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Unless there is a possibility of yielding, temptation is no temptation. Temptation comes and is resisted when man is powerfully influenced to do a wrong action, and knowing that he can do it, resists by faith, with a firm hold upon divine power.—Manuscript 29, March 17, 1899, “Sacrificed for Us.”. TextSniper is simple and easy to use text recognition tool for your Mac. It extracts any text within selected portion on your screen and turns it into editable text. Easily recognize text from graphics, digital documents and videos. You can have TextSniper speak the recognized text whenever you need it.
Biblenote
DEMONSTRATION OF THE SPIRIT’S POWER
1 Corinthians 2:1-16
Key Verse 4
“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power”
Introduction
In today’s passage, Paul teaches us that God’s wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit. It means that we should depend on the Holy Spirit, not on mere human wisdom. Human wisdom has no power to save a person from sin and Satan. Only God has the power to save a person. May God help us to be powerful Bible teachers by depending on the Holy Spirit everyday!
Read verses 1- 5. What was Paul’s resolution when he was with the Corinthians? (1-2) How did Paul come to the Corinth? (3) What did he do to demonstrate the Spirit’s power when he preached? (4-5)
1-1, Read verses 1- 5.
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
1-2, What was Paul’s resolution when he was with the Corinthians? (1-2)
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Before coming to Corinth, Paul was in Athens (Ac 17:16-34). He was distressed to see that the city was full of idols.
The Athenians spent most of their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. As Paul reasoned with them, a group of philosophers began to dispute with him.
Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” Paul preached to them the Creator God who made the world and everything in it.
He told them that God cannot be represented by man’s design and skill. He proclaimed to them repentance and the message of Jesus’ resurrection.
Upon hearing this, some of them sneered and others wanted to discuss it further. But only a few of them believed. Paul was disappointed. He felt that he had failed as an evangelist.
Despite the experience, Paul made a resolution when he came to Corinth. What was that? He decided not to rely on human wisdom. Paul resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
We learn from Paul how we can be good Bible teachers.We should not rely on our human wisdom. We are tempted to beautify the cross, but we do not need to.
1-3, How did Paul come to the Corinth? (3)
I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
These words seem strange for someone who is trying to impress his hearers.
But they are the words of a man of humility after Christ’s heart. Paul was genuine and sincere in all that he says. He did not pretend at power and authority.
He did not hide his weakness, but shared it with the family of God. Indeed God loves the humble man who relies on God in all things, even in exposing his own weaknesses and fears.
Therefore, in all humility of heart Paul expressed to the church at Corinth the condition he was in at the time he had come to them.
Those who try to impress, often are in the habit of seeking the praise of men. In the Gospel work, it is evident that there are always those who seek the praise of men and those who seek the praise of God.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 reads,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Again Paul had no confidence in himself. He humbled himself before God. He wasn’t sure how the Corinthians would respond to the message of the cross.
He might have been apprehensive. His memory from Athens was still fresh. However, he decided to preach the message of the cross with absolute faith.
God came to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”
So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half teaching the word of God (Ac 18:9-11). Corinth was a difficult city to pioneer due to a pleasure seeking culture.
But Paul preached the gospel boldly there. He did not depend on himself, but on God’s power. God blessed his message without fail.
1-4, What did he do to demonstrate the Spirit’s power when he preached? (4-5)
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
Paul says that his message and his preaching were not particularly wise or persuasive. He preached simply the message of the cross.
When he preached the message of the cross, God demonstrated the Spirit’s power by changing the hearts of sinners.
A synagogue ruler named Crispus and his entire family members were converted (Ac 18:8). Many penny-pinching merchants accepted Christ as their Lord.
It was the power of God that changed these people. Paul said that God demonstrated the Spirit’s power in them.
Likewise, we should preach the gospel of Jesus’ cross and resurrection simply and with conviction. We don’t have to worry about the wisdom of our message.
Our wisdom cannot change anyone spiritually, no matter how persuasive. Only the Holy Spirit can change a person in Christ.
To be excellent Bible teachers, we need to have absolute faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
D.L. Moody (1837-1899) was an American evangelist with only a grade school education. He went to England standing before highly educated people and preached the simple message, resulting in the Cambridge Seven.
