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June 15th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

[Note: This is a message I shared at both services of my church on June 15, 2008.]

I am up here today because of Judy Conrow’s battle with cancer. As a church, we have tried to help her as much as we can. We have prayed for her. We have encouraged her. We have helped with meals and taking care of the kids. We have raised money to help with medical expenses. At the Early Bird service, we laid hands on her for her healing. But the battle has not yet been won.

This Tuesday, the 17th, Judy is scheduled to have a pet scan, presuming her blood sugar is low enough. If the pet scan does not reveal cancer in any other part of her body, she will have surgery a week from Thursday, on June 26th, to remove the cancer that’s below her lung and above her liver. They will remove part of her lung, and part of her diaphragm, which will need to be rebuilt. If the pet scan this Tuesday reveals other cancer, however, there will be no surgery. In either case, Judy needs a miracle that only our God can provide.

So with the approval of the consistory, I’m here today on behalf of the spiritual development committee to call our church to a day of prayer and fasting for Judy’s healing.

The details are on the sheet I’ll be passing out, so you don’t have to try to remember all of this. The fast will begin next Saturday, June 21st at 6 pm. It will end next Sunday, June 22nd at 6 pm, with a covered-dish supper at church, so we can all break fast together. Ron Burch has agreed to play the piano for us after the meal, so we can have a “Hymn Sing” and thank the Lord for listening to our prayers.

I know some of you are not familiar with the discipline of fasting, so I’m going to share a little bit of what the Bible says about it. First, it’s almost always combined with prayer. For one day, instead of reaching for the loaf of whole wheat or rye to feed our bodies, we reach for Jesus, the Bread of Life, to feed our souls.

Contrary to what I used to think, fasting is not just an Old Testament discipline, but there are many different circumstances in which they did fast. They fasted before going to war[1]. They fasted when confessing and repenting from their sins[2]. Jehoshaphat called a fast when he was afraid of an army headed his way.[3] Nehemiah fasted and wept when he heard of the distress of God’s people in Jerusalem.[4] The great city of Nineveh fasted in the hope that God would relent from judging them – which He did.[5] And King David, a man after God’s own heart[6], even fasted for his enemies when they were sick.[7]

In the New Testament, we find Anna fasting and praying night and day in the temple when Jesus was taken to be circumcised.[8] Jesus Himself fasted forty days and forty nights when He was facing the temptations of Satan.[9] Paul fasted for three days before his sight was restored.[10] The church at Antioch fasted while they were ministering to the Lord.[11] The same group fasted when they sent Paul and Barnabas out to answer the call of the Holy Spirit[12]. Paul and Barnabas fasted when they were appointing elders for the churches they established.[13]

So we find many examples of fasting, in both the Old and New Testaments. In addition to these examples, the Bible gives us some instruction about fasting.

When the people complained because God didn’t seem to notice their fasting, He rebuked them through the prophet Isaiah. God said they were fasting to please themselves, and that while they fasted, they continued to oppress their workers and continued to fight and quarrel amongst themselves. This did not please God.[14]

Jesus said this about fasting:

And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. [15]

Jesus also told us that in some circumstances, prayer is not enough, but prayer and fasting are required.[16] I think Judy’s cancer is one of those circumstances.

In several different places, the Bible tells us that fasting humbles our souls.[17] James and Peter both tell us that God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.[18] So if we truly humble ourselves in fasting and prayer for our sister Judy, perhaps God will be gracious and grant her healing.

From a practical standpoint, there are several ways to fast. Some people drink only water. Some people drink water and other liquids, like juices and soups. Some may choose to have just bread and water. Other people will give up certain foods or food groups, perhaps bread products or dairy products. It doesn’t matter. How you fast is between each person and God. Now the BIG WARNING: If you have a medical condition affected by your diet, like diabetes, please do not fast. You might be able to give up a certain thing, like candy bars or coffee, but we don’t want anyone jeopardizing their health.

The point of a church-wide fast is not to see who can give up the most, because that would lead us right into that boasting Jesus warned us about. The point is to humble ourselves, and, for one day, focus ourselves and our prayers on Judy’s healing.

I’m going to share a couple scripture passages now, related to the bread we eat.

