What Does It Mean That The Holy Spirit Has Been "poured Out"? Series

A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM: Today in America we often see a powerless Christianity.

- We see a church in America that is by many measures in decline.

- The numbers attending have been decreasing for many years.

- We have many churches that are closing and many more that are on life support.

- The demographics of those attending lean older, meaning that if the current trends continue then over the next 20 years we are going to see an acceleration of the decline and cessation of many congregations.

- Among churches that are growing, almost all are growing by transfer growth. That means that they are increasing as people come from other churches. Only about one-third of one percent of American churches are growing by conversion growth at a significant pace. That's a tiny drop of churches that are seeing the Great Commission lived out in front of them.

- We have a culture that still gives some respect to Christianity, but it’s generally just a hollow shell of faith. There is little talk of an empowered faith. Instead it’s often a cultural religion that speaks to identity rather than transformation. It’s a relic faith that looks more toward a societal past rather than a Christlike future.

- The reputation of Christians within society is tied to words like hypocrisy. People don’t see us living out the teachings of Christ. In some cases, people think that being a Christian is more of a political statement than a religious one.

- When you add all this up, it’s not a pretty picture.

- Now, I think it’s worth noting, especially for those who don’t follow global Christianity trends, that this is not the way the church is everywhere today. In Asia and Africa we are seeing powerful moves of God. So the issue here is not that the Bible makes this promise and we’ve never seen it happen anywhere or we aren’t seeing it happening anywhere today.

- One of the sad aspects of the largely powerless Christianity that we are seeing today in America is that we have come to accept that as being normal.

- If a church has a few people saved during the year, we are grateful that it wasn’t zero.

- If a church sees their attendance stay steady for a few years, we are thankful that we aren’t in decline.

- If a church is able to stay open, we are thankful that they didn’t have to close their doors.

- Gone in most cases is the hope of seeing God do great things. Gone in most cases is the hope of seeing dramatic church growth. Gone in most cases is the hope of seeing a spate of baptisms.

- One of the great, old questions that preachers have asked for generations is worth a moment here. The question is, “If the Holy Spirit didn’t show up to your church this week, could you tell the difference?”

- In many cases we have taken charge of things and are relying on our own skills and resources. Therefore in many cases we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

- As we think about this situation that we’re in, it’s important that we not allow ourselves to look around at what is and tell ourselves that is the way it is meant to be. We need to return to the Scripture and look there, asking what God told us He intended to do.

- And if what God said He intended to do doesn’t match up to what we see Him doing, we need to ask where we got off track and how we can get back to where He wants us to be.

WHAT WAS PROMISED: God said that His Holy Spirit would be “poured out.”

- Ezekiel 39:29.

- Joel 2:28, 29; Zechariah 12:10; Acts 2:17, 18, 33; Acts 10:45; Titus 3:6.

- This is an interesting and important phrase: “poured out.”

- I want to look at a few verses and unpack what the Bible says about it, then we will get into the practical implications of it.

- We start here in Ezekiel 39:29.

- We have the promise here that the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out. The specific context is Israel. This promise also shows up with the specific phrase “poured out” in Joel 2 and Zechariah 12 too. (The promise that the Holy Spirit will be given to Israel shows up in other passages too without that phrase.)

- Turn with me to Acts 2. In vv. 17 and 18 we see Peter quoting in the inaugural sermon of the church this promise. He is actually quoting the Joel reference but the wording is the same as Ezekiel - the Spirit is going to be poured out.