The gospel is a message of God’s power. Human wisdom is useless for salvation. Only God’s power can set us free from our bondage to sin and death, changing us to faithful disciples of Jesus.
Paul’s message touched their hearts and brought a change within that no man could ever hope to bring to the broken soul.
His simple Gospel invited faith, and faith invited repentance, and repentance invited forgiveness and forgiveness invited the Holy Spirit who came upon them.
Then they were rescued them from eternal condemnation and brought them back to God as his holy and beloved children.
To every man or woman who are interested in how to deliver the message of the Gospel, Paul offers us a secret.
The message must be simple such that even a child could understand it. The message must expose sin and its consequences.
The message must exalt Christ and his sacrifice of atonement on behalf of the sinner. The message must be directed at the core of the heart each person.
Read verses 6-9. To whom did Paul give a message of wisdom? (6) How is God’s wisdom different from the world’s? (7) What did the rulers of this age do to Jesus when they didn’t understand the message of God’s wisdom? (8) To whom does God reveal this wisdom? (9)
2-1, Read verses 6-9.
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—
2-2, To whom did Paul give a message of wisdom? (6)
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
Paul teaches us that God’s wisdom is different from that of worldly wisdom. When we have God’s wisdom, we grow in spiritual maturity.
If we need to know something nowadays, you can simply “Google” it on our smartphones. The wisdom of this world brought much progress to human life.
But no matter how advanced the wisdom of this age may be, it cannot lead us to God, because we need God’s wisdom to know him and his will.
2-3, How is God’s wisdom different from the world’s? (7)
7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
His wisdom or his salvation plan through his Son Jesus Christ was hidden plainly in the Old Testament, beginning from Genesis 3:15.
God had a plan to send his Son as the Savior of the world. Jesus would crush Satan’s head through his cross and resurrection.
However, none of the rulers of the age, including the Jewish leaders, understood or accepted this wisdom of God. It was hidden from them.
All the wisdom that the world boasts about, it could not fathom even the simplest of Godly wisdom. His wisdom will only rescue the sinful race from inevitable eternal condemnation.
2-4, What did the rulers of this age do to Jesus when they didn’t understand the message of God’s wisdom? (8)
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Pontius Pilate was an expert in law and politics, but he had the Lord of glory crucified, because he didn’t understand God’s secret wisdom.
Why did God hide His wisdom? It was to give it to only the people whom he loved. He did not want to throw pearls to pigs who would trample on it.
2-5, To whom does God reveal this wisdom? (9)
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—
When we open our hearts to God, he reveals to us his wisdom by his Spirit. The Spirit moves our hearts to love and accept Jesus in our hearts.
This verse might have been intended to comfort those who were going through trials, persecution, and sufferings due to their love for Jesus.
Read verses 10-16. What does the Spirit of God do? (10-11) How can we understand what God has freely given us? (12) Who can discern and explain spiritual things? (13, 14) What privileges does the spiritual man have? (15-16)
3-1, Read verses 10-16.
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
3-2, What does the Spirit of God do? (10-11)
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Just as in many things, we understand each other because we have a human spirit that shares the same human experiences and culture, which help us understand the world we all live in, so also by the Spirit of God who lives in us, we understand spiritual things which God has shared with us. And indeed they are glorious things that God reveals to his beloved children.
God’s Spirit is our spiritual search engine. Instead of “Googling” on the internet, we pray and ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Only through the Holy Spirit can we understand God’s heart. The word of God is the truth of the Spirit. When we get into His living words, we can see God’s heart.
3-3, How can we understand what God has freely given us? (12)
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
God created us a spiritual being as well as a physical being. Man = body + spirit. We also learn that there is a spiritual world and there is a physical world. *
Unfortunately when man sinned, both man’s body and spirit died. Man came under the rule of Satan—the spirit of the world.
That’s why Jesus had to come to baptize us with the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds us that we believers received the Spirit who is from God.
We have to know the difference between life with the Spirit of God and life without the Spirit of God.
So what was the problem among the Corinthian believers? The problem was that they thought they had a lot of wisdom. They were proud of their own knowledge.
They were eloquent speakers and great debaters. In their pride, they began to quarrel among themselves. The message of the cross was set aside.
In this situation, they could not live a life with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit could not work among them, because they would not open their hearts to God’s words.
We often times mistreat or take for granted the indwelling Spirit within us, putting him in a corner somewhere, and ignoring him.