(Deuteronomy 8:1-3) All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers. And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

Luke 4:1-4 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days; and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.’”[19]

John 6:26-35 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal.” They said therefore to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” They said therefore to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’” Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” They said therefore to Him, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

On your handouts, I have listed several additional scripture passages. I encourage you to read and meditate on these passages as you fast and pray for Judy. When your hand wants to reach for a slice of bread, reach instead for the bread of life. Let us pray:

Our Heavenly Father, we come boldly to Your throne of grace, in the name of Your precious Son, Jesus Christ. We are crying out that you might show mercy and heal our sister Judy. We know, Lord, that she doesn’t deserve your mercy. She is a sinner, as we all are. But we know, too, that You are a compassionate God, and we know that Your Son has paid the price for all of our sins. So we bring her before you today, trusting in Your Word. We have faith, Lord, that You can heal. We have faith, Lord, that You will teach us how to fast and pray on her behalf. And we have faith, Lord, that You will hear and answer the prayers of the Church that bears the name of Your Son, weak and sinful as we are. We pray, also, Lord, as Your servant Daniel prayed:

O my God, incline Thine ear and hear! Open Thine eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Thy name; for we are not presenting our supplications before Thee on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Thy great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Thine own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.[20]

Amen.

Additional Scripture Meditations
Luke 11:1-13
Luke 18:1-14
Ephesians 6:12
Ephesians 6:18
Revelation 8:3-4
John 15:4-8
Matthew 18:19-20
Acts 1:14
2 Chronicles 7:14
Jeremiah 29:11-13
James 5:16
Acts 12:5
Joel 2:12-14
1 Corinthians 6:12-13
Isaiah 58:3-11

[1] Judges 20:26
[2] 1 Samuel 7:6
[3] 2 Chronicles 20:3
[4] Nehemiah 1:4
[5] Jonah 3:4-10
[6] 1 Samuel 13:14
[7] Psalm 35:13
[8] Luke 2:37
[9] Luke 4:1
[10] Acts 9:9
[11] Acts 13:1-2
[12] Acts 13:2-3
[13] Acts 14:21-23
[14] Isaiah 58:3-4
[15] Matthew 6:16-18
[16] Matthew 17:14-21
[17] Deut 8:1-3, Psa 35:13, Ezra 8:21
[18] James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5
[19] Luke 4:1-4
[20] Daniel 9:18-19

Category: Christianity, sermon | Leave a Comment

Spiritual Discernment

May 25th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

[This is a message that I shared at my church on May 25, 2008.]

My first scripture this morning is 2 Corinthians 11:3:

But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.[1]

This is also my fear, and I figure if Paul could admit to it, so can I. I’ve been talking for a while about God moving in Glen, sending His Holy Spirit in power, Christ using our hands to heal people, and our mouths to boldly proclaim His Truth.

So why am I afraid? Well, I lived through this process once before, and it wasn’t always a smooth road. I’m not an expert, by any means, but I did learn some things the hard way. I thought if I shared some of those today, perhaps the church in Glen could avoid some of the pitfalls.

The first big lesson I learned is this: not everything that is spiritual is from God. When the Holy Spirit moves, so does Satan. Now, we don’t like to talk about Satan, and some people think he doesn’t even exist. If you’re in that group, I have a little stat for you. In the New American Standard Version of the New Testament, the words devil or satan or demon or antichrist are used 146 times. Now I can’t believe God’s Word would talk about something that much if it didn’t exist, so I’m a believer. Satan is real.

He’s called by many names in the Bible. Jesus said he’s the father of lies.[3] He’s called a murderer, the evil one, the tempter, an unclean Spirit, the accuser, the adversary, the deceiver. He doesn’t show up with horns and a pitchfork. He disguises himself as an angel of light, all the better to deceive us.

“Well, so what?” you say. “I still don’t want to know about Satan. I’d rather hear about something uplifting.” Well, listen again to the words of our Lord:

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves.[4]

Many other times the Bible tells us to seek wisdom and discernment. Here are a couple more:

(Proverbs 2:2-5) Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD, And discover the knowledge of God.[5]

(Hebrews 5:14) But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.[6]

So in the spiritual realm, there is good and there is evil, and we’re instructed to learn the difference between the two. So how do we do that? How can we keep from being deceived by the father of lies?

