Living the Pentecostal Life Today
Our preaching this year is going to focus on The Holy Spirit and each month we are going to focus on a specific aspect of His ministry.
And this month our focus is the Spirit in the world today.
The Holy Spirit is an important part of the trinity, yet I would take an educated guess that the majority of sermons you have heard over the years have focused more on God the Father or on God the Son.
Now I know that you will have heard sermons about the gifts of the spirit or the fruit of the spirit - but many of us have never really heard that much about the Spirit Himself.
Even as a Pentecostal Church, even as Pentecostal people there is so much more for everyone of us to discover about the Holy Spirit.
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The concept of a Holy Perfect God we get, The concept of God as Creator makes sense, Omnipotent, Omnicient, Omnipresent, we are comfortable with the concept of Father God
We understand that Jesus was real,
He was born, He lives a perfect life,
Jesus willingly went to the cross to,
and even though He was sinless,
He died in our place, as payment for the sins of those who trust in Him as their personal Lord and Saviour,
and on the third day - Jesus rose triumphant from the grave,
His resurrection - evidence that He was who He said He was - the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.....
.....Jesus, we are pretty comfortable that we know, what we know we know.
But, understanding the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives today - now that is an area where some can feel out of their depth.
As Pentecostal people we can know more about the Spirit than we do,
we can draw closer to Him in our everyday lives,
we can sense His presence within us,
we can allow Him to work in us and through us,
we can experience a fresh sense of purpose,
we can experience a fresh fire in our lives,
a fresh fire that changes us, changes our families, changes the community that we are part of.
As a ministry team - our desire is that all of would not just know more about the Spirit but that we would experience His fresh fire in our lives as we allow Him to work in and through all of us.
This is a year that can really impact each and everyone of us.
Let me encourage you to allow yourself to be inspired, moved and changed by the Holy Spirit.
All of us at times can stifle the work of the Spirit in our own lives, don’t quench the power of the Spirit in your life.
Allow the Spirit to work in your life today.
Allow the fire to burn bright in your life - that your life may be a beacon to others.
Allow the fire of the Spirit to use you to bring truth and life and light to people who need to be in a personal relationship with God.
Today allow the Holy Spirit to make you the person God has called you to be.
If each of us allowed the Spirit to use us this year what a difference we could make - in our families, in our friends lives, in the life of this community.
What a difference we could make in the World if we allowed the Holy Spirit to take control Today!
Are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to bring fresh fire into your life?
Are you willing to allow Him to do it today?
When we allow the Spirit to work amazing things can happen. When we allow the Spirit to fill us others will see the change in us.
In the book of Acts we can see what happens when the Spirit moves. In Acts 2, is the account of Pentecost, The Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit empowers, the people are changed and they begin to speak in tongues.
Then Peter, uneducated Peter, fisherman Peter, preaches his first Spirit powered sermon:
Acts 2:14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:
17‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike — and they will prophesy.
19And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below—
blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the LORD arrives.
21But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.’
Then skipping to verse 32
“God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. 33Now he is exalted to the place of highest honour in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today.
The Holy Spirit changed Peter that day.
The Holy Spirit can change you today!
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The last days Joel speaks of are the days before Jesus returns, the last days are today and tomorrow and every day till Christ returns.
And every day till Jesus returns God has promised to pour out His Spirit.
God has promised to pour out His Spirit on you today and tomorrow and next week.
Does that bring joy to your heart?
Does that thrill you? -----------------------------
In Acts 3 the crippled man is healed - then Peter and John preach and many people come to faith in Jesus.
Peter and John are arrested and led before the rulers and elders and priests of the Jerusalem Council.
Acts 4:7-13 tells us that “They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?” 8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, 9are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? 10Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’
12There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
13The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.
Ordinary men.
Ordinary men with no special training.
Ordinary men with no special training - but filled with the Holy Spirit.
WOW!
Are you an ordinary man?
Are you an ordinary woman?
Maybe you don’t like the word ordinary?
Are you a normal man or a normal woman?
..... perhaps that’s the wrong question to ask some of you!
Seriously, in the eyes of the world, as much as we may like to think otherwise - there is nothing special about us.
We are ordinary people,
but we are loved by an extraordinary God,
And ordinary people who are filled with the Holy Spirt can do extraordinary things for God.
And the God who is the same, yesterday, today and forever wants you to feel the touch of the Spirit on your life today.
God wants you to be warmed with fresh fire today.
God wants you to be on filled afresh right now.
Are you willing to accept what God freely gives you? Are you willing today?
Peter was transformed through the baptism of the Holy spirit, from a coward who denied Christ three times, to a Spirit empowered preacher who saw 3000 saved at his first altar call.
The disciples were bold in their witness.
They stood before the Sanhedrin and witnessed to the ones who wanted to stop them.
They prayed for more boldness.
And their prayer was answered. “They spoke the word of God with boldness.”
They wanted more of the Holy Spirit to be manifest in their lives.
They wanted more. Not so they could be praised.
They wanted more so that God would be glorified.
Do you want more?
Do you want to be filled with fresh fire?
Will you allow the Spirit access to your life today?
Will you allow the Spirit access to your emotions today?
Worshipping God involves your head and your heart. It involves your emotions.
It involves your joy, your excitement, your worship
Are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to bring fresh fire into your life?
Fresh fire, a fresh supply, fresh anointing, fresh Fire consumes - it burns out the sinful and unnecessary “stuff” in our lives.
Fire purifies - it makes us pure and holy before God
Do you want fresh fire in your life today?
Fire prepares - makes us tasteful and pleasant to each other.
Fire cheers -- when we are caught in the cold grip of despair and discouragement, He cheers us on to victory.
Do you want fresh fire in your life today?
Fire softens -- the Holy Spirit softens the heart of the sinner and brings repentance.
Fire unites -- the Holy Spirit brings unity to the people of God. Look at the people around you - think about the Group of churches you are part of - it is God that has brought us together - it is the Spirit that unites us.
Do you want fresh fire in your life today?
power, a burning love for God, a burning love to know Him and to serve Him.
Are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to bring fresh fire into your life?
Are you willing to allow Him to do it today?
Are you willing to shout out in praise,
to lift your hands in worship,
to weep with joy in His presence,
to rest in His glory.
Do you expect supernatural events?
Do you want to see Signs and wonders today?
Do you want to see the gifts of the Spirit in action?
Then you need to be obedient to the leading of the Spirit in your life.
Fresh Fire is about allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do what God has called you to do.
Fresh Fire is about allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to be what God has called you to be today.
Can you hear the voice of the Spirit challenging you today?
Can you feel the touch of the Spirit changing you today?
Can you sense the refining fire of God falling on you today?
Are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to bring fresh fire into your life?
Are you willing to allow Him to do it today?
Do you want fresh fire in your life today?
Do you need some fresh fire?
In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.
What will happen when you allow the fresh fire to touch your life?
What will happen when you allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you today?
Today, more than any other time, you need the fresh Fire of the Holy Spirit upon your life.
Do you want fresh fire in your life today?