Our life does not show that we are filled with the Spirit. We must repent of our sins and turn our hearts to God in order to be filled with the Spirit.
Luke 11:13 reads,
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
We should realize that there is a big difference between a life led by the Spirit of God and one that is led by human wisdom.
Consider, for example, the life of King Saul in the Old Testament (1Sa 9). At first, Saul was humble. He had the Spirit of God and he was very powerful.
The Spirit of God enabled him to conquer his enemies and establish the kingdom of Israel. However, a short time later, he became proud before God.
Saul disobeyed God’s servant Samuel and God’s words. When he relied on his human wisdom instead of God’s command, something terrible happened to him.
The Spirit of God left him (1Sa 13). His life became miserable from that point on. He suffered from the torment of evil spirits. He lost his kingship, his family and finally, and he lost his life in disgrace.
We learn that to be led by the Spirit of God, we must humbly obey the word of God.
3-4, Who can discern and explain spiritual things? (13, 14)
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
The man controlled by the spirit of this world rejects spiritual things as foolishness. They are blind to the spiritual reality.
On the other hand, the man led by the Spirit of God has the privilege of understanding and accepting the secrets of God.
It is like he has a radio that is tuned to a correct station; he can hear a powerful sermon or listen to beautiful music.
But the person who has no radio receiver or who has incorrect tuning cannot hear the sermon or the music. All they can hear is noise. They are lackig in spiritual discernment.
3-5, What privileges does the spiritual man have? (15-16)
The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,
Spiritual persons can make good decisions with the help of the Holy Spirit. Some people in the Corinthian church tried to judge Paul, as they were quarreling with one another.
We are told that Paul was a short man who was not handsome. His writings were excellent, but he wasn’t an eloquent speaker.
So they judged him based on his human qualities. But Paul says that he wasn’t bound by their judgment.
He had spiritual eyes to see through their problems. He was free in Christ.
16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
When the Spirit is with us, we can think like Jesus. We can have compassion like Jesus, and we can love like Jesus.
Philippians 2:5-7 reads,
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
The mind of Christ is a humble mind. The mind of Christ stems from God’s sacrificial love.
On the contrary, some Corinthian believers were proud. They were self-righteous. They caused divisions in the church by forming their own groups rather than humbly praying and working together.
Paul told them to know the mind of Christ by submitting to the Spirit.
Conclusion
We learn how important it is for us to be led by the Spirit of God. There are many intellectual people saying wise things. They are persuasive. The problem is that their wisdom cannot save us from sin and death. We need God’s wisdom, being taught by the Spirit. May God help us to believe and preach the message of Christ crucified with absolute faith! May the Spirit demonstrate his power in the lives of young people! “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.” One word: Demonstrate the Spirit’s power!
Manuscript
DATE: 5-19/20-18
SERIES: Witnesses
SERMON: Extra(Ordinary) Power
TEXT: Acts 2:1-13 (ESV)
WELCOME
It’s good to be with all of you at Gateway Church this weekend. And one thing I want you to know — and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time with us or if you’re worshipping at our North Main campus — one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too.
SERIES INTRODUCTION
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And we’re continue our series through the first few chapters of the book of Acts, which we’re calling “Ordinary” because — let’s face it — every follower of Jesus is pretty ordinary — there’s nothing particularly spectacular about any of us — we’re all called to be witnesses — someone who shares the news about what Jesus has done in His life, death, and resurrection — we all have the same purpose — we’re all so — ordinary.
So let’s jump right in the Bible — if you have your Bible, please turn with me to Acts chapter two. We’ll be looking at verses one through thirteen.
And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text your question to the number printed on the bulletin or you can submit it on the Gateway app.
SCRIPTURE INTRODUCTION
And while you’re finding Acts chapter two, let me catch us all up in case you’ve missed the first few weeks in this series. The disciples — the followers of Jesus — number one hundred and twenty people. And they’re in Jerusalem. And it’s been a few days since Jesus ascended to Heaven.
You probably know that Jesus was crucified on a cross, but death could not keep Him in the grave. And for forty days He appeared teaching and preparing His disciples for the mission He was about to give them. And on the day of His ascension — the day He went up to Heaven — Jesus said His last words on earth — and — as you know — people don’t waste their last words on unimportant things.