Some people just say, “Well, God will protect me.” That’s true, of course, but is that what our response should be?

Many, many years ago, when I was being a bratty little kid, as I often was, my darling older brothers used to say to me, “Why don’t you go play in traffic?” Obviously, I didn’t take their advice. But what if I had? Would God have protected me when I was a 4-year-old? Maybe. But what if I ran out in traffic when I was 10 or 18? What if I did it today? Would God protect me? I wouldn’t want to test Him on it.

The point here is that God teaches us things, in the same way that our parents taught us not to play in traffic. We are supposed to become mature Christians. We are supposed to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what the will of God is.[7]

And when He’s taught us something, He expects us to walk in it. When Jesus says “Beware of the wolves,” He expects us to beware, to be cautious and alert and discerning. So I think throwing your hands up in the air and saying, “God will protect us” is a lot like running out to play in traffic.

Other people say discernment is simply a feeling they get, an inner witness of the Holy Spirit. In fact, that’s what I used to think, until I found out the hard way that it’s not always easy to tell my own feelings from the witness of the Holy Spirit.

When I was a new Christian, I was dying to self on a regular basis. Every Sunday morning like clockwork, our pastor would preach his sermon, I would be convicted, and find myself once again at the altar confessing to God and asking for forgiveness. There were 39 years of things I had to unlearn, and at the time, I didn’t think the process was very enjoyable. I got tired of continuous repentance. My knees were sore. After a few months of this, I prayed and asked God if His people weren’t allowed to have fun. I wanted to have some fun. God answered that prayer within a week. A Christian man at church came into my life, and we had a lot of fun together: going canoeing, going hiking, building a train set for Aaron. While we were having all this fun, he lied to me and to the whole church. It turns out he was still married to someone else. He lied to me about many other things, too — and I believed him.

More importantly, the exposure of his lies drove me back to my knees before the Lord.“God! Why did You allow this to happen? Why didn’t You protect me?” I was distraught, and it took quite a while for me to understand. After a tough lesson in forgiveness, though, I did finally understand. The bottom line? I was in rebellion against God. I didn’t want to repent any more. I was tired of looking at my faults. I wanted to have fun. Fun became an idol that was more important to me than following Jesus. I laid down my cross, and was deceived by another voice. This is the scripture that I applied, from John 15:4.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.[8]

My heart was not abiding in the vine, so the fruit of discernment was missing. Only when I was abiding in the vine would I be able to discern.So I repented, again, and Jesus was once more on the throne in my heart. It wasn’t long after, that God brought Tom into my life … but that’s another story.

So let me summarize to this point:

- not everything spiritual is from God.
- When God moves, Satan moves.
- Mature Christians learn to discern the difference between good and evil.
- We need to apply the things God has taught us. Don’t play in traffic.
- We need to abide in the vine to have discernment. Rebellion leaves us exposed.

If that’s what not to do, where do we go from here? How do we keep from being deceived and led astray? Well, let’s see how our Lord and Savior did it.

(Matthew 4:1-4:11) Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Jesus responded to the devil with scripture. If you remember nothing else that I say today, remember that. You might also note that in order to be able to respond with scripture, Jesus had to be familiar with scripture. You might want to remember that, too.

There are many other things in the Bible that I know God will gladly teach us about discernment if we ask, but I’m going to share just one more idea: seek God’s truth, love God’s truth, hold fast to God’s truth.

This isn’t a popular stand these days. It’s not politically correct to say that Jesus is the only way. We’re supposed to say instead that there are many roads to a higher power and spiritual enlightenment, and everybody should follow their own path. But Jesus said this:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.[9]

If we believe anything that Jesus said, then we have to believe this.

There is good and there is evil. There is truth and there are lies. We must love the truth and cling to it, because 2 Thessalonians says that if we don’t receive a love for the truth, then God will send a deluding influence on us. Here’s the passage:

And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.[10]

Spiritual discernment is a big topic that we could study for years, so today is only a small introduction. But being familiar with the truth of God’s scriptures is a big part of discernment. Loving God’s truth above our own selfish desires is another big part. I encourage you to pick up your Bible this week and ask God to show you something you need to learn about discernment. He’s faithful. He’ll answer you.

