Parkland First Baptist Church
Sunday, May 31, 2020

      • Romans 5.8ESV

  • Introduction

    Good morning once again from the Pastor’s cave.
    I trust your couch is comfy this morning.
    You have your snacks, popcorn, or cheerios
    I hope you have your bible or favorite bible app handy.
    I’ll share a little about when and how we might be able to reopen at the end of our time together this morning.
    Last week, I began a series on the Holy Spirit entitled, “The Spirit of God”
    My hope is for us to come to a better understanding of the Holy Spirit and the part He plays in our lives
    So last week we talked about who the Holy Spirit is - God Himself
    We saw that He inspires and illuminates, He manifests God’s love to us, He is our counselor, He points to Jesus, and He empowers us for ministry.
    So today, I’d like to see how Jesus relied on the Holy Spirit in His ministry as an example for the us.
    Again today, I got the idea for the title and some research from JD Greear.
    Jesus was a Charismatic.
    The Apostles were also
    When you fully understand the word “charismatic” you’ll see that its impossible to be a genuine follower of Jesus and be charismatic in some sense.
    Now that may look different for each person and we’ll talk about that in a few weeks and see how being a Christian means we must operate in the power of the Spirit.
    Now, you may wondering what is a charismatic?
    It comes from the Greek word “charismata”, which means “gifts of grace”.
    So a charismatic is one who operates in the gifts of the Spirit.
    The world associates the word with people in a church that get highly emotional in their worship, raising hands, and sometimes the word is associated with crazy stuff like handling snakes, shouting strange sounds, uncontrollable laughter or rolling around on the floor.
    That’s what the world and some of us think when we hear the charismatic, but that’s unfortunate because it should mean the way every Christian moves and operates in the power of the Spirit.
    We can disagree on what that looks like, but whether or not we’re supposed to be charismatic is not in question.
    Today, I want us to look beyond what the stereotype is and see how we can tap into the Power of the Holy Spirit.

    Jesus Operated In The Power of the Spirit

    The gospel of Luke and Acts, both written by Luke, have a unique theme of the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus and the church.
    In Philippians 2, there is the passage that talks about the “kenosis” which means “the emptying.”
    Jesus when He came to earth emptied His access to His Godness.
    He didn’t cease being God, He just limited Himself to His God-given power.
    So, how was He able to do all the things that He did without His God power?
    How did He live a sinless life?
    How did He resist the devil?
    How did He do all the miracles that He did?
    Luke’s answer is, the power of the Holy Spirit.
    And that’s good news because that the same power you and I have access to.
    We just need to learn to use it like Jesus did.
    Luke draws a parallel between Jesus and the church in his gospel and Acts and how they experienced the Holy Spirit.
    For instance: Jesus’ birth comes from the Holy Spirit “overshadowing” Mary and when He begins His public ministry the Holy Spirit descends on Him like a dove.
    The church begins in the same way, since today is the Day of Pentecost, when the church was born, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
    Jesus was tempted and does so full of the Holy Spirit according to Luke. The church faced persecution and were filled with the Holy Spirit to respond to their accusers.
    Jesus was “sent out” by the Spirit to preach the gospel and the church was sent by the Spirit to take the gospel to the world.
    Let’s look at some specifics of how Jesus and the church lived in the power of the Spirit and how we can do the same.

    Miracles

    In Luke 5:17, “ On one of those days while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in him.”
    That verse begins the passage where Jesus heals a paralytic.
    Notice the phrase that was used, “the power of the Lord was present to heal.” Luke 5:17
    Of course Jesus could, He’s God after all.
    But Luke is indicating that Jesus’ power to heal was, in most circumstances, coming from the Holy Spirit.
    So there were times when the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to heal.
    And you’re going to see that phrase a lot in Luke, “power” and “authority” was upon Him.
    In Acts, the power of the Spirit comes upon the Apostles for all kinds of miraculous things:
    The Spirit is specifically mentioned as enabling the first Christians to understand languages they had never heard before (Acts 2:5–18) on the day of Pentecost;
    Stephen to see into heaven (Acts 7:55);
    Paul to causes a magician to go blind (Acts 13:8);
    And Philip to be teleported across the desert to meet the Ethiopian to share the gospel with him.(Acts 8:39).

    Preaching

    Beginning in Luke 4:14 this is what it says, “Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity. He was teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone.  He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
    Notice what it says here, before Jesus gave His first sermon, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee …” and then he preached.
    Same language is used when people in the early church preached:
    Peter was filled with the Spirit in Acts 2 and preached so that 3000 were saved;
    Peter and John were “filled with the Spirit” when they preached before the Sanhedrin in chapter 4;
    Acts 4:31 says that when the early Christians were filled with the Spirit they went out boldly preaching the word.
    Acts 7 says that Stephen was filled with the Spirit when he preached right before he was stoned … a sermon that led to the conversion of the Apostle Paul.
    Jesus told the Apostles to depend on the Spirit when they preached!
    12:11–12, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
    And He did, you read it later.

