Fill Us With Your Spirit
Meeting the Holy Spirit Through Acts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsBoldness requires filling with the Holy Spirit
Notes
Transcript
Did you know that for the first nine months outside of the womb, some children do not experience much in the way of “stranger danger?” Now, obviously this doesn’t always happen, but theoretically a child could happily go to anyone - at least if all their needs are met - without much fuss for those first 9 or so months. Why? Because they do know what it’s like to experience stranger danger.
Stranger danger of course is a great thing - it can alert us to danger, to potential threat or problems. But, especially for those who might be highly aware of others’ thoughts or feelings, man it can be tough to want to engage others. Especially when it comes to faith. It’s way easier to sit back and not bother. Believe me, I’m wrestling with this right now. But… we don’t need to fear, because our calling in Jesus in to be bold, and be a light. How does that happen? Well, I’m glad you asked!
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Person and Work of Spirit, series into
Encountering the Holy Spirit in Acts
The person and work of the Spirit
Why?:
So what we want to press into - and perhaps for some of us capture or re-capture - is that Spirit-filled life that stands in word and action as a witness. My hope and prayer as we study how the early Christians experienced living life in the Spirit is that each one of us will have a “wow” moment with the Spirit of God; one among many in our lifetime
Boldness requires continual filling with the Holy Spirit
This last sermon is like a benediction to us, as we move into whatever is next. Friend, we must be Spirit-filled and always seeking the filling of the Spirit more. In this passage, we see the believers beg for boldness - a quality that can only come through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our lives. We are a called and sent people - we’ve seen this in Matthew 28, and Acts 1 8. But this can only happen when we are a Spirit-filled people. So today, we’re going to closely consider the events of Acts 4:23-31, and understand how these people continued to speak the name of Jesus boldly in the face of persecution. Today we are going to explore three stepping stones that our heart needs to cross over as we are filled with the Holy Spirit to be bold witnesses.
Know the Sovereign Lord vv 4:23-28
Know the Sovereign Lord vv 4:23-28
Let’s start at the beginning of the story:
Lame Beggar Acts 3.
Healed
Peter Preaches, and about 5000 believe.
Peter and John are arrested, having annoyed the priests Sadducees.
Next day they are pulled in for trial:
And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
Then we read something awesome:
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,
Peter’s boldness blows the priests away. Privately, they decide just to tell them to stop preaching about Jesus. But Peter says:
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,
for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
The priests found no way that time to punish them, so they let them go. This is really the first time in Acts we see an arrest happen, but this is mild compared with what follows.
Peter & John return and tell of what has happened. v23
We need to note: when it says Peter and John returned to their friends, this is not just the apostles - a select few in the church. More than likely this is the whole church, or a good portion of it! This is so important because it shows us that the whole church later on is filled afresh with the Spirit. Later in Acts we see Stephen, and Philip - definitely not apostles - speak boldly for Jesus. Acts 6 says that Stephen performed signs and wonders, like the apostles. Therefore, the Spirit is filling the church, not just the apostles. We too are part of this church, and it is appropriate for us to seek the filling of God’s Spirit often in order to be bold witness.
The church then begins with this prayer that carries us all the way through to v 30. But the vast majority of it is praise and recognition of who God is, and that all things are in His hand.
And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
This is very similar to another prayer, prayed hundreds of years earlier by one of Judah’s kings: Hezekiah. His prayer from Isa 37 16-20 reads:
“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”
Hezekiah prays this as he looks out at the vast army of the Assyrians. What will his people do? There are so many similarities between these two prayers: Hezekiah starts with praise for God, noting especially how God is creator of the universe. Both prayers share this common acknowledgment. This draws us back to Old Testament passages like Genesis 1, reminding us that it is God who sits enthroned as the creator.
Hezekiah then tells the Lord what is happening. He also gives glory through the expression to God that there are no other God’s before Him. This is quite similar to how we find the believers in Acts. They quote Psalm 2:1-2, a Psalm that points to Jesus as Messiah, expressing how they have seen David’s Psalm play out in real life. The kings, the rulers, the Jews and the Gentiles all hated Jesus. Think about it. Pilate - a gentile and a ruler - handed Jesus over to be crucified. The Jewish chief priests first accused Him. Herod the king put Him on trial. It was the Jewish people crying out for Jesus’ death. Roman guards nailed Him to that cross, and the Son of Man hung there, in front of all these, dying for their sins and ours. Banded together (knowingly or not) and many of them angry, they were a powerful force.
Yet what do we read? Not “and they got the better of Him.” No instead we read:
to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
In other words, “God, your divine plan isn’t thwarted! Even when the whole world seems against you, you are still on the throne. Nothing is out of your control.” Not only does God allow the plotting of His enemies to occur, but He already uses it to further His purposes. Eventually, God’s enemies end in defeat as we read in Psalm 2 4-6.