—————————

Benediction: May we all seek God’s truth, and abide in the Vine that saved us on Calvary, and saves us still. Amen.

[1] 2 Corinthians 11:3
[2] 2 Corinthians 11:3
[3] John 8:44
[4] Matthew 10:16
[5] Proverbs 2″:2-5
[6] Hebrews 5:14
[7] Romans 12:2
[8] John 15:4
[9] John 14:6
[10] 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

Category: Christianity, discernment, sermon, war | Leave a Comment

Healing Hands

May 18th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

[Note: This is a message I shared at my church on May 18, 2008.]

(Hebrews 6:1-2) Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

I brought something very special with me this morning, and I’m pretty sure all of you did, too. It’s one of those gifts from God that we use every day, but, for the most part, we take for granted. Our hands.

Our hands wipe noses and open doors. They steer cars and play guitar. They type on keyboards and hold fire hoses. Sometimes they write poetry or sign sympathy cards.

If you think for a minute what your day would be like if you didn’t have hands, like many of our war veterans, then I think we can all agree that God put very useful things on the ends of our arms. Thank you, Lord.

In addition to all the natural things our hands do, there are some spiritual things we can do with them, too. Like pray.

Back in January of 1981, I was 33 weeks pregnant, and in hard labor. I was taken by ambulance from Gloversville to Albany Med. They stopped my labor for 2 days, to give me shots for the baby, so I had a lot of time to get scared. And I was scared. When Aaron was born, he weighed 3 lbs. 11 oz., and stayed in the hospital for about a month. I didn’t really know God in those days, but someone told me that the church in Glen was praying for us. I was dumbstruck. “We hardly ever go to church. Why would they pray for us?” Knowing that they were, though, became a great comfort to me during that ordeal. So, in case I didn’t get to you before, I want to say thank you to all those who were praying. And so you can see the fruit of your labors, here’s a picture of Aaron and Nikki at their wedding last summer.

About a year ago, a friend asked me to pray for a young girl named Jessica. She had been seduced into quitting college and moving to Texas to join a cult that practices polygamy. So I brought her name here, and we prayed. I shared her story as I got it, and we continued to pray. She left, she went back, and then she left again. It was truly a roller-coaster ride. But Jessica is now safely in Georgia and appears to be doing well. Her baby, by her quote unquote husband, is due in mid-June. She’s having some minor problems, and they may take the baby a little early, but at least she’s in a position to get the medical help she needs.

This week, I saw on the news that the leader of that cult, the House of Yahweh, has been arrested on multiple charges related to polygamy and child labor violations. As background, the AP story related a case from 2006. A young woman at this cult bled to death after childbirth, because they would not allow her to go to the hospital. By God’s grace and your prayers, the same thing did not happen to Jessica. I wanted to share a picture of Jessica today, but the postal service didn’t cooperate.

Then last October, Biff told us about another preemie, baby Lily, who was much smaller than Aaron, at 1 lb. 7 oz., and who faced many more challenges. So the Glen church prayed. Biff kept us abreast of all her ups and downs, and we prayed some more. We rejoiced when she was released from the hospital. And here’s a new picture, all 9 lbs. 9 oz. of her!

I related these stories today, and brought these pictures, because I believe God has called this little church in Glen to pray. Look at those faces. Look at the lives that were changed, because, in obedience to the burden God put in your heart, you took the time to pray.

I hope you’re all encouraged by these stories. I hope it builds your faith in our compassionate and powerful God. And I hope it makes you want to do more — because God’s Word tells us there’s much more.

If we go back to our scripture for this morning, we see that it relates a list of foundational, elementary truths about Christianity. [overhead]

· repentance from dead works
· faith toward God
· instruction about washings
· laying on of hands
· resurrection of the dead
· eternal judgment.[1]

The writer of Hebrews considered these things elementary, foundational. He thought these are the things that every Christian should know about. I think, though, that some of this has been lost to us over the centuries, so I’m going to talk about one of those truths today — the laying on of hands.

