When There Is A New Reformation (p)
An Undeniable Experience with God
When God Shows Up!
When There Is A New Reformation
Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4
“Cultural anthropologists have discovered that approximately 90 percent of the cultures on the face of this planet have and enjoy the ability to enter into trance, ecstasy, or a similar altered state of consciousness with ease.”[1] In fact, “From their study of the human brain and nervous system, cognitive neuro-scientists have concluded that God has incredibly ‘hard-wired’ the human body for ASC experiences.”[2] So, it seems clear that God wants to show up in our lives! Therefore, I am preaching this series of message entitled: “An Undeniable Experience with God” or “When God Shows Up!”
(We honor those of you who are grandparents and encourage you to take seriously your place in the lives of your children and grandchildren. I would normally preach a message just for us grandparents, but I’m in the middle of this very important series, so please forgive me, as I plod towards finishing it.)
· In the first message, I discussed God’s leading for this series and the differences between Mediterranean culture and American culture—particularly as they relate to dealing with experiences.
· In the second message, we began to look at six (6) stories that deal with undeniable experiences with God or six times when God shows up.
· The encounter that we explored in the second message was when God showed up in the life of Abraham (test).
· In the third message, we explored the encounter that Moses had with Jehovah, through a burning bush (mission).
· In the fourth message, we explored how God showed up, when Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah. (God showed up when Elijah was challenging the nation of Israel to make a godly choice.)
· In the fifth message, we explored the encounter that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had with God. (God showed up when they stood against the godless culture of Babylon.)
Today we move to God showing up at a pivotal point in the history of redemption.
(Please notice with me Luke 24:49. I’ll read this aloud for us, as you follow along silently.
Now, please notice with me Acts 2:1-4. I’ll also read this aloud for us.
(Let’s talk first about:)
I. The Expectation.
1. Great expectations for the spiritual versus virtually none!
2. The Mediterranean expectation of holy men.
3. The expectation of Christ’s prophetic promise of power.
Consequently, the point is, the people of the Bible expected God to show up, when we simply don’t!
(We’ve consider expectation, so let’s look at:)
II. The Environment (Circumstance).
The two passages that I read are the promise and the fulfillment of the promise.
I’ve studied these and other related passages in great detail and the promise/fulfillment motif is historically, exegetically, grammatically, and theologically certain.
So, the environment entailed the following:
1. The expectation of a prophetic promise.
Spirit and Kingdom in the Writings of Luke and Paul affirms my thesis that Luke is writing from a different theological perspective than Paul and should not be read through Paul. When we let Luke speak for himself,
· the promise of the Holy Spirit,
· the promise of the Father,
· the filling of the Holy Spirit,
· the baptism in the Holy Spirit,
· being clothed with power from on high,
· etc.,
all refer to the empowering of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost! So, the disciples and their company had an expectation of being clothed with power from on high.
We not only have a lack of expectation for spiritual things, we have a bias against spiritual things! I’ll deal with this bias shortly.
(We move forward.)
2. They were waiting in an upper room.
In Luke 24:49, the word “stay” is translated “tarry,” in the KJV. Extreme Pentecostals have taken that word and filled it with unwarranted practices (examples).
However the word “tarry,” in the Greek, means to wait! The disciples were waiting in an upper room, in Jerusalem, for the promise of the Holy Spirit.
This is the contrast of
· working versus waiting,
· trying versus trusting,
· the flesh versus the Spirit,
· religion versus relationship with Christ, and
· idolatry versus invocation of the true and living God.
(The environment is also seen in the fact that:)
3. They were all together.
They were all in the upper room. All of the close followers of Jesus gathered in that upper room.
There are times when all who are serious about the promises of Jesus should gather together.
(Finally, the environment is seen in the fact that:)
4. They were all together in one place.
The phrase “in one place,” means literally on one accord. We assume that they were praying while they were waiting and this praying was done “on one accord.” Jack Hayford wrote in his Spirit Filled Life Bible For Students, “The word means “being unanimous,” “having mutual consent,” “being in agreement,” “having group unity,” “having one mind and purpose.”
No wonder the devil tries to break our unity: he’s trying to keep us from being filled with the Spirit!
Please understand that according to the prophetic typology, the Holy Spirit was scheduled to come on The Great Day of Pentecost. So, these environmental characteristics didn’t make the Holy Spirit come or guarantee His coming. These circumstances were more preparatory than conditional!
The Holy Spirit came to earth in a whole new dispensation, dynamic, and dimension. He came:
1. To empower the NT. Saints with the spirit of prophecy.
2. To empower the NT. Saints to be spokespersons for the NT. Reformation.
3. To empower the NT. Saints to proclaim the Kingdom, i.e. the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ!
We are in the midst of a new reformation! That reformation is called Biblecostal™ Theology.
(How does the Biblecostal™ Reformation fit in with the Protestant Reformation?)
