The Holy Spirit and the Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Dismiss Children
Thank you all for coming out. What a great weekend we had!
It was good to see many of you come out and many of our community.
What a great weekend to have taken the church outside its walls because today we are starting in the book of Acts on our journey through the NT where the church didn’t have walls, broke all ideas of what a “typical” religious experience was in its day, and made an impact on their community by getting the gospel out.
Let’s talk about the book of Acts for a minute:
The book is written by Luke. He is not an Apostle, he was a doctor. And he didn’t drive a bmw with a lot of respect from the community. Those in the medical profession were not as well appreciated in this day.
It was written in 62-63 AD, about 30 years after Jesus’ resurrection.
This is Luke’s second letter to Theopolis and begins with that great commission.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8
Luke wrote this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit showing the legitimacy of the church and Christianity.
We find ourselves in chapter 2 today after the ascension of Christ and the return of the apostles to the upper room.
They didn’t run this time like they did before but now they have done what Jesus told them to…wait for the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit comes all the disciples speak in tongues or other known languages that are easily understood by a person that knows the language.
Then Peter preaches. The majority of Acts 2 is his message.
I wanted us to focus in on Acs 2:36-47
Follow along on a few of those verses
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Acts 2:36-39
Exegete: Peter is preaching to the Jews that are in Jerusalem for the feast of weeks which is 50 days after Easter Sunday.
He has waited on the Holy Spirit of God and is now preaching with power and conviction about Jesus.
He declares to the Israelites that Jesus is the God and the Messiah and they are responsible for his crucifixion.
they respond to this preaching by asking “what shall we do?”
They are convicted.
This is a ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Notice with me in
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 16:8
While the first mention of the Holy Spirit of God is in John 14, we see here Jesus is speaking about Him and what he will do when He comes.
The Holy Spirit will convict the world of Sin, of righteousness and judgement.
Peter obeying the Holy Spirit here has seen the result of the Holy Spirits ministry in Peter’s life: conviction of sin.
If we look at Peter before this moment, we would say this is not the same Peter. Yes, he is still bold in speech but before this Peter hid from the Israelites after Jesus was crucifed. The Peter that is now preaching Jesus to 3000 had just a couple months ago denied Jesus 3 times to small groups.
The difference between these two peter’s? Obedience.
Illustrate:
In 1999 John F. Kennedy Jr. flew his small airplane from New York City to his family home in Massachusetts for a wedding. On board were his wife Carolyn and her sister. Though Kennedy was a licensed pilot, he had not yet been approved for instrument flight (using only instruments to navigate). When their takeoff was delayed until after dark, Kennedy should have waited for daylight or sought a more experienced pilot to help. Yet, Kennedy took off into the darkness. The plane never reached its destination, and all three passengers were killed in the crash.
Investigators determined that the crash was likely caused by disorientation from flying over open water at night without any landmarks or visible horizon. Kennedy’s lack of experience may well have led him to trust what he thought he was seeing more than what his instrument panel was telling him.
All of us face the temptation to walk according to sight instead of faith. Faith in God will keep us from crashing. Human reason will fail us at times, but God never fails. His Word keeps us on the right course as long as we obey it.
Argue:
A person might say to me “What God is calling me to do, is impossible,” or “If I obey God, I won’t be able to do what I want to do.”
In my lifetime, I’ve never heard someone say “I regret obeying God.” “I regret becoming a missionary. I regret being a pastor. I regret being obedient with my finances. I regret serving the Lord through the church. I regret sharing the gospel.”
O sure, we can regret the mistakes we made. However, following God by faith can lead to results you would never have dreamed.
Apply:
Peter was obedient to God by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and it resulted in the conviction and salvation of many.
If you are here this morning and don’t know Jesus as your Savior, the first step of obedience is to trust in His death burial and resurrection as your only hope for Heaven.
If you are a Christian here today, what is your next step of faith and obedience? What is keeping you from following the Lord by faith to see what He can do with your life?
Peter Obeyed, and people were saved. They recieved the gift oof salvation and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
It could be said
I. The Gift of Salvation is the gift of God’s Presence
I. The Gift of Salvation is the gift of God’s Presence
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 Cor 6:19
When we respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God we are indwelled with His presence. We have that same power that Peter had. Not the same gifts, and that is a different study altogether, but we have the same power. We have the same purpose, to preach the gospel to others.
Exegete:
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 16:8
The Holy Spirit will not only reprove or convict the world of sin, The Holy Spirit convicts of righteousness. Look with me at what that looks like.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Acts 2:40-45
Peter continued to testify about Jesus and the people believed.
Those that believed were baptized. Then what did they do? They continued steadfastly in the doctrine, breaking of bread, and prayers.
They were discipled and stayed with the group. They observed the Lord’s Supper together and prayed together.
They were apart of the church.
Where did this come from? 3000 people that were apart of crucifying Christ have now publicly identified with Christ and are apart of the community they wanted destroyed.
How did this drastic change happen?The presence of the Holy Spirit and their yielding to Him resulted in Obedience.
They trusted in Jesus and recieved the presence of the Holy Spirit. Their lives are completely changed.
