Baptism of the Holy Spirit Series
Traditionalism vs. Real Biblical Truth 6/20/2012
A The work of the Holy Spirit must be grounded in biblical revelation (not religious traditionalism.)
1 Tradition is the living faith of those who are now dead while traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living.
a Tradition: Worship on the Lord’s day!
b Traditionalism: It must be 10:30 AM in a building with a steeple and pews.
c We must know, discern the difference between human customs and biblical truth.
2 Often times we try to press human, denomination, or other parameters into Scripture.
B Change is hardly ever welcomed (Baby’s are the only ones who are glad when a change occurs!)
1 The only one who does not change is God, the rest of us must expect and learn to embrace it.
a The concept of repentance is based upon change.
b Repent, metanoia/GK, means to change one’s thinking.
2 Change is not always pretty, tidy, orderly.
a Prov. 14.4, reflects this truth.
4 Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox. Prov 14:4 (NASB)
aa If you have oxen in a barn, their gonna make a mess. Manure to clean up, smell to content with.
bb The payoff is when you hook that team of oxen to your plow, turn over soil, do the hard work of tilling the field . . . the mess is worth it!
b Revival/Growth is often messy (we will do well to remember this fact)
c Where there is life, there is evidence of life & life can make things messy.
C When Jesus started His Spirit-anointed ministry, in Nazareth, He challenged the status quo. (Rocked the boat.)
1 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor . He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives , And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed,19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord ."20 And He closed the book , gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing ."22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's son?"23 And He said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.' "24 And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.25 "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath , in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.27 "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.30 But passing through their midst, He went His way. Luke 4:16-30 (NASB)
Jesus messed up the religious barn by exposing an attitude that I call “The Nazareth Mentality.”
a Speaking at the synagogue on Sabbat, He picked up the scroll of Isaiah and read Is. 61.1-2
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted ; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, Isaiah 61:1-2 (NASB)
b The men acknowledged the strength in Jesus’ words but they totally rejected His supernatural claims.
2 Everybody was fine when Jesus read the scroll.
a Good tidings to the poor? Amen! Heal the broken hearted? Amen! Liberate the captives? Amen! Set people free? Amen! Year of Jubilee? Amen!
b When Jesus said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing ."Luke 4:21
aa What did you say?
bb God has released a word for you!
c The men of Nazareth attempt to remove Jesus from their midst by force.
aa Can you imagine the audacity, small/narrow mindedness of these people to reject Jesus, His ministry, fresh move of God.
bb I believe the Nazareth mentality has survived in our church to this day.
d I am going to show you four marks of the Nazareth mentality.
I The first mark is Resisting the Miraculous.
A The people of Nazareth believed the Word of God yet they operated as though the Word of God is either for the past or for the future.
1 Luke 4.21, “. . . Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
a Today, for the people in synagogue at Nazareth, today was their now.
b They believed that God had worked miracles, delivered in the past & they believed that God was going to do great things in the future, but they resisted the thought that any of those things could have happened to them at that moment.
2 Today’s generation in the church to not need a “new” word from God, they need a “now” word from Him.
a Many Christians believe that God is able to do a miracle in our day but don’t feel He has done one in recent times.
b Many believe that if they embrace the miraculous events (healing, supernatural provision, and protection) then they’re going to have to embrace the “untidy” things like casting out demons, manifestations of the Holy Spirit (Praying in tongues, falling in the Spirit, drunk in the Spirit, shaking/trembling, etc.)
B When a congregation/Christian stops resisting the miraculous (and starts embracing it) they release control of the typical order of events in their lives.
1 They begin to (not just believe) but expect God to supply their need. Give them joy/peace.
a Transmitting of blessing, anointing, laying on of hands to release the Holy Spirit on people.
b Apply the oil to the sick or for blessing.
2 We listen and hear trumpets and don’t think it is strange.
a We cast out demons in Jesus name, we lead and love with authority.
b We give when the check book says we can’t and trust God to supply our needs.
c We pray for the sick and expect them to get better!
II The second mark of the Nazareth mentality is Avoiding the Outsider.
A When Jesus spoke at the synagogue at Nazareth He knew that through history, men had difficulty in accepting ministry that unusual, didn’t fit a particular mold.
1 24 And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.25 "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath , in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.27 "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." Luke 4:24-27 (NASB)
a How did the men like these words? 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; Luke 4:28 (NASB)
b Nazareth wanted nothing to do with the idea that God might want to reach beyond the borders of their comfort zone to do His ministry.
2 The people were so enraged by the thought of Jesus saying God is doing something right now they lead Him outside the city to throw Him off a cliff.
B People with the Nazareth mentality do want much to do with people who are not like them (racial, denominational, cultural, or social background.)
1 If their not Baptist I don’t want to listen to them. Men will say, I can’t learn anything from a woman. If their not American, White, just like me . . . I don’t want anything to do with them.
a When a Pastor believes that miracles still happen/God still moves, cross-denominational/cultural ministry begins to happen.
b If he (the Pastor) believes that sign gifts are still valid, his ministry becomes dangerous to the status quo.
2 He may not be brought to the edge of a cliff by an angry mob, but many pastors have lost their jobs as a result of their belief in the power & gifts of the Holy Spirit for today.
a This is why I ask you to cover my back as we go forward with the things of the Spirit.
b I don’t know if attacks are less frequent or I’m just used to them, but with every new level there is a new devil that will need to be fought, overcame, conquered.
