The Out pouring of the Holy Spirit
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Good morning! we are in our series on The Generous life .. Over the past few week we have been looking at God’s blessing towards us.. These are inflows of God’s Generosity —Generosity always begins with God and his goodness towards us...
James 1:17 Every good and perfect comes to us from the Father of lights whom there is no changing.. God gives good gifts that are perfectly matched towards us… God nature doesn’t change… God is always going to be about Generosity..
We are going to be spending the next few moments talking about Generosity of God in the Out Pouring of the Holy Spirit.
During the Great Depression there was a ranch owned by a man named Yates. 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 government subsidy’s.
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. (Bill Bright)
One of the great gifts that we have been given in Christ is the gift of the Holy Spirit… The Holy Spirit is a great reservoir, He is our helper, our counselor, our teacher, our prayer partner (Romans 8:26 ) we don’t know how to pray but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groans to deep for words. The HS empowers us to live godly lives and for mission in the world…
The Holy Spirit is this great reservoir--- this great resource where by we can draw from— The indwelling of Holy Spirit is conceptualized in scripture as being this flowing river of living water — Jesus said in the book of John 7:38
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
When Jesus talked about this river He was thinking of this Great River… that would flow within the life of a believer…that we would be filled with his spirt.
We have been having a lot of rain recently here in Butte County.
I was thinking about all this rain that we have had… and the water tables are filling up.. water is a blessing… our wells and reservoirs are filling up…
the purpose of reservoirs is that we can conserve and go back later…
We need reservoirs for our crops.... we need reservoirs for drinking water.. Droughts can be difficult… from 2012-2016 we had this drought… What happens with out pouring of rain is that it filled up our lakes and dams.
In John chapter 4 Jesus offered offered the Samaritan water at the well do draw from this living river. … Her life was broken… she had a past.... Jesus offered her something that would fill the desires of her heart… He offered her water from this deep reservoir whereby she would never thirst again. What he was offering Her was abundant life that came with the Holy Spirit… .The Same Holy Spirit that is available to us..
The Holy Spirit is connects us to Christ in a life giving relationship..
Jesus made it clear that when he was no longer on the earth that the he would pray to the Father to send us HS to be our helper…
and just like the Son was sent to reveal the Father so the Holy Spirit come to reveal Jesus… The Holy Spirit is the one who will clearly reveal Jesus to us… When we honor the Holy Spirit — He will reveal to us the presence of God…
The Holy Spirit — draws us into the Presence of God..
One of the fundamental differences between the OT and NT — Is the proximity to God…to his people
The distance between God and us in the Bible can mean more than spacial distance… because God’s presence can be hidden in Revelation, hidden Wrath, or even hidden in His grace… …
In the OT …
.. The only way to approach God would be with a sacrifice through the priesthood…on the day of atonement the priest would enter into the presence of God in behalf of the whole nation.
In the new covenant Jesus became both sacrifice and High priest.. as the sacrifice.. Jesus willing layed down his life and perfect lamb of God fully satisfied the justice and requirements of a Holy God…then . Through resurrection and ascension Jesus became our High priest and when He passed into the the heavens ..
Jesus closed the gap between us and the Father… No longer strangers were we considered aliens to the promises of God — but we received sonship —and as children of God we had access into the very presence of God.
in Hebrews 4:16 we have one of the most amazing verses in Scripture…
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The “throne of grace” is the place of God’s presence, from which grace emanates to the people of God
.There is this sense of awe around the throne room.…Not anyone can approach a King… ‘’The Greek word translated “approach” implies the need for a formal introduction into the presence of a king.
But Hebrews tells us we can draw near with confidence.. we come to a Benevolent God… it is a throne of mercy --- it is a throne of grace..
We are invited into this space to experiencing the presence of God .... this space of knowing God personally… But here is the thing… we still have to approach God… it’s an invitation… let us draw near…and it’s still a privilege.
