Harnessing the Power of the Wind

OPEN WITH VIDEO OF TRAILER FOR KILLING KRYPTONITE and then show the new book and talk about the new study series starting next Wednesday.

So, it is my very favorite time of the year; that grand and glorious time, when it is like God takes out His paint brush and begins to color all of the trees. And there is that nice, crisp in the air when you walk outside in the morning and you can see your breath as inhale and exhale!

Of course, depending upon how bad your morning breath may be, you may see your breath year round. (F.Y.I. that green haze that you see around your head is not smog coming down from the atmosphere!)

Seriously, I love the fall time o f the year and all of the beautiful colors of the trees! I taught a couple of years ago about the trees and the grand design that God created them to be!

There is actually a lot of parallels that we can see from trees and our lives lived within the Kingdom!

And the Bible actually says quite a bit about trees!

Probably one of the more well known and the one that come to mind the fastest, is the parallel to those who love God and all of His laws and ways and that of a tree, as seen in ,

Psalm 1:3 ESV

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

And just like this promise, we find another like it in ,

Jeremiah 17:7–8 NLT

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

How many of of us here tonight can says that we feel like we are rooted deep into the living waters of almighty God and that we are not bothered by the droughts (the dry seasons of our spiritual lives) that come. And that we never stop producing fruit for the Kingdom because of this?

Isn’t that where we all want to be in as children of God, though?

So, anyway, I wasn’t here to talk about trees specifically tonight, although are mentioned at times throughout the lesson.

I started off mentioning the trees because the other day, as I stood in my back yard, I watched and listened to one of nature’s orchestras perform.

As I was walking in the yard, the trees were swaying gently back and forth and as they did so, they made a creaking, popping sound. In conjunction with this, the leaves were rustling in unison.

And who, or rather, WHAT was the maestro of this orchestra?

That is, what was both producing as well as controlling this melodic symphony that I enjoyed?

IT WAS THE WIND!

As the wind picked up, it was like the orchestra conductor increased the tempo of his wand and the band played louder and faster and the reverse effect happened as well, as the wind died down, so did the sound of the symphony!

When I was a boy, I used to love to lie down under the white pines in our backyard and listen to the sound of the wind as it blew through the large limbs of the canopy over my head. (It can put you to sleep on a warm spring day or on a sunny fall afternoon!

The wind and its invisible power and attributes came to my mind and also of a particular passage within the Word of God.

First of all, before looking at the passage, let me ask you this: “What is WIND?”

Where do our winds come from, naturally? I am not speaking about the wind from a fan blowing, or from a car driving by you very quickly that pushes the air and produces wind, but naturally, around the globe, where does wind come from?

The easiest answer, is like this, the sun heats the ground and warms the air, then, as cooler air moves across the earth, you have this clashing of high and low pressure air that move the air in different directions. Now couple this with the fact that the earth is rotating at around 1,000 mph and you get winds that occur naturally within the earth’s atmosphere!

You know, recently, when we were all focused upon the hurricanes that came ashore back around the end of August and the discussion of the high winds that these storms produced and the damage that came from these winds, Hurricane Harvey, the first of the Atlantic hurricanes that came ashore in the US, came in with winds that were at 130+ mph!

That was bad! And yet, other hurricanes have had winds measured at up to 200 mph, like down in the Florida Keys in the 1930’s!

In 1999, in Oklahoma, a tornado had winds from its passing through, measure up to 318 mph!

Naturally occurring wind is a force to be reckoned with!

And that naturally occurring phenomenon, as dangerous and disastrous as it can be, is also a great source of harnessed power that helps mankind!

So, WIND, is a force of nature that God created and uses, as you can see, both throughout the Bible, as well throughout the world!

If you will turn with me to the gospel of ,

John 3:1–15 NLT

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked. Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

Now before I do any explaining or expounding upon this passage, let me give you a brief understanding about the the use of the word WIND as we see it used in both the OT and the NT and how this fits in with what I am talking about tonight.

In the OT, we see a common word used for WIND, which is the word, “rûaḥ”, and this word refers to WIND, but it is also used to refer to “breath” and “spirit”.

We see this in passages such as, ,

Genesis 1:2 NLT

The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

“The rûaḥ of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

So, here, the word rûaḥ refers to the Spirit of God as seen during the creation account!

,

Psalm 148:7–8 NLT

Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him,

OK, so here, the word rûaḥ refers to WIND.

And then in ,

Psalm 104:30 NLT

When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth.

