In our first post of this series, we learned that there a real pentecostal experience that we as Christians need in our lives. But the truth is, anything that we can be turned into a hokey experience or something that seems too good to be true, will keep us from truly believing it.
Many of us grew up telling Ghost stories around a campfire or in a dark room. We generally like the feeling of being startled. It lets us know that we are alive. And this series, hopefully will expose you to something that lets us know that there is more to this Christian walk than just getting by. God has something in store for you to bring you life and power to walk in boldness.
I grew up in the Assemblies of God. It really is all that I know. I don’t stay in this movement because of how I grew up. I stay in it, because it is what the bible teaches us. It doesn’t mean that the Assemblies of God is perfect or has all the perfect answers to every question. It means, on the whole, I believe that this is a movement and fellowship that teaches the whole bible and does it’s best, to represent it in this modern context.
In my life, I have been exposed to the power of the Holy Spirit since I was a kid. I have watched it used for the glory of God and have watched others use it to further promote themselves. This power of the Holy Spirit has shaped who I am even when I didn’t completely know what to do with it.
The problem is that we have turned this move of the Holy Spirit into something to be acquired rather than a relationship that moves us closer to God.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost is for our lives today. It is something that we see in the bible that was unique and brought with it something more for our lives. It is a gift that Jesus promised for those who would receive it. We don’t live our lives to receive a gift, but receive a gift in order to live our lives.
But, if we are simply seeking more of the spirit in order to receive more gifts in our lives, then we have missed the point.
Remember, when we look back at Acts 1, this promise of the father was there to be witnesses…it was power to be witnesses. (Acts 1:8) We don’t seek the gifts of the father, we should seek the father of the gifts.
-I believe that in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and that it has an evidence to it.
-I believe that this experience is still available to all Christians today.
-I believe that its an experience that we should all want to have.
But what I do not believe in is a church that only seeks this and misses that it is God that moves this gift in our lives. That gift should move us to be different.
That leads us to our second Ghost Story this week. In it, we will see the power of God fall, we will see the evidence, we will see a purpose.
Read: Acts 2:1-16, 38 (click here to read)
Many of us have heard the term, baptism of the Holy Spirit before. The word baptism simply means to be taken under, to immerse. As we read last, week, Jesus told them to wait for the promise of the father. Which he related to how John baptized with water, but that the Holy Spirit would baptize them with something more.
This gift or promise of God was something in addition to the salvation that they were sealed with. They believed in Christ, they followed him. But this commandment that Jesus gave them was to wait for something more.
Jesus gave this commandment to a group of around 500 people, but when we start Acts 2, we see that this group was only 120 people. I think it’s interesting because over the years, there are people who say they would believe something if they heard it directly from Jesus. But there were around 380-400 people who got a command from Jesus, yet disregarded this command.
The 120 that obeyed his command would turn the world upside down. How? Because they were endued with power from the Holy Spirit. Today, the numbers aren’t much different. Close 6/10 Christians do not believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for them today. They believe that all that they need, they get when they pray a prayer of salvation.
They really are walking through this life, with their spiritual hands tied behind their back. They are Christians, but neglect a gift that could change their effectiveness and boldness. In many ways, it also leaves their spiritual walk lackluster. It is mundane and boring because they are not seeing the supernatural happen around them.
Pastor Mark Batterson, (National Community Church), says that “If you take the Holy Spirit out of the equation of my life, and it would spell B-O-R-I-N-G. Add Him to the equation of your life and anything can happen.”
That is awesome statement, because it is true!
Without the Holy Spirit:
Christianity is dry, monotonous, and mundane.
There is virtually no Christian life.
There is no real fellowship with God
If we remove the Holy Spirit from our churches, we would be left with something that would morph into a social club or just another religious institution.
It is the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and in our churches that brings true revelation in our lives. Without the revelation of the Holy Spirit, even scripture would bring death. (2 Corinthians 3:6)
2 Corinthians 3:6 (ESV) who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
It is the Holy Spirit that brings freedom in our lives (2 Corinthians 3:17). He brings joy, vision and peace to our situations. Its more than just Him being there, its Him being in our lives. The spirit of God is not an it…The spirit of God is Him.
Too many people are seeking it…they miss that He was someone to have a relationship with. When He is involved in your life and you seek Him, it opens your life to more of Him.
As we dig into this Ghost Story, I want to see the change that happened as the Holy Spirit fell on their lives. We know that they were a group of people who were united at this point. They had been seeking God together and waiting for Him to do something in their lives. In the midst of it, they were in an upper room, could have been like this room, praying together.
The first thing we need to see about a church that is empowered by the Holy Spirit, is that it is a church that is UNITED IN PRAYER. If a church wants to get closer to God and walk in the power of God, it must be a church that is committed to prayer and doing it in a united way.
These early believers had gone through so many changes in just a few weeks. They had been walking the countryside with Jesus listening to His teachings. There were some of the group that were already thinking about what the kingdom would look like and were jockeying for position in it. Then they saw their leader crucified and tortured and killed. They then experienced his resurrection and later the ascension.
This didn’t happen over years, this is in weeks. Jesus knew that they needed more. They knew at their core they didn’t have the ability. They had faltered in just the days of crucifixion.
One of the reasons that a church must be united in prayer is because it understands that it doesn’t have the ability to do it on their own. If we think that The Assembly is going to achieve the vision that God has for it because we are smarter or have all the answers, we will fail miserably.
We will get to the place God has for us, because we seek Him. As we seek Him, He will move on our behalf and open doors that we could never kick down. These 120 followers of Jesus in the upper room, knew that what Jesus had promised was coming and that they would need it to achieve all that He had for their lives.