And with His last words Jesus, “ordered them (His followers) not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4b-5 ESV)
And then He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:8-9 ESV)
And with His last words, Jesus gave His disciples their mission and He promised them that they would be given the power needed to accomplish this mission — they would be empowered witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. But this mission wasn’t just for them — the mission to be His witnesses is for every follower of Jesus — even us today.
BIG IDEA
And our passage today — Acts chapter two — is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. We’re going to see how we — a bunch of ordinary people — are empowered to be witnesses for Jesus — people who take the news of His life, death, and resurrection to the ends of the earth. Because this isn’t some puny mission we’ve been given — this is global in scale — and it can be overwhelming to think that we’re to take the gospel to people of all nations — us — you and me — there’s something about this mission we’ve been given — that — instinctively we know we can’t do this on our own — we can’t accomplish our purpose in our own power. We need extraordinary power in order to be the ordinary witnesses we’re called to be.
And here’s the truth for you and I. “Because the Holy Spirit has come, all Christ-followers are empowered to be ordinary witnesses for Jesus.” Because the Holy Spirit has come, all Christ-followers are empowered to be ordinary witnesses for Jesus.
So here’s what I want to do — but let me tell you a secret first. I haven’t been at Gateway for very long — just over two years — but I’ve already preached Acts chapter two to you. And there’s a temptation — as a preacher — when you come to a passage you’ve already preached. And that’s to repeat the sermon you’ve already preached. I mean, no one’s going to remember it anyway — except for like one guy in the congregation. In fact, I had a staff member ask me if that’s what I was going to do. But I’m not. I understand how sermons work. Preaching isn’t about one life changing sermon — preaching is about hundreds and thousands of sermons being used by God to change your life.
But as tempting as it was to just re-preach a sermon you’ve all forgotten — that’s not what I’m going to do. So we’re going to take a second look at Acts chapter two together over the next few weeks. And we’re going to allow this passage to add some more sermons to God’s work of transformation in our lives.
And — today — we’re going to answer three questions about the Holy Spirit. We won’t be able to look at everything the Bible has to say about the Holy Spirit, but there are a few things we see in our verses that give us answers to three questions. In fact, both the questions and the answers come from our verses — though we’ll look at some other passages in order to bring clarity to our answers.
The three questions we’ll be answering today are: Where does the Holy Spirit come from? What does the Holy Spirit do? And why does the Holy Spirit do these things?
Where does the Holy Spirit come from? What does the Holy Spirit do? And why does the Holy Spirit do these things?
Let’s begin in verse one of Acts chapter two.
MAIN POINT 1
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they (the one hundred and twenty disciples) were all together one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:1-2 ESV)
So the disciples are all together and as they’re praying, something like a mighty rushing wind comes — Luke’s trying his best to describe this unusual event that’s happening as the Holy Spirit comes.
But notice — in verse two — where the Holy Spirit is coming from. Where did the sound that was “like a mighty rushing wind” come from? Adobe photoshop cc mac free. Luke tells us that the sound “came from heaven” — the Holy Spirit came from Heaven.
Now what does this tell us about the Holy Spirit? At the very least, we see here that there’s something supernatural going on. Supernatural things comes from heaven — not natural things. But our text doesn’t give us enough information to know much more than that about the Holy Spirit. And — if you’re familiar with the Bible — you know that angels come from Heaven — so is that all that the Holy Spirit is? Is the Holy Spirit just an angel or something like that?
Well what we do know — from other places in the Bible — is that the Holy Spirit isn’t an angel sent from Heaven. Let’s look at a few passages that tell us more about the Holy Spirit who comes from Heaven.
In the opening verses of Genesis we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2 ESV)
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So in the beginning — we see the Spirit of God — that’s the Holy Spirit — actively involved in the creation of all things. So before creation — the Holy Spirit existed. This tells us that the Holy Spirit isn’t created — He is Creator.
Additionally, scripture teaches us that the Holy Spirit is present everywhere. In Psalm 139 we read, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!” (Psalm 139:7-8 ESV)
King David knows that there is nowhere he can go where God’s Spirit will not be present. “If I go up to heaven — Your Spirit is there.” And — something you may have not thought much about — but David says, “If I go — not to heaven — but to hell — or Sheol — God — Your Spirit is there.” Some people think of Hell as the absence of God’s presence — and that’s not quite accurate. Hell isn’t the absence of God’s presence — it’s the unfiltered presence of His wrath and justice — by unfiltered — I mean — the presence of God’s wrath and justice without His love and mercy. So God’s Spirit is everywhere.