Psalm 104:29–30 NLT

But if you turn away from them, they panic. When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust. When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth.

Here, rûaḥ is used as breath; as in, the breath of God.

Now, there are many other uses within the OT of this word and how it is used, but these are just a few for point of clarity on the word, rûaḥ.

Within the NT, there is a common word used for WIND, that you see throughout the gospels and also within the epistles and that word is, anemos.

,

Matthew 8:26 NLT

Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

The word, anemos, is a very common word used when talking about the naturally occurring WIND, as we see here in this very familiar passage, as well as many others.

However, the word for wind, as we see in , is not the word anemos, but rather, it is the Greek word, pneuma.

Pneuma, in the Greek, refers to the spirit of a man, the Holy Spirit of God, as well as breath and WIND.

In , we read,

Matthew 26:41 NLT

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

Here, the spirit of man is referred to by the word, pneuma.

In we see,

2 Thessalonians 2:8 NLT

Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.

Here, pneuma is used for breath.

,

Matthew 4:1 NLT

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.

So, here we see pneuma referring to Holy Spirit.

And then finally, we see in pneuma referring to the WIND, as we just read in the account in John.

Why did I mention all of this about the word for WIND, as we see it used within the Bible?

To help explain what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus in this passage, but even more so, to help explain to all who would read this account in the Bible. This passage, as is the entire Bible, is just as relevant and necessary now, as it was then and through all of the ages between or that will ever come, until perfection has come, as Paul said in .

That is, the Bible stands as perfect and flawless and complete, until the time that Jesus Christ returns to this earth and makes all things new; then PERFECTION will have come and it will remain so forever!

Until that time comes, we stand firm on the validity and accuracy of the PERFECT spoken Word of God! AMEN?!

So, what we find here in this passage, is a man by the name of Nicodemus, coming to talk to Jesus.

This was not just “another” man, whom we find coming to meet with Jesus, however.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and also he was a member of the Jewish ruling council (A.K.A. the Sanhedrin!)

And what does all that amass to? Well, in a nutshell, Nicodemus was a VERY powerful and influential and wealthy man in their day and time.

"Pharisee" is from a Greek word (pharisaios) taken from the Heb/Aramaic "Perisha" meaning "Separated one."

That is what these men were; they were separated from the rest of the Jewish society, because they were the “experts” of the Law of Moses and keeping it, to the full extent.

In New Testament times every Jewish male was required to memorize the first five books of the Bible at a young age, and those training to be Pharisees had to memorize the entire Old Testament!

Have you ever read ? Try memorizing that one chapter with its 176 verses, to put this into perspective and then add everything else of the OT on to it!

The Pharisees were one of three distinct group of religious rulers in the NT days and in the life of Jesus: the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes.

The Pharisees most definitely believed in the afterlife, as opposed to the Sadducees, and they also believed that by virtue of their race and circumcision, that they (as well as all orthodox Jews who were of this same mold), were guaranteed a place in the eternal kingdom that was to come!

And this part is important when you look at what and why we find Nicodemus coming to see Jesus!

In the eyes of the devout orthodox Jews of that day and age, there could be no one who would “deserve” and have a guaranteed spot in the coming kingdom of God, more so, than a man such as Nicodemus: he was an elite religious professional, a member of the ruling Sanhedrin, he was wealthy (which they looked at as an indicator of the favor of God). In his eyes and in the eyes of his peers, as well as the entire Jewish community, he deserved and was guaranteed a spot in the kingdom after life!

With all of this in mind, about who and what Nicodemus was, let’s look closely at what takes place in the opening 3 verses. (READ verses 1-3 again.)

Nicodemus was polite and cordial with Jesus (under the anonymity of darkness of course for possible fear of being banned from the temple and losing his status and position) and he addressed Jesus as probably how many perceived Jesus to be: A Rabbi, a teacher, and someone who was no doubt shaking the foundations of their belief systems.

If you look at how Nicodemus addresses Jesus up front, you will see that he was possibly, probably representing a larger group of his peers who were curious about this man named Jesus and who was able to do signs and wonders.

This is evident by the way that he starts off his conversation with the Lord. He says, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

The “we” in his opening statement expresses that Nicodemus was probably conversing with some of his peers who had similar thoughts and questions about Jesus and he was possibly either the one that drew the short straw and had to go ask Jesus, or out of his own curiosity, he desired to approach Jesus and speak with Him.

