“First Church Book of Acts Holy Spirit”
“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Acts 8:14-17
Intro: The Church is Rooted in spreading scriptural holiness.
It is a connection…, a system…, of both clergy and laity working together
by the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfillment this mission.
In the earliest days pastors would travel on horseback in what is called a circuit.
A circuit was made up of from two or three to as many as twelve churches or more.
I wonder if the church had to provide them with a horsing allowance?
The traveling Methodist pastor was known for a courageous and sacrificing heart.
Enduring hardships that few people could imagine.
Out of the first 800 Methodist pastors nearly one fourth died before they reached the age of thirty-five
About two-thirds died before they had preached twelve years.
The “circuit rider’s” task is to spread the Word of God, administer the Sacraments of Communion and Baptism,
and give oversight to the life and mission of the faith community.
So as the Pastor was only in one location a few days or weeks at a time.
Strong lay leadership is vital
Godly…, Spirit filled laity are critical in maintaining continuity and the health of the church.
It was the First Church of the book of Acts.
After Jesus died on the cross.
He rose from the grave.
For forty days the resurrected Jesus walked and ate, and lived with the disciples around the circuit of Jerusalem, Emmaus, Samaria, Damascus, Galilee and other towns.
Then when Jesus ascended and went back up into heaven.
The Disciples waited ten days (40+10=50) or Pentecost.
There were about 120 in the Church that day.
and there was an audible sound…,
there was a physical reverberation…,
It sounded like it was coming down from the very place where Jesus was in heaven
It felt like mighty windstorm that filled the room
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit.
What happens next is difficult to describe, as it always is with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit settled on each of them.
In other words the Holy Spirit dwelt in them
The spiritual merged with the physical.
This created such a noise and caused such a scene that people came running from all across the town
to see what the sound they heard was about.
I was pastor of a couple whose last name was Witt. (Floyd and Thelma Witt.)
They had been married for over 60 years. (They married when he was 16 and she was 14.)
All they ever knew were each other.
Floyd had that John Travolta coal-back hair…, combed back.
He looked like he walked right out of the movie Grease.
Floyd was not a bad person.
In fact he was a good person.
He was known as a hard worker.
He paid his bills on time. (Mostly with cash.)
He had an honest reputation.
He was a person of good character.
He was well liked.
In fact most people did not even know that Floyd was not a Christian.
We were holding a revival. (Back when revivals lasted at least seven nights long.)
On the first night of the revival Thelma came forward and asked me to pray for her husband
Because he was lost.
Thelma came the first six nights of the revival and would kneel at the altar and we would pray for Floyd.
On that seventh day of the revival Floyd and Thelma had a fight.
It was the biggest argument they ever had in their 60 plus years of marriage.
Thelma quoted 2 Corinthians 6:14
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14
Thelma had called me to house to talk with Floyd but Floyd would not talk with me.
Floyd decided he was not going to come to the revival.
It wasn’t until the last minute they both decided to come.
On top of that Thelma did not come forward to pray for Floyd.
So I went down to the altar and was kneeling with my head bowed.
I heard a noise and whole church was doing this loud noisy rumble.
What I learned later was that when the invitation was given Floyd looked over at Thelma and asked,
“Aren’t you going to the altar to pray for me.”
Thelma answered, “No not tonight.”
To which Floyd replied. “Well, I guess if you want I will.”
True story: Thelma had prayed every night of revival for 60 years for Floyd.
But it took that one night for Floyd to pray for Floyd.
We like the idea of God changing our circumstances more than we like the idea of God changing us.
It amazes to me at the people who come to church week after week, year after year
who seem to have never heard of the Holy Spirit.
You can live in that condition for a long time.
God is stronger than your problems?
God is stronger than your bad habits?
God is stronger than your struggles?
God is stronger than your brokenness?
I have had a lot of people ask me to pray for them about their finances, because they had lost a job.
I had people come to my office and ask me to pray with them about their relationship
because their spouse was acting strange or crazy.
I have had people ask me to pray for their children
because they thought their child might be experimenting with drugs or some other destructive behavior.
But what is strange is there are very few people who walk up to me and say pastor I want to pray for me.
