Sanctify
“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Acts 4:31
Intro: An 18 wheeler semi set on the side of the road with its hazard lights on.
A passing state trooper stopped to offer assistance.
The problem was not in the 600 horse power motor.
Or with the 1850 foot pound of torque.
The truck could average about a thousand five hundred miles on the 300 gallon fuel tanks.
The problem was the tanks were empty.
What do you do when you find yourself in this situation spiritually?
We can look around us here today.
We have a nice building.
We have the right equipment.
We have the Family Life Center.
We have the education rooms.
We have the commercial kitchen.
We have to capacity to travel farther than our grandparents could ever dream of going.
But yet we find ourselves drugging along at a snail’s pace
Or worst yet we find ourselves setting in the pew with the warning lights blinking.
What fuels your spiritual life?
What powers your soul?
What drives your passion for Jesus?
Sanctify is a word full of power and meaning.
It is the result of a changed life.
It is the process of being and becoming what God created you to be.
A little boy asked his grandmother how old she was.
The grandmother not willing to reveal her age replied. “I am 39 and holding.”
The little boy knowing he was not getting a straight answer asked again.
“Grandma, how old would you be if you let go?”
To sanctify means we let go of the past and trust God for future.
We live in world full of hurts and fears.
Problems, injury and heartaches
But the simple answer is trust God.
This week I attended the high school senior honors banquet at Rotary.
They recognized honor students from both Paintsville and Johnson Central High Schools.
The president of Pikeville University Dr. Web was the guest speakers.
He talked about the ever changing world.
If you think there has been a lot of change the past 50 years just imagine the change over the next 50 years.
He gave an example of a high definition t.v. screen that is flexible and small enough
that it can be wrapped around a drinking glass or cup for advertizing.
He talked about how the average college graduate will face as many as 6-7 career changes.
Not just job changes but actually career changes.
Everything from taking your child to school for the very first day,
To picking up a child from school for the very last day,
And everything in between
all represent things we try to hold on to but often have no control over
No it is never easy to let go.
We suffer because we cling to things that need to be let go.
We somehow have to learn to open our hands and trust God.
What things of the past are you clinging to that need to be let go so that you can enter the next level
Holiness in your relationship with God?
This is not something we can do over night.
We don’t just instantly become a holy saint.
It is a slow method of allowing God to live and exist more and more in the places where we live and exist.
Pentecost is a time to feel the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit
and experience the strong surge of energy from God into your life.
We celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus.
We celebrate His resurrection
But today is Pentecost and hardly anyone realizes it.
There are no isles at the store filled with flames of fire
Or doves on shelves.
Or flags or banners being displayed symbolizing unity
Or God’s power.
Yet today is a very important day.
Because Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.
There was a little girl at church with her father.
She was a such a good little girl.
She was well behaved.
She didn’t make much noise
She did not cause any problems.
But every once in a while she would stand up in the pew, turn around, look at the people behind her
and smile at them.
Her smile was so affectionate and contagious that soon everybody behind her started to smile back.
It was going along fine until the father realized what she was doing.
When he did, he turned with a stern look on his face and gravel in his voice
And told her to sit down and remember that she was in church.
Have you ever been to a church where everything was gloom and doom?
That is not the kind of church I want to belong to.
I want to be part of a church where there is real joy that comes into our lives.
Pentecost says “Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
God never calls us together without providing the power to worship and energy to celebrate the risen Lord.
The Holy Spirit enables us to grow in faith and rejoice no matter what our circumstance.
Yea, though I walk through the valleys of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Psalm 23:4
In the Old Testament objects were often made holy.
The altar was sanctified for the offerings (Exodus 27:1)
The large Laver or bowl for the washing of hands was purified (Exodus 30:18)
Table of Showbread was overlaid with pure gold and symbolized the very presence of God (Exodus 25:23)
Lamp stands representing the Light of God (Exodus 25:31)
Altar of Incense sat in the front of the curtain the separated the Holy of Holies (Exodus 30:1)
Ark of the Covenant contain the ten commandments (Exodus 25:10)
Mercy Seat with two angels coming up out of the ends representing that atonement and oneness with God. (Exodus 25:17
In the New Testament believers finally begin to understand that holiness is less about buildings and objects
and more about the relationship one has with God through Jesus Christ the Son of God the risen Saviour.
