N.U.T.S. Power To Change
5/19/2002 Pentecost Joel 2:28-32 Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians 4:31-32
Our Church’s theme this year is Never Underestimate The Spirit. We are committed to being NUTS for Christ. We owe our desire to be called NUTS to Leonard Sweets who emphasized, Jesus never called us to be normal, he called us to be NUTS.
If we’re not willing to be a little crazy for Jesus, we’re wasting our time trying to grow in the Lord. So far this year we have been NUTS in our Passion, NUTS with the Cross, and NUTS with our Stewardship. Today we are to be NUTS with the Spirit.
Have you ever thought you were prepared for something and was ready to take it on only to discover you were not as prepared as you had hoped you would be? It may have been a test at school, or a driving test for your license, or an exam for a profession, or a business you wanted to start or even a relationship you wanted to last forever.
You gave it all that you had, and still came up short. Sometimes it leaves you with a fear of failure. Sometimes you wonder if you’re going to make it. Sometimes you think for a moment about quitting and going in a different direction. The last thing you need is for someone to come along and say, “Oh forget about that, I have something much more difficult for you to do.”
That’s kind of where the disciples were in our reading this morning. They had previously told Jesus, “Lord, we will be your side no matter what. We have your back and we are even ready to die if necessary to stand by Your side.” They truly believed they were ready to be actual nuts for Christ.
But then when Jesus was about to be arrested, and he would not allow them to defend themselves, they all left Jesus and ran for their lives. When Jesus was placed in a tomb, they were all huddled together behind locked closed doors. They knew they had blown it. They were all ready to turn in their papers as the disciples of Christ. They knew if Jesus could see them now, he would have been so ashamed of them. They did not seem that different from the very people Jesus had called some 3 years earlier.
But then came the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While they were in the locked room debating if anybody had actually seen Jesus alive, Jesus appeared right in the room with them. He showed them His hands, His side, and His scars. He was trying to convince them to Never Underestimate The Spirit’s Power to change a situation. It was the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the Dead.
Jesus appeared several times for 40 days after His resurrection, teaching the disciples about the Kingdom of God. When it was time for Jesus to finally leave them once and for all, He told them, “You are to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come upon you.”
When the disciples heard that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead was going to come upon them, they thought Jesus was about to muster in an army and just take over the world. They were thinking, “yes, this means it is about time for us to be in control.” They got bold enough to ask Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel. Are you about to become the King in charge of everything.”
The disciples had no problem being NUTS with the power to change. With Jesus there by their side, they knew they could get the job done. But Jesus takes them in a different direction. He says, “I’m not going to tell you when I will set up my kingdom, and it is not for you to know when it will take place. However I do have an assignment you must carry out. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you receive power, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
Now when you get a major assignment, the first thing you want to do is raise your hand and ask some questions. Jesus stood up from eating with them as though He might say something else. But to their surprise, he stood up and kept on going up and up and up toward the sky.
Then this cloud surrounds Jesus and He’s gone. It may have been the same cloud that descended on Mt. Sinai when God’s presence was with Moses. The disciples all jump up and look to see if he’s coming back or if he might fall down.
All of a sudden two angels tell them, “Brothers, you’re wasting time looking up there for Jesus. He has been taken from you into heaven and will come back in the same way you saw him leave.” And then the two angles were gone.
Finally someone probably said, “aw man. Jesus left without telling us how to do the job. We are bunch of uneducated guys from Galilee. How are we going to speak the language of all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the world?” “Where are we going to get the money to go traveling. Judas was in charge of the treasury, and he took that when he left.”
“Jesus saw what a mess we made of things before. I can’t believe He would give us a harder assignment and leave without telling us how to do it. The guys that killed Jesus the first time want to kill us as well, since we’ve said that Jesus is alive. All Jesus had to do was to go with us to the temple and show himself to all the chief priests. Everybody would have believed Him then. Man, I’m scared and I don’t know about this.”
The disciples were failing to see themselves in the way God sees them. They could see how Jesus could have it made it easier for them and for others to believe but Jesus did not do it that way. Jesus had chosen to use them. He said, “ You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be my witness.”
