RECHARGEABLE
Acts 4:29-31
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: HUMOROUS CHURCH SIGNS
1. “Salvation Guaranteed -- or your sins cheerfully refunded."
2. "God does not believe in atheists, therefore atheists do not exist."
3. "Forgive your enemies -- it messes with their minds."
4. "Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out."
5. Spotted outside a church in Michigan: "Honk if you love Jesus. Keep on texting while you drive if you want to meet him."
B. TEXT
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
C. THESIS
1. We love our cell phones and portable computers. It’s now hard to imagine life without them. But these devices would not be possible if there hadn’t been a quiet revolution taking place in science; the improvement of batteries. Listen to these two leading articles:
2. “Battery life is one of the most important factors to consider when buying a cell phone.” Long-lasting cell phones: Handsets with great battery life, Kent German.
3. “What's the most important measure of any laptop? [Not]…the processor speed, or the size and weight, but at the end of the day, it's got to be battery life” Longest battery life laptops of 2011, Ackerman & Rivera.
4. Why? Because they need power to operate. So do we! Our spiritual power is one of the most important factors of our lives; God can’t use us if we’re spiritually drained.
5. So tonight we’re going to look at RECHARGEABLE batteries and see what lessons we can learn about improving our spiritual
output.
I. RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES - CHARACTERISTICS
A. ORIGINAL CHEMICAL COMPOSTION RESTORED
1. "One of the necessary conditions for a battery to be rechargeable is that the underlying chemical changes that occur during an electrical discharge from the cell must be efficiently reversed when an opposite electrical charge is applied across the cell. In nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries, for example, the Cd(OH)2 and Ni(OH)2 that are formed during cell discharge are readily converted back to the original electrode materials (Cd and NiOOH), when the cell is recharged.
2. "In contrast, the chemicals in nonrechargeable batteries experience irreversible chemical changes. For example, the carbon-fluoride batteries, after discharging, do not reform (CF)n when a reverse charge is applied. Instead the cell electrolyte decomposes, and eventually the fluoride is oxidized to form fluorine gas.
B. RECHARGE EFFICIENTLY, 100’S OF TIMES
To be classified as rechargeable, the battery must be able to undergo the reverse reaction efficiently, so that hundreds or even thousands of recharging cycles are possible.
C. RECHARGE SAFELY
1. In addition, there must often be provisions to ensure that the recharging process can occur safely.
2. Alkaline batteries (which are generally based on the conversion of MnO2 and Zn to Mn3O4 and ZnO) can be recharged, but the possible number of recharging cycles for such a cell is very limited--it performs more poorly with each recharge.
3. More important, recharging an old-fashioned alkaline battery is not safe. During or after a recharge, the battery might generate enough hydrogen gas to cause an explosion.
D. RETURN TO SAME PHYSICAL STATE
1. An added requirement for a long-lived rechargeable battery is that not only must the electrochemical reactions be reversible, they must also return the electrode materials to their original physical state.
2. Repeated charge- discharge cycles can create structures that cause electronic contact between the battery electrodes and a short circuit.
3. "Because of these requirements, the development of a well-behaved rechargeable battery is significantly more difficult than the development of a nonrechargeable battery.
II. RECHARGEABLE CHRISTIANS
A. INSTANCES OF REFILLINGS
1. PETER BF SANHEDRIN; “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ‘Rulers and elders of the people!’” Acts 4:8.
2. WHOLE GROUP OF BELIEVERS. Acts 4:31
3. PAUL FACING ELYMAS. “Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas” Acts 13:9.
4. The most common word for "filled" is ‘pletho,’ which derives from a word meaning to ‘plunge through water.’ It means generally, "to fill." It is used of Holy Spirit fillings in Lk. 1:15,41,67; Acts 2:4, 4:8,31; 9:17; 13:9.
B. WHY DO WE NEED REFILLINGS?
1. Some think that when you get saved, you get all of the Spirit there is. This is not true. In salvation the Holy Spirit does the work of regeneration. There is a second work/ activity of the Holy Spirit; empowering. That is what happened in Acts 2.
2. Others think that "Once Filled, Always Filled." They might say, "When the Holy Spirit comes, He will abide with you forever." True.
3. But Paul revealed a truth to us, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” 2 Cor. 4:7. We are "earthen vessels," clay jars. It is well known that clay jars are porous; the liquid contained in them seeps into the jar, and frequently leaks out. So do we!