How do you find God?
How to you become Holy Sanctified?
Spiritual retreats and trips to the Holy Land are great.
But the truth is God is most easily found in the everyday moments we live.
God is in the routine of how we talk to people on the street.
Where we interact with others.
When you hear something you don’t like and you feel the steam start to rise in your pressure cookers.
How do you react and respond in the everyday struggles you are up against?
Sanctification is when we understand God is present in the ordinary,
God is in the routine,
God is active in the regular everyday things we do.
Open your eyes and see and open your heart to feel that God is not just in the big things we pray for
But God is in the small things when we may forget he is here.
My name is not written on a board in heaven with chalk.
My name is written in the book of life with the red blood of Jesus Christ the lamb of God shed for me.
The Son of God has tasted death for every man, woman, boy and girl.
God freely grants us new birth and initiates us into the body of Christ in baptism.
The profession of our faith,
telling the world we are Christians and then the growth in holiness or being sanctified
are necessary for God's saving grace to continue its work in us.
Both proclaiming your faith
and growing in holiness are two things we must do for our love to be genuine.
John Wesley described sanctification, or holiness like this:
Through God’s sanctifying grace, we grow and mature in our ability to live as Jesus lived.
As we pray, study the Scriptures, fast, worship, and share in fellowship with other Christians,
we deepen our knowledge of the love for God.
As we respond with compassion to human need
We work for justice in our communities,
we strengthen our capacity to love our neighbor.
In the early hours of January 1, 1739 something dramatic happened to Wesley.
Listen to Wesley’s own words:
“On Monday morning, January 1, 1739, Mr. Hall and my brother Charles
were present in Fetters Lane, with about sixty of our brethren.
At about three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer,
the power of God came mightily upon us insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy
and many fell down to the ground.
As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of His majesty,
we broke out with one voice, ‘We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.’”
This sounds like Acts 4:31
“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”
Let’s look at what is happening here:
1. Prayed—life shaking prayer. Understands God will get be with you through it.
2. The place—not location—Foundation of their faith
Be careful we don’t drift away from the foundation upon which the Church was built,
Today is a time for returning.
We’re turning back to the Word of God.
Please come back home again with us.
The Church has always been about going counter to popular culture.
3. Shaken—Gospel is not Shaken--- people are
4. Filled--
5. Spoke the Word
6. Boldly
Let’s say that you have already met Jesus
You have had some type of spiritual awakening
Which resulted in your baptism
And even joining the church.
Now what?
Yesterday the guest speaker at the District Conference was Neil Cole
the founder and executive director of Church Multiplication,
an organization that has helped start more than a thousand churches around the world.
His strategy is known as simple-church movement.
If we can not reproduce a group of two or three,
How will we ever be able to reproduce groups of 10 or 100?
In his book “The Organic Church” he talks about
a congregation that sent their choir out to sing at a local mall.
The church celebrated their success in taking the Gospel out to the people.
Yet, no one was spoken to individually.
No relationships were made.
No one was ever asked a single question about their faith.
He also talks about preaching being more than just expounding the origin and meaning of a Greek word.
The biggest question I heard him ask me is, “how do I measure success in church?”
Success is less about words spoken and more about ideas understood.
Success is less about the numbers of disciples who follow
and more about transformation of the disciples.
Success is less about the closeness within a community
and more about the Christ like relationships of the community.
Success is the power to make a difference in the world
Two or three people at a time.
That is what the Holy Spirit does.
When the Holy Spirit fills a place
That meeting is inspired, that place is shaken.
That group of people are moved by the energy and power of God.
Little children smile and their smile is so beautiful that it turns the whole place into joy and celebration.
Worship and adoration.
Fears give way to love
Forgiveness conquers sin.
And Grace turns what looks like brokenness and defeat into healing and victory.
The Sanctifying and holy ghost filling the church is not the rarity or exception
but the norm, the rule and reign of God’s presence.
Closing: When your find yourself troubled or doubtful or hurting just pull into the altar
God want let you run on empty.
God will fill you with the Holy Spirit
You will speak the Word of God boldly.
Oh, what a transformation and difference you will see in the people and world around you.
