True Power!
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· 11 viewsWe have lived far too long with only rehearsed and mimmicked power; it is time for Holy Spirit Power!
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Would you turn with me in your Bibles please, to the book of and please stand as we read in God’s word.
Would you turn with me in your Bibles please, to the book of and please stand as we read in God’s word.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Now turn with me, please, to .
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
PRAY
(YOU MAY BE SEATED!)
In the passages that we just read, we see a couple of very important things being promised to the children of Israel and ultimately to the world, if they would receive it.
First, we see the Lord God almighty promising that He would make a new covenant with His people (one that they couldn’t break and alter as their forefathers did with the first covenant). God said that this time He would write upon their hearts, His perfect law and that they would be His people and He would be their God!
Second, God said that He would cleanse the people, by the application of water and that He would give them a NEW heart and a New spirit, He would put within them. (He said that He would remove the hearts of stone and replace them with a heart of flesh!)
He said, He would give each of us a new spirit and He would place HIS SPIRIT within us as well, thus causing us to walk in His statutes and obey His rules!
A new covenant and a new heart and new spirit for mankind, along with the indwelling SPIRIT of Yahweh within us, was a promise that God made thousands of years ago.
In this same passage, God mentioned that He would summon the grain and make it abundant, as well as make the fruit of the trees and the increase of the field abundant.
This passage reminds me of the Promised Land that God said He would give the children of Israel after bringing them from captivity in Egypt (a land flowing with milk and honey, you know?)
This week, as I was mowing the lawn and talking with Abba, I asked Him about the Promised Land and what it was for. (Many of us, myself included, have been taught that the bringing of the Israelites from out of slavery and crossing the river Jordan and into the promised land, was a type, or a symbolism of mankind being brought from sin and crossing over into heaven to be with God.)
As soon as I was asking Him about this, I felt an answer pop into my head. “Do you think that a land that was already dwelt within by pagans and a place where sin ran rampant and even my own chosen people worshipped false gods and did demoralizing things, is a type of the very place that I dwell?!!!”
The removing of the people from slavery in Egypt and bringing them across the river, was a type of being released from the bondage of sin (which could only occur through the shedding of blood and the death of the firstborn, as we read of in the book of Exodus, with the firstborn of all of Egypt dying because of the heard heart of Pharaoh and and the protective shed blood of the spotless lamb that covered the doors of the Israelites!)
The promised land, however, was a type of the kingdom that was coming to be established here on earth that mankind and God would dwell together in!
God would dwell within us and we would be brought into the perfect kingdom of heaven, where everything that we need would be plentiful! (NOTE: I said everything that we need, not everything that we want!)
And so, this new covenant and this bringing of us into the kingdom (the spiritual promised land) came about and was fulfilled with the birth, the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!
Just as it written in Ezekiel, as God said that He would increase the grain and make it abundant, so we read of Jesus saying in ,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
The kingdom (a.k.a. the spiritual promised land) is a place of spiritual provision and the increase of the harvest within this kingdom is spiritual also.
What Jesus said, He also did. He laid down His perfect life, as a ransom for all men and women and children, (likened to that of a grain of wheat falling to the ground), and HE was placed into the ground (the tomb) and from this, the harvest was and is and will be immense! This has already started with His great sacrifice and fulfillment of God’s great promise, through His prophets, to cleanse us, create within us a new heart and place a new spirit within us and YES, most definitely, place His SPIRIT within us!
Today, all around the world, we celebrate a very special day, in the history of the church (the Body of Christ). Today is that time of the year when the Jewish nation celebrates the Feast of Weeks, (also called Shavuot, which in Hebrew, means “weeks”).
Today, all around the world, we celebrate a very special day, in the history of the church (the Body of Christ). Today is that time of the year when the Jewish nation celebrates the Feast of Weeks, (also called Shavuot, which in Hebrew, means “weeks”).
This holiday is one of three “first fruit” holidays, that all of the men of Israel were required to make the journey to Jerusalem and be a part of. This holiday and the other two similar to it, (Passover and Sukkot), were a time where the children of Israel would take the first of their harvests during these three seasons and offer them as a wave offering before the Lord. The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), is the celebration of the wheat harvest.
