Pentecost “Back to the Basics”
Illus. The song Basics of Life, by 4Him
Vs.
We've turned the page, for a new day has dawned
We've re-arranged what is right and what's wrong
Somehow we've drifted so far from the truth
That we can't get back home
Where are the virtues that once gave us light
Where are the morals that governed our lives
Someday we all will awake and look back
Just to find what we've lost
Chrs.
We need to get back to the basics of life
A heart that is pure and a love that is blind
A faith that is fervently grounded in Christ
The hope that endures for all times
These are the basics, we need to get back to the basics of life
Today, in America we have many churches, under many different names, under many different theologies of many different men.
Have you ever heard a story in which you were one of the main characters and somehow things had got twisted around and parts of the story were true, but larger parts were embellished and contorted to where what actually happened had been altered so much, that someone else actually stole the credit for something you had done or started?
You can call it mankind’s viewpoints or opinions, or something by another name. But by most who will be truthful with their observations, the more mankind tries to improve, accommodate or reinvent religion, the further away we slip as a whole, from the relationship God intended for us to have with Him through The Holy Spirit. Which is His Holy Spirit living in, leading, guiding and directing our lives!
All by divine design God sent the Holy Spirit to us to be with us forever, to give us and ensure us of having the abundant life and promises He has especially and uniquely prepared for everyone who is willing to accept and believe!
We look around at the vast majority of churches in our neighborhoods and really all across the globe, and we wonder what in the world happened! Clearly there had to have been a real move of God over the years, because some of the buildings that have been vacated, are fantastic structures and required a great move of God to build them!
Even today, churches are still closing their doors at an alarming rate. And those who survive, keep searching for the next big idea that will work to bring back what once was.
What I am going to tell you next, would probably shock a lot of church members in most established nominal churches today!
All the churches in the world were birthed and started, on and from the day of Pentecost when the Power of the Holy Spirit fell on a group of believers and released the possibility of relationship to the entire Gentile population in the world.
Which means, all of them were Spirit Filled churches in the beginning! Amen? From that moment, the accuser has been trying to contort and extort the truth, all in the hopes of circumventing and downplaying the availability of the Holy Spirit Power, to hundreds of millions of believers over the years.
While far to often seeming successful, the accuser has had his share of success over the years. Because he has sown condemnation discourse and division every chance he has had, to damage and dismantle the unity and the mission the original core group of believers had.
I believe the time has come for churches all over to put aside their differences and to come together in unity to put their foot down on the neck of the accuser and say “enough is enough!”
The original writers of the New Testament were fearful future believers would be faced with such a dilemma. So they were very, very clear to write about the consequences that would occur!
Galatians 1:8,9 KJ
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you
We need to get back to the basics, to what happened on the day of Pentecost and reignite the flames of the Gospel revolution! I’m talking about the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost, the promise that was delivered to and for God’s Children!
If you’re a child of God this morning, then the promise was and is still for you! A promise that only came to be, because God’s only Son Jesus was willing to lay down his life to provide the deliverance and possibility for you to receive!
Have you received the Gift of the Holy Spirit, with the evidence thereof? To personal? You bet it is! The gift of the Holy Spirit is a personal decision, it’s between you and God and no one else!
The gift and that’s exactly what the Holy Spirit is and the Holy Spirit doesn’t need anyone else’s opinion or permission to be established in someone’s life, but Gods and the person receiving the gift that God has made available since the outpouring of The Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost!
You see, that’s exactly what the accuser wants a person to think!
That’s what has happened over the years, what a majority of Spirit Filled Church’s have gotten away from over the last several years.
Rather than focus on the Promise of the Holy Spirit God sent, that forever changed 3,000 souls by word of mouth on the very first day and turned the grip the accuser had on mankind upside down!
Churches have went to seeker sensitive services, you know “the we mustn’t offend anyone brand of religion!” And right along with that has been the lack of stirring the gift from within.
A lot of Spirit Filled Christians, can tell you the day and the hour, they received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, But ask them when the last time they shared the experience with someone else was, (pause) That’s right, there would probably be a long pause.
God doesn’t want us to be seeker sensitive, “Praying in the Spirit,” is a sign to the unbeliever. Sharing the gift and the experience of the Holy Spirit is an important part of our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit, is God within us!
It’s time to quit trying to re-invent the wheel! We need to get back to the basics, the way the early church did in the bible!
Acts 19:1-7 MSG.
1-2. Now, it happened that while Apollos was away in Corinth, Paul made his way down through the mountains, came to Ephesus, and happened on some disciples there. The first thing he said was, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?"
"We've never even heard of that—a Holy Spirit? God within us?"