A witness is someone who has a first hand account of something. Someone who actually saw what happened or heard what was being said. If you go to court and get on the stand, if you begin your testimony by saying, “now Billy told me that such and such happened” the other lawyer will object and say “hearsay.” In other worlds you’re just saying what you heard someone else say. We do not need you on the stand, we need Billy.
Jesus appeared to them during that 40 days to make them eye witnesses able to stand and testify. They had the testimony they needed to be witnesses. What they lacked was the power to overcome their fears, the language to overcome the barriers, and the resources to make things happen. When we are lacking in doing what God told us to do, that’s the time for us to be nuts. We are to Never Underestimate The Spirit’s Power To Change us in a given situation.
While everybody was talking of how, “Jesus had made a mistake in giving them the job”, somebody remembered Jesus had said to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. They were to receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
The Holy Spirit comes upon our lives to equip us or to enable us to do what God wants to do in and through us. We cannot say, “I could never do such and such.” If it’s God’s will, God can make it happen.” If God has told us to make a change in His word, the Holy Spirit will give us the power to make that change.
The disciples thought they would need some courses on self confidence, public speaking, general world languages, and a large bank account for traveling expenses. Who knows where they could go to school for all this and get the money to pay for it, or how long all this would take. The need was getting larger all the time.
Jesus told them, what they needed was to go to Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. Now Pentecost was a big festival to celebrate the harvest of crops that God had given His people . Jews would come from all over the world to present thank offerings at the temple in gratitude for God’s provisions. So there are people from many countries pouring into Jerusalem for the holiday.
If you look in Acts 2:1-4 you will find the disciples in Jerusalem waiting. The disciples with a total of about 120 people were together in one place. All of a sudden it sounded as though a tornado was coming where there were gathered. And there was the sound of a powerful wind.
The next thing they saw was a fire that looked like a tongue. The fire of tongue split into smaller pieces and landed on all 120 of them. At this point the Holy Spirit filled them and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.
Each one of them started preaching. What was amazing was that there were God fearing Jews who were coming to the temple from countries in Europe, In Asia, In Africa and the Middle East and these God fearing Jews were saying, these people are speaking in our language. Look at them, they are bunch of uneducated Galileans, but they are proclaiming the wonders of God in our own languages from back home. They are witnesses to the power of God.
In an instant God equipped them with the Holy Spirit to do exactly what He told them to do. They were being witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. They did not have to go traveling. God brought the people directly to them, so that the people could take back the message of Christ when they went home. While we’re trying to figure out how God is going to do something, and why it will not work, God already has His plan in motion.
Now there were some people who were not in tune with the Spirit’s power who were laughing at the 120. To them, the words sounded like nonsense since they did not understand the language. They wrote them off as saying, “ahh they’re just drunk making funny sounds. They’re just a group of crazy nuts.”
Peter stood up to address the crowd, with the other 11 disciples standing taking his back, and Peter said, “These people are not drunk. It’s only 9 in the morning. The Holy Spirit that God’s word spoke of in Joel has come upon them to tell you the good news about God.”
Peter went on boldly and fearlessly and preached on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He told the people they needed Jesus Christ, and if they repented of their sins, they too would receive the power of the Holy Spirit to change. At the end of his message three thousand people gave their hearts to the Lord.
It wasn’t the tongues of fire that made the difference for him and the 11 on the day of Pentecost. It was the coming of the Holy Spirit into their lives. Once that happened, they went NUTS for Christ. They could care less about the people who were threatening their lives. As a matter of fact, they went on preaching Christ and the authorities ordered them to shut their mouths or risk jail. They chose to go to jail.
But jail time did not stop them. The authorities decided a good whipping would keep them quiet, so they took whips and had them beaten. They received 39 lashes with whips on their backs leaving them a bloody mess. But the power of the Holy Spirit was in them and they went NUTS.
No sooner than they got away from the guys with the whips they started shouting, “Praise God! God considers us worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ.” Before the scars on their backs could heal, they were back on the job. Day after day the Scriptures tell us they kept on preaching both in the temple and from house to house. These saints were truly NUTS. The presence of the Holy Spirit had given them a power to change and had changed them.