Later on in history, the children of Israel also starting commemorating and celebrating the giving and receiving of the torah, or the law, that God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai during this same time of the year!
Now, real quick, a couple of things about this.
I find it very interesting, that it is the celebration of the new wheat harvest that is being observed at this time, having just come out of the Passover, 7 weeks earlier. (Passover being the time where the sacrificial lambs blood was presented before the Lord as a covering, as was the sacrificial blood of Jesus, the “Lamb of God”, presented before the Father as a covering) and then during the Feast of Weeks, the first fruit of the wheat harvest was presented before God.
Well, just as Jesus likened Himself to a grain of wheat being placed in the ground in order that much more wheat could be produced, so we come to a time where this is being celebrated before the Lord God. The celebration of the abundant wheat being brought forth!
And it is Paul that tells us in ,
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Just as men presented the “first fruits” of the wheat harvest before God at this same time of the year, so also was Jesus, the “firstfruits” of the dead, and the “firstfruits” of the new spiritual harvest, presented before God!
Nothing of God is by accident!
Now follow me here. The Feast of Weeks comes 7 weeks, or 50 days, following the Passover. The Greek word, pentékosté, means fiftieth and it is from this word that we get the name Pentecost, which is what we celebrate, as the church today!! (Fiftieth referring to 50 days after the Passover.) Today is Pentecost Sunday!
Now, some 3,500 years, at this time, when the Law was given to Moses at Mt. Sinai, the people sinned and it some 3,000 of them were killed; that is, 3,000 were taken away from their numbers.
2,000 years ago, at this time, when God gave us the blessed Holy Spirit, during Pentecost (the churches’ birthday), some 3,000 people were saved and thus added to the body!
Nothing of God is by accident!
Pentecost Sunday, is the fulfillment of the promise of almighty God, given all the way back in the passages we started off with, where it reads, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you!”
If you remember also, in the very next chapter of Ezekiel, , we find the very famous prophecy of the Valley of the Dry Bones and their being restored. In this passage, it mentions in ,
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
So, just what you read of here in the restoring of the people’s spiritually dead condition in Ezekiel, you also see a type of in ,
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
The breath of God, the pneuma, in Greek, and the ruwach, in Hebrew, (both referring to the Holy Spirit), was breathed into the new church body and thus fulfilling God saying that He would put His Spirit within us!
It is here, this morning, in talking about Pentecost Sunday and the outpouring of Holy Spirit, that we will hang out the rest of the time!
It is here, this morning, in talking about Pentecost Sunday and the outpouring of Holy Spirit, that we will hang out the rest of the time!
Is that permissible within the church, to sit and discuss the indwelling of Holy Spirit? (Believe it or not, there are churches that completely shy away from speaking on and about Holy Spirit!) They may mention that He is with us, but that is where it stops and there and in that same mind set, is the great issue and fallacy with many churches today. THEY HAVE NO AUTHORITY AND NO POWER!
Too many churches today, are nothing more than glorified spiritual day cares. The people come in and the preacher molly coddles them, pampers them and tells them a few good feeling verses (a.k.a. feeds them their bottles) pats them on their little spiritual backs (burping the babies for relief) and then ushers them off into the great playground (the world), for another week!
The presence of Holy Spirit in our lives is that of a comforter, as Jesus Himself said, but there is SO MUCH MORE to Him and His presence in our lives than that!
Jesus said
I want to stress to you this morning the relevance of having the over-filling and indwelling presence of Holy Spirit in our lives!
There are three positions or places, that we find Holy Spirit in and about each person’s life.
There are three positions or places, that we find Holy Spirit in and about each person’s life.
First, He is the one who draws and convicts you of your sin and points out that you need a savior. ,
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
, Jesus tells us that Holy Spirit dwells with (para - around, in proximity to) us. He is all around us, drawing and convicting our lives before salvation!