    Enacting Justice

    I read a few moments ago from Luke 4 and Jesus began teaching by saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
    Simple but to do all of that, notice the Holy Spirit enabled Him to preach and do the miracles, but especially set the oppressed free.
    Don’t we need that today in our world.
    Peter in Acts 10:38 said that Jesus’ ministry was all about “doing good and healing.”
    In the same way, the Apostles use the power of the Spirit to set captives free.
    Acts 16 tells the story of the Apostle Paul meeting a servant girl who has a demon that makes her a spectacle.
    Her owners rent her out for entertainment.
    She is a spiritual and economic captive, and Paul, through the power of the Spirit, delivers her.
    The Spirit of God comes on you for things like that.
    When you are working for the oppressed, for the captive, the Spirit of God will be, or can be, powerfully at work inside of you.
    We need that power in our world.
    With recent death of George Floyd and the systemic racism in our nation.
    In fact folks, we need to confess and repent of that, Let’s pray!

    Filling With Joy

    In Luke 10:21 Jesus says, “In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit …” Luke 10:21–22
    Acts 2 says that when the Spirit of God came upon the first church a great sense of “awe” came upon every soul and a sense of “gladness” filled their heart (2:42).
    Have you ever “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit …?”
    The true sign that a person is filled by the Holy Spirit is they are filled with joy; when a church is filled with the Spirit, its services are characterized by joy.
    Sure, there are times of solemn reflection and repentance and mourning, but the joy is dominant.
    Psalm 100: come into his presence with thanksgiving
    Ps. 35:27, “May those who delight in salvation shout for joy!”
    Galatians 5, “Be filled with the Spirit, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord …” A singing heart is a happy heart.
    Psalm 16:11: in his presence is fullness of joy. How can you claim to be in the presence of God and not have joy?
    Our worship services ought to be characterized by exuberance and shouting and joy.
    Ps. 35:27, “May those who delight in salvation shout for joy.”
    That’s a command, folks, not a suggestion.

    Prayer

    In both Luke and Acts, the fullness of the Holy Spirit is given in answer to REQUEST
    In Luke 3, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, it says that as he was praying, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical appearance like a dove.
    Same thing happens at the beginning of Acts.
    Jesus ascends back up to heaven in Acts 1:10.
    Acts 1:14 says that the disciples went back to the Upper Room and “devoted themselves to prayer.”
    This went on for ten days and the Spirit came in Acts 2.
    Peter then preached, and 3000 people were saved.
    Same thing happens in Acts 4.
    The early church is in a prayer meeting and then God sends the Spirit so powerfully that the place is shaken.
    Jesus instructs us to pray in Luke 11:11-13, “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
    We interpret that verse to be about all kinds of prayers … and that’s ok.
    But it’s mainly about the availability of the power of the Spirit.
    When is the last time you asked for it?

    Depend On The Spirit

    So we see that Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit as well did the early church.
    If he did, then don’t you think we should too?
    But how?
    Most of us depend on the wrong source of power
    What power do you rely on to overcome sin? To resist the devil? To be freed from bad habits?
    Jesus did all of this in the power of the Spirit
    We miss out on the help of the Holy Spirit, because we don’t ask.
    You have to ask.
    In Luke 11:13 Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
    Some of us don’t encounter the power of the Spirit because we’re not engaged in the mission of the Spirit.
    The Holy Spirit is not magic powder, or a crystal, or a rabbits foot that gives you luck.
    All of charismatic people focus on Acts 2, but it comes after Acts 1 where in verse 8 it says, “And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses.”
    Jesus came to share the gospel and pour His life into others.
    So if the Spirit lives in you, I would expect to see those same things in you.
    We have the wrong idea of what the Spirit does in our life
    I love how Greear put this,
    Can I tell you what I don’t see the Spirit doing a lot of in Luke and Acts?
    I don’t see him keeping the church from difficulty. “I pulled up at the mall, and I got a parking space.” Favor of God. Please. In Acts, God parked Paul in prison and Jesus on a cross.
    I don’t see Him making a lot of people wealthy. I think the Spirit of God can do that, but Paul says in 2 Cor that the Spirit increases our ability to make money so that we can increase our capacity of giving.

    Do You Want the Power of the Spirit?

    Here’s a question: Do you even want His power?
    A lot of people are like, “Yeah, I want Jesus’ power!”
    Why do you want His power?
    Is it to serve the church better?
    To serve His kingdom better?
    His mission better?
    Or is it to serve yourself better?
    James 4:3, “ You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
    The reason we often lack the Spirit of God in our lives and tapping into His power is because we are disconnected to Him
    There is no disconnect between the mission of God and the power of God.
    The disconnect is between the people of God and the mission of God.
    “IF THE PEOPLE OF GOD EVER EMBRACED THE MISSION OF GOD, THEY WOULD BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND WOULD THEN EXUDE THE POWER OF GOD” as J D Greear puts it.
    As we prepare to return to gathering in person and are able to begin to get out into the community again, we have an opportunity to be greatly used by God, but only if we rely on His power to accomplish His mission.
    Will you ask God for the Spirit of God working in and though you life this morning.
    If you are lost, accept Jesus
    Pray

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Parkland First Baptist Church
office@parklandfirst.com
253-531-0121
http://www.parklandfirst.com
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