Jesus our High priest is not so lofty or separated that He is incapable of understanding our human situation. Rather He is one who is totally familiar with it, having been tempted at every turn of the road just as we have been who is available to help us in our time in need.. and from his throne we receive Grace and Mercy…
I love what the message says on this verse… it says don’t let this opportunity slip through your fingers..
“He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.”
The coming of the Holy Spirit.. is about being brought nearer to God…God spirit would no longer would God dwell in tabernacles of stone but he would now dwell within His people..
T/S The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is given for a purpose..
1. The Holy Spirit Out-pouring and our Transformation.
1. The Holy Spirit Out-pouring and our Transformation.
When we talk about transformation — what we talking about is Spiritual formation… Becoming more like Christ… it is a more than becoming a Christian or following Jesus , attending church, reading the Bible… These are important… part they are part of the process.. not the end goal…’
The End goal of the Christian life is Transformation.. it’s Christ likeness.
It means that we are embodying his very character that we are living out the vitality and the life of Christ through our own lives..
One of the things that we forget is that transformation is a lifelong pursuit… Christianity is not seasonal — it’s not a fad that comes and goes ...…
we are engaging in a life long pursuit… we are going to be in the process of being and becoming our whole life… It’s a personal pursuit of holistic transformation…
What it means is that as God changes us from the inside out through us living out His life through His Spirit, what happens is that holistically, through our entire person, God changes us…
This kind of transformation changes everything from the way that we think — that is the cognitive part… our convictions change… we may feel stronger about certain things… because we take on Christ like values…
It changes our behavior… the way we live… Transformation that we the church together become a like minded community...
The book of Ezekiel tells the story of transformation —
From this place of Failure to Restoration….
Ezekiel was a priest and Prophet in Judah and his ministry spans this time period Before and after the fall of Jerusalem 586 BC— His message is one of Judgement and hope. Ezekiel predicted the coming collapse of Jerusalem. His message fell on deaf ears till word of the city’s destruction was received in Babylon...
Judah had drifted from God and started practicing idolatry in the temple and worshipping other gods…
God was going to remove himself from them and they would be taken off into Babylonian Captivity… When Ezekiel prophesied this message it fell on deaf ears..
In Ezek 10:1-22 we see Ezekiels vision of God removing his Glory form the temple…
It’s elaborate vision that Ezekiel has of the throne of God…… there whirling wheals under the Cherubim (angel) — he has this amazement of these spinning wheels… they where wheels with in wheels… they could travel in four directions…the wheels had eyes.. need to remember the genre that these are visiona — figurative language…
The bottom line God’s Glory was departing the temple…
The glory of the Lord had departed from the city, leaving it vulnerable to destruction. Judah would pay for its rebellion against the Lord. However, the Lord would eventually restore His people to the land and reestablish pure worship in a new temple
God has not abandoned them. He has both the purpose and the power to restore them to their homeland, nationhood and covenant faith. The Lord would eventually restore His people to the land and reestablish pure worship in a new temple.
Ezekiel shows us a way back to God, to see his glory restored in our lives. God says to Judah that he would not Hide his presence from Israel any more...
29 And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
When the Bible speaks about the Face of God its speaking about the favor and the Grace of God… Why would God do this? In chapter 36 it’s clearly expressed that It had nothing to do with any innate goodness or desirability in the people themselves.
Rather, it had to do with God’s desire that his name should not be profaned
. The very fact that Israel was in exile led others to think that the God of Israel was either incapable or unwilling to look after his own people. This situation was denigrating the character of God, and for this reason, God would restore his people
So “the restoration of Israel is not only a display of God’s love and power in behalf of his people, but also ‘an event necessary to the preservation of the honor of the true God.’ ”
How does God restore His people?
God does this through pouring out his Spirit… That is the way that God brings about transformations.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
What happens when God pours out His Spirit.. He does heart surgery…
He will give you a new Heart
He will remove heart of stone and give you heart of flesh…
He will put a new Spirit in you
He will cause us to walk in his obedience to His word.
