Stop It

Stop It Acts 1:4-8 NKJV) 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Help me preach this morning by giving emphasis to my subject. Turn to your neighbor, put a smile on your face and tell them Stop it. That’s my subject it. Turn your other neighbor and make sure they got it clearly. Tell them to stop it. Stop it. Those are the 2 magic words many of us Christians were handed when we became Christians. They were supposed to lead us, if not happiness and joy, at least heaven. As children, mom, dad, everyone said: Stop it. Stop hitting your sister. Stop yelling at your brother. Stop writing on that wall. Stop running in the hall. Stop playing in the house. Stop crying. Stop it. That’s all we heard as children. And for many of us, people haven’t stopped saying stop it. Even as adults we are told whatever you are dealing with, challenged by, facing, repeating, can’t get over, Stop It. Just stop it. Just stop all your bad habits. Stop eating too much. Stop sleeping too late. Stop biting your nails. Stop drinking. Stop overspending. Stop sleeping around. Stop seeing that guy. Stop stalking that girl. Stop missing church. And above all, stop sleeping when the pastor is preaching. That’s what we have made Christianity, the “Stop It” religion. Not the saving, joyful, peaceful religion that God intended. Not the transcultural, transcending, transformational religion Jesus died for. No. We’ve made it the “stop it” religion. We even taken what God said and made that the basis of our engagement with each other. What is one of the first things we ask children to memorize? Ten Commandments. And what do they say? Stop it. Stop having other gods. Stop killing. Stop committing adultery. Stop stealing. Stop lying. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. I’m not saying that we don’t have to stop those things, We do have to stop those things but we have it backwards. We think we need to stop doing those things before God will accept us. We think that God cannot love us as sinners. There are even people who go so far as to say since I cannot stop it --sinning, behaving crazy, seeking my own happiness-- since I cannot stop those things then what the heck I might as well keep on sinning, behaving crazy, seeking my own happiness before I am sent to hell. But I came by this morning to tell somebody that we got the “it” wrong in “stop it.” The “it” we need to stop doing is to stop going it alone. We are ones who think we must go it alone. We don’t need anyone. We can do it ourselves. We can depend on our own dominion, own direction, and own determination. But we need to get it straight that we cannot do life on our own. we cannot merely "stop it" and be happy. Men we need to stop thinking that we don’t need anybody. We cannot do it alone. Women you need to stop thinking you don't need anybody. Some women have said, I can do bad all by myself. But we have it all wrong. Today I remind us that Christ gave us a better way. He said I will never leave you nor forsake. He said I said I am with you always. Today we celebrate Christ's fulfillment of that promise. Today we celebrate our receiving the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate Pentecost, the anniversary of the day Christ sent the Holy Spirit. The day, they and we received access to the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to know that without the Holy Spirit’s power we are in a predicament. Predicament is defined as a difficult, confusing, and unpleasant situation. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, we are in a difficult, confusing, and unpleasant situation. 1. Predicament without the Holy Spirit power Christ knew that and tell us, that we need to stop trying to “stop it”, stop going it alone. Look at our scripture. Verse 4. 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me. Christ is telling them to stop trying to go it alone. Trying do it on their own. When Christ died, the disciples knew they were in a predicament, a difficult, confusing, and unpleasant situation. After all, their leader, who they thought was going to change the world by defeating the enemy, the Romans who ruled Jerusalem, and instead Christ, their leader, was killed by the Romans. But then Jesus rose from the dead and they spoke with Him, even ate lunch with Him. But when Christ wasn’t around for a just moment, Peter and the others felt alone. They didn’t know what to do or where to go. Jesus knew His disciples were in a predicament and needed power to get them out. So Jesus tells them to “Stop It”. But He doesn’t just say stop it. Remember Nancy Regan promoting that slogan “Just say no.” She and others were telling addicts to just stop it. The slogan was a political and media success. But it didn’t help people who were hurting from drug addiction. Just “stop it” implies that what we are doing that harms ourselves is just a matter of willpower. Life is not a simple matter of willpower to “Stop It”. If life was just a matter of saying “stop it”, then losing weight would just be a matter “stop it” and there would be no more overweight people. Can I get a witness? If quitting smoking or drinking was just a matter of “stop it” then nobody would be dying of cancer or driving drunk. If making the life changes we needed to make to be truly happy was just a matter of “stop it” there wouldn’t be any miserable people on line at the supermarket, No miserable people on the bus going to work, or working in restaurants as waiters. And no miserable people in church. But there are. There are miserable people because we can’t just stop it, stop doing what we have been doing even though it still doesn’t work. We are relying on our own selves and we find ourselves in various predicaments. My predicament is different than yours and yours is different than the other person but we each find ourselves in a predicament because we think we can simply make it on our own. Have you ever felt all alone in the world, even though you are surrounded by people? You felt powerless to change your circumstances. And if you could change them, you didn’t know into what you would change them. What a predicament? Jesus knows we need more. And He knows that without more we will be stuck in our predicament without power. We would not be experiencing the joy and peace He died to give us. We would not have access to power that He has given us. In his statement of telling the disciples to stop going it alone, Jesus gives them more. Jesus tells them of the promise of the Holy Spirit. 