From the Beginning
Notes
Transcript
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.
For those who don’t know, this church, The Assembly, is a Pentecostal church. What does that mean?
It means that we believe that what happened on the Day of Pentecost was not a one-time event. And what happened on the Day of Pentecost?
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
There appeared to them tongues as of fire, being distributed and resting on each of them,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
Now dwelling in Jerusalem were Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
When this sound occurred, the crowd came together and were confounded, because each man heard them speaking in his own language.
They were all amazed and marveled, saying to each other, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
How is it that we hear, each in our own native language?
Parthians, Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages the mighty works of God.”
They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, “What does this mean?”
Others mocking said, “These men are full of new wine.”
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all you who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is the third hour of the day.
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it shall be,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
And whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
This passage tells us that Jesus’ disciples were all gathered together, praying constantly as they waited for God’s promise that Jesus shared with them in Acts 1:4-5
Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me.
For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So they waited in that upper room for weeks, not knowing exactly what was going to happen. They only knew that the Holy Spirit would come and baptize them, whatever that meant.
And then, on the day of Pentecost, which is a Jewish festival, it happened. They heard the roar of a mighty wind. Fire came down, and rested on each of their heads as a flame. As that happened, everyone believer in the room began to speak in another language. They weren’t speaking in languages they knew; it was a sign from God that His Spirit had come and baptized them. But that wasn’t the end.
This festival had drawn Jews from all the corners of the known world. These visitors spoke Aramaic, the local language, but they also spoke the languages of their home countries, so they were were surprised to hear these local folks praising God in their native languages. This was like nothing they had seen before. It drew a crowd. And that’s when the next miracle happened.
Peter, the man who had denied knowing Jesus when Jesus was on trial, boldly stood up and preached the gospel, leading thousands of souls to repentance in Jesus that day. And the New Testament church was born that day.
So many people think that that was the day the Holy Spirit finally showed up, but they would be wrong. There is so much that many of us don’t understand about the Holy Spirit.
First of all, the Holy Spirit did not just appear on the day of Pentecost. He has always been around. Our opening passage, starting with the first verse of Genesis, shows that the Holy Spirit was present and active before the world began.
The earth was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.
It’s interesting to know that the Hebrew word for spirit is the same for breath and for wind. It’s ruach. That means something, because just a few verses later, we read about the creation of man.
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
The word that is translated breath in this verse is the same word used in the verse we read a moment ago. So God didn’t just breathe air into man; he imparted his spirit. So we are born with God’s spirit working in us to draw us to him.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that everyone is automatically going to heaven. What it means is that, even when we doubt God’s presence, he is with us. His spirit is our very breath and our source of life.
So, going back to Acts 2, when they heard the sound of wind, it makes sense. Their Hebrew minds easily made the connection—hear the roar of ruach, of wind, of God’s breath, of his Spirit.
They also experienced fire that landed upon each of them but did not burn them. Was there ever such a miracle before?
In Genesis 15, God establishes his covenant with Abraham through a ceremony. Abraham sacrifices a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove, and a pigeon. He cuts the large animals in half and lays the pieces opposite each other. He leaves a path between the sacrificed animal pieces. The pieces lay there all day, with Abraham standing guard against predators. That night, Abraham sees what appears to be a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass down the path between sacrificed animal pieces, and God promises that, while Abrahams descendants will be slaves for a time, they will become a nation to live in the land Abraham now occupies.
About 400 years later,
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.
The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
So Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him from out of the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “Here am I.”
He said, “Do not approach here. Remove your sandals from off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
Don’t be confused by verse 2, when it says an angel of the Lord appeared. Angel means messenger; it’s the vehicle by which God chooses to communicate with us at a particular moment, other than through a prophet. Unlike when the angel showed up to Mary saying, “I am Gabriel,” voice that came from the burning bush said, “I am God.”
Later on, as the children of Israel left Egypt, they were led to the Red Sea. As Pharaoh and his army came to attack them, something happened. Remember that smoking firepot and torch that made a path through the dead animal parts? They show up again here, but in a much bigger way. A cloud and giant pillar of fire came down from heaven to block Pharaoh’s path. At the same time, another miracle happened.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, so that the waters were divided.
The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
The east is where the sun rises. It has always been a symbol of new life. So, in the midst of this attack on God’s children by the enemy, we see holy fire separate them from danger while the eastern wind, the ruach, the breath of life, the Spirit of God, moved across the surface of the water, just like at the dawn of creation. The Holy Spirit cuts through the sea, the impossible barrier, and makes a path leading them to freedom. That same fire removed itself, enticing Pharaoh’s army to follow the Israelites into the sea. Once they were all in, the wind, the ruach, the breath of life, the Spirit of God, stops moving across the surface of the water. The path closes, and the enemy is destroyed.
But that fire didn’t disappear. It went from behind the Israelites, guarding their back, to moving in front of them, leading them to the Promised Land. The smoking firepot was their guide in the day, the torch guiding them at night.
Which leads me to another point we need to make about the Holy Spirit that people often get wrong. There are so many people who refer to the Holy Spirit as “it”. Usually because they are referring to a move of the Spirit. “Send it Lord. Send the Holy Spirit now.” That’s not how it is.
The Holy Spirit is a person.
The Holy Spirit is a person.
He moves on his own. He speaks, just like he did to Moses.
He Empowers
He Empowers
Look at Samson:
Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and though unarmed, he tore the lion in two as one might tear a young goat in two. However, he did not tell his father and his mother what he had done.
Samson received physical strength through the Holy Spirit. The apostles received a different kind of power.
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
He Intercedes
He Intercedes
Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
He Counsels and Teaches
He Counsels and Teaches
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.
He Gives Life
He Gives Life
And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that lives in you.
He is Available
He is Available
If you then, being evil, 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?”
What we need to realize is that we can’t do this life on our own. Left to our own strength, we will fail. We will fall. But we don’t have to do this on our own. God has sent his Holy Spirit to not just live among us, but to live in us.
And not just live in us, but giving us life, and power, and wisdom, and strength. Whatever it is you are going through, you’re not going through it alone. The Holy Spirit is there, acting as a defense when Satan attacks. When you think you’ve reached the end of the road, and before you is an ocean of opposition, He cuts a path right through it. He will be your guide through the wilderness to victory.