1. I believe that the Protestant Reformation is still going on and the Biblecostal™ Reformation is a part of the Protestant Reformation.
2. There are truths of the first-century Church that were lost, but which God is restoring. Furthermore,
3. I believe that the Protestant Reformation was incomplete.
It was meant not only to restore the truths that were lost from the first century Church, but the power also.
Dr. Bill Hamon sees the Protestant Reformation as one of the historic moves of God in the scheme of God’s restoration. A truly Holy Spirit-inspired movement will bring revelation and enlightenment of certain Scriptures that reveal truths and practices which were lost during the Dark Ages of the Church and which have not been properly understood and practiced. Using his terminology, we are not really a historic move of God, but we are facilitating a revival of truths that have already been restored—even though they may not have been totally accepted.
Therefore, I use the word “reformation” because Biblecostal™ Theology is a reformation of the theology and practices of The House of the Lord and Evangelicalism, with respect to the Holy Spirit.
(We have covered the expectation and the environment. Now, let’s consider:)
III. The Experience.
Suddenly! When you have the promise, the proper expectation, and the proper preparation, it becomes a “Suddenly Season!” Suddenly, God showed up in the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
Have you experienced the sudden empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit?
In Acts 2:1-4, we see three manifestations of the Holy Spirit that accompanied His coming to earth in a new way. They are:
1. A noise from heaven like a violent, rushing wind that filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Wind and Spirit are also linked together by John.
The sound of the Holy Spirit filled the whole house where they were sitting. The sound of the Holy Spirit completely filled and engulfed the house, i.e. the sound of Pentecost.
These manifestations do not occur each time we are empowered by the Spirit today, because there is only one initial coming of the Holy Spirit to earth.
We can liken Pentecost to the birth of Jesus.
Nevertheless, have you every heard the sound of Pentecost; the sound of the Holy Spirit?
(Let’s look at the second manifestation of the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit.)
2. Split tongues that looked like fire were distributing themselves among them and they rested on each one of them.
“The audible sign is followed by a visible one (Knowling). ‘Fire had always been, with the Jews, the symbol of the Divine presence (cf. Exodus 3:2; Deut. 5:4).
According to what I have been studying about the synoptic writers, the fire must represent the presence of God, in power, to proclaim the Gospel!
Have you experienced the fire of God in your heart and mouth to proclaim the Gospel?
(Okay, let’s look at the third manifestation of the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit.)
3. They spoke with spiritual languages that they had never learned, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
This was inspired speech, which accompanied three of the five times that the filling of the Holy Spirit took place in the book of Acts.
This inspired language not only accompanied the filling of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit was the source of this inspired language.
This inspired language is characteristic of the spirit of prophecy and is a manifestation that signals the power of the Holy Spirit is resident to proclaim the Kingdom through proclaiming the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.
This manifestation and miracle appears to be normative.
· Has God ever shown up in Holy Spirit power in your life and manifested Himself through the manifestation of tongues?
· Have you experienced the power and ecstasy of spiritual language?
· It is an undeniable experience with God!
Those in the upper room had no expectation of inspired language, that we are aware of, but they had no bias against it, which we do! So, here is a list of reasons why we are biased against speaking in tongues:
1) The history of the church, which moved to institutionalize speaking in tongues and move it away from the people.
2) B. B. Warfield’s response to the abuses and extremes with respect to tongues in the early 1900’s was accepted and widely affirmed.
1) Cessationism.
2) Pauliolatry.
3) No place for the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
However, believe this: Paul has a much more dynamic view of the Holy Spirit than we can imagine! The Evangelical author of The Graham Formula lists 39 NT verses that deal with the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Saints!
3) Bias against tongues, because of past abuse.
4) Because of all of these eventualities, there is little biblical teaching on tongues—and this lack of teaching does away with any expectation of speaking in tongues.
5) Personality Issues.
Hebrew culture versus Greek culture:
(1) Issues of intellectualism.
(2) Issues of pride.
(3) Issues of misunderstanding.
(4) Issues of control.
(5) Issues of abuse, which have deadened, suppressed, or repressed the emotions.
(6) Issues of fear.
(7) Issues of God’s sovereignty.
(And what are we to learn from what happened on The Great Day of Pentecost? What is:)
IV. The Example (Principle).
1. We should learn from the disciples of Jesus that we should not leave Jerusalem or move on with our lives, until we are clothed with power from on high.
2. We should learn that this clothing with power has been promised to us, according to:
Acts 2:38-39, “38 Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
3. We should be all together.
4. We should be on one accord.
5. Because we are in the middle of a reformation, we should have great expectation for God to show up!
(Now is the Day of Salvation. Come to Jesus, now!)
Invitation
Call to Discipleship
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[1] John J. Pilch, The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1999, p. 81.
[2] Pilch, John J., Visions and Healing in the Acts of the Apostles: How Early Believers Experienced God. Collegeville Minnesota: Liturgical Press 2004, 22.