3. "How were you baptized, then?" asked Paul.
"In John's baptism."
4. "That explains it," said Paul. "John preached a baptism of radical life-change so that people would be ready to receive the One coming after him, who turned out to be Jesus. If you've been baptized in John's baptism, you're ready now for the real thing, for Jesus."
5-7. And they were. As soon as they heard of it, they were baptized in the name of the Master Jesus. Paul put his hands on their heads and the Holy Spirit entered them. From that moment on, they were praising God in tongues and talking about God's actions.
Paul didn’t have time for a seeker friendly service, Paul was on a mission to change the world, Paul got right down to business!
"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?"
I’ll say it again, God doesn’t want us to be seeker sensitive, “Praying in the Spirit,” is a sign to the unbeliever.
It started on the day of Pentecost and has been ever since.
Acts 2:38-41 MSG.
38. Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”
41. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
They weren’t interested in just attracting seekers, they were interested in attracting doers, changing the world and Baptizing Believers with the Holy Spirit and with Power!
They were interested in equipping the new believers for the task at hand, because it has not gotten any easier over the years. Even the invent of modern social media, the same task is still at hand! “Go ye into all the world preach the Gospel!”
They wanted to share the Promise that they had seen fulfilled, we should want the same!
Acts 1:4 NKJ.
4. And being assembled together with them, He commanded (this was serious business!) He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
Notice it doesn’t say A promise, it says The Promise, the instructions were specific
There are over 5,000 promises in the bible, this one was important, this one is the icing on the cake with specific instructions, this one would unleash the Presence and Power God wanted His believers to have in their lives.
Power to equip them for the journey, to reign victorious in this life, to do the impossible, to be a sign to the world, to daily overcome the political correctness of the day and reach the world with the gospel message for Christ!
Acts 1:8 NKJ
8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
God has equipped us mightily and extravagantly for the life, “This Life” He has called us, to live. We don’t have to wait for the future to one be able to receive what God has for us, the event for us to receive already happened some 2000 yrs ago!
Some would still have you think that, Gods spirit won’t be poured out until the last days!
Joel 2:28-29 NKJ.
28. “And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
29. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
How can the church experience all that God has for them in the last days,
When they haven’t even experienced all that God has made available to experience today and since the day of Pentecost? God knew in his infinite wisdom that we would need the power and protection of the Holy Spirit each and every day of our lives to combat the accuser on a daily basis!
Ephesians 6:12 KJ
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places
The battle we face on a daily basis is real, the accuser is playing for keeps. The gift of the Holy Spirit allows us to fight from the Victory of the cross. The Holy Spirit is part of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. The cross not only provided for our Salvation for eternity, the cross also provided the Holy Spirit for our survival until we reach eternity!
Praying in the Spirit, unlocks everything for the believer, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water now, in this life. Now is the time we need the Power God intended for us to have, in this life we’re living, in the right here, in the right now!
John 7:37-39 NKJ
37. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
39. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Praying in the Holy Spirit, unlocks rivers of living water, rivers of intercession by the Holy Spirit in your life,
Over your health, your family, every day acquaintances, every area, even all unknown things to come in your future, are covered by these rivers of living water that is available to all believers.
This is the Word of God and there is life in the Word of God!
Smith Wigglesworth,
*a great evangelist of the later 19th and 20th Century
*had a fantastic signs and wonders ministry
*was responsible for raising 14 people back from the dead (countless other miracles as well, water to gas)
*Smith Wigglesworth said he could not estimate the value, the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues had on his ministry and his life, it was immeasurable!
There are no Signs and Wonders in non Spirit Filled Church’s, The one I grew up in, didn’t believe in any of them and if you were to guess, you’d probably be right, there wasn’t any!
I’m not saying that they didn’t have a value or that they did not do good things, what I’m saying is they did not believe in the possibility that there was so much more possible than what they thought!
Church’s that don’t believe the infilling of the Holy Spirit is for today, are blinded by manmade theology.
That’s the way its always been and always will be, their always praying if it’s the Lords will. The Lords will could hit some churches on the head and still they would question what they had witnessed!
The Holy Spirit is God’s will, He sent Him! (Repeat!)
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are God's will as well, He created them!
Each and everyone of them were created for us, for you, for all who will believe!
And the devil knows it too, and he can’t stand it when someone receives the Holy Spirit. That’s why I believe that he spawned the idea that all the Holy Spirit stuff was for then, but not for now!
The accuser would have you believe the myth, that God’s intentions for his children had somehow changed without him even giving the slightest hint of such an idea!
TBS. He remains the same
James 1:16-17 YLT.
