Pentecost 2003 ¡V ¡§Has the Holy Spirit shown up at your place?¡¨
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[1] as the Spirit enabled them.
Want to tell you about the day the Holy Spirit showed up at our place
„X Not long after we first arrived in Buninyong, we decided to have a church social over at our place and part of the activities revolved around a bonfire
„X We had the hardest time getting it lit so we resorted to using the only fuel we had around the place, a can of petrol
„X I had experienced petrol burns before, so I wisely stepped back a few yards while the local CFA volunteer proceeded to douse the whole area with petrol
„X Sometimes even with petrol, fires can sometimes be a little temperamental to light unless you have the right combustion ratio
„X After about three or four unsuccessful attempts people were getting a little frustrated and advice was flowing free and fast
„X Suddenly the sound of a rushing mighty wind was heard coming in the form of a huge explosion, the ¡§whoomph factor¡¨
„X Tongues of fire in the shape of a huge fireball flew out in all directions
„X It was so big, it was seen by one member still traveling in his car to our place
„X The ¡§slain in the spirit¡¨ were lying all over the ground
„X Some were speaking in unknown tongues using words some of us hadn¡¦t heard for years
„X Mothers in our house 100 meters away rushed down to check on their families
„X Fortunately no one was hurt, but I can tell you there was a lot of nervous laughter going on
„X Of course I jest, the Holy Spirit didn¡¦t show up, just a bunch a big kids wanting to play with fire
But as we just read, something very similar happened on that Day of Pentecost ten days after Jesus ascended to heaven
„X the pyrotechnics and the accompanying wind storm was enough to draw a huge crowd
„X there was a ¡§whoomph factor¡¨ when the Holy Spirit showed up that day
„X It was a dramatic event, fire and power and miracles and conversions
„X lives where changed, cowards disciples suddenly became bold and were now willing to give their lives for their Savior
„X This was the birth of the Christian Church and God wanted to make sure people recognized He was in it
„X One of the interesting aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit is that he seems to show up and have a prominent position when it comes to new beginnings
„X Just as the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters at creation for the birth of mankind, so he is right there at the other two prominent births in scripture, the birth of Jesus and the birth of the church
„X we see the third person of the Godhead active in every aspect of the story of salvation
Because of the supernatural events associated with what happened on the day of Pentecost, much is made today about how the Holy Spirit shows up in peoples lives at their baptism
„X some describe experiencing a warm sensation, others drop to the ground, others speak in tongues, while others, probably the majority quietly accept the Holy Spirit into their lives
„X But the question I want to ask is, ¡§What is more important, How the Spirit initially shows up in our lives, or what we allow Him to do after he arrives?¡¨
„X People receive the Holy Spirit, in Luke’s meaning of the term, in different ways. Some people receive the Spirit more or less spontaneously, while for others the response is quite conscious and deliberate; some experience dramatic manifestations of the Spirit, while with others the manifestations are more subdued. The way in which people receive the Spirit will be determined, to some extent, by the situation and by the person (his or her personality type, age, station in life, church environment). More important than the particular way we receive the Spirit, however, is what we do after having received it. It’s like the difference between a big church wedding and a small family wedding. The kind of wedding you have doesn’t determine the kind of marriage you’ll have. What’s
important is how you live out the reality of married life. (Larry Christenson, ’Receiving the Holy Spirit’ in LaVonne Neff et al (eds), Practical Christianity, Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House
Publishers, 1988, p. 164.).
