Committed to the Lord Jesus!
TEXT: John 3:8
John 3:8
"8The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.." (NLT)
The NIV "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going."
A. Samson was moved at times by the Spirit. It was during
those times when he was not moved by the Spirit that he
had so much trouble.
John records that the Wind blows wherever it pleases, whenever it pleases.
The indication from Jesus is that one cannot or should not attempt to program the Spirit. He should have total liberty at all times.
1. Samson’s problem was that he was moved by the Spirit,
at times.
2. Jesus said you can not program the Holy Spirit.
3. There is a difference between style and substance;
principle and preference;
reaction to the Spirit and manifestation of the Spirit.
Whatever our approach is to reach this generation is we must not exclude the dynamics of the Holy Spirit.
But we must not compromise our Pentecostal Heritage. Pentecostalism did not begin at the turn of the century on Azusa, but 2,000 years ago in an upper room.
A.W. Tozer said, "The Great Commission is not the first call to the church."
Tozer reminds us that Jesus first told His disciples to go to Jerusalem and tarry there until they were endued with power from on high. Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
3. Jesus had no desire for them to do the work of God until
they had a powerful encounter with Him. (Luke 24:49).
Jesus said in Mark 16:17 "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;..."
Churches that have diluted the original mission statement of our Lord have, "...committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
4. They have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
a. Churches have cut themselves off from the spring of living water and subsequently have nothing to fill their cisterns with.
b. What is left is an empty shell, merely an empty hull of theology.
B. Samson was moved at times.
1. That’s the problem. Too many people are only moved at
times.
2. They are Pentecostals sometimes. When it is convenient,
or when it is politically or socially correct.
They are part-time Pentecostals.
Too many have a caffeine free relationship with God.
It won’t stir you up, it won’t keep you up, and it won’t take you up.
Illustration:
-- A lady went to a jeweler to have her watch fixed. He disappeared to the back and soon returned with it running perfectly.
--Surprised, she asked how he could fix it so soon. He told her it only needed a new battery.
--Battery? Battery? No body said anything about a battery. I’ve been winding it every morning!"
--A lot of Christians do not realize the inner power of the Holy Spirit to handle things they think they must take into their own hands.
What we need is a personal Pentecost.
Pentecostal fire will:
1. cause the sleeping folks to wake up;
2. the lukewarm folks to fire up;
3. the disgruntled folks to sweeten up;
4. the discouraged folks to build up;
5. the depressed folks to cheer up;
6. the gossipers to shut up;
7. the dry bones to shake up;
8. and the true soldiers to stand up.
I. THE PROBLEM WITH PART-TIME PENTECOSTALS
A. Samson’s life will let you will see the peril of living a less
than committed lifestyle.
1. We cannot afford to be moved by the Spirit only at times.
2. When you don’t walk in the Spirit full-time, every day, in every way you run the risk of following Samson’s path. Samson (Part-Time Pentecostals) lived a...
a. Part-time Pentecostals live a Rebellious lifestyle.
1. Samson’s weakness was that he was a playboy
2. In three different chapters he has three different women. He keeps running out of relationships.
3. In Judges 14:1, "Samson went down to Timnath and there he was a young Philistine woman and when he returned he said to his father and mother, ’I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnath, now get her for my wife.’"
The KJV-she pleases me. The NIV-she looks good to me.
B. Here’s the first trap of being Pentecostal some of the
time.
1. You make decisions based on pleasure instead of
principle.
a. When we start to live our lives out of convenience rather than out of conviction, we are headed for trouble.
c. God said don’t do it.
d. His parents warned him.
e. He had made a vow to not marry an unbeliever.
f. But he ignores his plans, follows his glands and falls into sin.
2. The Holy Spirit’s power will help you to discipline your
desires.
I Peter 4:1-2
"Strengthen yourselves with (Christ’s) way of thinking...Live your lives controlled by God’s will, not by human desires."
If Samson is our prototype then...
b. Part-time Pentecostals are resentful.