16. Be not led astray, my brethren beloved;
17. every good giving, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, with whom is no variation, or shadow of turning;
The power of God, is lined up with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
If I pray in tongues, does my mind pray?
Or does my body or flesh pray?
No, my spirit prays and where does the Holy Spirit dwell, in my spirit!
For those who think you have to understand every word you say to participate in the in filling of the Holy Spirit, let me ask you this?
Describe the wind to me? Go ahead now; “What’s it look like, can you see it? Can you control it?”
No, but you can feel it and you no its real and you also know you need it for your very survival, don’t you?
It’s the very same way concerning your spirit and the Holy Spirit, we need Him in our lives, for our very survival!
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to know everything to participate in the using of something do you? For those who would say yes, please;
*explain the law of physics?
*explain exactly how electricity works?
*explain the body’s DNA?
*explain the inner workings of the human brain?
*explain the bodies healing abilities?
*explain Gods Love?
Those are all things we enjoy and use everyday, but if we were put on the spot exact definitions would hard to come up with! If you think you have to know everything about the things of God and the Holy Spirit, before you experience it.
You will never experience everything that God has for you, neither will your family, or anyone else that you have influence over, because you will never understand everything about God!
When you pray in the Spirit, you are praying for every need that is associated with you.
* your physical health
*Your Husband
*your wife
*your children
*your family
*your friends
*your work and career
*your church and your ministry
* your finances, both the Receiving and the Giving!
*all the future you are going to experience in your life
All these things concern your future and the Lord says He has seen your future and it looks good, and He wants more than anything to help you to achieve it. (Jeremiah 29:11)
For those who are interested in always seeking the Lords will, do you think you would have a better chance of knowing His will with the Holy Spirits help, or with out the Holy Spirits help?
Praying in the Holy Spirit is where the will of God is, has been and always will be!
Romans 8:26-28 NKJ
26. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28. And we know that (all things work together for good to those who love God,) to those who are the called according to His purpose.
God has so much good He wants to bring into your life,
so much so, that if you knew it all, it would be to much to comprehend,
George Washington Carver prayed to know the wonders of the universe. God allowed George to learn of the inner workings of the peanut, of which there were many, and the ones he discovered took his entire lifetime!
The plans God has for his children are amazing plans! The more you search God, the more you pray in the Spirit, the more He reveals His magnificent plans, to you! And the way you receive Gods plans, is by letting the power of the Holy Spirit work and have free reign in your life bringing Gods plans to fruition!
TBS. He rewards those who seek Him! The most loving thing you can do for yourself and the loved ones around you, is pray in the Spirit for them!
Praying for your love one under your own understanding and for their condition they are facing is like trying to start a fire without a match. Praying in the spirit, with reliance on the Holy Spirit deciphering exactly what is needed to complete and bring about the desire your looking for is like starting a fire with a flame thrower!
Whether you need a miracle for,
* a Health issue
* a financial need to be met
* a wayward son or daughter
* a marriage restored
* a friend who needs Jesus in their life
* a future for you and all those who you love, that only He can give
When you don’t know what to pray, The Holy Spirit always does!
When you have know idea what to say, The Holy Spirit always does!
When you don’t know all the things that need to happen in your life to turn things around and bring those things to pass, The Holy Spirit always does! Praise God and thank Him for the Gift of The Holy Spirit!
John 4:23-24 NKJ
23. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
TBS True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth!
Maybe its time to take your relationship to the next level in the things and the will that God has for your life! To seek more of Him, to seek all that He has to offer, to seek the path of relationship He has already provided for you through the Gift of The Holy Spirit!
Illus.
Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ tells this story of a famous oil field called Yates Pool:
During the depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates.
Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage,
so he was in danger of losing his ranch.
With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy.
Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills.
Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land.
They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract.
At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day.
Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery,
a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day.
And Mr. Yates owned it all.
The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned and had access to it!
Many Christians today are also millionaires living in spiritual poverty.
They are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, but they are not aware of their spiritual birthright.
Seek your Spiritual inheritance, seek what is yours, seek what has been yours all along!
God has made the Gift of The Holy Spirit available to you and thought that this Gift was important enough to make this Life changing way part of the new covenant of Grace, Jesus gave to the world,
So much so, that He cared enough about your well being, to sacrifice His only begotten Son, so you could experience all the benefits that He longs to make a part of your Abundant Life benefits package!
I would strongly urge you to receive everything that God has made available today to you to receive, and not wait another moment. Life is too short to not receive, enjoy and use what God has provided for the journey required.
Have you received what we have been talking about today? If you pray and seek God for all He has to offer you, God will give you all He has Promised!
What a great and Loving Father God is to His Children!
Makes me glad to proclaim I’m a child of the King!