Illustrate:
Several years ago in an interview during his battle with cancer, theologian Francis Schaeffer said, “The only way to be foolishly happy in this world is to be young enough, well enough, and have money enough—and not give a care about other people. But as soon as you don’t have any of the first three, or if you have compassion for the weeping world around you, then it is impossible to have the foolish kind of happiness that I believe some Christians present as Christianity.” Francis Schaeffer quoted in Our Daily Bread, July 23, 1997, 10,000 sermon illustrations. 2000 (electronic ed.). Biblical Studies Press: Dallas
"What is our greatest need in life? Is it to be happy? We may long for a change in our circumstances, and sometimes that’s what we get. But a changed life is our deepest need. Changed circumstances may make us happier, but a changed life will make us better, for it will make us like Christ." Our Daily Bread, July 23, 1997, 10,000 sermon illustrations. 2000 (electronic ed.). Biblical Studies Press: Dallas
When you think of life change, what do you think about? More money? Better health? A state with less taxes?
That’s not life change, that is a change of circumstances.
No matter your circumstances your life can still be terrible.
Argue:
I was talking to my kids about obedience and blessings the other night. I do believe there are blessings to being obedient to God.
As I was teaching on this subject, I made sure to remind them to not look around at the physical blessings we have. Why? Because if you believe that physical blessings are a result of godly obedience, you have a wrong theology.
There are Christians in Afghanistan, the Ukraine, China, Iraq, and Iran with a stronger walk with the Lord than you or I have. Yet here we are in our heated building with lights and no fear of government intrusion.
One of the greatest blessings of having a changed life is no longer having your joy tied to the physical blessings of this world. Your joy rests with Jesus and is found in your obedience to Him.
Apply: With the presence of the Holy Spirt we are no longer in bondage to sin we are are free to trust and obey the Lord.
You and I as Christians have the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives. You have His presence. You are no longer waiting upon the Lord. He is with you and will nor forsake you.
What is stopping you from being obedient to Christ in serving? What is stopping you from being obedient to Christ sharing the gospel? What is stopping you from being obedient to Christ in your humility and love for others?
II. God’s Presence leads us to gospel driven obedience
II. God’s Presence leads us to gospel driven obedience
When we know the Lord and understand His presence, we find ourselves being more and more obedient.
When you put your faith in Jesus, you have His presence and don’t need to wait for Him to give a sign as to how you should be obedient, seek His Word, seek out mature believers, and just jump in.
That’s faith. Faith in God to provide the results when you provide the obedience.
Faith filled, gospel fueld obedience to the Lord will not look the same in your life as everyone esle’s. God may call you to smaller steps of faith compared to others but that doesn’t mean they are of less value. God may call you to great steps of faith and that doesn’t make you more righteous.
The Apostle’s had been called to a great step of faith “preach he gospel to everyone” And that wasn’t a time when people were friendly to the gospel message. I don’t mean, they were just mocked or ridiculed for the faith, they were martyred, killed for their faith.
Peter has taken a great step now preaching to 3000+ people in the town were less than two months earlier they crucified the man he is preaching about.
Notice the result of his obedience
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Acts 2:46-47
Exegete:
Those who heard him preaching have now trusted in Jesus as their Savior. They have been baptized, they are learning from the apostles and spending time with other believers in their church.
A church without a building. A church without a name. A church without a formalize organization chart and 501c3.
As the church they were not looking to the Apostles, the pastors of the day, to be the only ones following the teachings of Christ and caring for others.
As the church they were caring for each other AND they were evangelizing on their own. the end of verse 47 reads “The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
People were being saved daily. How was this taking place? Were the 11 Apostles bringing people to Jesus daily? that’s very likely. However we see in Acts 6 they really didn’t want much taking away from their time in the Word and prayer.
So who was evangelizing? Who was God using to build the church of Jerusalem up to its staggering number of 5000 men according Acts 4? The people.
The people who were willing to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.
Illustrate:
Let me tell you a story about two win boys named Mark and Adam.
One day, when the boys were 14, Mark and Adams dad gave them both a project. They each had to build their own bookshelf for their room. He gave them detailed, written instruction, and let them go.
Their dad came back a few hours later to see the finished project only to find that Mark had built it upside down and was missing shelves, whereas Adam had already finished with a couple missing screws but with his books and decorative items on it.
Their dad asked mark, “Son, what happened how did you fail so miserably?”
Mark said ‘Dad, I read what you said to do and thought I could do it better if I did it my own way.”
Their dad turned to Adam and said “Adam, is that what you did to?”
Adam responded “No dad. I knew I didn’t know what was best for this so I followed your instructions and obeyed what you wrote. It turned out better than I expected.”
In the end, their dad loved them both and helped Mark fix his mistakes.
If your Heavenly father looked at your life, which bookshelf would you have ready for Him?
One that is upside down and missing shelves, not as beautiful and impactful as it could be, or one that may not be perfect but is as close as you could get it to what He desired it to be for you?
Argue:
The Holy Spirit and the Word of God were not given to us for us to ignore. They were given to us to glorify God with our lives and for our good.
Some view the Holy Spirit as someone who works only in emotionns, or He is just the comforter.
That’s not what we read in
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
John 16:8-11
How does He do this? Through us.
Apply:
Through our obedience to Him and the Word of God.
Has the Holy Spirit prompted you to witness to someone? hand out an outreach card or now one of our easter invites?
Apologize to someonne? Reoncile a relaitonship?
How is the Holy Spirit leading you to be obedient and you are deciding to build your own shelf?
Becuase building your own shelf can lead to failure.
However
III. Gospel driven obedience leads to victory
III. Gospel driven obedience leads to victory
Gospel driven, faith based obedience, leads to victories you can’t imagine.
God does great things when God’s people are faithfully obedient to Him and His Word.
Time of Response
Time of Response
