Power to Go On- Part I
Acts: History of the Early Church • Sermon • Submitted
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· 12 viewsWe need the Power of Holy Spirit today to carry on and go on
Notes
Transcript
I’m exhausted
I’m exhausted
So you have been on the run for 3.5 yrs, busy, busy busy, feeding, clothing, talking, preaching, studying, and you are worn out.
You want to go inside at the end of a long day, maybe in the field or the class or in your garden or in your yard and you want to close the door and unwind because you are exhausted.
How about when it comes to doing work for Jesus, baking, taking, cooking, talking, it can be exhausting, but what if there was power that is out of this world to help you, would you be interested? (Rhetorical question)
We are going to look at this week about the promised power to go on in (Act1:4-5) but first I want to expand a little on (v.3)
3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Who is these? We may say it is the Apostles, but we better prove it out in scripture.
First whoever they are they are witnesses
Lk24:
48 “You are witnesses of these things.
Well if you look back a little further we can see the answer
Lk24:
33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them,
So is it the Apostles? Or is it more? Seems it is more doesn’t it. But we do see “them” named
13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
Act1:13
When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
Act1:13
14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
But wait there were still more
15 At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,
so the 11 apostles were included in a group of about 120 persons in the upper room. That is how I read the passage, others have said it was only the apostles in the room, you can draw your own conclusion.
So now back to the (v.3)
These people had seen the resurrected Christ
They had been taught by the resurrected Christ things concerning the kingdom of God
Luke is continuing the story from Lk24, and we will get there too in just a couple of minutes.
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Power in the O.T.
The Power in the O.T.
There is sufficient proofs, evidence showing the work of the Holy Spirit in the O.T. just as there is proof in the N.T.
In the Prophesy of Joel, which is also quoted in Act2
28 “It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. 29 “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Now keeping in context let me give you just a little more
Joel2:2
27 “Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the Lord your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame.
27 “Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the Lord your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame.
The Lord was telling of what was to come to Is
In the midst. The Holy Spirit was going to be among them, regardless of station or position. Extraordinary things were going to happen.
Then there is the prophesy of Isaiah
3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;
couple this with
15 Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is considered as a forest. 16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness And righteousness will abide in the fertile field. 17 And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
When the spirit was going to be poured out on the dry and weary land it was going to be fertile an the work and service of righteousness was going to happen.
There there is Ezekiel
Eze
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
This Spirit was going to be new, and it was to be within you and it will empower you to keep His statutes (commands)
But wait, there is more.
Zech12:10
10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
This spirit is going to be the spirit of grace and supplication that will pierce your heart when you look to the cross and see the Christ. When people understand the fulfilling of the O.T. Prophesies in Jesus and the outpouring of Holy Spirit they will be pierced and ask
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
II. Promised Power in the N.T.
II. Promised Power in the N.T.
John Preached of the ONe who was coming that would baptize
11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
7 And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. 8 “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Baptize with Holy SPirit and fire, also noted in Mk1:7:8, Lk3:16
16 John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
33 “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’
John said he would be able to see the one the Spirit descends up, that one is Jesus
This fulfillment we will see in Act2:1-4 when the Holy Spirit comes, when He is poured out, but as for now, on Jesus words they hung
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Then there was other teaching of Jesus.
Jesus asked for the Spirit from the Father
33 “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
Jesus told them to thirst for it
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Jesus spoke in length to the apostles and in pray for the apostles
1 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. 2 “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.
That the Spirit would be the Spirit of truth, and would be a Helper
This living water
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
He would remind them (the apostles) what they were taught already
26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
The Spirit would bear witness
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
This is how we know that Jesus is speaking to the Apostles since HE said from the beginning. We were not there, this cannot apply to us.
The Spirit will convict the world of sin
7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
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9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Jn16:11-
The Holy Spirit will guide the apostles
12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
And the Holy Spirit will glory Jesus
14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
Can you understand when Jesus told them to wait, why they would? It is by the Holy Spirit that the Apostles would be empowered to accomplish the task
Mt28:
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
and told them how to do it, where to start in 1:8, but that is for next week.
Then there is the preaching of Peter
Peter quotes Joel’s prophesy in Act2:14-16, I read that already today.
Peter speaks of the outpouring
33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.
Peter offers the gift of the Spirit
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Says the promise is for more than just them.
39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
So the promise, is the promise of the Holy Spirit as Peter said, as Jesus said,as the prophets said would happen
“That we are right in referring the word promise, in this sentence, to the promise of the Holy Spirit just made by Peter, is evident from the fact that this is the only promise made i the immediate context” - J.W. McGarvey
The promise, the gift, is the gift of the Holy Spirit, as David Lipscomb says
“Act2:39 show that the gift of the Holy Spirit is to all, Jews and Gentiles,s who accept the call of God.”
Now, can’t leave Paul out of this
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
Tit3
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Paul teaches about the pouring out and the regeneration
For those who have been baptized
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Baptized into one body, the body of Christ the church, made to drink of one spirit, the Holy Spirit.
This is in whom the spirit dwells
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Rom8:11-12
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—
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13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
This spirit that is for those who believe
14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
To those who believe and have acted have received the Spirit (NOT ON SLIDE)
The spirit of God received by faith
The spirit of assurance that we have sealed with
The spirit of earnestness, God’s deposit for our inheritance
This spirit that enables us to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, Gal5:16ff
This spirit will produce fruit and seeds and those seeds will create more fruit when they are planted!
(Insert invitation slide)
This Spirit is available today! (Lead to invitation)
to cleanse you of your sins
to regenerate you
to empower you
after having convicted you