1. People will hurt you, let you down, break promises,
and disappoint.
It is easy to get resentful
2. When you look at Samson’s life, he lived in a constant
state of anger. He reacted violently to everything.
3. His primary motivation in life was to get even.
One time he killed thirty men just to get even on a bet.
Judges 15:3, 7, 11
"Samson said to them, ’This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines, I will really harm them.’"
v. 7 "Since you’ve acted like this, I won’t stop until I get revenge on you."
v.11 "...I merely did to them what they did to me."
4. Three times in one chapter he said, "I’m going to get even."
4. His excuse: they hurt me first. He was reacting instead of acting.
5. Resentment is self-defeating. You cannot hold onto grudges and follow the will of God.
Job 5:2
"To worry yourself to death with resentments would be a foolish, senseless thing to do."
Proverbs 29:11
"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control."
People full of the Holy Spirit must restrain their reactions.
c. Part-time Pentecostals are reckless.
Reckless in any or every area. Careless with money, words, time, commitments, affections.
Samson continually compromised his commitment for convenience. He toyed with temptation.
1. He was reckless once too often and Delilah cut his hair,
the source of his strength.
2. People do not fall off the cliff of character overnight.
3. It starts with small steps.
3. We start off in the fire of the Spirit and then we cool off.
4. • We trade away our commitment for convenience.
5. • We trade God’s power for personality.
6. • We trade away anointing for approval.
Soon it’s all right with us if the purity is only practiced part-time. Samson was rebellious, resentful, and reckless.
After Delilah cut his hair and he woke up, he said, 20And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. Judges 16:20
II. PATHWAY TO FULLNESS
1. Deny Myself.
If we are going to discipline our desires, restrain our reactions and keep our commitments we must learn how to DENY OURSELF.
What does it mean to die to self? This best sums it up.
(1). When you can watch your peers and those close to you
prosper and succeed without feeling jealous, but rather
rejoice, then you can know the meaning of dying to self.
(2). When you can see others attain goals you fail to reach and
see others receive rewards and recognitions you would like
to have without being envious, that’s dying to yourself.
(3). When you can see other people’s needs being met with
abundance when your needs are far greater and you don’t
question God or fail to be grateful for what you do have,
that’s denying yourself.
(4). When you aren’t fueled by praise, compliments and
approval from others that’s denying yourself.
(5). When you can accept criticism willingly and learn from it
with a teachable attitude.
(6). When you submit to an authority over you in deference to
God even though you don’t agree or understand, that’s
denying yourself.
(7). When you can accept interruptions that God places in your
schedule that’s denying yourself.
(8). When you are content to allow God to settle the score
that’s denying yourself.
The pathway to fullness is not only denying ourselves, but it is also in our desires.
2. Desire.
a. Desire is the emotion of the spirit. We must get hungry for
fresh fire.
c. We will choose today weather we are hungry or not.
Conclusion:
Send us the fire.
Moses was called by fire.
Elijah called down fire.
Elisha made a fire.
Micah prophesied by fire.
John the Baptist cried, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."
We should not be part-time Pentecostals.
No man can monopolize the Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost can monopolize men.
Remember the prophets of old. They were never expected, never announced, never introduced--they just arrived. They were sent, sealed, and sensational.
John the Baptist probably had not one qualification for the priesthood, but he had every quality to become a prophet. Immediately before his coming there had been 400 years of darkness without one ray of prophetic light- 400 years of silence-400 years of progressive deterioration in spiritual things.
Israel, God’s favored nation, was lost in ceremony, sacrifice and religion.
But what an army of priests could not do in four hundred years, one man "sent of God", John the Baptist: God-fashioned, God-filled, and God-fired, did in six months.
• In his eyes was the light of God
• In his voice was the authority of God
• In his soul was the passion of God.
Truly, "he did no miracle," that is, he never raised a dead man; but he did far more--he raised a dead nation.
ILLUS:
One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas.
Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" (Luke 24:49)
They find themselves out of gas.