Additionally, the Holy Spirit knows all things. The prophet Isaiah writes, “Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?” (Isaiah 40:13 NLT)
The implied answer is “no one is able to give advice to the Spirit.” We just don’t know enough, why? Because He already knows everything. I was driving into Gateway a few weeks ago, and I remember thinking, “God, You know what I’m thinking right now. That’s incredible. You know my desires, my hurts and pains, my hopes and dreams..You even know my darkest secrets. But You also know what the person driving that car is thinking. You know their desires, their hurts and pains, their hopes and dreams, their darkest secrets..You know everything about them too.” And then another car passed and God knows everything about them. And when you think of all of the people who are alive today and — right now we’re just limiting ourselves to what people are thinking, hoping, dreaming about — that’s just a small slice of the knowledge pie — yet God knows the thoughts and desires, hopes and dreams, and darkest secrets of the seven and a half billion people who are alive today. That’s absolutely incredible — the Holy Spirit knows all things.
In Hebrews chapter 9, the Holy Spirit is called the “eternal Spirit.” We touched on this a bit earlier when talking about creation — but the Holy Spirit — not being part of creation — means that He existed before creation — even before time — because time is part of creation. And to exist before time is to be eternal — to have no beginning or end. The Holy Spirit is eternal.
Now we could keep going, but let’s pause and ask ourselves what all this adds up to. Regardless if you consider yourself to be a Christian or not — what do all of these things add up to? The Holy Spirit is Creator, present everywhere, knows all things, and is eternal. So what does that mean? That the Holy Spirit is God, right?
So the Holy Spirit — coming from heaven — isn’t just supernatural — like an angel or something — the Holy Spirit is God coming from Heaven — just as Jesus promised. When Jesus left earth to go back to Heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit from Heaven to earth — and that’s what we see happening here in Acts chapter two.
Now for some of us — who are followers of Jesus — the Holy Spirit may be the least familiar and understood person of the Trinity. As Christians we believe in One God in three Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the church typically has done a better job of helping us understand the Father and the Son, and left the Holy Spirit to be this sort of mystery.
So let me offer two book recommendations to you, if you want to learn more about the Holy Spirit. The first, is a bit more technical — scholarly — kind of book. It’s written by Sinclair Ferguson and it’s titled “The Holy Spirit” — it’s part of the Contours of Christian Theology series. A more accessible book — less on the technical side, but still very helpful — is Francis Chan’s “Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.” Either of these books would be a great addition to your book collection and your understanding of the Holy Spirit.
We’ve been asking the question: Where does the Holy Spirit come from? He comes from Heaven and — more importantly for us — this tells us that the Holy Spirit is God.
MAIN POINT 2
Now on to our second question. What does the Holy Spirit do? Now that He’s come down from Heaven to earth — what is the Spirit doing? Let’s begin in verse three.
“And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
Now remember the mission Jesus gave His disciples. They were to be witnesses to the ends of the earth — meaning to all nations — and here the nations have come to the disciples at the exact moment the promised Holy Spirit has empowered them. And in verse six we read…
6 And at this sound (the sound of the Holy Spirit coming like a mighty rushing wind) the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one (in the crowd) was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
And to give us an idea of the nations that are represented — in verse nine — we read that there are…
9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians
We’ve got people from Northern Africa, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and modern-day Iran. And look at what they’re all hearing in their own language. Finishing verse eleven…
— we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”” (Acts 2:3-13 ESV)
What does the Holy Spirit do? Again — more could be said than what we find in our verses — but here we see two things that the Holy Spirit does. He fills believers and He gives spiritual gifts.
First, the Holy Spirit fills believers. Look again in verse three. “And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:3-4 ESV)
And skip to verse twelve. “And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”” (Acts 2:12-13 ESV)
If you were here at Easter, you may remember the story from the gospel of Mark where Jesus talks about old wine and new wine and how new wine needs to be stored in new wineskins. And here — as the Holy Spirit comes and fills the disciples in a new way — I find it interesting that one of the responses of the crowd — of those who were resistant to what they were seeing and hearing — one response is that the disciples were filled with new wine — that they were drunk.