God was going to change His people from the inside out… The nature of the people of Israel would be replaced with a warm, living spirituality -
\T/S The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is given for a purpose..
1. The Holy Spirit Out-pouring and our Transformation
2. The Out-pouring of the Holy Spirit and Our Empowerment.
2. The Out-pouring of the Holy Spirit and Our Empowerment.
In the OT we see the outpouring of the Spirit but it was only on individuals for special purposes. The Spirit came upon king Saul and David… on the prophets and judges like Deborah…
The new Testament the Holy Spirt came to indwell the believer — and to Empower the believer..
John the Baptist was a forerunner to Christ - His message was one of warning of Judgement and Repentance and baptism.. He was voice crying out in the wilderness —Preparing the way of the Lord. John knew that it was almost time for the Messiah to come.. He warned the Pharisees that the axe was already at root of every tree that did not bare fruit…
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
The word baptism all by itself simply means to be immersed in something. The word baptism simply means to be overwhelmed by something or placed into something.
The Word of God speaks of baptism of more than one form or kind of baptism. . It speaks of the baptism of John. It speaks of baptism in water where we are immersed in water. It speaks of a baptism of fire. It speaks of baptism into death, baptism into Christ. There is a baptism even, I believe, for salvation. This might sound a bit bizarre, using the word baptism connected with salvation, but it is absolutely all through Scripture.
The empowering of the Holy Spirit, the same empowering that was necessary for salvation, sanctification, that empowering is also necessary for service.
So we have the Holy Spirit at Salvation --- we are baptised into Christ… We are in Christ and He is in us.. Salvation repositions us in Christ; the infilling of the Spirit empowers us to live like Him.
In the book of Ephesians Paul encourages the church to be imitators of God to walk with wisdom and discerning the will of the Lord. Ephesians 5:18 Do be drunk with wine.... but be filled with the Spirit.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit Speaks of emersion and fulness...
James Emery White --
To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that we allow him to occupy and control every area of our lives…How much of you does the Holy Spirit have?
When teaching this to my seminary students, I bring two glasses of water and two packets of Alka-Seltzer to class. I drop a packet of Alka-Seltzer, with the wrapper on, into one glass. Then I plop an unsealed packet into the second glass, and watch it fill with fizz.
I say to my students, "Both glasses have the Alka-Seltzer, just as all Christians have the Holy Spirit. But notice how you can have the Holy Spirit and not his filling." Our goal is to live in such a way as to unwrap the packaging around the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us.
Jesus spoke about the importance coming of the Holy Spirit in John 16. He told his disciples that it was to their advantage that he go away. The Holy Spirit would convict the world concerning sin and righteous judgment. He convict those who dont’ believe..
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
What we learn from the begining of Jesus ministry is this idea that one of the ministries of Jesus would be the baptizer of the Holy Spirit… John baptized by immersion into water… Jesus would baptize by immersion into His Holy Spirit…
3. The Out-pouring of the Holy and Our mission.
3. The Out-pouring of the Holy and Our mission.
A number of years ago Dr Carl Bates was speak speaking at a national conference on evangelism and he made this statement — he said..
“If God called his Holy Spirit out of the world, about 95 percent of what we are doing would go on and we would brag about it.”
Then what he “What are you doing that you can’t get done unless the power of God falls on your ministry?”
The early church was a movement of Believers empowered by the HS.. While the Gospels deal with exploits of Jesus and his disciples the book of Act has been called the Acts of the Holy Spirit... In Acts chapter 1 Jesus instructs his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promised Holy Spirit.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The interesting thing is that for 40 days Jesus had been talking to them about the kingdom of God. Now they ask him a question about this little kingdom of Israel: "Are you about to restore the kingdom to Israel?" They assoicated the pouring out of the spirit with restoration…
God mission was no longer just for the restoration of Israel.. But God was going to pour out his spirit not just to restore Israel but all peoples.. to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Sameria to the ends of the earty..
