August 31, 2003

Service Theme – "Our God Fills Us"

Acts 2:17

Living in the Spirit of Pentecost

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – Someone once wrote, Power can be used in at least two ways: it can be unleashed, or it can be harnessed. The energy in ten gallons of gasoline, for instance, can be released explosively by dropping a lighted match into the can. Or it can be channeled through the engine of a Honda in a controlled burn and used to transport a person 350 miles. Explosions are spectacular, but controlled burns have lasting effect, staying power. The Holy Spirit works both ways. At Pentecost, he exploded on the scene; His presence was like "tongues of fire" (Acts 2:3). Thousands were affected by one burst of God's power. But He also works through the church--the institution God began to tap the Holy Spirit's power for the long haul (as cited on eSermons.com).
    2. Context – We get a little nervous when Christians start talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. We’ve got this idea in our heads that the often-theatrical stunts of televangelists and their sometimes-authentic signs and wonders define what the Holy Spirit’s power is all about. But God is not bound by our mental and emotional limitations. He knows what He had in mind when He spoke the prophecy in Joel that Peter says in Acts 2:17 is happening in the here and now. Let’s read that verse.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. (NEW SLIDE) Acts 2:17 (from the New Living) – 'In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.
    2. I’m not going to stand here today and tell you that we have to have the sign gifts (like tongues, interpretation, and healing) in order to experience the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe those gifts are still valid for today in the right circumstances. So what I want to share with you this morning is what God is saying to our church about the outpouring of His Spirit on us.
  1. God’s Message for Us
    1. What Peter is speaking of is an absolute certainty that God will pour out His Spirit on every devoted follower of Jesus Christ. God says it will happen, so it WILL happen. But why? What’s the reason behind God pouring out His Spirit on us? According to this passage, God pours out His Spirit to change our perspective – so that we can see through His eyes by the power of the Holy Spirit. I know I preached on this a couple of weeks ago, but we’ve got to get a grip on it.
    2. So what makes me know that God is using this prophecy to try to get us to see through His eyes? Read this verse again. (NEW SLIDE) First, God says that He will do this in the "last days." Peter indicated that this prophecy began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost mere weeks after Christ died. Two thousand years doesn’t seem to us to be "last days," but in God’s scheme of things that’s no time at all. (NEW SLIDE) Then He promises to pour out His Spirit on "all flesh" as the Greek puts it. In other words, the power of God’s Spirit is available to everyone, but only those who love and follow and serve Jesus will be able to use it.
    3. But now notice what God says about those who have had the Spirit poured out on them and have been filled by it. (NEW SLIDE) They will experience three things involving sight: prophecy, visions, and dreams. Prophecy means to speak forth God’s truth, and we’ve got to have that mental picture of what that truth is in order to proclaim it. Supernatural visions involve seeing, either literally or in our mind’s eye, a picture of what God is going to do and what He wants us to do about it. Dreams involve allowing God to fill our hearts and minds with pictures of the possibilities of what He wants to do and how His Word can be proclaimed and lived. (NEW SLIDE) Three sight-oriented types of experiences, all designed to do one thing: get God’s plans and pictures into our hearts and minds so that our lives will be guided by them.
    4. So what has God done that will enable us to see things through His eyes by the power of the Holy Spirit? This verse literally oozes with three "Greats" that will help us make a nice theological statement into a reality in our daily lives: great power, great wisdom, and great promise.
    5. (NEW SLIDE) God has made great power available to us through the filling of His Spirit. The only way we are filled with the Holy Spirit is if we confess all of our sins (not hiding any pet sins), repent or change our thinking about all of our sins (not holding any back), and surrender ourselves totally to God to do with as He wishes. We give up our rights to our bodies, our time, our talents, our resources – everything! In exchange, He cleans us out, purifying that sinful nature inside of us and filling us completely with His Spirit. When that happens, we have great power. We can still have some power without total surrender, but not the kind God is speaking of in Acts 2:17. We will have some perspective, but not the total Christ-like change of perspective. We will speak some truth, have some visions, and dream some dreams, but not with the power God has for us. I don’t know about you but I don’t want a little power, or some power, or even much power. I want great power to see things God’s way, to speak forth His truth in His time, to see His visions and dream His dreams. Giving up all of my rights one by one, which is a struggle, is the only way I can have great power. And that’s the only way all of us can experience great power. Are we going to settle for a little power? Or some power? Or even much power? Or will we move forward to experience His great power of the filling of the Holy Spirit? We’ve got to settle this question first and begin the process of handing our rights over to Jesus if we want to move on.
