Opener:
Good morning everyone, so nice to see everyone here this morning. This morning we are joining Christians all around the world in celebrating Pentecost Sunday. This morning the title of our message is “Encounters with the Holy Spirit”.
Last week, we talked about two people that encountered Jesus and as a result, their hearts were healed. The first person we talked about was the tax collector Zacchaeus and the second was a woman at the well. We learned in our study that as a result of these two people encountering Jesus that it not only impacted their lives, but also the lives of everyone around them. In the case of Zacchaeus, his entire family was saved and in the case of the woman at the well, the entire town was affected and many came to the Savior.
Being that today is Pentecost Sunday, we are going to be looking at several characters from the bible that had an encounter with the Holy Spirit. In looking at church history, today is a significant day because it is the day that the early church started.
Pentecost is not new to the New Testament. In fact, Pentecost was celebrated in the Old Testament. It was originally instituted on the day that Moses received the Ten Commandments. Pentecost is the fiftieth day after Passover. The Jewish people would count with anticipation looking forward to this day.
Just 10 days before Pentecost, Jesus had ascended to heaven and instructed the disciples to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. So these early disciples waited, and then on the day of Pentecost with an audible sound of a rushing wind and a visual sign of fire on top of people’s heads, these disciples then began to speak in foreign languages that visitors from other countries understood. It was then when our first character that we are looking at stood up and began to preach.
I. Peter’s Encounter
A. Peter’s background
a. This person is none other than one of Jesus disciples named Peter. We all are pretty much familiar with Peter’s story. In overview, he was one of the early disciples that Jesus choose.
b. Peter left everything and began to follow Jesus and for three and a half years learned many valuable lessons along the way.
c. In fact, Peter was the only man recorded in the bible to actually walk on water.
d. While Peter experienced many wonderful things, at the end of Jesus ministry, he failed to maintain his faith. In fact, we learned that Peter went so far as to deny Jesus three times.
e. After this experience, Peter repented and rejoined the disciples.
B. Peters with the disciples
a. Peter was among those that were waiting on the promise of the Holy Spirit.
b. The bible records this beautiful event in the book of Acts chapter two. Let’s hop right into it starting in verse one. When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
c. Everyone that was there in the room was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit!
d. This must have been just a tremendous scene. I just hope that they have a theater in heaven and that I am able to watch the DVD someday!
e. Anybody else want to join me? I will bring that special heavenly popcorn!
C. Peter preaches
a. Peter was so touched by the Holy Spirit that he could not contain it any longer. He did what he does best and that is to preach the Word.
b. There were people all over, the disciples were standing up and Peter recognizes the moment and stands up. Let’s pick up the story right there. It is found in the book of Acts chapter two and we are starting in verse 14.
c. Acts 2:14-42(NKJV)14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
21 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Shall be saved.’
d. This was a powerful sermon. Peter was no doubt was full of the Holy Ghost and fire!
D. Call to repentance
a. Peter did not stop preaching, he went on and in verse 38 from that same book and chapter said: “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.”
b. Peter’s call to all the people was a call to repentance. A call to turn from the sin in their lives and to turn to God.
c. As Peter was preaching, there is no doubt those in the audience were experiencing the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
d. Their hearts were pricked. The Spirit of God broke them to the point where they were willing to surrender their hearts and lives to Christ.
e. As a result, the bible tells us that three thousand souls were added to the kingdom.
f. Now that is a revival! They had no television. No P.A. system, No computers, No face-book.
g. Simply these people heard the Word and their lives were forever change.
II. Stephens Encounter
A. Aftermath
a. After Peter and many others that encountered the Holy Spirit, the church began to grow exponentially.
b. While this growth was fantastic, it also brought many new challenges.
c. One of those challenges was that the widows during the time were being neglected from receiving food.
d. The twelve disciples got together and talked about different solutions.
e. They decided that it would not be right for them to neglect the preaching of the Word of God and so they came up with a solution to choose seven men from among them that were full of the Spirit and wisdom.
B. Stephen
a. After careful consideration of all the candidates, the disciples choose seven qualified men.
b. The bible says in Acts 6:5(NKJV) 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit
c. After their selection, the apostles continued their work to preach the Word of God and it spread quickly!
C. Not everyone was happy
a. While this was all going on, the religious leaders during the time were not happy to see Jesus being proclaimed. These people were resistant to the gospel.
b. So when they saw Stephen who was full of the Holy Spirit and performing great signs and wondrous miracles, these religious people were challenged.
c. The people were seeing these signs and understandably were amazed, however, the religious leaders brought opposition and they began to argue with Stephen. After this heated debate with Stephen, these religious leaders began to formulate a way to bring down Stephen.
d. Of all things, these religious leaders accused Stephen of blasphemy and they then began to stir up all the people against Stephen.
D. Preach it Stephen
a. These religious leaders brought Stephen in front of the religious counsel with these trumped up charges.
b. Stephen began to preach to what these religious leaders did not want to hear. The truth.
c. As Stephen was concluding his message, he shared the following words found in Acts 7:51-53(NKJV) 51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
d. You can imagine that the religious leaders were not happy with Stephens Words.
e. There were irritated, the were pompous, thinking who is this guy to talk to us in this matter.
The response
f. In fact, these religious leaders hearts were on full display as they respond to Stephen. The bible tells us in Acts 7:54-60(NKJV) 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
g. Did you notice there, Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. So much so, that he got a glimpse into heaven.
h. Even while he was being stoned and he knew his life was about to end, yet, there was a peace about him, there was a power about him. There was forgiveness in his heart and voice.
III. Takaway’s from today’s encounters
A. Work of the Holy Spirit
a. These were no doubt two powerful encounters that these men experienced with the Holy Spirit.
b. So what can we take away from these encounters?
c. First, I believe that God wants to empower every believer. This was not just for this select group of believers. The Holy Spirit is for all of us.
d. This filling enables believers to live a righteous and faithful life. This causes believers to produce good fruit in their lives.
e. Before we had the ten commandments, we had the head knowledge, now we have the Holy Spirit which empowers us to follow God’s ways.
B. Purpose
a. Secondly, God calls us for a supernatural work.
b. This supernatural work requires supernatural Power along with supernatural gifts!!!
c. These supernatural gifts include but are not limited to: Wisdom, knowledge, supernatural faith (to believe for big things from God), discernment of spirits, prophesy, and the list goes on.
d. These gifts manifest in our lives when we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in us!
C. Teacher
a. Thirdly, the take away that we can learn is that the Holy Spirit is our teacher.
b. Sure, we have the bible, and it is powerful, it is God’s Word. Everything that the Holy Spirit ever teaches us will align with the Word. If you are being taught that does not align with the Word, then this is not the Holy Spirit teaching you!
c. This teaching that we receive is real life lessons that will stick with us!
*Invite Worship Team up
Closing:
As we close our time here together, I want to share a couple of quotes for you. The first coming from the late Billy Graham. He said this: “The Holy Spirit illuminates the minds of people, makes us yearn for God, and takes spiritual truth and makes it understandable to us.” The late theologian Smith Wigglesworth is quoted saying: God wants to purify our minds until we can bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. God dwells in you, but you cannot have this divine power until you live and walk in the Holy Ghost, until the power of the new life is greater than the old life.” As we close here this morning, we want give you the opportunity to experience this newness in life. This in filling of the Holy Spirit. If you would like prayer, I am going to invite you up to the alter in just a moment. Before I do, I am going to conclude our service here.
