Special Thanks to Rev. Dennis Marquardt of Vermont for the "seeds" to this message.
Stand & Read - Acts 1:4-8
?And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; [5] for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
[6] And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" [7] He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; [8] but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.?
?Pentecostal POWER!?
INTRODUCTION:
It is ironic today in the Body of Christ?how the subject of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit has divided us so badly.
-It is shameful how its topic has become so controversial.
-Even more so ironic, because of its beginning in the book of Acts?
For when the Holy Spirit came upon the Early Church believers?it came upon the believers because of their UNITY! It is recorded that they were, ?in one accord..."
-In fact, it further unified the believers?and marked them all as followers of Christ?(much like water baptism, but deeper too?)
Anxiety and tension?that what comes to mind in some when the subject is brought up concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians get nervous and uncomfortable!
-Yet, in the New Testament, there were none nervous with the Spirit?whether in baptism nor in the acceptance of the gifts?they were assumed to be a part of the Church and a part of the believer.
-And that it was for all the believers and all the Churches!
Even within our own Assembly?I believe that we could find varying views and opinions on the subject of the Holy Spirit?and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
-How could this be when we all read the same HOLY BIBLE???
Opinions?personal views?and bad experiences have jaded our reception of this paramount gift and distinction!
My friends, in these last days we cannot afford to be divided over this subject?
We all would agree that there is a new hunger for spiritual power in the Church today.
Indeed, the fastest growing parts of Christianity worldwide are the Pentecostals.
-But this foundational fact still remains?the Church and the Believer cannot do God’s work without God’s Spirit.
-My dear friends?It was a significant statement Jesus told the disciples when He said to "wait for the promise of the Spirit" before starting ministry!
IMPORTANT because?if the Early Church Believers (those who had been with Jesus and had seen Him do great and powerful things among them?being personally involved with Jesus) if THEY NEEDED the Baptism of the Holy Spirit before embarking on ministry?
?then why would we think we don’t today?
Maybe you don?t think you don?t need it, but you avoid it and don?t seek it?
-You are missing the most important and relevant GIFT that the Father has given for your benefit and mine, after Salvation?
ILLUSTRATION:
I want to share with you a question poised by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who is certainly not known as a Pentecostal preacher.
He was Pastor at Westminster Chapel in London?
He was known as the great preacher of Reformed theology?
Now, nearing the end of his life -- and some say at the very pinnacle of his ministry -- he asked his congregation a question.
He said, "I want to talk to you today about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You may call it what you want, but I want to know, have you experienced the fullness of the Spirit? I know all of you listening to me come as I do from a Reformed background. But it’s not good enough. I know that all of you would want to say to my question about the Holy Spirit, ’Well, we got it all at conversion; there’s no need for any more experience.’ Well," said Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "I have only one other question to ask you. If you got it all at conversion, where in God’s name is it?"
You see?the Pastor had to ask the question because there was no evidence?
And coming form one whose mindset was that it was fulfilled at conversion, it speaks deeper to the thought that there must be MORE experience yet to be had?
-Because what IS seen AFTER the Day of Pentecost in the book of Acts?is NOT seen today in the Modern Church?
-A question some have to ask themselves as Assemblies of God people in America today (Those who do believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit) is the same??If we have got it, where is it then?!?
Because the evidence is little for many who are?
God help us!
TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE:
The Bible teaches that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is for all believers.
The Baptism brings God’s power to us, so that we may be witnesses to ALL the world?with an evidence of power TO BE what we can’t be in our own strength.
A first step to understanding the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is to understand the?
POINT ONE: PROMISE
The Provision of the Promise is found in? - 1:4-5
When Jesus was about to physically leave the Earth to return to Heaven?He understood that His disciples had a need for God’s Spirit to dwell within them?
-He would leave, but the Spirit of God would come!
-In fact, Jesus had argued earlier that this was why it was important for Him to leave...
Because, while He was here in bodily form, He could only be with some of them some of the time; but the Holy Spirit could be with all of them all of the time.
-Actually, it was to their advantage (and ours) that Jesus did leave so the Spirit could come in fullness.
Just how important IS the Holy Spirit to the Church and to the believer?
-He is absolutely critical!!!
Why???
-Because?We cannot live for God without the Holy Spirit’s power and presence!
-Notice Jesus’ instructions to His disciples here, "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised ..."
