Intoxicated ...by The Spirit

June 11, 2003

Title: The Intoxication of the Spirit

Text: Acts 2:14-47

Introduction

We’ve been studying through the book of Acts on these Wednesday evenings...

last week we looked at the beginning of Acts chapter 2,

We saw how the church was weak and ineffective...

the disciples weren’t really sure what to do

so they held an election!!

BUT THEN SOMETHING HAPPENED!!

The Holy Spirit came...

and suddenly this puny bunch of disciples were fired up!!

They had POWER

The POWER of the Holy spirit had come upon them...

and the church hasn’t been the same since!

But our prayer has been that the Lord would DO IT AGAIN!

Pentecost was not intended to be a 1 Time Deal!

We want the Holy Spirit to come on US...

just like He did to the disciples on the day of Pentecost!

We want OUR Church to have the POWER of the Holy spirit settle down upon US!

Tonight, we turn our attention once more to Peter and to the early church and see how the POWER of the Holy Spirit really IGNITED those early Christians

And as we read our text, let our prayer continue to be "DO IT AGAIN, LORD....DO IT AGAIN!!"

Read Text: Acts 2:14-47

1. The intoxication of the Spirit

When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, the people round about really took notice!

But their first thought wasn’t, "Boy, those sure are Spirit-filled people"!

No, their first thought was, "Those people are DRUNK!"

But Peter stood up and started preaching...

and he cleared up any misunderstandings...

He let them know that yes these people WERE intoxicated!

But it wasn’t with any special kind of wine or other liquor...

These people were intoxicated BY THE SPIRIT!

When people get intoxicated with alcohol...

they have a false sense of well-being...

they may forget about their troubles for a short time...

their judgment is impaired...

they aren’t safe operating machinery or automobiles...

they may not know what they are doing or saying

they may do something at night that they really regret the next morning...

and when the intoxication starts to wear off...

they have a hangover...

they feel lousy.

But when the Christian gets filled with the Holy Spirit...

he/she gets INTOXICATED!!

but intoxicated in a GOOD way!

one of the definitions of intoxicated is: "To stimulate or excite" (www.dictionary.com)

When Christian’s get intoxicated with the Holy Spirit...

they get excited!

they get exuberant!

they get enthused!

they have a general sense of well-being...

but unlike an alcoholic "high"...

the SPIRITUAL High doesn’t wear off!

It doesn’t impair our judgment...

it doesn’t make us do things that we shouldn’t...

and there’s no hangover!

One of the great needs of the Christian is to have a little excitement about serving the Lord!

We should have a little joy about Jesus...

And, if we can find a little of that New Testament excitement...

it would go a long way to getting people to take notice of the Church!

2. The Power of the Cross

When the early disciples got excited, Peter got up and started to preach.

And in this first sermon of what is called the "apostolic age",

Peter drew the people’s attention to the Power of the Cross!

When I was a boy, I used to play with magnifying glasses.

it was always fascinating to me how you could take a magnifying glass

and focus the power of the sun’s rays...

and cause a pile of dead grass...

or paper to burst into flames.

The power of the SON (notice the picture on the power page)...

is the fact that He is the Light of the World!

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 (NIV)

After Pentecost...the disciples were always talking about the cross!

they were telling people about the importance of that event!

It was the forefront of their preaching.

Jesus’ death on the cross ...

His sacrifice to purchase our salvation...

to us, that is a very old message...

but to these early Christians...it was BRAND NEW

they were enthralled by the significance of what Jesus did for them on the cross.

And they were able to communicate that message every effectively...

When Peter focused on the power of the Cross...

Acts 2:37 says, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

Another version says that they were "cut to the quick"

Sometimes I think Christians need to get a little more entralled with what Jesus did for them on the cross.

we need to have more of a sense of awe about what Jesus did for us on the cross.