TGP2903 - The Spirit Enables

Intro

Reverse Charades

Teaching

Recognize the Perfect Plan of God. (Acts 2:1)

Acts1:4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Jesus had told them to wait for the Holy Spirit. Jesus had been with them 40 days and they have been waiting for about 10 days since Jesus had left them.

This was about 7 weeks or 50 days from when Jesus was resurrected during Passover. Pentacost was another Jewish Holiday. They gathered together and thanked God for His blessing of food.

Pentacost was also tied closely to Moses and Mount Sinai. God had given the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai to guide His people. Now the Holy Spirit would guide all believers during the same celebration.

Jesus didn’t come to replace the Law but to fulfill it and now the Holy Spirit will direct believers to follow God’s Law and hear from Him directly because Christ is now in us.

Some of us are good at following rules and think if we are good enough then we can be right with God.

Following the rules can never save us.

The Law points to our need for Christ and it reveals God’s perfect plan for Jesus to live for us.

We don’t follow the rules to be right with God, we become right with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit enables us to live the holy lives the law points to.

Receive and Rely on the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:2-5)

Before this People didn’t have the Holy Spirit in them. He would come upon them and enable them for special tasks.

Judges: Samson

But now in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit wasn’t only with the believers, He is in them. Jesus had promised this to the Disciples before His Crucifixion.

How do we receive the Holy Spirit?

When we confess Jesus as Lord and believe in Him as the Son of God, then the Holy Spirit comes to dwell with us.

He seals us in Christ and unites us to God forever. This all occurs at the time of salvation.

If we have the same Spirit as these disciples in Acts 2, then why does it seem we don’t have the same boldness and see Him working in our lives?

One reason might be we don’t rely on Him as they did. If we will trust the Holy Spirit, He will enable us to live powerful lives.

We might not see tongues of fire and they may not land on each of us, but when we proclaim Christ as Lord and receive the Holy Spirit, our lives will be changed!

People will notice the change and as we look back on our lives, we should notice a change too.

Steven Curtis Chapman: The Change: Well I got myself a T-shirt that says what I believe I got letters on my bracelet to serve as my ID I got the necklace and the key chain And almost everything a good Christian needs, yeah I got the little Bible magnets on my refrigerator door And a welcome mat to bless you before you walk across my floor I got a Jesus bumper sticker And the outline of a fish stuck on my car And even though this stuff's all well and good, yeah I cannot help but ask myself-- What about the change What about the difference What about the grace What about forgiveness What about a life that's showing I'm undergoing the change, yeah I'm undergoing the change

Proclaim God’s Word and Reveal God’s Work.

The message of the good news of Jesus is for everyone, but the disciple have a problem: not everyone spoke the same language. There were many from different countries and languages.

God met them with a miracle, right when they needed one.

Why don’t we see miracles as often now?

Maybe we don’t step out in faith into things we can’t do on our own.

Maybe the Spirit wants you to boldly share your faith with your friends.

Maybe He’ll allow you to make the right decision to not cave to peer pressure.

We have to rely on Him and see what mighty things He might do.

George Muller - not enough to feed the orphanes - bread truck and

“The children are dressed and ready for school. But there is no food for them to eat,” the housemother of the orphanage informed George Mueller. George asked her to take the 300 children into the dining room and have them sit at the tables. He thanked God for the food and waited. George knew God would provide food for the children as he always did. Within minutes, a baker knocked on the door. “Mr. Mueller,” he said, “last night I could not sleep. Somehow I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in.”  Soon, there was another knock at the door. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil by the time the wheel was fixed. He asked George if he could use some free milk. George smiled as the milkman brought in ten large cans of milk. It was just enough for the 300 thirsty children."

The Holy Spirit is with you if you’ve placed your faith and trust in Christ alone. He can help you do more than you could ever imagine if you will trust in Him.

When the Holy Spirit is working powerfully within you the world will notice and sometimes the world will come against the Lord in you. But Jesus promised to be with you.

He gives us courage and grace to walk through tough situations, even when family and friends criticizes us because of our faith.

Essential Doctrine: The Personality of the Holy Spirit:

He is fully divine

He is not a force or a power

He is the 3rd person of the Trinity

He is a person, not a human, He is God and a Spirit

We relate to him as a person

and He acts in personal ways

We relate to Him personally

You can even pray to Him as you would speak to another person

Jesus instructed His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit because the Spirit would empower them. The HS came to the disciples and filled them and empowered them to the mission He called them. The Spirit enables us to live like Jesus and He changes us to be more like Jesus.

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