2. The Promise of Holy Spirit power (v 5) 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” This is a promise that I struggled with for a long time. If the whole truth be told I still am working my way through this today. I, like many of you, do not fully understand the Holy Spirit. I understand that God is creator. He made the heavens and the earth. He even created me. And He gave me free will, which I promptly use to defy Him. But yet God loves me so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for my sins. Then rise, conquering death, the enemy, and my sin such that if I acknowledge Him as having died and risen for my sins and I turn my life over to Him, I am saved. That’s the Gospel, the good news in a nutshell. That’s what it means to have Jesus as Lord and Savior and to be saved. So I understand God and Jesus. Well, I can never fully understand God. He is beyond my full comprehension. In fact, any God we can fully comprehend is not big enough. Any God that I can wrap my itty-bitty earthly mind around is not the God that created the heavens and earth out of nothing. But before we get drawn into a metaphysical and existential conversation of God, for purposes of today’s conversation, I understand God as the Father and Creator of all. I understand Jesus, His Son, my savior and my friend. And when I get in trouble I call on the Father or I call on the Son. I’m not saying that is wrong but Jesus said to the disciples just before He ascended to heaven, He said, I go to the Father and the Father is sending the Holy Spirit. He said, I am leaving but I am not leaving you alone to handle the stuff of this earth. I’m not leaving you in your predicament alone. He told the disciples they would receive His spirit, the Holy Spirit. That’s the day we celebrate today. Today is Pentecost Sunday. Today we celebrate the fact that the disciples received Jesus' spirit, the Holy Spirit. After receiving the Holy Spirit their life was changed. Because the Power of the Holy Spirit will change everything. I am still working through all that this means. But I know that Jesus said the Father would send the Holy Spirit. I know that Jesus said when we receive the Holy Spirit, our predicament would change, We do not have to go it alone, Because the Father promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. And with that gift our whole perspective shifts. 3. The Perspective of Holy Spirit Power (v 8) 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The disciples have a perspective that they didn’t have before they received the power of the Holy Spirit. Some of us don’t understand Donald Trump. Let me help you out today. I'm not going to convince you to agree with him, but I will help you better understand him. Do you know what drives Donald Trump to make what are absurd statements to us? Donald Trump has the perspective of power. You may not like that he has power. You make not like that he has abused his power. But you have to admit he has power. And with power comes a certain perspective. With a perspective of power, you think you can do things that others can’t. because you have power. It changes your perspective. Trump says what he says because of his power. Last week Trump felt very comfortable abusing another world leader, shoving them out of the way, because of his power. Like it or not, Donald Trump has the perspective of power. The difference between the Donald and the Disciples is that Donald thinks it is all him. And because of that he abuses his power and that will be his downfall. On the other hand the Disciples know it is not them. While the disciples now have the perspective of power, they know it’s the Holy Spirit. They go from being afraid and unfocused to preaching the gospel and being willing to die for it. Think about that. These men ran away when Jesus was arrested. Even when Jesus has risen from the dead, these men are going back and forth out of town to do fishing and other unnamed stuff. But when they receive the Holy Spirit, they “Stop it”. They stop focusing on themselves and focus on what God has for them to do. The book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us in chapter 2 that they stop being afraid and all begin to preach and people who have traveled to Jerusalem all understood them in their own language. That’s amazing. Half the time I can’t understand people in Getty Square who are supposedly speaking English. But right after these men receive the Holy Spirit they are preaching and everyone hears it in their own language. This shows us that we are supposed to speak God’s word and the Holy Spirit will help the person to hear and understand. The disciples stop running away and are now preaching the Gospel. They not only believe but they are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Their predicament has shifted. Their perspective has shifted. They “stop it” but they don’t “stop it” alone. They have the power of the Holy Spirit within them. The power of the Holy Spirit is so much more than we think of. And the great news is that the Holy Spirit is not some elusive spirit out there. The Holy Spirit is right in here. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. Our predicament has shifted. Our perspective has shifted. We have the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We do what we have been created to do. We experience the perspective, power, and peace God intended for us. We do this because we have the Holy Spirit. That’s why God sent the Holy Spirit. He sent Him so that we will never get weary in our well doing. God sent the Holy Spirit so that any challenges we face we would not back down. We will be able to tell people about what God has done for us. We will say as Isaiah said in 40:28-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the young shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. My sisters and brothers, We have hope We can walk down this dark and painful road We can face every fear of the unknown We can hear All God’s children singing out That His promises are true In His strength There is nothing we can’t do Yes, we know There are greater things in store We will not be overtaken We will not be overcome Greater is He that is living in me Than he that is in the world. He’s conquered our enemy No power of darkness No weapon prevails We stand here in victory The same power that rose Jesus from the grave The same power that commands the dead to wake Lives in us, lives in us The same power that moves mountains when He speaks The same power that can calm a raging sea Lives in us, lives in us He lives in us, lives in us (“Same Power by Jeremy Camp) Don’t go it alone. You have the power.