„X It doesn¡¦t matter if spend 5 million dollars like Russell Crowe on a wedding ceremony or Joe Blow who spends $50. At the end of the day, they¡¦re both married
„X And the amount of money spent has no correlation to the success of the marriage. In fact, statistics would probably bear out, the more money spent, the less successful the marriage
„X As it relates to baptism, that previous quote would read this way, The kind of experience you have at baptism doesn’t determine the kind of Christian life you’ll have. What’s important is how you live out the reality of the Spirit-filled life
„X God has given us a wonderful resource in the Holy Spirit
„X Too often though, we humans want to sit back and allow the Holy Spirit to do everything for us
„X We want Him to show up with signs and wonders and miracles and do our work for us
„X But God has deliberately chosen to perform his work through His church
„X That¡¦s why the tongues were given ¡V what did they represent? You girls ought to know the answer to that? - Communication. They were given so we could communicate the gospel
„X What does the fire represent? Judgment (Luke 3:7-9)
„X 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ¡¦s behalf, be reconciled to God.
„X The church is the vehicle through which the Holy Spirit does His work, and normal human being like you and me are drafted into His service
„X We are God¡¦s hands and feet, we are his spiritual ambulances sent forth with his Spirit to bring spiritual healing to this world
„X How seriously have we taken this assignment of reconciling the world to God
„X Don¡¦t get me wrong, there is a place for signs and wonders and miracles. God did many miracles that day through his disciples v.43
„X He wanted to give the disciples and his infant church his stamp of approval, to show Jesus¡¦ work and authority had been passed on to his disciples, human being just like you and me
„X But his intention was not for the Spirit to do everything for us
„X The spirit¡¦s work involved more than just evangelism, it also involves sanctification ¡V the changing of lives (Rom 15:16)
„X God wants us to learn the fruits of the Spirit. Think about it¡K.do we learn love, if the Spirit does it all for us?
„X but how much godly love is learned or expressed if God is the one performing one of his miracles compared to your support of a non-Christian friend whose husband is dying
„X He also wants us to use the Spiritual Gifts he has given us ¡V How do we build up the church the way we are instructed to in Eph 4:12 if the Spirit does it all for us
„X Also, what was the message the disciples took to the world after the dramatic events of that day? Was it about the ¡§great rushing wind¡¨ or the ¡§bright tongues of fire¡¨ that fell on them or was it the ¡§Life changing message of Jesus Christ¡¨
„X The dramatic events are part of the message, but they are peripheral compared to the salvation offered through Jesus Christ
„X The greatest miracle of all is not a dramatic healing or someone being raised from the dead. The most dramatic miracle of all is the miracle of salvation
„X the old man of sin dying and a new man rising from the depths of sin, a new creation in Christ
„X What is Luke¡¦s interesting conclusion as he sums up the days events in v.41? Was it on the miracles or on changed lives
„X Acts 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
So this is the question ¡V What impact has the Spirit had on my life?
„X in times past when God has sent forth his Spirit dramatic things have happened
o Chaos is changed into beauty and the whole face of the earth is renewed
o A young woman says ¡§Yes, Lord, I am willing¡¨ and Jesus is born
o A group of 120 disciples wait patiently in a room and suddenly a world-changing church is formed
o In one day, membership grows from 120 to 3000
o Jew and Gentile alike call themselves by a new name - ¡§Christian¡¨
o people sell what they have and share the proceeds with others
o the sick are cured, the dead raised
o and the church grows until it encompasses the world
„X I don¡¦t know about you, but reading these stories makes me feel a little inadequate
„X Makes me wonder if I¡¦m underutilizing the Holy Spirit
„X He¡¦s never used me to raise the dead or perform great miraculous deeds
„X And perhaps we have underutilized the Holy Spirit. But we need to recognize it¡¦s a team effort
„X we have a responsibility and God has a responsibility
„X As Jesus said, ¡§Without me you can do nothing¡¨ so the Holy Spirit had better be involved if we do want to accomplish anything
„X If God wanted to, He could raise up stones and get the job done, but as I said earlier, he has instead chosen to use fallible human beings like you and me
„X And when you are relying on humans, there are going to be limitations on what can be achieved humanly speaking and this is where the work of the Spirit comes in
Let me give you an example
„X There is a lot of talk these days in the greater Church about revival and the raising of the level of the Holy Spirit in our cites
„X Many churches are praying for such an event and of course that is a good thing, God knows the people in our cities need Him
„X But I believe we need to do more, because if we are just praying for city that is expecting the Spirit to do everything and that is not how He operates as we read
So if we want to raise the level of the Holy Spirit, How do we do it?