And how wrong and right they were. They’re wrong because they assume the disciples are drunk on actual wine. But they’re right, because the disciples are filled with new wine — the wine we saw Jesus speak of on Easter weekend — the wine of His Spirit filling His disciples so they are empowered to be His witnesses.
Now the Bible shows us that there are two parts to this filling of the Spirit. The first is when you initially believe in Jesus. God’s Spirit then fills you — comes in you — takes up residence in you. The second filling is more of a spiritual boost. There will be times when we may fall back into depending upon our own strength, or get distracted by the things of the world, maybe have a sickness that wipes us of our spiritual energy — and then — we experience a personal revival — a new filling or empowering of the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t mean we’ve been saved again — just that we let our spiritual tank get a little low and God decided to fill it back up. But if you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has filled and is filling you.
Second, the Holy Spirit gives believers — disciples — spiritual gifts. Look with me in verse four. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4 ESV)
And as you know, the crowd — this crowd made up of people from many different nations speaking many different languages — could all understand the disciples even though the disciples hadn’t “downloaded the app that millennials are raving about because it can teach you a new language in under three weeks” — at least that’s what the advertisements say. But what we’re seeing here is a preview of how the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to every follower of Jesus. Here the gift is speaking in tongues — speaking in a known language they couldn’t previously speak in — so others hear the Good News about Jesus in their native language.
And throughout the New Testament we find passages that tell us about these gifts of the Spirit — gifts, talents, special skills, even some that appear to be rather usual behavior — but anointed gifts given by the Spirit.
So what are some of these gifts? There are quite a few passages on the gifts. One — written by the apostle Paul — is, “Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this…To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have..Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages. 29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not!” (1 Corinthians 12:1, 8-11, 28-30 NLT)
Wisdom, special knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, speaking in unknown languages, interpretation of the languages, apostleship, teaching, helping others, and leadership are just the gifts of the Spirit listed in this passage — more gifts are listed elsewhere.
But notice four things about the gifts of the Spirit. First, we need to be informed about them and be aware of them. Paul doesn’t want there to be any misunderstanding about the gifts — nor ignorance. It’s hard to properly use something if you’re ignorant about it.
Second, the Holy Spirit is the giver of the gifts. Who gets what gift is up to Him. We’re to desire the gifts. We’re to pray for the gifts. We’re to use the gifts. But which gifts we have or don’t have isn’t up to us. The Spirit alone decides which gift — or gifts — each person should have — implying every believer has at least one gift.
Third, no one has all of the gifts and no gift is given to all people. We see this in Paul’s repeated question “do we all have?” and his answer being “of course not!”
And fourth, no gift is better or more important than any other gift. All are needed because all the gifts are given for the building up of the church. In another of his letters, Paul writes, “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16 NLT)
Here we see the purpose of the gifts given to us. Now the gifts given to us here are given by Christ — but notice that many are the same gifts given to us by the Spirit — which is Paul’s way of saying all of the spiritual gifts come from God. Sometimes the work of the persons of God are distinct and sometimes they overlap — here’s an example where the work of Jesus and the Spirit overlap.
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But here we see how these gifts are meant to build the church up to maturity in Christ. So we need you — if you’re a believer — no matter your age or gender, socio-economic or educational background, single, married, or divorced — if you’re a believer in Christ we need you using the gift — or gifts — the Spirit of God has given you for our maturity.
But — Josh — how do I know what gift — or gifts — I’ve been given? Well there are spiritual gift tests you can take for free on the internet, but I find them to be only sort of helpful. One of the easiest ways to figure out your spiritual gift is to ask other believers — who know you — what they think your gifts may be. Sometimes we can be blind to what seems to come naturally to us — so blind — that we don’t realize that it’s not natural — it’s supernatural. Others will see that. Also, pray for the spiritual gifts — that’s biblical. Pray for God to reveal to you the gifts the Spirit has given you. But always allow others to confirm the gift. Sometimes we need confirmation to encourage us to use the gifts we’ve been given. Other times we need others to tell us — lovingly — “that definitely ain’t your gift.”
So what does the Spirit do? He fills believers and He gives us spiritual gifts.
