WELCOME AND CALL TO WORSHIP
Good morning. I am so honored that you have chosen to worship with us today. I believe God has a orchestrated this appointment and we take it very seriously.
Today we will conclude our emphasis from the Book of Acts on evangelism. And we will wrap it up by looking at the one single feature that is absolutely essential every time we share our faith with our friends and neighbors … The Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we forget that there is a difference between the Church that The Holy Spirit indwells and the Spirit himself.
Maybe an illustration from sailing would help us here.
If the Holy Spirit is the wind, then the local church is the sail. Some sails are better than others at catching the wind, some sailors are better at using the sail, but there is always and only one wind. A sail without the wind is a limp flag; wind without a sail is still the wind. The relationship is only one way.
The sail (the local church) is an institution built with the intention of harnessing that power. If a local church goes away, the power remains.
Like a sail, the local church is absolutely powerless without the Holy Spirit.
{NOTE: This imagery was first discovered by me in Shane Hipps' book, "Selling Water by the River." I have adapted it for this sermon's use.}
So here’s my emphasis today; just because a local church bears Christ’s name doesn't always mean it operates in Christ’s power. If we fail to understand this, we become like the sail that believes it controls the wind.
Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit in John 16 when he says,
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
(John 16:8-14)
Let’s worship today in Spirit and in Truth.
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BRIDGES AND DITCHES: THE BOOK OF ACTS FOR TODAY**
THE WIND OF THE SPIRIT
ACTS 1:4-8; 2:1-4
Big Idea: The essential and non-negotiable role (need) for the Holy Spirit
Service Helps:
• Responsive Reading
• Altar Call – surrender and seeking the filling of the Holy Spirit
Supporting Scripture:
• Joel 2:28-32 (Responsive Reading)
• 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
• John 16:8-14 (Welcome and Call to Worship)
ACTS 1:4-8; 2:1-4
1:4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
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2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
INTRO
If I was to give you a math equation to today and ask you to solve it but I deliberately (and secretly) held back an essential element of the equation you would most certainly fail. Not only would you fail you would experience utter frustration in the process.
You may come to me and say, “I just can’t solve this. What am I missing?”
If I said, “Try harder.” You would continue to fail and become even more frustrated.
I have seen something similar happen in some churches and some Christians. They are trying hard to live a fruitful life but they keep failing at it and it produces great frustration. I have even had some come to me and say, “I just can’t do this. Something is missing; what is it?”
As in the math problem, they are missing an important part of the equation. They were not introduced to an important element and to this day … try as they may … they fail.
The Book of Acts gives three essential elements to the equation for mission. These three elements must all be present and applied if we are to successfully share the Gospel with the lost. They are:
1. JESUS CHRIST – THE RESURRECTED ONE
o We discovered in week #2 that this was their central, unswerving message.
2. THE LOCAL CHURCH
o Last week we talked about how important the church was to our spiritual growth and service.
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT
o Today we will conclude our series by looking at the “gift of God.”
None of these three are optional. To remove any of these from the mission of the book of Acts is to fundamentally alter its message … it would in fact render the book useless because an essential part of the equation would be lost.
And yet I have seen, on more than one occasion, people try to do the mission of the church and leave out one of these three parts of the equation. And as strange as it is … the one I see the most often neglected is the power and presence of the Spirit.
In Luke’s first book (his gospel) we see a unique picture of Jesus’ followers after his crucifixion. This picture carries over into his second volume (the Book of Acts). The picture you see is one of:
• A cowering defeated people gathering behind locked doors
• A group that is a complete mess and has no clue as to what they should be doing
• They feel abandoned, helpless, vulnerable, and hunted
Into this scenario the resurrected Christ comes and brings comfort, instruction and a promise but, truth be told, little changes until Pentecost. Little changes until the Holy Spirit comes and rests upon Christ’s followers.
But at Pentecost … EVERYTHING changed!
The doors burst open!
Fear is replaced with courage.
Confusion is swept away and mission takes its place.
Hopelessness is exchanged for power.
• “Dunamis” is the word used in Acts 1:8 and it is where we get our word for dynamite.
• How appropriate … because once the Holy Spirit arrived that’s what happened; things exploded and the Gospel was declared with bountiful results.
• You may remember … they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).
When the Holy Spirit arrives the entire atmosphere becomes charged. In Acts 2 it is described with words like “a violent heavenly wind” and “tongues of fire.”
When a church has “battened down the hatches” and is cowering behind its four walls there is often nothing that can be done to turn it around short of a renewing visit from the Holy Spirit. Such churches have two parts of the equation but only when the third arrives can they find solution and mission.
There are clear evidences of the Holy Spirit’s presence in Acts. Oh they aren’t as superficial and sensual as some say; the evidence has very real and purposeful intent behind it.
You see, the evidence of the Holy Spirit (which is the Spirit of Jesus) is that the church will begin to bear His likeness. Jesus said, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Jesus himself is the touchstone of what can properly be understood of the Holy Spirit (John 16:14).
1. JESUS IS THE TOUCHSTONE OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR PRACTICE.
The task of the Spirit is to bear witness to Jesus. We should not regard anything as the teaching of the Spirit if it does not relate credibly to the life and teaching of Jesus, the man full of the Spirit.
2. JESUS IS THE TOUCHSTONE OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR MESSAGE.
Acts teaches us that witness-bearing is the primary task of the church and the Holy Spirit as the enabling gift that makes this possible.
You will often find doctrines ascribed to the Spirit that will stretch the imagination but not the life of the believer. True Biblical teaching (and preaching) will be bathed in the Spirit’s presence and power.
Never believe anything that is said about the Spirit that cannot equally be said about Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not seek his own but always points humanity to Jesus Christ (John 15:26 and 16:13-14).