-Notice that there is NO hesitation in Jesus’ statements about the importance of this baptism of the Holy Spirit!
He was not about to send them out to preach the Gospel without this gift; it was for their sake He gives this gift?and the sake of those they might minister to!
We know that this gift IS NOT their salvation experience?that had already happened following Jesus’ resurrection when Jesus said in John 20:22 "And with that He breathed on them and said, ’Receive the Holy Spirit.’"
-Jesus had already given them the Holy Spirit; following His resurrection in Salvation. Then the New Covenant was in effect.
-BUT, this experience in the upper room was not about conversion?it was about provision!
-The provision of a gift of power! The power of the Holy Spirit?which is able to come alongside the believer and equip them for God’s service, ministry and work! He is our Paraclete!
ILLUSTRATION:
In the book ?Healing the Masculine Soul?, Gordon Dalbey says that when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper, he uses a Greek word, paraclete. This was an ancient warrior’s term, used by the Greeks. "Greek soldiers went into battle in pairs," says Dalbey, "so when the enemy attacked, they could draw together back-to-back, covering each other’s blind side. One’s battle partner was the paraclete."
This is the picture that the Lord gives to us concerning the Comforter?
Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well being
Notice?God never asks us to do a task that we can do without His help?
-Thus, the reason for the ?Paraclete??
-God desires it that way anyhow?that we would lean upon Him in our weakness?so that He would be our strength?
We know the Great Commission, however?
Jesus would not send us out to evangelize the world without the Spirit’s power!
When He ministered during His earthly ministry He did what He did by the power of the Spirit as well. He had emptied Himself of His powers as God’s son so that He could set an example for us to follow.
Philip. 2:6-7
??who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.?
-This is why we find Jesus going, MANY TIMES, to God the Father in Prayer?seeking help and assistance for the work at hand?
-And the same is for you and I?His Spirit is necessary to do the work of His kingdom.
If it was good enough for Jesus?then it is good enough for us! J
Still, it is necessary for Jesus brings them back into Perspective - 1:6-7
The disciples are hardly listening to Jesus?they are more caught up on trying to figure out future times of when He will return, rather than realizing how important it is to be prepared for ministry in the times they are living in!
-They seem to ignore what Jesus is saying, and begin asking Jesus about the future?all while He is trying to equip them for the present!
What these guys needed was to get their focus off the future and their well-being; and look at how the Spirit of God will help them in the present needs of society!
The Holy Spirit’s presence was being made available to them, so as to let them know that God was with them in the present; and not just providing the future hope?
The whole purpose of the Spirit’s coming to them was to EMPOWER them before the future arrived. Empowering them for ministry to people with power!
-The concern that these men should have been busy about was the present need for laborers in the field, ripe for harvest?
-And the reception of the tools in order to get the ?job? done!!!
AND WE TOO?need to realize the importance of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in our lives today!
-It is for us to be enabled to be witnesses to ALL people in ALL the world!!!
Do you desire the gift today???
Do you want to be filled so that you may be able to be an effective witness too???
Go to the giver of the gift! Seek the face of God! He wants to fill you to?but you may have to WAIT for the promise of the Father!!!
-Just as Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait?
-We, sometimes, need to stop everything and go no further, but just WAIT!!!
Wait, because the Promise of the Father will bring?
POINT TWO: POWER
The Promise of Power - 1:8a
Jesus now shifts their attention from the coming kingdom of Heaven, to the coming Spirit of the Living God!!!!
-They will receive POWER?WHEN the Holy Spirit comes!
-This is not just an intellectual understanding of the Spirit’s reality that happened on Pentecost ... it WAS POWER! REAL POWER!
-They would KNOW that something happened to them because this power is REAL.
It isn?t imagined or just accepted by faith that it had happened; but they would KNOW it had happened!
ILLUSTRATION:
Samuel Chadwick (1832-1917)
?To the church, Pentecost brought light, power, joy. There came to each illumination of mind, assurance of heart, intensity of love, fullness of power, exuberance of joy. No one needed to ask if they had received the Holy Ghost. Fire is self-evident. So is power!?
What was He saying??? When you are filled with the Spirit?you will know it, and it will be known as so in your life. Because people will see it!!! Can they see it in you?!
ILLUSTRATION:
God is called a ?Consuming Fire? in the Word?and the Holy Spirit is likened unto Fire?
If you know anything about fire, you know that it does consume anything that it comes into contact with?making it like itself?FIRE!