In Acts Chapter 2 we are told that the disciples were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost… 50 days after passover… P.. There were 120 disciples gathered together in one place… and suddenly a might wind filled the whole house.. and tongues of fire appeared and rested on each one and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages… In the city of Jerusalem there were pilgrims from all over the world .... and they heard the disciples speaking in their mother tongue… declaring God mighty works… It was significant because it caused a stir in the city.....
And there were two responses to the outpouring… the first was amazement perplexed… asking What does this mean? (that’s a good response to the gospel when people — ask questions.) Others mocked and dismissed the event as the disciples being drunk with “new” wine....
Peter stands up and uses this opportunity to deliver a sermon --- explain what just happened.
Acts 2:
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.
15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
Peter points back to Prophecy given by Joel… who looked forward to a day when the Spirit would be poured out upon all people… The coming of the Spirit marked a new day...
A new era was inaugurated. When God spirit wouldn’t be limited to few but the Spirit of God would be poured out on young the old…
It is said of the church at this period that “all the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (Acts 2:44–47).
There are 9 times in the book of Acts where we see that disciples were filled with the HS and consequence every time was they witnesses to Jesus life death and resurrection.
The result of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the consequent testimony to Jesus by those who were so filled was repentance. We are told that after Peter preached, “about three thousand” repented of their sin, were baptized, and were added to the number of the early Christians (Acts 2:37–41). Later we read, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
Challenge:
When you read the book of Acts you see that people experienced the Holy Spirit…
How do we experience the Holy Spirit.. One of the problems with experiences is that they are subjective… Love How Philip Yancey put this..
Experiences of God cannot be planned or achieved. Philip Yancey tells this story of a Rabbi who was talking about spiritual experiences and he told his students that they...
“They are spontaneous moments of grace, almost accidental,”
His student asked, “If God-realization is just accidental, why do we work so hard doing all these spiritual practices?”
“To be as accident-prone as possible,” said the teacher.
In the book of Ezekiel 47 we have this beautiful imagery of the restored People an temple.. The picture He gives us is this might River of God flowing from beneath the temple —
We then have this guided tour with Ezekiel as he walks through the water, measuring the growing river and testing the depth until it becomes impassable just over a mile from the temple. He starts and the water is ankle deep, and then it is knee deep…then it was waist deep…
The water flowing from the temple gives life and renews the land it flows through. If this holy district and sacred city represents Jerusalem, the life-giving power of the river would be significant in restoring the region east of Jerusalem—a dry, lifeless wilderness approaching the salty waters of the Dead Sea. Ezekiel seems to envision a river of life that heals the waters of the Dead Sea and turns the wilderness into a lush orchard.... Where ever this river goes their is life…
12 And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
God’s Desire is for us to experience the Power of the Holy Spirit… some of us are ankle deep… some of us are knee deep....others are waist deep… When it comes to the out pouring… God wants us saturated… immersed into his Spirit...
We have a way of putting things off… We have the opportunity of Drawing into the presence of God by his Holy Spirit--- lets not put it off..
A couple of years ago CNN had this story a guy - Jerry Lynn who was trying to figure out where he should put a hole in his wall for a TV wire. He went up to the second floor of his house and lowered his wife's alarm clock on a string through an air vent— (true story..
. " He thought he could listen to the alarm, which he set to go off after 10 minutes, and know where to put the hole."
But then things went wrong the string broke. The clock fell… instead of getting the clock - he figured the batteries in the clock would likely die soon, but each night he and his wife would be treated to about a minute of beeping that could be heard "from any room on the first floor."
Here is the thing the... alarm kept going off every night at the same time—for 13 years. It was only recently, the nightly alarm became "too much to bear," and the clock was removed from the wall…
Let’s take sometime in Prayer asking for the gift of his Holy Spirit to fill our lives and to the life of our church..