Even when they were abused and misused, they did not forget the God they served. You see the Holy Spirit did not come upon them just to do miracles. The Holy Spirit came upon them to change their lives. People started getting saved. People started sharing their possessions with each other. People started taking care of each other. People started putting God first in their lives and getting their priorities in life in the right order.
People expected others to speak evil of them, and to misuse them. People expected to pay a cost for their faith, be it being thrown out of the synagogue or being beaten with whips. They were saying, “we’re a bunch of Nuts, and we intend to stay that way. We’re even praying for you because we never underestimate the Spirit’s power to change someone’s life.”
When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, it is not to be a temporary experience to get us out of a jam, but a lifelong living relationship. Jesus told the disciples, He was leaving, but that the Holy Spirit would be there for them and would remind them of everything He said. The Holy Spirit has come into our lives is just like Jesus being with us at all times. The Holy Spirit has feelings for us just like Jesus does.
We find in Ephesians 4:30, “and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” When we speak of Never Underestimating The Spirit’s power to change, we should first look to make a change inside of ourselves to make sure we are not grieving the Holy Spirit. You see our very actions can bring sorrow and hurt to the heart of God.
Sometimes, we are far too eager to do ministry out there in the church or in the world, without recognizing Jesus called us into a personal relationship with Him to first change us. If you had to choose between being a healer for Jesus with a city wide healing ministry but living in a home where no one cares much for you because of your behavior in the home, or being a person at home who genuinely loves his or her family with the humility of Christ who leads a simple bible study faithfully in the church which would you choose. The reality is, too many of us prefer the spectacular over the faithfulness.
It is far easier to deal with the sin in the world, than it is to deal with the sin in us. In Ephesians, Paul is writing to those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, but are blocking the move of the Spirit’s power in their own lives. Look at what he says in Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
People ask what’s God’s will for my life. Most of the time they want to know a profession or a destination. God’s will for our lives is a transformation. It’s a change from what we are to what God wants us to be. God’s will is for us to forgive everybody that has hurt us, otherwise we will become a bitter person.
God’s will is for us is to recognize, the Holy Spirit has put us in charge of controlling our temper. We cannot go into a rage to express our anger. Temper tantrums are not appropriate for kids, for teens, or for adults. How much yelling and screaming is going on with you being the one doing it. Either stop beating your spouse or quit calling yourself a believer. Child abuse is not a Christian way of disciplining a child.
We are called to submit our temper to God, not justify it as a family trait. If we do not deal with it, it will deal with us. Last week in Cleveland, one guy shot and killed another because he heard the guy had called him a name. That’s temper out of control. God’s will is for us to stop looking for fights by going around talking about others. We do not have the right to slander or talk evil about others.
What’s God’s will for our lives in verse Ephesians. 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Here is where being NUTS for Christ truly pays off with the power to change. This verse says, we are going to mess up and we’re going to do it more than once or twice.
But the Holy Spirit gives us the power to keep on being kind to each other and to keep on forgiving each other. The standard is not, “I’ll do it when I feel like it.” The standard is, “just as in Christ God forgave you.”
There’s not a family here today that would not improve if each person or even a couple of people in the family asked for the power of the Holy Spirit to just live out these two verses of Scripture. It’s not how much of the bible we know, it’s how much of the bible are we willing to live that’s going to make a real difference. This Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is willing to Breathe On us the power we need to do what God has called us to do.
When Jesus Christ went to the cross and died on our behalf, He died not only for our sins which we know about, but also for the sins which we will yet commit. God knew that we would blow it, even after giving our lives to Christ, and yet God still loved us. It is not too late for any of us to change and to be changed.
Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jesus died so that our past does not have to determine our future both in the physical and in the spiritual realm. It may be the tenth time you’ve started over, but it’s better to make the effort the tenth time and see what God can do through you, than to be content as a nine time failure and miss what God has for you.
On this day of Pentecost go out and renew your commitment to be NUTS for Christ. Never Underestimate The Spirit’s Power To Change Your Life. That’s the place where God wants to begin.
