Transformed by the Holy Spirit
Notes
Transcript
Q: Have you ever given someone a gift and they didn't appreciate it?
Giving necklace to Mom
That was a small gift, a little time was spent on it and not very valuable.
What if someone gifted a very large valuable gift?
After Jesus’ resurrection he made a promise before he left.
You dont have to turn there with me.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 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. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Jesus promised us a gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Q: What is the Holy Spirit?
Wrong question, this would be like asking What is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is a person.
Here are some details about the Holy Spirit
Is a distinct Person not a force.
He is God
He is not Jesus
He is not God the Father
Has Attributes of God
Co Equal
Co Eternal
All Perfectly Holy
Personal characteristics of the Holy Spirit
He creates
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
Can experience pain
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
He Teaches
He Speaks
And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.
Gives Hope
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Give Joy even in the midst of opposition
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
1. The Holy Spirit indwells and fills God’s people
1. The Holy Spirit indwells and fills God’s people
Turn with me to Acts Chapter 2
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.
Q: What happened here?
Just before this what happened?
Jesus was resurrected, spent 40 days with them and then left.
Sitting there, Jesus Promise from John 14 happens, the helper comes.
Wind, fire and speaking different tongues. Is everyone supposed to speak in these tongues if we actually have the Holy Spirit?
How can we know?
God tells us what the purpose of the Holy Spirit is
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.
Looks like the primary purpose is to help us walk in God’s commandments and to do His will.
The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2 is best understood as paralleling those occasions in the Old Testament when God appeared and filled the tabernacle with his presence
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Whereas in the Old Testament God was perceived as dwelling among his people, in the New Testament he is viewed as dwelling within his people.
Keep this in mind we, will come back to this topic.
2. The Holy Spirit empowers and emboldens God’s people
2. The Holy Spirit empowers and emboldens God’s people
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Q: What do you observe here?
Q: What were these men doing just 2 months prior to this?
When Jesus was being arrested, they all ran away scared, one dude ran away naked.
He is confronting the people who wanted Jesus to be crucified.
Peter here is saying, you who crucified Jesus. so these are the same people that Jesus spoke to.
Why isnt he afraid like he was before, why isnt he denying Jesus once again?
These guys dont seem like the same men as before
They arent the same men.
They have had a radical transformation.
Skip a few verse to verse 36 to 40
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
The same people whom Peter is preaching to did not listen to Jesus
They turned their backs and yelled out to Crucify Christ
Now Peter is telling them that they are responsible for Jesus death
Q: What are you seeing here?
But how do they respond?
We will see that 3,000 of them were saved. What happened now that didn't happen before?
Why did they listen to the apostles when they didn't listen to Jesus?
Weren't Jesus’ words as powerful or more powerful?
The issue isnt with Jesus or Peter delivering a better message. The Holy Spirit is now moving among these people. revealing to them the truth that they were once blind to.
Q: Why does preaching the Gospel require you to be boldness?
It will challenge people, you will call people sinners, deserving death
You are calling people to leave a life of comfort into a life of self denial and suffering
Be an open invite to be ridiculed
Having the Spirit of the Lord is needed because you face a lot of opposition, you cannot do it on your own. You need God’s supernatural strength through His Spirit to overcome those situations.
Q: How do we do that, how do put ourselves in a position for the Spirit of God to be used?
You need to fear God, you need hear what he is telling you by reading your Bible. That will transform you into a better instrument for God’s purposes.
3. The Holy Spirit works through God’s people to grow the church
3. The Holy Spirit works through God’s people to grow the church
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Three thousand people is a lot even by todays standard. That number was a much bigger percentage of the total population of the entire world at that time. Today it would have maybe been tens or hundreds of thousands.
Between 70 and 150,000 people in today's people
These people got together and shared absolutely everything. No one had any need to anything. It seems like a glipse of heaven.
There is something special about that
What to take away?
Have you ever thought that it would have been so awesome to be with Jesus when he lived on earth, to speak to him and to follow him.
Weren't the Apostles so lucky to have direct access to him?
Would it not be great to have Jesus physically here with you right now?
Yes and no
NO because he had a body and can only do one thing at a time. This is why it is so important to have the Holy Spirit with us.
The Holy spirit is able to provide to us what we would need Jesus to provide for us because they are of the same, power, mind and purpose.
Going back to the story I mentioned about giving gifts.
How do you think God feels after he gave his Son as a sacrifice for your sins and people dont accept?
How does God feel when He give his spirit to enable believers to walk a life pleasing to Him and they do not accept or use this gift?
God has gifted you His best, He gave you his Son to pay for your crimes throughout your life. The God gave His spirit to live within you.
You have sin in your life that you have struggled with for years.
You struggle withdoing something specific that God calls you to.
You now say to yourself - “I cant do it, I have tried”
I agree You cannot do it, and neither could Peter, or the other apostles. They denied Jesus and ran away from him when they tried to do it on their own.
But you now have the power of God inside of you, the same power that created the universe out of nothing.
The same power that Raised Jesus from the dead. There is nothing that you are unable to do
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.