supply of
oxygen suffocates the fire of a candle.
Matt 5:14-16 Ye are the light of
the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light
a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light
unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
FIRE NEEDS AIR
- Do not cover a candle -
it will suffocate.
- Do not miss church - and
Spirit ministry.
- Word gives strength to
muscles.
On the day of Pentecost, a WIND
blew into the room, and there appeared flames of fire over each person.
- THEIR SPIRITS WERE IGNITED
AND BURNED BRIGHTLY.
- Born of God's Spirit is
the spirit of man.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
- Always breath the Spirit.
- Adam breathed life and
was made in God's image.
- Let the Spirit breathe
on you until you be made into His image.
- Only when the baby BREATHES
AIR is it actually BORN.
- Without Holy Ghost, you're
in the womb.
- Only baptized, in womb.
- Only repented - in womb.
- But be BORN AGAIN with
Spirit!
- Baby cries in birth and
we talk in tongues!
- Spiritual senses wake up
and we begin to see a whole new world.
You must seek it in importunity.
- Nothing comes from God until
you seek Him with the attitude you will seek Him forever if you must.
Luke 11:8 I say unto you, Though
he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of
his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?