When you look back at these people in the upper room, they had problems and limitation that would stop this movement without something more:
They weren’t all educated people
Many of them were young (late teens and early 20’s)
Lived in a poor region of the world and were under Roman rule
They didn’t all get along
Their exposure to the world was close to home
Limited technology and ability to travel was by horse or foot
They had limitations on their ability to move this message of the gospel. We have more natural ability today, but we deal with some other issues…
Addictions that control our decision making (not just drugs or alcohol)
Depression and limiting thoughts
Complications within our families
Habits we can’t break on our own
Needs that we don’t know how to meet
Unmet vision that leads us to uncertainty
Jesus understood these limitation and He knew we needed something more. This gift that God the Father has for our lives, would radically change the way the church could operate. It is necessary for our church and for our families. It’s not a salvation issue, its an empowerment issue.
You are inadequate, I am inadequate to do what God wants to do. But He knows that and He has given us access to something to change that in yours and my life.
When the day of Pentecost came, it changed the disciples and followers of Jesus. The most notable of the group would be the Apostle Peter. Remember this guy?
He is the one that denied Jesus in front of people who had no power in his life. He would be so remorseful in his life that he would go back to fishing. He didn’t believe that God could use him once again. So he went back to what he knew. But Jesus met him and restored him. He gave him a personal mandate. But he didn’t walk in it immediately.
It would take the pentecost moment to change him completely.
Peter had tried to serve God on his own. (His strength)
He gave Jesus his undying devotion around the table at the last supper. He said even if everyone else fell away, he would not. (Matthew 26:35) But when push came to shove, he failed. He denied Jesus three times.
The sad thing is, there are well meaning people that start this walk with Jesus, and although they committed everything to Him, they don’t last. Its because they are trying to do it in their strength rather getting power from a source bigger than them.
2. Peter was inconsistent in his walk with the Lord.
One moment he’s walking on water (yeah same guy), the next he is sinking
One moment he’s declaring his undying love, the next, rebuking Jesus
One moment he’s ready to fight the world with a sword, the next, denying he knew him
We have a lot in common with this guy, because we do same things. We declare we want God to change our lives, then go back to living the same way as before. We back down in our faith simply due to who is with us at the moment.
3. Peter failed and wanted to hide.
Just as Jesus predicted, Peter did denied Him. Then afterwards, we read that he was so sorrowful for it all. (Luke 22:62) tells us that wept bitterly. We have all been there. We have failed so horribly that were not sure we can go on.
4. Peter had fear disillusionment afterwards, reduced how he saw himself in the future.
Peter didn’t take his life like Judas did after his failure, but it change him in the short term. He was filled with fear and shame. He was afraid that the leaders would come for him next (John 20:19). He left the ministry and went back to fishing. His confidence was so shaken that that he could hardly answer Jesus when he was asked to do you love me?
We have to know, that just like Peter, we don’t have it in ourselves and he was one that walked and talked with Jesus. But coming face to face with our selfishness and sinfulness can be life altering. But it’s necessary.
Thats why we have to understand that this spirit empowerment and receiving the holy ghost in our lives is important. We have to recognize that we are not able without him. Your life and mine will not be perfect. We don’t have all the answers or even the ability to understand the why sometimes. But in it, we can be made to be more.
All of this was true about his life prior to the day of pentecost, but afterwards…
Peter was changed through the power of the Holy Spirit!
When the power of the holy spirit in that upper room, the room was shaken. The people were changed. They would not be the same ever again, and it resulted in an overflow. The fire that rested on them, would burn away the weakness in their lives and set them ablaze for something more. Their prayer life changed in an instant and they began to pray in other languages.
The words tongues actually means to speak in an untaught language.
In this midst of it all, there is one that stands in the middle of laughing and mocking of the crowds. They were being called drunks but people knew something was different. Peter, the denier, the runner, the weak man, gives an impassioned sermon right there in the streets about what was happening and why. But he also gives a step by step for how others could experience this overflow.
He risked his life, not for an experience, but because of the overflow of the love of God and for God in his life. The power came upon him to be a witness to greatness of God, not his ability to share a message.
Because he had been immersed in all that God had promised, he had power and boldness to do what had been impossible just a few weeks before. Peter had been restored by Jesus and forgiven, but the holy ghost empowered him for more. He was empowered for a greater purpose.
2. After the baptism of the Holy Spirit, God released the supernatural in Peters life.
Remember before this moment, weakness prevailed, after this moment, the supernatural followed him in ministry and life.
In one message, 2,000 came to saving faith (Acts 2)
The lame were healed in his ministry at the temple
He never backed down to the religious even while on trial
Miracles followed him and people laid their sick so that his shadow would heal
The dead were raised back to life
Jesus said greater works would we do with the Holy Spirit. This didn’t just happen to one man, but was available to all who believe. Just like Peter, we could be transformed into people of boldness, power, consistency and filled with Joy.
Peter was never the same again after that encounter. What he had before the Acts 2 moment was not enough! What he had afterwards could be never contained. He was changed from ordinary and inconsistent to extraordinary and a world changer.
God wants to do the same thing in your life. And the same manifestation that happened in Peter, can happen in you. It is more than just speaking in tongues or the supernatural. It is the overflow of the presence and power of God.
You and I need more than what we depend on in ourselves. This same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is available to you and I to raise our spiritual lives to a new level.
You don’t have to simply go through the motions of religion, you can be more, but the choice is yours. Its not something that you just get…you have to want it and desire it enough to wait on it.
Are you seeking the gift or the giver of the gift? When we seek the Father, he is faithful and just not just to forgive, but to open the windows of heaven before us. He has a promise that you stand on to be fulfilled.
pj