I talked earlier about the many things we do each day with our hands in the natural, but I think we don’t realize how special our hands are, spiritually. So here are some spiritual applications from God’s word.

The Bible tells us that the Levites, the priests, were instructed to lay their hands on the offering to consecrate it. Both Old and New testaments talk of laying hands on someone when they begin a ministry, or when they are sent out. And Mark tells us that Jesus simply blessed the children by laying His hands on them.[2]

But, by far, the most common reference to laying on of hands in the Bible is in healing — healing sick, wounded people. Jesus did it. The first apostles did it. Other early Christians did it. So, if Jesus and the apostles and other early Christians set us the example, if this is an elementary, foundational truth of Christianity, then why don’t we do it?

Are we scared of looking silly, of people talking about us? Do we think God couldn’t possibly use our hands to heal someone? Maybe we’re just stuck in a rut. If it’s not on the bulletin, we don’t do it.

Whatever our reasons are, the bottom line is that we’re ignoring God’s word, ignoring one of the elementary, foundational Christian truths.

1 Corinthians 12:9 tells us that healing is one of the many gifts of the Spirit. Would Paul write this over 55 years after Christ’s resurrection, if healing was not supposed to be a continuing gift to the church? Do you suppose the Holy Spirit might have given that gift to some of us, but we just don’t use it?

Would Paul have written to Timothy, not once but twice, about using his spiritual gifts, if the gifts were only for the original Apostles? Paul said to Timothy:

Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.[3]

And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.[4]

Jesus said this in John 14:

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.[5]

The very last thing Jesus said to His disciples before He ascended into heaven is this:

And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name: they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.[6]

I believe that Jesus wants to use the hands in His church to heal people. If you believe that, too, or if you even think it might be possible, I ask you to pray with me, holding your hands open to the Lord.

Dearest Father in Heaven, we come before You with humble hearts and empty hands, in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Our desire, dear God, is to help people, to heal people, but we know we are powerless. We can do nothing, Lord, that You have not first spoken. But when You sent Your Son to earth, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He healed. He sent that same power to His disciples through Your Holy Spirit. And He said in Your Word that those who believe will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

Dear God, we believe. If we don’t believe enough, forgive us and help our unbelief. We are asking to be Your church in Glen, to be a body of people who do the things, both natural and spiritual, that You have called us to do. By Your grace and Your mercy, send us the power of Your Holy Spirit, and help us to walk in Your ways. Give us healing hands, Lord.

Judy, would you come forward now?

While we stay in an attitude of prayer, I ask anyone who has a heart for Judy and even a little faith that God can use our hands to heal her, to also come forward. Come and lay your hands on her in obedience to God’s word.

———————————-

Benediction: May we seek out the truth of God’s Word and walk in His ways, both natural and spiritual. Amen.

[1] Hebrews 6:1-2
[2] Mark 10:16
[3] 1 Timothy 4:14
[4] 2 Timothy 1:6
[5] John 14:12
[6] Mark 16:17-18

Category: Christianity, prayer, sermon | Leave a Comment

Pentecost and The Holy Spirit

May 11th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

Scripture: Acts 2:1-4

And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.[1]

When we’re at church, we hear quite a bit about God: His love, His sovereignty, His omniscience, His justice. And I think we hear even more about Jesus: how He healed the sick and raised the dead, His compassion for the poor and the lost, how He died to pay the penalty for our sins, then rose again, and went to prepare a place for us. We could talk about the character and deeds of God and Jesus forever and never run out of things to say.

There’s a third member of this Trinity, though, that I think gets the short end of the stick: The Holy Spirit. So, as Pentecost was the day He made Himself known to the first Christians, I am declaring today “Holy Spirit Day.”Like God and Jesus, the Holy Spirit has many attributes. I’m going to mention just a few. He is called The Teacher several times, but I’m going to share one of these from 1 Cor 2.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.[2]

John refers to the Holy Spirit several times as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus is speaking.

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.[3]

He’s also called the Comforter, or the Helper, depending on the translation, here again in the words of Jesus.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.[4]

So the Holy Spirit is our Teacher, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, and the Helper. But the Holy Spirit has one job that is most closely associated with Pentecost, and that’s the one I’m going to focus on today: baptizing with power.First, we will look at the baptism of Jesus Himself, found in Luke 3.

