Today is Day 49 in the count to Pentecost -> this evening Pentecost starts at sundown. Today we will be speaking about the Coming of the Holy Spirit and what that means to Christians. We will be looking at the Spirit and the workings of the Spirit.
We know of the good fruit of the Spirit – and how we endeavor to put on those attributes so that we will be God-like. We all want to be more loveable, joyful, peaceful, patient and long-suffering, kind to others, good and faithful, faithful, meek and possessing self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
We strive to put on the very characteristics of God while putting off all ungodly attributes which are bad fruit. One way we begin to put on the Spirit is by laying aside all malice and hatefulness, and all guile and backbiting, and hypocrisies and ulterior motives, and envies and pridefulness and trying to be something we’re not, and all lies and speaking evil. (1 Peter 2:1)
In the Church, we sometimes tell ourselves that we are ready for the Kingdom of God – that we are ready to reign and rule with Jesus for a thousand years. But I think that every one of us would agree that we do not yet possess the judgment of God. Are we ready to judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).
Thankfully Jesus is the Judge – but aren’t we in training to be just like Him? Or, which of us has the ability to quicken – to give life – but we will.
1 Corinthians 15:
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [Jesus Christ] was made a quickening Spirit.
Are any of us capable of discerning a person’s character so perfectly that we would dare give them eternal life? Brethren, we are not yet ready and prepared for the Kingdom. This life that we are now given is for the purpose of growing up in Spirit – growing up in Christ. Here is our stated goal:
Ephesians 4:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, [that does not exist in God’s Church – what are we personally doing about it?] and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies…
Every joint supplies… Let’s not hesitate to ask ourselves – “What is it that I’m supplying to demonstrate that we brethren are one body of believers?” Am I part of the healing process, or do I wait on others to always make the first move?
Jesus described God’s Spirit in various ways to the disciples—and yet they were not at all clear about God’s Spirit prior to Pentecost. For years in God’s Church, the most common description of the Holy Spirit was that it was the “power of God.”
And while that is not incorrect, “power” is only one of the multitudinous characteristics of God’s Spirit.
If you think of God’s Spirit – as only His power – you severely limit the countless attributes of God’s wonderful workings. God’s Spirit is His mercy – His compassion – His perfect love and concern for each of us…
When Christ lives in us through His Spirit, we begin to put on His ways, His faith, His attitude, His sacrifice, His character, His mercy – all of His attributes and characteristics like forgiveness, and love [not hate towards others] – we must become just like Him!
Every characteristic of Jesus must be in our minds and in our hearts – replacing all the sinful and wrong thought patterns which once defined us.
That is what “Christ in us – the hope of glory,” means. (Colossians 1:27)
Jesus must replace the "old man of sin," that we were – and He must be in our hearts and minds for us to have eternal God-life in the resurrection.
1 John 4:
13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him [Jesus Christ], and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit."
John 14:
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
That is God’s Spirit and Life in us.
Paul explains that though we suffer, Jesus lives in us. And I want you to notice how Paul drives the point home – by repeating himself.
2 Corinthians 4:
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
When people see us –do they see the life of Jesus in us?
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
Paul is speaking of Jesus living His life in us so that His life becomes apparent in the way we live – laying down our lives for each other and sacrificing for others.
A lack of understanding of the true nature of God was one of—if not the chief—doctrinal error responsible for the breakup of the Worldwide Church of God.
Yes, there were the issues with the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and doing away with the Ten Commandments – but the overt ignorance with regard to God’s Spirit was the most telling sign of the unconverted apostates.
Those who went along with and supported the Tkach regime were much more comfortable with the heretical Catholic and Protestant notion of a three-fold, triune or trinity god. Joe Tkach and his synagogue of Satan devotees totally rejected the true understanding of God’s Spirit and reverted back to the pagan belief they once held—that the Holy Spirit is a third distinct “person” who is equal to God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Tkaches think that they have had the last laugh—but God is not mocked. God will absolutely uphold the dignity of His faithful saints who were unlovingly cast out.