Either way, he uses an approach in his opening address with Jesus, that would seemingly be a way to try and soften up, or butter up the other person, by calling Jesus, a “Rabbi” (teacher).

By saying this, he is giving Jesus a very similar and reputable title as he and the pharisees were known by. They were the teachers and keeper of the law and yet here was a man that had not attained the title through their necessary means and still Nicodemus called Jesus this as a possible means of setting some common grounds between the two of them, in the hope of getting Jesus to talk more about Himself to Nicodemus through this bond that Nicodemus said they shared.

You know, it was like he was saying to Jesus, “See Jesus, you and I are a lot alike; we are both teachers, we both are popular and have followers and we both serve God!”

In this same verse, Nicodemus mentions Jesus’ miracles and acknowledges that these are evidence that God is with Jesus.

You see, Nicodemus was saying something that probably stemmed from the hot topic of discussion within the Jewish religious leaders circles. The prevailing question of “who is this guy and how is he doing what we cannot even do”, was probably mentioned in every town that Jesus showed up in, where the Pharisees assembled.

So, Nicodemus is telling Jesus that he can see who Jesus is, or at least who He is linked to, just by His miracles, (but he was really wanting to know more of who Jesus really was and why He was there.)

Like most everyone else that Jesus encountered, they all became caught up in the miracles and were missing the TRUTH of who this miracle worker was.

Which is one of the reasons that Jesus did not want His miracles being spread by word of mouth in a lot of cases after he healed people, because He knew what would happen. (Like in with the leper that Jesus healed and “sternly” charged the man to tell NO ONE, but only go to the priest and show himself clean, so as to satisfy the command given to Moses for being clean.)

The people would begin to follow the MIRACLE WORKER and miss the good news of the Kingdom message and the messiah that was bringing it!

People tend to get caught up in the move of God’s power, more than they do in God Himself! (Tell me you’ve never seen that happen before?)

Think about it: When people say that they are having a revival service and that someone is coming that is known to have massive miracles accompany them, people with flock to see the miracles, more so than to hear the teaching of the word. That is the same reason why the massive crowds followed Jesus; He performed great miracles that impressed and wowed them and this hasn’t changed.

People still desire to see God “show up and show off” for them, even more than seeing God show up and restore broken lives.

So, having just greeted Jesus, the way that Nicodemus did, he was NOT expecting the response that Jesus gave to him, as we read in verse 3.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

New Living Translation Chapter 3

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

This is like you coming up to me and saying, “Hey Chris, I really like the way that you painted your house; you have a lot of talent in doing that” and then I respond to you with, “I’m going to tell you the truth, unless you jump from the Empire State Building and fall to the ground, you can’t understanding the meaning of civil politics!”

You would look at me the same that Nicodemus probably did Jesus.

And judging by the next verse where Nicodemus responds back, you can see the confusion.

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

You see, Nicodemus didn’t have a clue that he was talking to the messiah, the son of God, the savior of the World and that Jesus had already read his heart and knew his thoughts and motives.

And rather than address the flattering introductory statement and field a bunch of questions about the miracles, Jesus went straight to the source of the problem, which was, Nicodemus didn’t understand what and where the Kingdom of God was and he most definitely didn’t have a clue as to how someone could enter into the Kingdom. (THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAD COME TO EARTH AND NICODEMUS WAS LOOKING RIGHT AT THE DOORWAY INTO IT!)

He was stuck on the physical/natural birthright idea and Jesus was showing him that it was a spiritual/supernatural birthright that was coming!

The thing that Nicodemus missed in Jesus’s answer, was the verbiage that Jesus actually answered him with, when Jesus said, “unless you are born again”.

The word used there in the Greek for “again”, is the word, anōthen, and it does mean “again”, but its primary meaning is, “from above”!

Either meaning of the word, (“again”, or “from above”), can lead to Jesus’ meaning: In order to see and enter the kingdom of God, you must be born “again”, “spiritually”, which is also the same as you must be “born of God”, thus meaning to be born from above!

And since Nicodemus was physically minded and not even on the same planet as Jesus, he never even noticed the word anōthen,and the prime meaning of “from above”. He was locked in on the physical meaning.

And this mindset and what Jesus was trying to bring Nicodemus out from under, is still so true in the church today. So many know Jesus and and have seen and felt His presence and they want the eternal life (which as Jesus said, is to KNOW the one true God), and they want all that the kingdom has, but they can’t take their eyes and their hearts off of the “world” long enough to attain truly attain it.