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
This should give us great comfort, because when suffering or persecution comes to us as well, we are never outside the palm of God’s hand. He sees what we go through. He holds to account those that hurt us as His people, and maybe, just maybe, God can use whatever it is for good. Perhaps to help someone else’s story, perhaps to draw you closer to Him, perhaps to spread the gospel far and wide, as we saw with Stephen’s story. I’m not here to write off suffering. It is hard and going through it - when things happen or others hurt us, or even we hurt ourselves - can be terrible. But I am here hopefully to share hope from this realization that no suffering goes unnoticed, no suffering is outside God’s control, and He can use your suffering.
This is our first point. The church in Acts points to the living God and proclaims His sovereignty. No matter what manner of fire they come under - literal or metaphorical - God has not lost control, and the hope of the gospel will continue on.
This is the first stepping stone in understanding that being bold requires a continual filling with the HS. We realize that God is sovereign. This helps us, no matter the situation, to praise God for His control over this world, and the sure hope of His enemies defeat.
NOTES:
Ps 2 quote - note that David spoke by inspiration of the Spirit vv25-26
v 27 “Holy Servant Jesus” (servant/slave concept)
Study rulers, Kings, gentiles, peoples contrast Pilate, Herod, etc.
v 28 Wraps the praise section by underscoring everything that David talked about, everything that happened to Jesus, and indeed paving the way to see everything they will/do face as under God’s control. God’s divine plan is not thwarted.
Be Desperate for Him vv29-30
Be Desperate for Him vv29-30
The second stepping stone is for us to desperately desire God to empower us and our witness.
The ending of the church’s prayer is different from Hezekiah’s prayer.
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
Whereas Hezekiah prayed for deliverance from the enemies that surrounded Jerusalem’s walls, the believers pray for something different: totally appropriate for their situation. In the midst of persecution - the tip of which they had only experienced - the believers pray for boldness.
The range of meaning surrounding this word in Greek could be boldness, or confidence, or even plainly.
the trait of being willing to undertake activities that involve risk or danger; especially that involve being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech
Isn’t this how we see the believers act? When Peter and John are pulled in for questioning, their answers are direct, bold, regardless of risk. Stephen speaks so boldly and plainly that it drives the Jewish leaders to stone him! Much of the rest of Acts has sermon after sermon wherein particularly Paul gives a bold, straightforward account of the gospel.
Instead of praying for deliverance from the world, the church in Acts knows it has a mission to the world, and this world will not like them. Jesus told them that much in John 15:18-19
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
How amazing. They pray for boldness - a power to speak plainly the good news, in the face of untold and untested persecution to come. The days before them would be dark, and yet the light of Jesus would penetrate into that darkness and many would come to Jesus through their witness.
It reminds me of Jesus’ Words in Luke 12:
And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,
for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
The Holy Spirit - especially in the face of persecution - will give us as He gave them the words to say, and empower our testimony.
But that’s not the end of the petition. They ask one more thing:
while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
Signs and wonders - as we have seen - were both a normal reality of the early church, and something that pointed past themselves. A great example of this is the lame beggar from Acts 3, just a chapter earlier. He is healed, and the people go “what??” This gives Peter opportunity to boldly declare the message of hope. “Hey, you need to meet the One who healed this man. He can do much more than heal just the physical body!”
The church’s prayer for signs and wonders isn’t about power over one’s enemies. I think we need to heed this. It’s not about asking God to give them power to destroy those who stand against them, but instead to give them boldness, and validate their testimony with God’s own powerful working. (NAC). It is interesting that the church prays for signs and wonders, when that was the very thing that had gotten them into trouble at the beginning.
Signs and wonders accompany, but they are not meant to be the thing people believe. They are meant to point to the risen Saviour. They are part of the already/not yet - a taste of the full restoration in Christ to come. In this way, the disciples ask God to contiue moving and working, confirming their testimony and giving them boldness to proclaim (NAC).
In Acts 4 31, it says that the church prayed. Behind this is a Greek word with doesn’t mean to take 10 seconds and say grace. It carries with it the idea of someone begging for something indispensable. Like food, or water. Indeed, the believers considered it indispensable to have God empowering their witness.
Do you consider it indispensable to be empowered by the Holy Spirit? What would happen if we prayed the same thing? What would happen if we looked up, looked around at the world, saw the evil, saw the church ravaged in other parts of the world, saw the apathy within the Christian church in much of the western world, and instead of asking God to take us out of the evil, we instead asked to be made as brighter lights in it. What would happen if we considered it crucial to have God powerfully validate our witness through signs like healing, miracles, and other amazing moments of God’s power?
The believers in Acts did something radical. They didn’t hunker down and cover their heads and say “oh God, take us out!” They stood and said “Oh God, make us bold.” What would happen if we prayed the same, in desperation for a move of God in us and our communities around us?