3 I’m prepared to live out my ministry in Chester (Where else can I go?)
III The third mark of the Nazareth mentality is Discrediting the Obvious.
A There was a group in Nazareth who would rather have investigated the works of Jesus instead of celebrating His works.
1 After Jesus had given them a “now” word the first thing they begin to do is question/investigate the origin of Jesus.
2 53 When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.54 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?55 "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?56 "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Matt 13:53-58 (NASB)
a Jesus spoke with authority astonishing words (power/anointing).
b Formed a committee to investigate His background.
aa He brings the word of life and they want to see an ingredient list.
bb He brings living water and they want to see to see if bottling plant meets code.
cc He’s building the Church and ask for permits.
3 In John 9, the man born blind was miraculously healed (He stood before the Pharisees w/ clear, healthy eyes, and yet the Pharisees rejected the obvious
15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see."16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs ?" And there was a division among them. John 9:15-16 (NASB)
B When God begins to move in a congregation there will be a group that insists on investigating/dissecting every act of God order to discredit the supernatural.
1 There will be some who even when the see a miracle staring them in the face they will not accept it because it cuts across their legalistic mentality.
2 These folks have to every thing fit into their perfect little cube of understanding.
IV The final mark of the Nazareth mentality is Denying the Truth.
A In Luke 4.22, the people of Nazareth reduce Jesus instead of reverencing Him.
1 “Aren’t you Joseph’s son?”
a It’s safe to assume that the virgin birth of Jesus was highly suspect in Nazareth & surrounding communities.
b In their natural understanding they couldn’t comprehend Jesus’s supernatural birth.
aa Didn’t fathom the whole idea of virgin birth.
bb Rumors spread . . . this rumor had spread to Jerusalem.
2 41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God."42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. John 8:41-42 (NASB)
a Nazareth mentality had spread to Jerusalem.
b They are drawing into question the validity of His supernatural virgin birth.
B Today the same mentality denies Jesus’s supernatural work through His body, the church.
1 Signs, miracles & wonders offended the religious people of Jesus’s time and they are still offenses to religion.
2 I believe that many churches make Jesus to small.
a Because He is made small that church/believers don’t expect Him to do much.
b They don’t expect power, fire, signs, miracles, wonders, sign gifts.
3 Churches that are determined to serve a living, powerful Jesus will grow in these last days.
a We enlarge our ministries/church through faith in Jesus.
b We don’t need to minimize the supernatural power of Jesus.
aa We don’t need Jesus-lite, Seeker Friendly Jesus, Seeker Sensitive Jesus.
bb We need the real, full-size Jesus in the Church today.
Conclusion:
A When studying the Gospels, each one tells us what happened in Nazareth when Jesus’s works were rejected.
1 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way. Luke 4:30 (NASB);
58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Matt 13:58 (NASB);
5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.6 And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching. Mark 6:5-6 (NASB)
a He would not stay, move in power if there was an atmosphere of restrictive, prejudicial, religious legalism.
b This same Jesus will not stay, move in power today whom hold on to their traditionalism.
2 I believe if we don’t welcome & receive Jesus He’ll move on to a people of faith who will not reject His work.
B Prophetic Word:
1 Many, if not most churches, are trying to minister to the world that they wish they had rather than the one we actually have.
a We wish there wasn’t abortion, gay lifestyles, drug addiction, cheating wives & husbands, a temptation to have pre-marital sex, etc.
b That’s not the world we live in. (Things are not all rosy. It’s not all ‘good.’)
2 The church in America is at a crossroads.
a She must have leaders who dare to be “dangerously Christian.”
aa Embrace the things of the Spirit, not only believe in miracles but expects miracles.
bb Lightening rods of controversy because they take a stand on issues.
cc Are unafraid of leading their congregations to “fresh water.”
b Many of our churches are anemic, weak, sick, unhealthy, full of disease because they have complacently being drawing water from aqueducts of our ancestors/father’s of our faith.
aa That water has not moved in sometime, stale.
bb Some are even toxic to today’s generation (150 years it was an acceptable church practice to own slaves. 55 years ago it was an acceptable church practice to shun blacks.)
3 We live in a world who is thirsty for rain & hungry for an authentic move of God’s power on their lives.
a Today’s generation doesn’t need three hymns, a sermon, shake hands and go home.
b They are looking for a church where the living Jesus is welcomed.
C Embracing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not always welcomed.
1 I remember this church in the infancy of the current move of God we are experiencing.
a To say there was resistance is an understatement.
aa Some of gone to other churches, some have pass away, some are still here and resisting/content to pick this movement apart from behind the scenes.
bb Some detractors have became supporters and some have went to other churches who were already embracing the power of the Holy Spirit because I wasn’t moving the church fast enough for them.
cc Some people didn’t know the difference between Scripture and structure.
b Everyone I’ve talked to who have transitioned a church, “going on” with God, faces opposition.
2 If you took an hour and searched on-line, you’d find that lions share of mainline evangelical churches are decline in growth, giving, attendance, and baptisms.
a Why? The church has became irrelevant to many people.
b Too many churches are locked into the 1950's mentality and refuse to change in order to reach the next generation for Christ.
aa The average church/pastor do not want to move out of its comfort zone to touch today’s world.
bb The average church/pastor does not want to be stretched, challenged.
3 Churches must take down their DO NOT DISTURB signs if they expect to survive.
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