The Holy Ghost: An Explanation of Benefits

Welcome

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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.”

Acts 2:1–4 NKJV

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:37–39 NKJV

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Intro

Superheroes

We have, in America, a particular fascination with superheroes. More today than ever. Money is made hand-over-fist in superhero movie industry.

I’ll never forget the second semester of history classes I took at ASU. At the beginning of the semester, we walked into class - already with our textbooks - only to be told that these textbooks would rarely be used. And that we had to go and get another textbook for our primary use in history class. He slammed the book down on his desk. And to everyone’s amazement, it was a superhero comic book novel: Watchmen.

While that sounds crazy, I was amazed at just how much real-world history is found in comic books.

Superman - this most famous superhero personality - was created in 1938, when the Great Depression was in full swing. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were Jewish immigrants living in Ohio who worked as comic artists. They carefully crafted the idea and image of Superman all on their own. The comics flew off the shelves. One of the reasons for the early success was how they wrote the story about real issues that affected everyday people. They included a lot of things that had happened in Ohio’s history such as the mine accident in Athens, Ohio on November 5th, 1930. As time passed, they started to include stories of Superman fighting off anti-Semitic people. With Hitler’s rise in Europe with his anti-Semitic words and the negative stereotypes of Jewish people, they felt a push to make a hero that defended the weak. They often would portray Superman protecting the weak and those who were mistreated.

He was the hero the world needed as World War II began in Europe. Shuster and Siegel worked hard to tell stories of hope that would cheer people on as things looked hopeless.

The only real thing close to that type of power that a human being can have is when someone has the Holy Ghost.

And our world IS, indeed, in need of some people who are not just only human, but have been… well, they’ve been “endued with power from on high!”

“Superheroes were born in the minds of people desperate to be rescued.”

Jodi Picoult, The Tenth Circle

What Keeps an Apostolic Pentecostal Running

We’re coming up on Pentecost Sunday. It’s an important day. It’s a day that we celebrate the Holy Ghost.

And our text tells us that the Holy Ghost is for everyone.

Acts 2:39 NKJV

39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

There are some who have tried to misconstrue or pass over this scripture. They’ve tried with Acts 2:4, as well.

Acts 2:4 NKJV

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Holy Ghost is the fulfilment of a promise from long ago!

Joel 2:28–32 NKJV

28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

Many years afterward, that prophecy would be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost!

Acts 2:1–21 NKJV

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’

There is no doubt that it was in God’s plan, it’s for us, and it’s available to us!

God wants us to be filled - and REfilled!!!

It’s the Holy Ghost that keeps and Apostolic running. Just as you have to get gas regularly for your vehicle in order to keep moving, in order to be spiritually alive you need the Holy Ghost! …and there’s no shortage of supply like we’re seeing with gasoline! The Holy Ghost is ALWAYS AVAILABLE!!!

You can’t let your Holy Ghost grow stagnant! No more than we can let the baptistry water grow stagnant!

And it’s necessary to receive the Holy Ghost to be saved.

John 3:1–5 NKJV

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Explanation of Benefits

So… here in a little while I’m going to give an explanation of benefits that come with having the Holy Ghost.

If you have health insurance and you’ve ever been to the doctor, you’ve probably received an explanation of benefits in the mail. It says, “This is not a bill.” And it tells what benefits you have received because you have this health insurance.

Well, we have a certain amount of benefits that come with having the Holy Ghost. There are benefits. There are reasons that God gave it.

Anointed Appointments

Like A Bottle

You might wonder: “What is the best way to approach receiving the Holy Ghost or even just being continually renewed in the Holy Ghost?”

God has made it so that each of us are issued anointed, spiritual, divine appointments.

When we have prayer, when we talk to Him, and particularly when we come together, we have been scheduled for an ANOINTED APPOINTMENT.

And I believe that the Lord revealed to me recently that: In these appointments, we are to become like a bottle (or a vessel).

As a disciple of Him, I have to be like a bottle in four ways...

Open

Unless we are open, we cannot receive!

We have to have a mind to receive at our appointment!

Empty

If we do not become empty, what is poured into us won’t be effective!

God wants to remove all of the things that get in the way of Him filling us up.

Full

If we do not become full, we have become empty for nothing!

We need the inFILLING of the Holy Ghost to saturate us!

Poured Out

If we do not pour ourselves out, we were filled only to not fulfill our purpose!

God wants to use us in ministry!

Benefits

Salvation

First, you must be saved.

The Gospel

Death - Repentance

Burial - Baptism

Resurrection - Holy Ghost

Power

“Behold you shall receive power...”

Growth

Hebrews 5:11–14 NLT

11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

“Christians are like houseplants. They’re either growing, dying, or artificial.”

Myron Wideman, Jr.

Fruit

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Boldness

Not timid - BOLD!

Acts 3:1–10 NKJV

1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Conclusion