Now it came about when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased.”[5]

Luke tells us the next thing that happened.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days; and when they had ended, He became hungry.[6]

After Luke describes the temptations, He says this:

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE DOWNTRODDEN, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”[7]

We know that Jesus went about fulfilling that prophecy, healing people and setting them free. We know that the power to do this came through the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit.

But Jesus didn’t keep this power to Himself. Right before He ascended, He promised to send His disciples that same Holy Spirit, that same power. Listen.

And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.[8]

And again in Acts 1:8

but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.[9]

And on the day of Pentecost, Jesus kept that promise, as He always does. A violent rushing wind and tongues of fire filled the house where they were. They began praising God in many languages. They began to boldly preach the word of God. They healed, they cast out demons, and they spread the gospel, just as Jesus said they would.

So where does that leave us? Well, I think too often we look at the Bible as a nice history book, about a nice man and His nice followers. That was then, this is now, so let’s get on with our lives. If we share the good news at all, we talk about what Jesus did back then. We don’t talk about what Jesus is doing today, because mostly? We don’t know. We don’t know because we don’t have the power of the Holy Spirit. And we don’t have the power of the Holy Spirit because we don’t ask for it! Listen to the words of our Lord and Savior from Luke 11:9-13:

And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?[10]

“how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Do you know anyone around here who could use a miraculous healing? Do you know anyone who is brokenhearted and just tired of fighting their way through life? Do you know anyone who might receive the gospel — if only someone had the boldness to share it with them? Listen to Jesus again, in Mark 16:15-18

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.[11]

Jesus got His power from the Holy Spirit. All the disciples got their power from the Holy Spirit. We can get our power from the Holy Spirit, too — because Jesus promised. Listen to John 14:12

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.[12]

We can get our power from the Holy Spirit — because God the Father also promised. Listen to Acts 2:17-18

AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT UPON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; EVEN UPON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.[13]

Do you know what the apostles and the rest of the 120 in the upper room were doing in Jerusalem, while they waited for the power of the Holy Spirit? Listen.

And when they had entered, 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. 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.[14]

They were continually devoting themselves to prayer, and I’m going to challenge all of you now to do the same while we listen to this next song. If you believe in Jesus Christ, if you have just a little measure of faith, I’m asking you to join me in boldly approaching the throne of grace, where we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. Join me in asking God to pour our His Holy Spirit on us. Pray that He will send us the Teacher, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. Ask Him to transform us into willing vessels, fit for the Master’s use. Ask the Lord for the power we need to boldly proclaim His gospel to a lost and dying world. Tell God about the people you know who need His miracles. Remind God that we are weak and powerless. Ask Jesus to keep His promise. Ask, seek, knock. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, let us pray.

____________

Benediction: Our gracious Father in heaven, You have heard the prayers of our hearts. Let it be done to us according to the measure of our faith. Amen.

[1] Acts 2:1-4
[2] 1 Corinthians 2:12-14
[3] John 16:13
[4] John 14:16
[5] Luke 3:21-22
[6] Luke 4:1-2
[7] Luke 4:14-21
[8] Luke 24:49
[9] Acts 1:8
[10] Luke 11:9-13
[11] Mark 16:15-18
[12] John 14:12
[13] Acts 2:17-18
[14] Acts 1:13-14

Category: Christianity, sermon | Leave a Comment

The Magnitude of The Gift

April 27th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

[Note: This is a message I shared with my church on April 27, 2008.]

My main scripture this morning is very short, and by God’s grace, it will mean more to us when I’m done than it does right now: 2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

When I think about what Jesus saved me from, I usually think of the gravity and the multitude of my sins. Remember, I lived for 39 years before I committed my life to Him, and you can do a lot of serious sinning in 39 years. Because of that, one of the passages that I claim as my own is from Luke 7, starting in verse 44:

And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’

So if I seem fanatical sometimes about Jesus, it’s because I know how much I have been forgiven. As a side note, I recently read that the new-ager Oprah is promoting these days, Eckhart Tolle, said that all those who have a rigid belief system reflect a “collective mental illness.”[1] So I guess I’m going out in a straightjacket.