This is the second stepping stone: Be desperate for God - for His empowering presence in our lives. Not for our benefit even so much as for the world around us. Be desperate for the Holy Spirit to make us bright lights in a dark world. Not necessarily to be pulled out of it, but to stand strong in the midst of it as we wait for Jesus to return.
Expect God’s Answer v31
Expect God’s Answer v31
The final stepping stone:
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
What is the answer to such a prayer?
Amen! God answers resoundingly and in reverse order. (Cornerstone)
Shaking - the is most likely a literal shaking, shaking the house, earth quake etc.
Often coupled with theophanies in the OT (Is 6 4, Exodus 19 18, Rev 10:3).
A theophany is a visible appearance of God to humans. Isa 6 4
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.
All of these are this kind of tangible moment, and again in Acts we see this happen.
Filling - God pours His Spirit out afresh. Not a new baptism, but a continued filling/empowering for witness.
Boldness - Result: they contiue to speak with boldness, even though Acts demonstrates that severe persecution comes.
This is such an important passage for us as Christians. This passage tells us a few things:
First, it reinforces the need for the Spirit of God to be permeating our lives. If you want to live for Jesus, you need the Spirit of God active in your life.
Second, this event shows us that receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit doesn’t just happen once. Sometimes, especially in Pentecostal circles, we find ourselves only looking for one experience with God. One experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. That’s where we land. Here’s the thing, it may be a separate experience to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit - which empowers us for witness - but it is not a once and done deal. Why would you stop at seeking one experience when you can have a lifetime ever growing in living filled with the presence and power of God?! Regardless of where you land on some of this, we need to realize and agree on this: We need to be continually seeking to be filled afresh with God’s Spirit. The same thing that happened in Acts 2 happens here: the believers are filled with the Spirit and speak boldly. And this experience is just as available for us today. Throughout Acts we see believers characterized as “full of the Holy Spirit.” We must be this way too if you want to be able to live for Jesus, and really be a light for Him in this world. We can’t do it on our own, but with Him we are more than overcomers. We can be bold witnesses for the faith.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Boldness requires continual filling with the Holy Spirit
Know the Sovereign Lord
Be Desperate for Him
Expect God’s Answer
Who will we be?
People of boldness?
Do we cry out for deliverance when instead we need to be begging for the power to overcome - to be bold even when it’s hard?
Deliverance isn’t bad, it’s just not always the answer. Frankly, we are promised trouble in this world (John 16 33). Is our mission not to stand up in the face of that and still speak Jesus?
God won’t give you more than you can handle… myth. (1 Cor 10 13). Really, we do have more than we can handle (2 Cor 1 8-11). But with God we can keep going. As Spirit-empowered people, how does it change our perseverance?
Will you receive a fresh filling for witness?
This is our last message in this series. I hope you’ve had one of those “wow” moments. Or maybe many! Today is one more chance to reflect on this value of living Spirit-filled. It’s a chance to dive deep, and to cultivate the moving of the Spirit of God. But make no mistake, this is a beginning. We’ve started down this path, we’ve been pressing into being Spirit-filled people. The conclusion of this series marks that start of a value here where we really are actively seeking God’s Spirit to fill our lives again and again and again. More and more and more.
It can be hard to be a witness. People don’t like to hear us talk about our faith. Living different - according to the Word - gets enough stares by itself. Full disclosure: I really struggle with this. I struggle to know what to say, and when. I’m needing to learn this, and perhaps many of you could teach me!
We have a whole world that needs Jesus, and a God who loves the world enough to send His Son to die to redeem anyone - seriously anyone - who will place their faith in Him. And He placed us here - not to take us out - but so that you could be a light to the nations. He placed you here to bridge the gap, maybe to plant that first seed, or to be the one who does go to trial and stands for Jesus. He placed His Spirit in you not so that you can be comfortable in this world, but so that you can overcome it with the power of the blood of Christ and the Word of our testimony. We need to grow in this together, and that’s the goal. To be people who are different, who God works through radically, who God empowers for shameless testimony, and who are not afraid to show with our words and our actions the One who saved us and set us free. That’s our goal, and in order for us to be that people, we need to be Spirit-filled, and continually seeking God for that filling in our lives.
Tangibly:
Are you desperate for God’s Spirit to fill you up? How does your life reflect Jesus? Are you living in a way that reflect God’s morals, God’s will, and God’s purposes? This is critical - everything has to be submitted to God!
When you suffer, how do you react?
Are you desperate for God to fill you with words, give you opportunity, and work through you in powerful ways?
Wow moment time - it’s not about tongues necessarily - it’s about having the Spirit of God literally powering you so that you can proclaim the gospel.
Bridge event tonight - how can we apply this?