4. Another instance is Luke 24:49, where the Lord Jesus told us to be "clothed" with power. I hope you didn't just ‘cloth yourself’ one time! (You’d have some stinky, ragged clothing.) We need a change of clothing every day.
5. Paul told us to be "filled with the Spirit," Eph. 5:18. The Gr. verb indicates not a one-time filling, but that we are to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit, as the Book of Acts suggests.
6. The Greek word Paul used in Eph. 5:18 is the verb plero-o. It is derived from ‘pleres’ which means ‘to cover over.’ The word plero-o is used in Matthew 13:48 when the net was crammed with fish before pulling it up. Strong's concordance cites the reference to ‘cram.’ We need to be crammed full of the Holy Spirit!
C.TRUE TEST OF SPIRITUALITY
1. The measure of spirituality is not how much you get, but how
much you give. How much of the Spirit and grace flow through you, not just to you.
2. People talk about how much they love a particular church because they get blessed there. They need to get blessed in church, but it’s more important that they become a blessing and become someone else’s miracle.
3. The biblical pattern is that God’s Spirit turns you into a lover and a giver (1 John 4:12-13). It’s not how much you get, but how much you give!
III. FIVE REQUIREMENTS FOR REFILLING
A. BE FILLED THE FIRST TIME. 2:1-4
1. The first requirement for being refilled is that you be filled the first time. The Bible is clear the disciples and apostles had already been filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
2. The Scripture says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” Acts 2:4.
3. The first filling is the most important, because it opens us up to regular refillings. "They that hunger and thirst... shall be filled."
4. A. W. Tozer: "Before we can be filled with the Spirit, the desire to be filled must be all-consuming. It must be for the time the biggest thing in the life, so acute, so intrusive as to crowd out everything else.”
B. BE DAILY IN THE WORD AND PRAYER.
1. The second requirement for refilling is that they were constantly in prayer and absorbing the Word of God. If we’re full of the world, then God can fill us with the Holy Spirit. Prayer and the Word set the environment for the Holy Spirit to desire to dwell in us.
2. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” Acts 2:42.
C. SOLD OUT; GOD YOUR TOP PRIORITY.
1. The third requirement for being refilled is that we stay consecrated to God. The early disciples were ‘sold out’ to God; He was first of their lives.
2. “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need” Acts 2:44-45.
3. When God is our greatest love, He will delight in constantly
indwelling and filling us.
D. SPIRIT OF PRAISE.
1. Praise is an essential part of drawing near to God. We see this activity in the early church; “Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” Acts 2:47. “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father…” Luke 10:21.
2. The Scripture says, “But You art holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel” Ps. 22:3. If you want to be inhabited by God, then began to praise the Lord!
3. “…the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” Jn. 4:23.
E. SPREADING THE GOSPEL
1. Both Peter (4:8) and Paul (13:9) were refilled while testifying about Christ.
2. Power for witnessing is the main reason the Spirit came. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” Acts 1:8.
3. The Spirit will fill us so He can do the talking. “For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” Matt. 10:20.
4. Start telling people about Jesus and you’ll find yourself being filled again. We get Him if we need Him!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. I have seen boys preparing to swim in a river in the morning.
2. One of them sticks just his toes in the water, and cries out, “Oh, it’s so cold!” Another boy goes in up to his ankles, and he also yells, “Oooo! It’s really freezing!”
3. But see! A third boy runs to the bank, and, without hesitating, jumps in head-first. He comes up with a big smile. All his blood is circulating, and he cries “It’s awesome! It’s not cold at all, it feels great! Come on in!” That’s the boy for enjoying God’s creation!
4. You Christian people who are paddling about in the shallows of the Holy Spirit, and just dipping your toes into it — you stand outside and are uncertain of what the infilling of the Spirit will feel like.
5. Take it from one who jumped in head first, “It’s awesome! It
feels great; come on in and join us!” Let’s all plunge into the River of Life! TAKE A PLUNGE!
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you need to become more outreach-conscious?
2. How many of you have already been filled the first time? Then all you need to be refilled, is to sell out, get into prayer, begin to worship Him, and determine to become one who reaches others for Christ.
3. Prayer is the only certain need for being refilling by the Spirit. Jesus said that the Father gives the Spirit to them that ask for Him. Let’s ask!
4.Folks, we need Power to Shine!