Revelation 3:
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are [spiritually] Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Notice the defining word in this verse—worship. Only God is to be worshipped, so this means that the true saints will have been inducted into the Family of God at the resurrection Pentecost.
Okay, we are speaking of the Coming of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity has become the test of orthodoxy for Catholics and Protestants. Simply put: From their perspective, if one does not embrace the Trinitarian concept—you cannot be recognized as “Christian.” That is how successful Satan has been in disseminating his heresy with regard to God’s Spirit.
It is only the true brethren of God’s Church who have had their minds opened to receive the Truth of God’s Spirit—and that is that the Holy Spirit is the Life, Power, Love and Mind of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
God’s Holy Spirit is consistently made clear from Genesis to Revelation—but only to God’s called and chosen people—the rest of the world remains in darkness and ignorance as to the true nature of God. God prophesied in the Old Testament that He would give of His Spirit to all men.
Let’s look at a few examples. We are shown that Peter was familiar with these Old Testament verses and realized that he was witnessing their fulfillment on that first New Testament Pentecost.
Joel 2:
28 It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.
Speaking to Israel God said:
Isaiah 44:
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
Ezekiel 39 - takes place at the end of the tribulation and at the time of establishment of the Kingdom of God coming on the earth.
Ezekiel 39:
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; ow will I bring again [those of] the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
God in His mercy and grace saves a remnant of our children from the Great Tribulation:
28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them there anymore.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
Certainly, there were prophets of old who had received God’s Spirit. Brethren, because we think that are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing… we are in jeopardy. We have the entire Bible. We have literature with all the doctrine of God explained… We have the Holy Days and understand the Plan of God through their meanings. We have it all. We know and have been made a part of God’s Plan of Salvation.
We cannot begin to put ourselves in the shoes of the early prophets who were given so little understanding—and yet they were inspired to begin to put the words of God down on parchment.
1 Peter 1:
10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Every word of Scripture that they wrote was inspired by God through His Spirit. “Inspired” simply means that God’s Spirit was in them. God the Father and Jesus Christ share the one and the same God-Life—the same Spirit.
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
God’s Spirit was in the Old Testament prophets. The Promise of the Father is God’s Holy Spirit working in a new intimate and personal way with those called to conversion. Jesus told his disciples when and where the Coming of the Holy Spirit would take place. They knew the time and the place to assemble. They knew Jerusalem like the back of their hand.
Luke 24:
49 And, behold, I will send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Can you imagine the excited expectation of the 120 brethren as they gathered together as Pentecost was arriving?
Acts 1:
1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
That discourse of which Luke speaks of is the Gospel Book of Luke. Luke begins here with the ascension of Jesus Christ forty days after Christ’s resurrection to life. Do not confuse the two events—the resurrection and the ascension. Jesus was resurrected to life by His Father after three days and three nights in the grave. At about 9 am the next morning, the Wave Sheaf morning, Jesus privately ascended to His Father to have His life’s work accepted.
No one witnessed Jesus go or return from His brief appointment with His Father in heaven. But here we are reading about Jesus ascension forty days later—witnessed by all the disciples.
Acts 1:
2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God:
Now, let’s remember that Jesus had given them very specific instructions regarding the following Feast of Pentecost. We saw those Old Testament Scriptures where God promised to send His Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:
4 And, [Jesus] being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.
How many? – how about ten days? What must they have thought about Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
Plunged into the Spirit of God…
Immersed in the Holy Spirit…
Made partakers of the Spirit of God…
But, they were not thinking that clearly—their minds were on physical pursuits. They were thinking of the Glory days of Solomon when Israel ruled the world… They wanted to see those Glory days of Israel. They were thinking of their positions in the army of God—Generals fighting alongside of King Jesus…
Acts 1:
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Jesus gently tells them that their carnal expectations were neither here nor there.
7 And [Jesus] said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Jesus then redirects the narrative back to the subject at hand—the Day of Pentecost and the Coming of the Holy Spirit.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit 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!
Wow! What a job Jesus had laid out for them!
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? [probably with their mouths open] this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.
