Rechargeable

RECHARGEABLE

Acts 4:29-31

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: HUMOROUS CHURCH SIGNS

1. “Salvation Guaranteed -- or your sins cheerfully refunded."

2. "God does not believe in atheists, therefore atheists do not exist."

3. "Forgive your enemies -- it messes with their minds."

4. "Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out."

5. Spotted outside a church in Michigan: "Honk if you love Jesus. Keep on texting while you drive if you want to meet him."

B. TEXT

29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

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.

C. THESIS

1. We love our cell phones and portable computers. It’s now hard to imagine life without them. But these devices would not be possible if there hadn’t been a quiet revolution taking place in science; the improvement of batteries. Listen to these two leading articles:

2. “Battery life is one of the most important factors to consider when buying a cell phone.” Long-lasting cell phones: Handsets with great battery life, Kent German.

3. “What's the most important measure of any laptop? [Not]…the processor speed, or the size and weight, but at the end of the day, it's got to be battery life” Longest battery life laptops of 2011, Ackerman & Rivera.

4. Why? Because they need power to operate. So do we! Our spiritual power is one of the most important factors of our lives; God can’t use us if we’re spiritually drained.

5. So tonight we’re going to look at RECHARGEABLE batteries and see what lessons we can learn about improving our spiritual

output.

I. RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES - CHARACTERISTICS

A. ORIGINAL CHEMICAL COMPOSTION RESTORED

1. "One of the necessary conditions for a battery to be rechargeable is that the underlying chemical changes that occur during an electrical discharge from the cell must be efficiently reversed when an opposite electrical charge is applied across the cell. In nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries, for example, the Cd(OH)2 and Ni(OH)2 that are formed during cell discharge are readily converted back to the original electrode materials (Cd and NiOOH), when the cell is recharged.

2. "In contrast, the chemicals in nonrechargeable batteries experience irreversible chemical changes. For example, the carbon-fluoride batteries, after discharging, do not reform (CF)n when a reverse charge is applied. Instead the cell electrolyte decomposes, and eventually the fluoride is oxidized to form fluorine gas.

B. RECHARGE EFFICIENTLY, 100’S OF TIMES

To be classified as rechargeable, the battery must be able to undergo the reverse reaction efficiently, so that hundreds or even thousands of recharging cycles are possible.

C. RECHARGE SAFELY

1. In addition, there must often be provisions to ensure that the recharging process can occur safely.

2. Alkaline batteries (which are generally based on the conversion of MnO2 and Zn to Mn3O4 and ZnO) can be recharged, but the possible number of recharging cycles for such a cell is very limited--it performs more poorly with each recharge.

3. More important, recharging an old-fashioned alkaline battery is not safe. During or after a recharge, the battery might generate enough hydrogen gas to cause an explosion.

D. RETURN TO SAME PHYSICAL STATE

1. An added requirement for a long-lived rechargeable battery is that not only must the electrochemical reactions be reversible, they must also return the electrode materials to their original physical state.

2. Repeated charge- discharge cycles can create structures that cause electronic contact between the battery electrodes and a short circuit.

3. "Because of these requirements, the development of a well-behaved rechargeable battery is significantly more difficult than the development of a nonrechargeable battery.

II. RECHARGEABLE CHRISTIANS

A. INSTANCES OF REFILLINGS

1. PETER BF SANHEDRIN; “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ‘Rulers and elders of the people!’” Acts 4:8.

2. WHOLE GROUP OF BELIEVERS. Acts 4:31

3. PAUL FACING ELYMAS. “Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas” Acts 13:9.

4. The most common word for "filled" is ‘pletho,’ which derives from a word meaning to ‘plunge through water.’ It means generally, "to fill." It is used of Holy Spirit fillings in Lk. 1:15,41,67; Acts 2:4, 4:8,31; 9:17; 13:9.

B. WHY DO WE NEED REFILLINGS?

1. Some think that when you get saved, you get all of the Spirit there is. This is not true. In salvation the Holy Spirit does the work of regeneration. There is a second work/ activity of the Holy Spirit; empowering. That is what happened in Acts 2.

2. Others think that "Once Filled, Always Filled." They might say, "When the Holy Spirit comes, He will abide with you forever." True.