    6. (NEW SLIDE) God has made great wisdom available to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we can live in the Spirit of Pentecost. Can you imagine the depth of insight God gives us as we surrender ourselves to Him and receive His great power? Can you imagine the wisdom He will show us as He speaks forth His Word through us? Can you imagine the incredible understanding we will receive as He reveals His will and His plans through supernatural visions? Can you imagine the wonderful marching orders He will give us as we dream His possibilities for the future? I know a lot of this is scary stuff to many of us, but I see the alternative as being even scarier. Trying to live the way God has called us to as a church without His power and His wisdom would be like trying to drive in pitch-black darkness without headlights. It’s suicidal to our faith. I NEED God’s wisdom if I’m going to make it from day to day. We all need God’s wisdom if we’re going to make it as Christians and as a church. We need the wisdom to see our lives and our circumstances through God’s eyes, and to see the future through His eyes as well, if we’re going to live in the Spirit of Pentecost. His transforming power will bring His guiding and directing wisdom if we surrender totally and completely to Him.
    7. (NEW SLIDE) When we experience God’s power as His wisdom is revealed to us day by day, we have great promise in what He is going to do in us and through us. Our world today is dying for lack of hope. Suicide numbers are skyrocketing. Crime is increasing. Selfishness drives our culture. Why? Because there is no hope. People haven’t experienced the hope we have in Jesus, so what reason do they have to hope at all? None. But we have hope because our lives hold great promise. The promise of what God is creating us to be. The promise of what He reveals to us as we are filled with His power and His wisdom. The promise that we will be like Jesus when He comes again. Great promise! It blows my mind. I was reading in Revelation about the twenty-four elders who continually fall at the foot of the throne of God and praise Him. I decided that’s not a bad way to spend eternity! I want to be with Him, and I will, not because of who I am, but because of the great promise I have in Him by believing and following Him. Do we deserve any of this? No, but God gives it to us anyway. We have available to us great power, great wisdom, and great promise. Let’s not let this opportunity to tap into Him and live in the Spirit of Pentecost pass us by!
    8. So what happens when we see the world through God’s eyes and begin to live in His great power, great wisdom, and great promise? (NEW SLIDE) Verse 21 – And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. People will come to Christ as we live in the Spirit of Pentecost. Our own lives will be transformed as we live in the Spirit of Pentecost. Our church will be transformed as we live in the Spirit of Pentecost.
    9. Illustration – Pastor Dan Rondeau writes, Come with me into West Texas during the Depression. Mr. Ira Yates was like many other ranchers and farmers. He had a lot of land, and a lot of debt. Mr. Yates wasn't able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on a government subsidy. Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract. At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he'd been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn't know the oil was there even though he owned it. It is fair to say that you and I are a lot like Mr. Yates at times. We are heirs of a vast treasure and yet we live in spiritual poverty. We are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, and yet we live unaware of our birthright (as cited on eSermons.com).
    10. Too often we settle for being spiritual paupers. Let’s live in the hope of the Spirit of Pentecost! Let’s live in the power of the Spirit of Pentecost! Let’s live in the wisdom of the Spirit of Pentecost! Let’s live in the promise of the Spirit of Pentecost!
  1. Conclusion
    1. Right now, we’re going to begin to apply what we’ve learned today about living in the power, wisdom, and promise of God’s Spirit. Because when we see through God’s eyes, we see how much people need Him. A few weeks ago I said that we were going to each write down the names of seven people who we’re personally going to pray for, and who we will pray for as a church, and who we’re personally going to invite to Harvest Fest. So please write down those names now on both sides of the insert we’ve provided, and then tear it in half.
    2. (NEW SLIDE) Take some time for personal prayer. Then bring the church half of the insert with the names on it up, take the communion elements, and kneel at the altars. Commit yourself in prayer to the Lord to praying for those folks and inviting them to Harvest Fest. Then, when you are ready, partake of the bread and the juice and leave the paper with those names on the altar. We all know people we can pray for and invite. So let’s prayerfully write those names now.
    3. Has everyone committed the seven names to the Lord and left the paper on the altar? Then let’s pray together.
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