First Church Book Of Acts Holy Spirit

“First Church Book of Acts Holy Spirit”

“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Acts 8:14-17

Intro: The Church is Rooted in spreading scriptural holiness.

It is a connection…, a system…, of both clergy and laity working together

by the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfillment this mission.

In the earliest days pastors would travel on horseback in what is called a circuit.

A circuit was made up of from two or three to as many as twelve churches or more.

I wonder if the church had to provide them with a horsing allowance?

The traveling Methodist pastor was known for a courageous and sacrificing heart.

Enduring hardships that few people could imagine.

Out of the first 800 Methodist pastors nearly one fourth died before they reached the age of thirty-five

About two-thirds died before they had preached twelve years.

The “circuit rider’s” task is to spread the Word of God, administer the Sacraments of Communion and Baptism,

and give oversight to the life and mission of the faith community.

So as the Pastor was only in one location a few days or weeks at a time.

Strong lay leadership is vital

Godly…, Spirit filled laity are critical in maintaining continuity and the health of the church.

It was the First Church of the book of Acts.

After Jesus died on the cross.

He rose from the grave.

For forty days the resurrected Jesus walked and ate, and lived with the disciples around the circuit of Jerusalem, Emmaus, Samaria, Damascus, Galilee and other towns.

Then when Jesus ascended and went back up into heaven.

The Disciples waited ten days (40+10=50) or Pentecost.

There were about 120 in the Church that day.

and there was an audible sound…,

there was a physical reverberation…,

It sounded like it was coming down from the very place where Jesus was in heaven

It felt like mighty windstorm that filled the room

And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit.

What happens next is difficult to describe, as it always is with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit settled on each of them.

In other words the Holy Spirit dwelt in them

The spiritual merged with the physical.

This created such a noise and caused such a scene that people came running from all across the town

to see what the sound they heard was about.

I was pastor of a couple whose last name was Witt. (Floyd and Thelma Witt.)

They had been married for over 60 years. (They married when he was 16 and she was 14.)

All they ever knew were each other.

Floyd had that John Travolta coal-back hair…, combed back.

He looked like he walked right out of the movie Grease.

Floyd was not a bad person.

In fact he was a good person.

He was known as a hard worker.

He paid his bills on time. (Mostly with cash.)

He had an honest reputation.

He was a person of good character.

He was well liked.

In fact most people did not even know that Floyd was not a Christian.

We were holding a revival. (Back when revivals lasted at least seven nights long.)

On the first night of the revival Thelma came forward and asked me to pray for her husband

Because he was lost.

Thelma came the first six nights of the revival and would kneel at the altar and we would pray for Floyd.

On that seventh day of the revival Floyd and Thelma had a fight.

It was the biggest argument they ever had in their 60 plus years of marriage.

Thelma quoted 2 Corinthians 6:14

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:

for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?

and what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14

Thelma had called me to house to talk with Floyd but Floyd would not talk with me.

Floyd decided he was not going to come to the revival.

It wasn’t until the last minute they both decided to come.

On top of that Thelma did not come forward to pray for Floyd.

So I went down to the altar and was kneeling with my head bowed.

I heard a noise and whole church was doing this loud noisy rumble.

What I learned later was that when the invitation was given Floyd looked over at Thelma and asked,

“Aren’t you going to the altar to pray for me.”