„X We have to begin where the Spirit resides. Where does the Spirit reside? In the Body of Christ in the city
„X Brings up a little side issue. Do you view yourself as a member of the BCCG or a member of the Church of Jesus Christ?
„X John Wesley had two different experiences as a minister. As a minister of the Church of England, his ministry was fruitless. He wrote in his journal how discouraged he was that even though he was ¡§weary in the work¡¨ he saw no fruit in his labor. After his conversion experience, he became a minister of Jesus Christ. His journal is full of the joy of fruitful work.
„X So how do we raise the level of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ in the city?
„X In the same way Paul instructed Timothy to ¡V Stir it up (2 Tim 1:6-7)
„X You see the Spirit has to have something to work with. Its like the story of the little boy with the 5 loaves and two fishes
„X If the young boy was not willing to share what he had, Jesus could not have performed that miracle could he
„X We all want to see a mighty move of God, but we need to give the Spirit something to work with
Saw an interesting program on TV last week about the excavation of an ancient temple in Egypt
„X One of the fascinating aspects of the show was how they would cut these massive obelisks out of rock and transport them down the Nile river to the Valley of the Kings
„X The trick was to get these 60 foot long obelisks onto barges without breaking them or capsizing the boats
„X How they did it was amazing. They first of all dragged the obelisks close to the river and laid them parallel to the river
„X They then dug a channel up to and under the obelisk so that it straddled the channel supported by its ends
„X They then filled the barges with rocks so they were very low in the water and floated them under the obelisks
„X Then it was a simple matter of throwing out the rocks and letting the buoyancy of the barges lift the obelisks
„X Very ingenious. Notice though what did the hard work ¡V the river lifted the barges
„X Its the same with us, we initiate, but the Spirit does the lifting
„X But unless someone digs the channel, fills the boats with rocks, nothing is going to happen
When we follow this principle, three wonderful things happen
„X First, we give the spirit something to work with so He can perform a miracle in someone¡¦s life
„X Second, people lives are touched with the love of Jesus Christ
„X Third, you and I learn Godly love
„X Isn¡¦t that a great formula ¡V a win/win/win situation
„X Its already happening with the ¡§Cookie¡¨ ministry we have
„X Carol initiated, people lives are touched, and the Holy Spirit has something to work with in performing the miracle of salvation in their lives
So what do we do with this formula?
„X Want you right now, to think about something you can do for someone to touch their lives in a special way, Preferably someone not in the church
„X a family member, someone at work, someone who has left our fellowship
„X Doesn¡¦t have to be a big thing, maybe a card, maybe a hug and ¡§I love you¡¨, maybe a phone call, maybe a small gift of appreciation, taking someone out to coffee, or even a meal
„X Sooze and I were talking about taking a ministers wife whose husband has just died out to dinner one night
„X Imagine what would happen if we all did this once a week
„X That¡¦s 40 people doing 50 acts of love a year ¡V that¡¦s 2000 acts of love a year
„X You don¡¦t think that would have an impact in our community
„X What about if every Christian in the Church of Jesus Christ in the city decided to do it ¡V imagine how many lives would be touched with the love of God
„X This is what we should be doing each week of our lives
„X That is what reconciliation is all about, bringing people together, bringings people to God
„X I joined the ministry network and the Council of Churches in order to be part of the ministry of reconciliation
„X Tonight, we¡¦re going to an ecumenical service in Ballarat
„X This is what it means to stir up the Spirit, give Him opportunities to work, ask Him to show you opportunities
„X Have you all thought about something you can do? Make sure you do it this week and the week after
„X You see, we don¡¦t need tongues of fire, we don¡¦t need rushing winds to communicate the gospel, what the Spirit needs is a willing heart. Is your heart willing?