Sermon Outline “NUTS Power To Change” Pastor Rick
5/19/2002 Pentecost Joel 2:28-32 Acts 1:1-11 Eph 4:31-32
A. Our Church’s Theme Never Underestimating The Spirit
1. The Call To Be Nuts & Crazy
2. Passion, Cross, Stewardship, The Spirit
3. Bring It On, I’m Completely Prepared
4. Exams, Circumstances, Failure
5. What You Need Is A Bigger Test
B. The Disciples Knew What Failure Could Be Like
1. We Have Your Back & Ready To Die
2. We’re Out Of Here, Ready To Give It Up
3. The Locked Room, The Resurrection, The Debate
4. The 40 Days After Resurrection
C. The Assignment About To Be Discharged
1. Is This The Time For Us To BE In Charge
2. You Will Not Know & Cannot Know, But
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
3. No Chance To Ask Question For Details
4. The Ascension To Heaven, The Cloud, The Sky
5. The Angels Clarify Going & Coming
D. The Disciples Confusion Of The Mission
1. How Will It Happen, Languages, Money
2. Traveling Expenses, Judas, Previous Failure
3. If Only Jesus Had Of, Fear Sets In
4. God Chooses Not The Easy Way, But Us
5. The Call To Be A Witness—First Hand Account
6. Billy Told Me Is Hearsay On The Stand
E. Jesus Spent 40 Days To Equip Witnesses
1. Lacked Power For Fear, Language, Money
2. Opportunity For NUTS Power To Chang
3. Holy Spirit Always Comes With Power
4. Somebody Remembered What Jesus Said
5. Key—H/S Comes Upon Them With Power
6. If God’s Will, God Will Find A Way
7. We Need College Classes, Confidence
8. Public Speaking, Languages & Money
F. Jesus Gave Instructions For Waiting
1. Wait In Jerusalem
2. Pentecost—Festival For Harvest Of Crops
3. People Come From All Over The World
4. The Holy Spirit Comes As Jesus Said
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5. The 120 Gathered In One Place—The Tongues
6. Somebody Is Preaching In My Language
7. Asian, African, European, Language
G. God’s Abundant Provisions
1. Equipped In An Instant With Languages
2. No Need To Pay For Travel
3. Are These People For Real Or Drunk At 9
4. Peter & The 11 Are Changed Preachers
5. Boldly Preaching The Gospel
6. Power In The Holy Spirit Not In The Fire
H. The Disciples Truly Go Nuts For Christ
1. Not Afraid Of What Others Might Say Or Do
2. It’s Time To Go To Jail For Being NUTS
3. The Whips Of 39 Lashes For Being NUTS
4. A Painful & Sorrowful Suffering
5. Praise Offered For Suffering For Christ
6. Back On The Job With Wounds
Acts 5:41-42 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
8. People Started To Get Saved & Changes Made
9. Possessions, Concerns, Priorities, God
10. Pay Cost—Jail, Kicked Out, Abuse, Beatings
11. Remained NUTS With Prayer Power
I. The Holy Spirit Is Personal & Within
1. The Holy Spirit Takes The Place Of Jesus
Ephes. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
2. Power To Change Should Begin Inside
3. Great Ministry Or Obedient Servant
4. The Spectacular Over The Faithful
5. That Sin Easier To Deal With Than My Sin
6. Blocking The Move Of The Spirit In Our Lives
Ephes. 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
7. What’s God’s Will For My Life
8. Profession, Destination, Transformation, Change
9. Forgiving All, Not Becoming Bitter
10. Making A Change With Our Temper/Anger/Slander
11. Submitting Our Temper To God---Control
12. God’s Will Is Positive As Well
Ephes. 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
13. Being NUTS Can Make This Happen
14. Standard—Just As In Christ God Forgave You
15. Every Family Can Improve & Get Better
16. Not How Much Bible We Know, But Practice
17. God Equips Us To Be Obedient
J. Jesus Died For All Of The Sins On The Cross
1. God Knew In Advance That We Would Blow It
2. Never To Late For us To Change & Start Again
3. Jesus Always Has A Plan
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.
4. True For The Physical & The Spiritual
5. Blown It 9 Times Already—You Can Change
6. Take The Tenth Step & Be Blessed
7. Commit To Being NUTS For Christ
8. God Has A Place For You
