(NOTE: This sermon series is based on the book Living in the Spirit by Dr. George Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God).
Introduction
The church is a unique and special organism. It has ties to both the past and the future while active in the present. We are reminded to look back at how God has worked in and through His people. But we are also challenged to move forward into the future by engaging in the work God is doing presently.
This is true in the life of all believers. Your faith and salvation is built upon a person who gave His life more than 2000 years ago. Yet, your faith is not 2000 years old it is new and present in this moment of history because the Holy Spirit is actively working in you now.
In other words, faith is dynamic. That is, faith is not constrained by the events of the past but relies on them as fuel for an energetic future.
I want to look back to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, as well as, the present experience of believers in order to build a bridge between the past and present. I want us to consider that the experience of Pentecost 2000+ years ago cannot be constrained to that moment of time. Instead the outpouring of the Holy Spirit must be allowed to flow freely in the present.
The Text
Let’s look at Acts 2:1-4 today.
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
The Context
Some here this morning may be familiar with this passage, others may not. Let me take just a moment and set the context surrounding the Scriptures we just read.
It is around 30A.D. The Jewish people are celebrating what is called “The Feast of Pentecost.” This is the third of three feasts celebrated in the Jewish sacred calendar. The feast was celebrated in the month of Sivan (our June). But this feast has a few other names as well – Feast of Weeks, Day of Firstfruits or Feast of Harvests.
The reason it is called Pentecost is because Pentecost means 50th. There were 50 days between the Feast of Passover (celebrating Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery) and the Feast of Pentecost (celebrating the harvest God had provided and to remember God giving the 10 Commandments).
During the Feat of Pentecost Jewish priests would offer to God 2 loaves of unleavened bread made from the freshly harvested grain. The people were then asked to offer unto God the first of their harvest as a gift of thanks.
It was not uncommon for Jewish people from what the Bible calls “every nation under heaven” to come to Jerusalem for this Feast. They came to give their offerings and celebrate with their brothers and sisters of faith.
Needless to say it was a pretty big time in Jerusalem. Lots of visitors and lots of celebrating – and this is the scene into which we come in the text we read earlier.
The Story
But there were others in Jerusalem for a very different purpose. 120 people had gathered in an upper room because Jesus had told them to do so. They were praying and waiting for a wonderful promise.
Sometime earlier Jesus had told His followers that when He went away He was going to send the Holy Spirit. Luke 24:49 records His words…
“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city [Jerusalem] until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The promise of the Father is that believers would not be left orphaned when Jesus went back to heaven. He promised to send THE comforter – the Holy Spirit. He promised that believers would be BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Imagine the scene. 120 believers are gathered in an upper room of a building in Jerusalem. Down below people from all over the world are celebrating the goodness of God. The believers are praying and waiting for the promise of the Father to come.
Suddenly the sound of a rushing and mighty wind filled every part of the room where the 120 were sitting and praying. Then out of nowhere there appeared a flame that separated and rested on the heads of each person in the room. And EACH person in the room was FILLED with the Holy Spirit and spoke in a language they had not learned as the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to do so.
In that upper room the Apostles and Mary (the mother of Jesus) and 107 more were baptized IN the Holy Spirit. The initial evidence of that baptism was the physical sign of tongues. They spoke in languages they had not learned as the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to do so. The people who had gathered for the Feast of Pentecost heard them and were amazed at what was happening. The comforter, the promise of the Father had come to empower this fledgling church to become a worldwide movement.
That must have been an amazing day! But is that the only day that God has poured out the Holy Spirit – no!
(TRANSITION) God continued baptizing people in the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts (cf. 8, 9, 10, 19). He has continued doing so even unto today. God desires to baptize every believer in the Holy Spirit.
The Person of the Holy Spirit at Work
In John 20 we are given a glimpse into what was happening to the disciples after Jesus had been crucified. They were behind locked doors afraid of what might happen to them. Jesus appears alive in their presence. He showed them His hands and feet scarred from the nails of the Cross. He talks with them and then just before He leaves them He does something.
He breathes on those in the room and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (cf. John 20:22).
Later in Acts 1:5 Jesus tells these SAME PEOPLE to wait in Jerusalem until they are BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Sometimes there is confusion about what Jesus did and then what He said. Some teach that when Jesus breathed on the disciples they were, at that moment, baptized in the Holy Spirit. But there is a problem with this line of thinking. If they had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them why would He then tell them to wait at Jerusalem to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?
Jesus clearly draws a distinction between the works of the Holy Spirit in John 20:22 and Acts 1:5 (through action and grammar). When Jesus breathed upon them it was in effect a moment of conversion. When He tells them to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, He is pointing toward a moment of supernatural empowerment to accomplish the task of taking the gospel to the world.
Let me put it this way. The Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ and from that moment dwells and works in us. So when Jesus tells them to be BAPTIZED IN THE SPIRIT He is essentially saying, “I will baptize in the Holy Spirit those upon whom I have already breathed.”
Jesus is making it clear that baptism in the Holy Spirit is for those who have become Christians. This baptism is a separate and wonderful experience from the work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to salvation.
(TRANSITION) I don’t want to get to complicated here. Let me just say that if you are born again you are a candidate to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Living a Forward Faith
The Holy Spirit baptism gives us the power to reach further into spiritual realms and dimensions. Most importantly, we are empowered to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. That means through the Holy Spirit we are given the ability to expand our vision and capacity for seeing what God can do in us and in the world. (THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD SINCERELY AND PERSISTENTLY SEEK THE BAPTISM)
1 Peter 2 tells us that we like “living stones [are] being built into a spiritual house” (2:5). Doesn’t that sound strange almost like an oxymoron “living” “stones?” When you see a stone you think of something that just sits there like a lump or built into a fence to keep things in or out.
But we are living stones! We have a foot planted in the ancient unmovable reality of the Holy Spirit baptism. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit we reach back and join those 120 on the Day of Pentecost. At the same time we pick up the mantle of moving forward into new places and new horizons of the Holy Spirit.
To be “baptized” in the Holy Spirit is to be completely immersed in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Bible also tells us that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). Baptism in the Holy Spirit fills us to overflowing – where we have rivers of living water flowing from us (cf. John 7:38).
(TRANSITION) Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a real and powerful experience that empowers our faith and our witness. It is for all who have believed.
Conclusion
Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit since you believed (cf. Acts 19:2)? If not, I believe God wants baptize you today.
First you must be a Christian. If you have not repented and placed your faith in Christ (to become a Christian) I want to pray a prayer of repentance and faith this morning…
PRAYER
CALL PRAYER & MUSIC TEAM
If you have repented and placed your faith in Christ you are ready to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. If you desire that baptism I want you to come forward and these folks will pray WITH YOU and we will trust God to do this mighty work in your life.
