Who answers the why... (5)

Repeat them again in our day...

Today is Pentecost Sunday. It was a feast that took place 50 days after Passover.

For many, they look at Pentecost as the birth of the church. We believe that it was the fulfillment of Jesus’ words in

Acts 1:8 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We know that in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came that God did great things. Lives were changed and the good news soon spread.

This morning, we’re going to start with our Scripture in Habakkuk, we’ll look at the great things God has done, and then we’ll ask God to work in our day

Habakkuk 3:1–2 NIV

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

Last week, we looked at the punishment that awaits ungodly people.

After God had spoken to Habakkuk,

Habakkuk prayed...

I’ve heard the saying...

No prayer…No power

Some prayer…Some power

Much prayer…Much power

Habakkuk was a man of prayer, and he had great expectations of what God could do.

His expectations were great because...

Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV)

Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord...

I have heard of your fame...

When the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, they were instructed to remember what the LORD had done and tell it from generation to generation.

Every year, they were to celebrate Passover to remind them that God had spared their firstborn and brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Maybe when you were growing up or when your children were young, you heard or read Bible stories.

I remember Mom reading from a green Living Bible. I’d ask her to read the story of David and Goliath. I remember some Bedtime Bible story books that we had. There was one of the story of Jesus dying on the cross. I was continually drawn to that story.

Maybe for you it was the story of Noah’s Ark, Jonah and the whale, or Daniel and the Lion’s den, but you heard of what God had done in the past.

I wonder what stories that Habakkuk was thinking of...

He goes on to say,

I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD...

Do we stand in awe of what the LORD has done in the past? Do we have a healthy fear, a reverence of God?

Let’s not forget what the LORD has done. I remember one of my prof’s at Bible College struggling when translations of the Bible wouldn’t capitalize He, or His when referring to God.

According to Scott Manning,

After the exile in 586 BC, the Jewish Scribes were very particular in how they recopied the Torah.

Here’s some of the things they were required to do:

1. They could only use clean animal skins, both to write on, and even to bind manuscripts.

2. Each column of writing could have no less than forty-eight, and no more than sixty lines.

3. The ink must be black, and of a special recipe.

4. They must verbalize each word aloud while they were writing.

5. They must wipe the pen and wash their entire bodies before writing the word "Jehovah," every time they wrote it.

6. There must be a review within thirty days, and if as many as three pages required corrections, the entire manuscript had to be redone.

They did these things because of their reverence and their fear of God.

Habakkuk stood in awe of God’s deeds.

Today as we look back to Pentecost and what God has done, let’s not forget how God has moved among His people.

Acts 2:1–4 NLT

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

Peter told the crowd that this was a fulfillment of what the Old Testament prophet Joel spoke of.

Acts 2:17–21 NLT

‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy. And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

In Five different places in the book of Acts, we see where the Holy Spirit was poured out and everybody could see that God had done something.

In Acts 2

we have the upper room.

In Acts 4

after the apostles were scolded, this is what Acts 4:31 says

Acts 4:31 NIV

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

In Acts 8

after the church was scattered because of persecution, Philip goes to Samaria and preaches the good news about Jesus.

He sends for Peter and John,

Acts 8:15–20 NLT

As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!” But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!

In Acts 10

Peter goes to the house of a Centurion, whose name was Cornelius. Up until this time, only Jews were a part of the church, but God was going to do something new...

Acts 10:44–48 NLT

Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked, “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.

In Acts 19

Paul is in Ephesus, and God pours out His Spirit.

Acts 19:2–7 NLT

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.

We can look back at history and see times where God has moved the hearts of men and women: The Great Awakenings, Azusa Street, the Charismatic Renewal, Asbury, Pensacola, and the list can go on and on.

It’s necessary to look back and see what God has done, but all too often, when we’ve been a part of a move of God, we reminisce and remember the ‘Good Old Days’, and want God to replicate what He has done in the past.

Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV)

Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known...

Repeat them in our day, in our time...

As Habakkuk looked at what God had done in the past, it gave him confidence that God could deliver His people again. (BKC)

What do you want God to repeat in our day?

We have heard the great stories of what God has done. We have seen with our eyes how God has moved.

LORD, we ask that you would repeat what you have done in the past.

Let’s not fall into the trap of limiting God in how He moves by His Spirit. It can be so easy to put God in a box, and try to repeat history. Let’s go and buy a tent, or let’s go where God is moving and bring Him back in a bottle and try to duplicate it.

God spoke to Israel that He had done great things in the past,

Isaiah 43:18–19 NLT

“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

I believe that as we humble ourselves and seek the Lord, the Holy Spirit will move among us again today.

Do you long for God to move in your life by His Spirit. Do you need a fresh filling with the Holy Spirit? Do you want to be immersed by His Spirit?

Luke 11:11–13 NLT

“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

When Jesus walked this earth, He had the Spirit without measure. If Jesus needed the Spirit, how much more do we?

The purpose of the Holy Spirit isn’t to give us a warm fuzzy feeling. If that happens, so be it. He was given to give us power for witness. To tell others what God has done.

Jesus didn’t come to call the equipped, He came to equip the called.

My prayer is that we would desire to have everything that God has for us, and nothing less.

Let’s not settle for mediocrity, but let’s desire to be filled with power from Heaven.

Let’s pray

Ephesians 3:16–21 NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.