Well, that is what God does?He makes us like Himself?and there will be evidence of that if we really have touched Him, and He touched us!
I pray that you HAVE BEEN consumed by God!!! J
Are you hungry today??? Do you thirst for the Holy Spirit Today???
Come Holy Spirit, I Need Thee!!!!
The power of the Holy Spirit wasn’t being sent just to "tingle" them?it wasn’t for them to feel superior to other Christians?it wasn’t meant to debate over either?IT WAS to give them POWER TO BE WITNESSES!
-The Holy Spirit is power to transform them into witnesses for Christ.
-They had to realize that their own power and abilities were NOT ENOUGH!
-And for us?the work of evangelism DOES NOT depend on our clever programs and skills?it DOES depends on the power of the Spirit in our lives!
Too often we misunderstand the purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
-It is not just to make us feel good or give us a supernatural experience that is awesome!!!
-It is to empower us to witness for Christ in the POWER of the SPIRIT.
But it all rested upon the obedience and patience of the ?receptor? of the Spirit!
-Their obedience to wait in Jerusalem was a preliminary step in receiving?
Do we wait on God in prayer long enough for Him to baptize us in the Spirit? Not just baptize, but to be refreshed and refilled???
-It didn’t come automatically?it didn’t come just because they were believers?it came because they waited on God in prayer by faith.
-The promise is sure!
Jesus promised them this gift, but told them they would have to wait on it in prayer.
The Power is for Proclaiming - 1:8b
And when the power fell on them, Jesus said that they ?shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.?
-This gift is not for personal blessing?it is for proclamation!
-It was power with purpose!
Power to proclaim the Savior OF the world TO the world.
Now, we must remember something about this gift?
The baptism of the Holy Spirit isn?t about making us better than believers who are not baptized in the Holy Spirit?
But it does make us better than ourselves!
-It enables me TO BE a witness for Christ in a way that I couldn’t be without this baptism of power.
-It is therefore a VALUABLE GIFT for us?not just an option!
Lastly, this Promised gift of Power is also very?
POINT THREE: PRACTICAL
Acts 2:1-4
?And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. [2] And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. [3] And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.?
It is Personally Practical - 2:1-4
The Holy Spirit didn’t just come upon the Church, which was gathered in the upper room?note that the tongues of fire separated and sat on EACH OF THEM.
-Each was filled personally!
-ALL WERE FILLED, not some, not a select group, but ALL were filled!
Why some today feel that this gift was great for the early Church, but not for the Church today, is beyond explanation!
-Their experience before Pentecost and after is the difference of night and day!
-Because boldness, power, courage?all came to life in these ?baptized in the Holy Spirit? believers!
They were very different after being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
The fire of God’s Spirit took a group of hard, different, and quirky people; and shaped them into His Church, a Church of Power! This fire made a difference!
-Think of it for a moment?
-This group of 120 individuals?ALL were now united for one purpose under one Lord by this one demonstration of the Spirit of God!!!
ILLUSTRATION:
There once was a blacksmith who had two pieces of iron, which he wished to weld into one. He took them just as they were, all cold and hard, and put them on the anvil, and began to hammer with all this might, but they were still two pieces, and they would not unite. At last he remembered what he should never have forgotten. He thrust both of them into the fire, took them out red-hot, laid one on the other, and by one or two blows of the hammer they soon became one. -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990)
Ephes. 4:4-6
?There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, [6] one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.?
-I pray that you too find that the Spirit brings unity among us?
-That it would unity us and bring us together for one purpose?to reach the Lost with the Message of Gospel?Jesus Christ!
Anything else is really of little importance?The Lost being saved is priority!
For those in the Upper Room?There was little doubt that something supernatural had happened to them:
-Sound of rushing wind?
-Tongues of fire?
-Speaking in other tongues?
There is no doubt that something powerful had happened...
BUT?everyone today is happy to accept the baptism of the Holy Spirit IF it is without the mighty signs and power!!!!
-Even within the Pentecostal and Charismatic circles?there are those who are uncomfortable with the demonstration of the Gifts?
I know of A/G Churches that are against the demonstration of the Gifts?
Those who would leave if they ever heard a foreign tongue?
-God Forbid!
-I pray that the gifts don?t make you uncomfortable?if so?
Seek the Lord, and ask Him for help in this area?