I have been selfish in my relationship
I have been absent in my marriage or as a workaholic parent
I have been neglectful in my relationship with Jesus.
Pastor, I need you to pray for me.
Sometimes we just need to make a mark in our life and say
God you know it would be great if you could just give me a new job.
God you know it would be great if you could just change my relationships
God it would be great if you could change my circumstances.
But what if we started to pray: “God you know what would be great is if you could change me.”
You know it starts right here.
In my life
In my heart
God do a new work in me.
God create a new heart in me.
God fill me with your love.
God fill me with your Holy Spirit
Peter walks right up to these members of First Church Book of Acts and asks them,
"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" Acts 19:2
See here is the problem:
Not that the song is the wrong song that we sing.
Not that the sermon is the wrong sermon being preached.
Not that the committee is the wrong committee you are put on.
Not that you want your situation to change.
Not that you want your circumstance to change.
Not that others around you need to change.
Do you need to change?
Do you need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit?
When you are filled with the Holy Spirit your vision changes.
And a lot of lost people who come into focus
There are a lot of things in your house that don’t mean as much
And a lot of hurting people outside your church that start coming into focus
You see it is not about
you coming to church and someone bringing you worship and serving it on a golden platter.
It is about you coming into worship and serving God through the songs you sing
Worshiping God through the prayers you pray
And you Glorifying and Praising God with the Amen, Hallelujahs, you shout.
You know if you sit on this side close to the piano you are supposed to sing.
And if you sit over here is the “Amen” corner and you are supposed to say Amen.
If you are here in the middle you are supposed to do both.
Be careful if you miss a Sunday or two you might be surprised when you come back.
There will be someone who has moved over into your seat.
That’s right, did you there are people on waiting lists to sit in certain seats.
You have heard the whispers.
“I am going to move over there as soon as they go out of town on vacation.”
I am kidding.
But some of you are agreeing with me,
Shaking your head, thinking, “I wish we had not missed those two weeks in a row back in July.”
Now we are sitting over here in this different spot. We liked it over there.
It really doesn’t matter where you set it is more about God Holy Spirit setting on you.
These people apparently had not received the Holy Spirit
They had not even heard of the Holy Spirit.
At least everyone here today has heard that there is such a thing.
You already are part of a church that believes in a triune God
You know there is a Father,
You know there is a Son
You know there is a Holy Spirit
You have heard about the trinity.
We sing hymn #64 “Holy, Holy, Holy” God in three persons Blessed Trinity.
These people had not even heard of anything except God and Jesus.
They did not know that there was a whole new level of spirituality that was just waiting for them.
There is water baptism.
I believe Terry preached on the meaning of the Sacraments last Sunday
Then there is Holy Spirit Baptism.
There is an entirely different level.
More advanced, bigger, better, superior, higher level of Baptism than just water baptism.
The word baptism or bapti appears over 100 times in the bible.
There is lot of confusion over the word baptism
In fact entire denominations draw a line in the sand and say your must be baptized this way,
this manner, this name, this method, this way or you are not going to be a member of their church.
But all of that is denominationalism.
I think it would be fair to say that about 90% of the time the bible is talking about baptism
it is not talking about water baptism at all
it is talking about spiritual baptism.
Let me prove it to you.
Matt. 3:11 “I indeed I baptize you with water he who comes after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”
Mark 1:4,8 “John did baptize with water in the wilderness, he who comes shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
Luke 3:16 I indeed baptize you with water He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
John 1:33 God sent me to baptize with water, he told me the one you are looking
He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
All four Gospels take the focus off of water baptism and turn the attention to Holy Spirit Baptism.
Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians all say essentially the same thing
Repent, be baptized with water and receive the Holy Spirit.
Peter did not give them a new job.
Peter did not give them a nicer couch to sit on.
Peter did not ask them if they wanted to feel better.
Peter and John Prayed for them and “Then Peter and John placed their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Spirit.”Acts 8:14-17
There is difference in praying for someone to get a new job.
There is difference in praying for someone
to have a change in their life circumstances that will make their place of living more comfortable and enjoyable.
There is difference in praying for someone to have physical healing.