Since I was saved from 39 years of sins, though, about fourteen years ago now, I have been perfect and have not sinned. No? Well, okay. Maybe I sinned a couple times, but they were little ones and nothing that would really need forgiveness. No? You’re right. Or as the kids would say, “Not!” The truth is, whether it was before I was saved, or after I was saved, I have sinned every single day of my life. “Whoa,” you say, “she must really be a tough case!” That may be true — but so are all of you. Maybe you haven’t done what I’ve done, but maybe, over the years, we’ve all gotten a little complacent about some sin, because we know we’ve been forgiven, or maybe we’ve even gotten a little smug and self-righteous, because we’ve been serving the Lord. God, however, has provided some verses that will get us back to His perspective:

· Genesis 6 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”[2]
· Psalms 53 God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, To see if there is anyone who understands, Who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.[3]
· Isaiah 64 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.[4]
· Romans 3 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God[5]
· Romans 7 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. [6]
· 1 John 1 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.[7]

So we’re all sinners. Every day of our lives on this earth, we need the forgiveness that Jesus bought for us on the cross. When we talk of salvation, that’s usually what we mean. Jesus saved us from our sins.

While that’s true, and I may have more reason to be grateful than most, I’d like to make a distinction this morning between Jesus saving us from our sins, and Jesus saving us from the consequences of our sins. What happens when we accept the gift of salvation? What happens when we don’t?

Here on earth, people who don’t have the gift of salvation are ruled by their flesh, and Galatians 5 tells us this:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.[8]

In contrast, those who have received the gift of salvation have the Holy Spirit, and

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.[9]

I think that’s a good summary. If we accept the gift of salvation that Jesus Christ offers us, we gain the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we don’t accept His precious gift, we live by the deeds of the flesh. Pretty clear consequences.

But what about after our earthly lives? What happens when these temporary bodies are dead? I’ve gone to Revelation for the answer to these questions.

For those who have received the gift of salvation, chapter 7 says this:

These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.[10]

I can’t imagine much better than that. By the same token, I can’t imagine much worse than what follows, starting in Revelation 5.

And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer. And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also. And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”[11]

It gets much worse with the seventh seal and the seven trumpets, and eventually the lake of fire, but I’m going to stop now, because I want to make sure you picked up on what is causing all this mayhem on earth: the wrath of the Lamb. Listen again:

“Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”

Our gentle Jesus, our loving and compassionate God, will someday take the earth out of the hands of evil men, and bring justice for all the pain and suffering we have caused.

“VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.[12]

But now, gratefully, I return to our first, simple scripture for the day:

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift![13]
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift![14]
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift![15]

This is the choice that God puts before the whole world: We can humble ourselves and accept His indescribable gift of salvation, which brings us the fruit of the Spirit, white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, and Jesus as our shepherd forevermore …

… or we can reject the gift of salvation, live on this earth following our fleshly desires — and someday suffer the unendurable wrath of the Lamb.
To me, that seems like a pretty simple choice: the gift of God — or the wrath of God. As a result, today I’m passing out gift certificates — gift certificates from Jesus. I encourage you all to read them and pray, while we listen to a song about The Gift. Even if you’ve done this before, today I encourage you to recommit your life to our Lord and Savior.

[Note: This gift certificate may be downloaded from the column on the right.]

Benediction:

May we all walk in the fruit of the Spirit, in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. By the grace of God, may we all don white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, and worship Jesus as our shepherd forevermore. Amen.

[1] Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D., April 7, 2008, NewsWithViews.com
[2] Genesis 6:5-7
[3] Psalms 53:2-3
[4] Isaiah 64:6
[5] Romans 3:21-23
[6] Romans 7:18-19
[7] 1 John 1:8
[8] Galatians 5:19-21
[9] Galatians 5:22-23
[10] Revelation 7:14-17
[11] Revelation 5:14-6:17
[12] Romans 12:19
[13] 2 Corinthians 9:15
[14] 2 Corinthians 9:15
[15] 2 Corinthians 9:15