Seeking Him to reveal Himself to you about this?
Have you ever asked?Why tongues? Why speaking in an unknown language???
-James said in his Epistle that the tongue is the most unruly member of the body?and often?it is the last to be submitted to God.
James 3:6
?And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.?
So, what makes greater sense, than to have the tongue under the control of the Holy Spirit as the immediate physical evidence that someone has just been BAPTIZED (immersed) in the Holy Spirit?
-If you think about is?This is the most logical, obvious and ironic initial physical evidence?considering all the teaching on the corrupt nature of the tongue.
Remember though?it is not the ONLY evidence of the baptism of the Spirit!
The ONGOING evidences include the Fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) and the changed life.
-There is certainly MORE to the baptism of the Holy Spirit than speaking in tongues?we just seem to focus on that because it is the INITIAL PHYSICAL EVIDENCE, but it is not an unimportant part either.
-There is more to follow the initial baptism?IE, the fruit of the Spirit and a changed life!
Another benefit of Speaking in Tongues is found in Romans?
Romans 8:26
?And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words??
Paul talks about tongues as speaking unto God even when we don’t understand what we are saying, but we know that the Spirit is speaking through us according to God’s will.
-Sometimes our own language is too limited to express the Spirit’s thoughts!
-God understands tongues even when we don’t!
Thus, the reason to Pray in the Spirit!
ILLUSTRATION:
Maybe you have been at a loss for words?
Or not known how to express yourself with words?
In similar way, that is how tongues can speak through you?using words you cannot understand, but the Spirit is interceding for us and through us?
Better yet?when you are trying to correlate a medical term to someone, but you don?t know the term?And a nurse of doctor is able to speak it for you?
That is a picture of how the Spirit speaks through you?
Then, we are able to see the Baptism in action?true to its?
Purpose - 2:5-21
The purpose of this baptism was to equip the Church and believer to proclaim the gospel!
-This alone makes the gift valuable!
But some thing I also want to note is the CHANGE that transpired within those Baptized!
-Peter, for one, was completely changed by this experience...
Where only days earlier he had been hiding from the Jews for fear of his life; he now stands up and boldly proclaims Christ’s death and resurrection! Telling people of their need to repent and receive Christ!
-This is NOT the same Peter after he was baptized in the Holy Spirit!
He now has power...he has purpose?and he preaches with results!
Peter clearly preaches Jesus’ call for repentance.
All as the Spirit empowers him as he preaches?.
-The same Peter who could hardly convince anyone to follow before?now witnesses over 3,000 get saved!
What is the difference?
Preaching classes?Reading ?How to win friends and influence people??NO!
He has just been baptized in the Holy Spirit!
-This was true for all the disciples and those in the upper room.
-Their lives became legendary for their commitment to Christ and their proclamation of the Gospel!
-They no longer feared death?because God’s power and purposes were so much more greater now in their lives & everything else became secondary.
Church?we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit today!
We need it today AS MUCH as they needed it back in the 1st Century Church.
Why would anyone NOT want this gift!?
IN CONCLUSION:
My Friends?God has promised to give us what we need, and He has promised to give His Holy Spirit to all who ask?
Jesus said in Luke 11:11-13 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
You need not fear this gift, nor its manifestations...God only desires to empower us to do His work...why ignore such a valuable gift.
-Too many Christians see the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as an "option," but nowhere in Acts is it seen this way!
-Jesus asked ALL the disciples to "wait for the promise" -- and on the day of Pentecost they were ALL filled.
-At Cornelius’ house in Acts 10, they were ALL filled.
It is a gift, received by faith -- have you received since you believed?
Have you been filled and re-filled since you have been Baptized?
ILLUSTRATION:
Corn Flakes??Try it again for the 1st time!?
Many today need to come and wait on the Father for a refilling again?
Many have been filled, but have failed in walking it out daily in our lives.
Living it out and being refreshed in the Spirit?
-You are refilled in the same manner that you were initially filled?
By Waiting!
ILLUSTRATION:
Pitcher?and water?
Cups for others?
Refilling the pitcher?less and less?
Demonstrate to the People?
Do you need to come and wait again?
Do you desire the fullness of the Spirit in your life???
Do you want to be hungry for the Spirit again?and to be used???
ALTAR CALL:
To be filled with the Spirit?
To be re-filled and refreshed?
SONGS:
On the order and?
Hungry?
Breathe?