And praying for someone and laying hands on someone to receive the spiritual gift promised to them
at the time of their repentance and their water baptism.
We can come to church to feel better and never get well.
We can come to church for comfort and leave unchanged.
That is what the church represents for some people today.
It is a place where you can get comfortable.
Church used to be the FLESH you were born into.
If you were born a Jew you had an advantage over a Gentile.
If you were worshipping at the Temple in Jerusalem you had an advantage over the minions and the servants who had to wait because they were not the favored persons.
Because they were not at the right place at the right time.
But we See the Cross changed all of that.
Grace looked at the Torah quoting, Law abiding Pharisees and Zealots
who were first born first place at the table
And Grace looked at the least among the crowds
Grace looked at those who crawled to pick up the bread crumbs that fell from the table.
The more desperate the greater the opportunity for a miracle.
Later again in the “First Church Book of Acts Holy Spirit”
Chapter 19:2 The Apostle Paul took the road to Ephesus and there he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered “No.”
Now if you research the Chronology from Act 2 to Acts 12
Acts 12 mentions the death of Herod of Agrippa.
Which would place the length of time from Acts 2 to Acts 12 as about 44 years.
So when Paul gets to the First Church Book of Acts of Ephesus In Acts chapter 19
he meets church members who have been coming to church for at least 44 years.
And they say: “No we have been coming to church but we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
We were baptized by John’s baptism.
Which was water baptism of repentance.
But Paul told the people to believe in the one who came after John whose name is Jesus.
I believe Paul told them the whole story.
The Bible doesn’t tell us everything that happened.
There is simply not enough room for all the details.
It leaves some to the imagination.
The trip from Jerusalem to Ephesus was over 1,000 miles by land or 600 miles across the Mediterranean Sea.
I imagine Paul tells the whole story of Christ’s ministry, Jesus and his Messiahship
his healing, his teaching, his miracles, and fulfillment of Old Testament Messianic prophecy;
his sacrifice, his death on the cross, his resurrection,
and his laughing and crying with the disciples after his resurrection for 40 days.
He told them as much about what had happened as a preacher could preach in a sermon I am sure.
Isn’t it amazing how we believe in a limitless God yet we get stuck in such limits
When there is so much power and holy spirit available to us and we are just stuck with so little.
You see God has the ability to override the facts.
Some of you may be thinking, Preacher I am satisfied with where I am.
I am content with what I have got.
I don’t desire anything more.
I don’t believe in this additional baptism of the Holy Spirit you are talking about.
John Wesley called it sanctification and going on to perfection.
John 4:24 “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
The attitude of worship is more important than the location or the position of worship.
God is a spiritual being.
And you have just been worshipping him in the physical.
Things around you are about to change.
How does the spirit pray?
How does the spirit sing?
How does the spirit teach?
How does the spirit lead?
How does the spirit worship?
Things around you are about to change when you go from physical worship to spiritual worship.
While you are waiting for God to come down
God is waiting for you to get up.
Life doesn’t begin when your situation changes.
Your change begins when your life gets out of the physical and gets into the spiritual.
When you make a determination within yourself that God is alive in me.
Elisha Hoffman was born 1839-died in 1929.
After graduating from Union Seminary in Pennsylvania was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.
In his lifetime he wrote more than 2,000 gospel songs including Hymn 133 "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms"
But one of my favorite hymns is found in the Baptist Hymnal 455
I must tell Jesus all of my trials;
I cannot bear these burdens alone;
In my distress He kindly will help me;
He ever loves and cares for His own.
Refrain:
I must tell Jesus!
I must tell Jesus!
I cannot bear my burdens alone;
I must tell Jesus!
I must tell Jesus!
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
2 I must tell Jesus all of my troubles;
He is a kind, compassionate friend;
If I but ask Him, He will deliver,
Make of my troubles quickly an end. [Refrain]
3 Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior,
One who can help my burdens to bear;
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus;
He all my cares and sorrows will share. [Refrain]
4 O how the world to evil allures me!
O how my heart is tempted to sin!
I must tell Jesus, and He will help me
Over the world the vict'ry to win. [Refrain]