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Finally, why does the Holy Spirit do these things? Why does He fill believers and give us spiritual gifts. Look with me in the last part of verse eleven.
The crowd — upon hearing the disciples speak in their language — said, “we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” (Acts 2:11b ESV)
Why does the Holy Spirit fill us and give us gifts? So that we will be His empowered witnesses — ordinary people with extraordinary power — who testify about the mighty works of God. Power that enables us to tell others about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so they might believe and find life in Him.
The Spirit’s goal is to magnify Christ and what He accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection. The Spirit’s goal in filling us — of residing in us — of living in us — is to empower us so we tell others about Jesus. The Spirit’s goal — the reason why He fills us and gives us gifts — is that as we mature as a church — we accomplish the mission Jesus has given us — the mission to take His gospel to our community, our country, and our world — even to the hard places. Places where we may be hated because of our faith in Christ — places where — if we’re honest — we’re afraid to go to.
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But — as is said elsewhere in the Bible — “God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7 NET)
When I was in Lebanon, we found ourselves in what I’ve called “Hezbollah land.” We were in an area controlled by Hezbollah — which — if you don’t know — is a terrorist organization stemming out of Islam. Driving into the area, the light poles had Hezbollah flags on them — kind of like the UF Oiler flags on the light poles on Main St here in Findlay. So it was a pretty wild place to find ourselves in — in a country that already has a wild reputation. A week after we returned there was an assassination attempt on someone running for government office. While we were there, the locals kept saying that assassination stuff was all in the past. Guess not.
But while in Hezbollah land, I spoke with a man who was a Muslim and — most likely — had some connection to Hezbollah. And I was amazed because he was talking to me — with great excitement — about the number three — how the number three is found in most religions — he even mentioned God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And this blew me away because — if you know anything about Islam — Muslims don’t think very highly of the Trinity. Yet here’s a Muslim man — living in a community run by a terrorist group — talking to me about the Trinity. A little later he mentioned that his sister had cancer — it was back for the second time — and given our recent conversation about God — I asked if I could pray for her and him. And he said yes. So I was able to pray for this Muslim man and his sister — in a place known for radical Islam — and I prayed to and in the name of Jesus. And the guy shook my hand and thanked me for praying for his sister.
I share that story not to make much of me, but to show you what God’s powerful Spirit can do in any of us. Places like Hezbollah land can be intimidating. They can put you on edge. When we heard AK47 gun fire going off — what the locals called a “domestic dispute” — well — it’s a bit concerning even for this Army vet who’s been to war. But we must remember that we’ve been promised a Spirit of power — not of fear. A Spirit of power to be witnesses for Jesus.
CONCLUSION
And the Good News for us is that Jesus has fulfilled His promise to us — He has sent the Holy Spirit to empower us. And because the Holy Spirit has come, all Christ-followers are empowered to be ordinary witnesses for Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, you’ve been empowered to be His witness — here in Findlay and even to the ends of the earth.
And dear Christian — no matter your past or present — no matter the mistakes you’ve made or the hurts you’ve experienced — no matter your intellect or how much money is in your bank account — the Holy Spirit has come from Heaven to live in you — to fill you — if you believe — and to give you gifts, so others might hear of the mighty works of God, repent of their sins, and believe in Jesus.
That may sound extraordinary, but it’s not — it’s the ordinary work of the Spirit in the life of those who believe in Jesus. For that’s why He has come — the Holy Spirit has come to empower ordinary people who believe in an extraordinary God. The God who is the Creator of everyone and everything. Who knows all things, is present everywhere, and is eternal. This God empowers everyone who believes in Him — so they can be His ordinary witnesses.
Do you have this power in you? Would you like to? Would you like to experience more of God’s power if you already believe. How about we pray for you to experience the power of God’s Spirit right now? Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I pray that You will remind us often that all Christ-followers are empowered to be witnesses for Jesus. And I pray that we would remember that Jesus has fulfilled His promise by sending the Holy Spirit to empower us — a bunch of ordinary folk — called to be Your witnesses. And we’ve been empowered to go to all people, as we call them to You, and proclaim Your Word to them.
Father — for anyone who longs for You Spirit’s power — I ask You to guide them in repentance and faith even now as I pray. Give them confidence to tell someone before they leave today that they believe. And God we thank You for being the Giver of life to all who call on Your Name. We pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.