,
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
The prophet Joel records what God says in , “And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Before one comes to salvation through their faith and belief in Jesus and His perfect wor
SO, before your salvation, HE is all around you, BUT not in you!
If you look at the closing of , Jesus says, “and He will be in you”!
Upon your profession of faith and belief in Jesus, as Lord and savior of your life, Holy Spirit comes into you and dwells within you; through spiritual regeneration of a new heart and a new spirit inside of you! (As Paul said, “you are a new creation!”)
In , we see Jesus walking in and finding the disciples locked in a room and scared, after His crucifixion. We read the following, .
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
The word used here for “breathed”, in the NT, is used no where else in the NT and is in fact, the same word translated in the Greek, from , where God “breathed” into the nostrils of Adam, the breath of life.
My point is this: when Jesus breathed and said “receive the Holy Spirit”, I believe that it was there that prophecy was fulfilled and for the first time in the history of the fallen creation, God’s Holy presence, dwelt inside of men!
It was there, in that room, that the disciples recieved the Holy Spirit of God within them!
They were, at that point, just as Paul tells us, in ,
and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
And also, ,
And also, ,
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Just like us and our salvation experience, the disciples were instantly indwelt with and sealed as a guarantee, by Holy Spirit, as soon as Jesus breathed, the new spiritual breath of life onto them!
So, that is the second position of Holy Spirit: first, He dwells around us, and secondly, HE dwells within us.
Now, at Pentecost, we find the third placement or position of Holy Spirit in our lives. Right before the upper room account at Pentecost, in , Jesus said this to the disciples,
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
And again , Jesus said to the disciples,
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
In both accounts, it is the picture of being enveloped in or with POWER!
, Jesus finishes by saying,
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
You see, it is the immersing in, the covering with and total saturation of the Holy Spirit’s power that is the third position of Holy Spirit in the our life, as a Christian!
And it is here, in the empowering of His presence in our lives that we need to focus this morning!
There are different reasons that Jesus stated He was praying to the Father, to send Holy Spirit to the the disciples and to us as well: He said that Holy Spirit was another comforter, a guide for us into all truth, a counselor, a helper, a teacher and a spiritual reminder.
Jesus said that Holy Spirit would remind of us of all that Jesus taught us. He also said that in times of trial, when we are brought before others and we have to give an answer or account for our belief, not to worry, because Holy Spirit would tell us what to say!
Jesus told His disciples that anyone who truly loved Him would keep His commandments (He said this several times); in doing so, He said that the Father would love that person and that they would come and make their abode with that person.
This is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the will and decree of the Father, the teachings and testimony of the Son and the power and protection that they offer to the believer, all within the third person of the Trinity.....Holy Spirit!
The indwelling power of Holy Spirit was given, large and in part, for one main purpose; to fulfill the carrying out of the great commission!
The power of Holy Spirit is what Jesus left behind for us to carry on in His stead and it the very reason that He told the disciples to tarry and wait until they recieved it. Without the empowering of Holy Spirit, we could not accomplish such a task.
Paul said in ,
Paul said in ,
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Paul said this to make a very clear point. When someone is full of alcohol (what we commonly call drunk, soused, tanked), they are completely under its influence and cannot think rationally, walk and talk normally, respond emotionally at a normal level; they are more prone to yield to sin and temptation because their moral compass is impaired.
Paul is saying, instead of filling yourself with alcohol and letting it control your mind and actions, allow your life to filled with Holy Spirit and permit Him to control your life. This is to be done DAILY (as denoted by the tense of “be filled”) and this is where the true POWER of Holy Spirit comes into play! When we yield to Him and seek Him, He gives us what we need.
This being filled (or allowing Him to control you in His power) is a never ending process, just as you read of in where Peter and John were just released by the religious leaders for preaching the gospel message. They return to the other believers and they all start praying together and petitioning God to grant them more of the ability to spread the gospel and ask Him to perform more healings and great signs and wonders.
says,
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.