13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an
16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit by the mouth of David spoke before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.
17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.
God called the Gentile Cornelius, the centurion and sent Peter to him. A Centurion was a very important military man in charge of and commanding a hundred soldiers. I want to turn there for a moment because it reveals the working of God through His Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:
1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, [Gentile]
What could a Gentile know of the true God???
2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his household, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.
A generous and devout man.
3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:
Peter's clean and unclean vision that taught him that Gentiles were not unclean.
Acts 10:
19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
God – through His Spirit is orchestrating all these events.
Acts 10:
20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
You don’t have to be cautious or fearful– “I’m in this experience.”
21 Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?
“What can I do for you?” Peter asks. In this next verse we see how Cornelius obtained some of his knowledge of the true God.
Acts 10:
22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that fears God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.
23 Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
24 And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends.
Quite a group awaiting Peter. But realize that Peter is circumcised and the Gentiles are not circumcised—the two did not normally mix together. That distinction of keeping a distance from the uncircumcised Gentile was deeply embedded and ingrained in Peter’s psyche. And we find later in the Scriptures that this was a weakness in Peter. Peter was not entirely comfortable.
Galatians 2:
14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, live after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compel thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
Peter did not accept that kind of adulation, reverence or hero worship. Sadly, today, some ministers expect and encourage a type of hero-worship – that is wrong! Adoration is for God alone.
Acts 10:
26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together.
Peter obeys God and not man – when there is a conflict.
Acts 10:
28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
29 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?
30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man [angel] stood before me in bright clothing,
31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
32 Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee.
33 Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.
34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said [to a large contingent of Cornelius’ family and household.], Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Peter had just learned that salvation was not only for the Jews and Israel – but for all men everywhere. The Church of God has had a problem in looking down on people in the world – as though we had made ourselves Christians by our own efforts.
Acts 10:
35 But in every nation he that fears [God], and works righteousness, is accepted with him.
36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
Peter is still getting used to this new idea that Salvation is for all men.
Act 10:
37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
…the power to accomplish God’s will through the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:
39 And we [the apostles, or certain brethren from Joppa who accompanied Peter] are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hung on a tree:
40 Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly;
41 Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
44 While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word.
45 And they of the circumcision [Jews] which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.
How else would God’s will be made known without this tremendous and public display of God’s Spirit? Here is an example of many people receiving God's Holy Spirit before they were baptized: What was the evidence that they had really received God’s Holy Spirit?
Acts 10:
46 For they heard them speak with tongues [foreign languages], and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?
48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
God acted by sending His Holy Spirit to un-baptized individuals in order to punctuate the fact that He was working in a new and powerful way among men. God gave His Holy Spirit to some of the Gentiles, before baptism, to make it known that His will was that all nations, not only Israelites, were to become Christians and have salvation. There were unanswered questions that could only be resolved by direct signs and miracles form God.
The New Testament Church of God - brethren led and motivated by God's Holy Spirit - was coming into existence. Let me conclude with this thought:
We have just seen where Peter learned that God’s salvation extends to all men.
Do we know that in God’s Church today? It is a most important lesson! In this last era of the Church – have we forgotten this lesson that God established with such signs and miracles?
From our close relationship with God flows our relationship with other people – especially all those who are of our household of Faith.
Clearly, as members of the spiritual body we have an obligation to express love to our neighbors, both in the world and in ALL the Church of God.
The divisions that exist within the Church at this time do not give us an excuse not to practice this important aspect of God’s law of love and togetherness. We have a responsibility to live confidently by what we believe and to demonstrate love and compassion toward all people.
This should especially apply to those who have been called by God at this time no matter with what fellowship they have chosen to associate with. God knows the heart of each of His people and He is their judge, not us.
Pentecost, representing the beginning of the New Testament Church by the outpouring of God’s Spirit is a very good time to consider our responsibility to supplying togetherness and oneness to the body of Christ.
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| Sermon: |
"Coming of the Holy Spirit (Part 1)" |
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| Sermon: |
"Coming of the Holy Spirit (Part 2)" |
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