3. JESUS IS THE TOUCHSTONE OF THE SPIRIT IN BEHAVIOR.
We are prohibited, as Christians, from regarding any form of behavior as normative that cannot be demonstrated as part of the lifestyle of Jesus. I have seen people do weird things and say God told them to but if the behavior does not match the standard of Jesus it is a lie.
• One man said God told him to divorce his wife so that he could devote more time to youth ministry. You can see where this lead – he followed one self-centered lie after another until eventually he was sexually involved with a teen-ager … and insisting all along that this was God’s plan.
• I had one man tell me that God told him to stay home from church and mow his lawn. Never mind that the day before (Saturday) he spent the whole day riding his motorcycle and enjoying the summer weather.
Yes, the Holy Spirit is part of the equation and without His presence and power we will fail and be frustrated … but when He comes … harvest follows!
But there is more.
As you read the book of Acts you will discover something else. Listen closely.
After Pentecost, Christians are never told to be baptized in the Spirit … but they are told to be filled with the Spirit.
You are baptized (immersed in) the Holy Spirit at salvation. He dwells within, he is a spiritual seal that marks you as a child of God.
But the filling of the Spirit is another matter altogether … the filling can be both lost and regained. Hear me, we can be (must be) filled afresh with the Holy Spirit. This is not a once-and-all experience, but a constant offer from a generous, renewing God.
So … what are the characteristics of those who are filled with the Spirit?
1. THE GOSPEL IS PREACHED (2:1FF)
o This may be the root note of all else we hear about the Spirit. When we look at how the Spirit operated in the Acts we discover that they were bold to speak. Before Pentecost they had been the very reverse, but not when the Spirit came upon them.
• They were bold to preach in the streets (2:14)
• To preach to a beggar (3:1f)
• To preach before the town council (4:8ff)
• To preach even when their lives were in the balance (Acts 7)
• They were bold to speak in homes and synagogues
• They were bold to preach in front of the magistrates and Kings
o And many were drawn to Christ through their witness
2. COURAGE IS PRESENT IN THE MIDST OF PERSECUTION AND DEATH (4:8, AND CHAP. 7)
3. PRAYER IS PREVALENT AND POWERFUL (4:31)
4. THERE ARE ACTS OF SERVICE.
o Even those doing humble administration and social work – like running the soup kitchen – are required to be full of the Spirit (6:3)
5. THERE IS HOLINESS IS HEART AND LIFE (9:31)
6. THERE IS CELEBRATION AND JOY (13:52)
Acts teaches us that, whatever task is worthy to be done in Jesus’ name must be done with the Spirit’s power.
WRAP-UP
There is one more thing that Acts teaches us about the Holy Spirit. It is that, however often we may be filled, we soon need filling again.
We leak.
Being filled with the Spirit is a standing call to us; beckoning us to come again and again to the Source and be filled afresh.
Catching the Wind of the Spirit
A few months back I was on prayer retreat in the Ozarks. I was there working on this sermon series. I was working on this particular sermon when I took a walk. I was troubled and praying about the three parts to the equation in Acts and how often we try to do His work of mission with only two parts – without the filling of His Spirit. I walked up top of a high hill and below me was a valley with a very large hay field and a few houses. Behind them were the rolling foothills of the Ozarks. I saw a hawk flying across the horizon near the far tree line; all of a sudden it stopped working its wings and just made vertical shot upward. It caught a thermal and for quite a while it just rode that thermal in circular patterns with its wings spread out catching the wind. Eventually it moved out of that thermal and had to begin workings its wings again; until it caught another.
I just thought about how we, Jesus’ people, need to do that. We need to catch the wind of the Spirit time and again.
Remember, the church is like a sail … it is useless without the wind. The wind is the constant that must be sought; the sail is simply a tool to harness the wind.
We know this three-part equation in Acts. The first two parts we get very well.
• There is no question we love Jesus.
• There is no question that we love His church.
But sometimes we work in our own power … we neglect the third part of the equation. The result is that we become frustrated and maybe even fail at the mission God has given us.
Its then that we come and you say, “I just can’t do this. Something is missing. I’m tired; and I’m am not enjoying this; and I’m not bearing fruit.”
And that is all true; because something is missing. When that happens, you are working your wings when what you need is … to catch a thermal … to catch the wind of His Spirit and work with his power … his dunamis … not your own.
As we seek to be a church of the 21st century – a church that God can use to reach this generation, we are going to have to build some bridges and jump some ditches. But we have a good model … the church of the 1st century.
Let’s covenant with God to work with all three elements of the equation moving forward. Let’s individually and collectively seek the filling of the Spirit that brings power, guidance, and a sense of nearness to Jesus.
Lord, Empty Me ~
By deborah Ann
Lord, empty me of me,
so, I can be filled with You
drain my soul of pride
the stubbornness in it too.
Remove my self-importance,
take my smugness away
get rid of the very thought
I can do things my own way.
Lord, empty me of me,
the arrogance and conceit
to my own selfish will . . .
may I declare, a sound defeat.
Take out any lust or greed,
the need for self-indulgence
to any unrighteousness . . .
give me a zero tolerance.
Lord, empty me of me,
anything keeping me from You
so that into my very soul . . .
the Holy Spirit can get through!
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** The idea, and much of the content, for this sermon series is owed to two books by Michael Green, “Thirty Years That Changed the World” and “Evangelism in the Early Church.”
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
First Church of the Nazarene
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
www.banazarene.org
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Responsive Reading
“I Will Pour Out My Spirit”
Joel 2:28-32 (portions)
Leader: I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
People: Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Leader: Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
People: I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth.
ALL: AND EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.