Understand this, you can have Holy Spirit in you and still not be operating under His power and control! This is a volitional thing that you must will and purposefully allow to happen. You must draw closer and closer to the Father and His will for your life. You must ask in faith and belief for Him to full you with this power for His glory.
It’s like going to a bank where you have an account and have millions of dollars in your account and handing the cashier a slip of paper requesting $300 from your account and then dropping to your knees and begging her to release the monies to you! Why would you do this, when it is already yours and set aside for you. NO, rather you ask for the money and in faith, you wait for her to hand it to you and then thank her and leave; walking out in the assurance of that money in hand!
But you can have Holy Spirit within you, per your salvation, and still not be walking in His power!
In we read, “And Jesus, FULL of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ”
Jesus resisted the devil throughout the 40 days and did the will of the Father and in doing so, the Bible says this, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.”
He went into the desert full of WHO? (Holy Spirit)
And He came out of the desert fu
And He returned in the what of the Holy Spirit? (POWER)
A question to ask yourself, is are you spiritually thirsty and desiring more of the Lord in your life? Jesus said that all who were thirsty could come to Him and drink of the living waters that He provided (the Holy Spirit) and out of that person’s heart, the true believer, would flow rivers of living water!
Do you have rivers of living water flowing from you, or are you a static puddle that is struggling and becoming becoming stagnant and old!
The flowing water, is the process of Holy Spirit coming into you and flowing out of you into others!
Therein, lies a great fallacy of many people in churches today. They are looking for something, something physical, something that they believe is real and that is necessary, but in most cases, it is a man made version of the presence of Holy Spirit.
Be very careful about what you believe to be the power and presence of Holy Spirit vs what man has taught you to be Him!
There are many that say and believe that the presence and manifestation of Holy Spirit, involve these, often loud and flamboyant public displays.
I am reminded of what the late evangelist, Kathryn Kuhlman said about the power of Holy Spirit and His presence, she said, “NOISE, is not the sign of POWER!”
Many people are still, as Paul calls them, “carnal Christians”, in ,
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
These are people that are saved and on their way to heaven, they just do not pursue, nor desire that deep, empowering relationship with God and are still very much carnal in their ways!
It is people like these who will easily follow after other weak Christians and go after the “physical manifestations” of Holy Spirit vs the intimate relationship with Him, where His true power resides!
Always remember this, sin in your life inhibits being filled and empowered by Holy Spirit.
During a tour of a large manufacturing plant, a visitor noticed a man using a fiery torch of high intensity to work on huge slabs of steel. Operating from a blueprint on a nearby table, a pointer traced the pattern and then by a clever system of levers enlarged the design as it was burned into the metal.
There were times, however, when the flame would not make any impression. When this happened, a chemical substance was applied to the resisting patch, and immediately the cutting could be resumed. The worker explained that although the torch was able to go through clean steel 8 inches thick, if it encountered the slightest film of rust on the surface, the flame would not penetrate it. The Bible-believing visitor remarked, “It struck me forcefully that this is a picture of the Christian. The Holy Spirit is seeking to produce in us God’s perfect design. If the life is unblemished, He is able to continue His efforts; but if we become carnal or backslidden, His work of shaping us is hindered until the area in question has been thoroughly cleansed.”
tells us
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Paul is addressing Christian believers here, as is evident by him saying that they were sealed for the day of redemption. (Only true blood bought believers are SEALED by Holy Spirit!)
And what is it that Paul is mentioning that “GRIEVES” Holy Spirit, that he is warning us of here?
There are several things in this passage that Paul is warning us of, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Harbored anger and ill will is an open invitation for the devil to walk right in to your life and get a toe hold on you!)
But, look specifically at the verse right before Paul tells us not to “grieve” Holy Spirit. He says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
There are too many people in the Body of Christ doing nothing but running their mouths and causing offenses and GRIEVING HOLY SPIRIT in their lives by it!
Paul goes on to say in this passage, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
(*****IF LEAD HERE, MENTION THE MURMURING BEHIND THE SCENE!)
David said of Saul, “The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed......”
David knew Saul was not doing what was right, but Saul would answer to God, NOT MAN!!!