People Of The Spirit Part 6 Holy Spirit Series Series

People of the Spirit

Holy Spirit part 6

JCC 16.05.10 am

Acts 6 1-5

This came at a time when the church was growing rapidly

V2 the twelve summoned a multitude of believers

A dispute arose

Hellenists: Jews born in foreign lands and speaking Greek

Complaints about the distribution of alms

However menial the work they had to be filled with the HS

The twelve were too busy praying and studying the word

These were not the leaders of the church who had spiritual authority

Notice how they decided on their choice of workers

Men filled with the Holy Spirit and of good reputation

One of them was Stephen who became the first martyr for Jesus

Stephen was full of the Spirit

Sanctified to God

Sold out on God

Be shaped by the purposes of God, not by our human ambitions

Stephen didn’t complain and say, ‘I’m not going to serve the food out, I want to rule and have a high position

He knew what servant-hood was and happily carried out what the Apostles delegated him to do

He put down his carnal nature in favour of what the apostles had chosen him to do. Why?

Because he understood what being filled with the Spirit really meant

It wasn’t about doing miracles and dancing around singing and speaking in tongues in church

Although there is nothing wrong with that

But it was about fulfilling his call and purpose

Being filled with the Spirit causes us to know what we should be and we shouldn’t be doing

Understanding what it means to be filled with the Spirit, means to understand what God desires for us

Submitting to His Lordship

As I said last week, you can have Jesus as saviour, but not necessary as Lord

We need to submit to the Lordship of Jesus and walk in the Spirit

No matter where he leads and no matter what the task he has however menial you may think it is

Why do so many Christians shy away from this life of total surrender?

They want the highway to heaven, but not the path of the Spirit on earth

It is a mystery to me, the levels of people commitment

I don’t understand why we want to miss out on so much

Why do we settle for the crumbs when we can have the whole feast?

When we settle for a small diamond when we can have the treasure chest

God wants to give us the riches of heaven and the reveal the hidden treasures of darkness to us

Why have second best when the best is right in front of you?

Have you been to the beach?

You know if the tide is coming in or going out

It’s the same with knowing if the Spirit is moving in the church

And I’m not speaking about some of the fake manifestations we see so much of today

We should all desire to move out in God into the river of blessing

The tide is coming in people what are we going to do?

Ezek 47:1- Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.

NKJV

A prophetic picture of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in the last days

The trouble with the church today is, people have heard this message and have become complacent

No one believes it any more

Yea, yea, the river is flowing

Yea, yea, the Spirit is coming

I’m sure the disciples when they waited were at times wondering if it would happen and what exactly it was they were expect

Whatever way the Spirit decides to come is His choice

We cannot limit Him to coming in a certain way

As I was driving through Lincoln Thursday I saw the biggest wind turbine

I love them; they are a passion of mine as I took one apart once and put it back together to see how it worked

But I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit say to me

‘Wind produces power’

‘Water produces power’

‘Oil produces power’

‘And fire, produces power’

All these are the symbols we understand for the Holy Spirit

We use these metaphors to try to comprehend Him

But, nothing really fits the true identity of who he is because he is God

He can come in whatever shape or form he chooses but the character will always be the same

The character of a Holy God who goes the extra mile to show us his love and affection

This river is flowing

Havasupai Indian Waterfall Relaxation Video on utube showing in the background