Following Christ

Thank you, Mrs. Call. It was very well done and very appropriate for a festival that's one of its names is the Feast of First Fruits. I often remember Pentecost is one of those days that has more names, I think, than any of the other feasts. I was looking out and I thought, it seemed like it was more crowded yesterday, but we didn't have the downstairs. I was just curious. Some of you are downstairs watching on the screen right now. If you're watching downstairs, hold up your hand so I can count. No, that doesn't work, does it? It's amazing the technology, you know, things we can do. One of my earliest memories, and this goes back to when I was about Connor's age, I remember lying on the living room floor with my dad watching TV. Back then it was one of those big boxes that you had to turn on and wait five or ten minutes and you get a picture that sort of has color and sort of doesn't if the program was in color in the first place. But this memory, it's funny because you know how at that age you have just these small flashes. I remember we were watching Star Trek. And this was not reruns of Star Trek. This is far enough back to when it was on in the evening and that's the first time anyone was seeing it. I don't remember anything else about that incident. I couldn't tell you what episode it was. But I learned later that my dad was a fan of the show and I've been a fan of it all my life.

I always liked that idea of going off into space, making new discoveries, having adventures.

And if you like that kind of thing and watch those kind of shows, you've noticed in science fiction they have these coolest devices that enable people to do amazing things. You know, you could get in a spaceship that can cover vast distances in short times. Or of course on Star Trek, if you don't want to bother to get in a ship and land, the transporter dematerializes you and then have to have the sound effects too. Comes right up. If you have a bad guy and you don't want to kill him, set phasers to stun. And of course, no matter where they go, they could always talk because they had the universal translator. Later on I discovered that was just a scriptwriter's quick thought. But it was a good one. I guess I was one of the dorky guys. I thought Mr. Spock was really cool, but I kind of wanted to be Captain Kirk. I was early enough Captain Picard I never knew much about. And of course when I got older, then I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. Right? I see that. And then when I got a little bit older, I realized that all the girls were interested in Han Solo. You know, as a youngster interested in that kind of thing, action, adventure, of course I naturally also liked comic books. Partly because it's these stories about people with extra powers and abilities. I wonder how many of you are like me. You don't like spiders, I'll bet. I can't stand spiders. But if letting one bite me would give me superpowers, at least when I was a kid I would have been there in a heartbeat.

And of course, you know, we had to use more imagination in those days because the special effects were so-so. Actually, speaking of Star Trek, on our cable station I've discovered there's a channel that late in the evening on Saturday night shows the original series. So we've tuned it in every now and then. It's actually getting to the point where now it's almost not even sunset yet. But when you see those special effects you go, wow, I thought that was good. They're so cheesy.

Of course, now the special effects have gotten real enough that maybe you don't have to use your imagination so much. And if you're younger, they can make you really afraid. Partly because nowadays the shows that have to do with aliens are often, they're hostile. And they're coming not just to explore or having misunderstandings. They're like in Independence Day where they're going to blow up our cities and take over everything. It makes you miss the aliens from the 1980s, like Morke from Orc. You know, it's interesting a generation. Nobody chuckled at all when I talked about Morke from Orc down in Pressensburg. There was another show from the 80s that I didn't see much of. I saw a little and I believe the title was called The Greatest American Hero. And I remember I'm wearing this red suit. And basically aliens had given this fellow this super suit that when he put it on, he had super powers. Only somehow the communication broke down because what I do remember of it is seeing him flying like this and bumping into walls because he hadn't learned how to use the powers properly. Well, I thought interesting parallel. What if, you know, imagine ourselves in this scenario, if a being from beyond planet Earth and far more developed than mankind came and chose you and said, you can have this special gift that's going to give you extra abilities and powers. And what if while he was talking to you, he said, you know, look around, you know, we've been watching your planet and you folks are headed for destruction. Mankind is going to destroy itself in nuclear war or with biological weapons or genetic malfunctions, something like that. But if you accept this gift and you practice using it, you can save yourself from that coming destruction. And you might even be able to help others to likewise save themselves. And not only that, since you're listening and responding to this selection, later I'm going to return to Earth and let you be part of my team, you and all the others who accept this gift. And you're going to have new responsibilities. Eventually we're going to travel out in the universe and build new worlds and civilizations. And don't worry about how far it is, because time's not going to matter. You'll be able to live forever. But for that to happen, you need to start practicing using the gift. Practice these abilities that it's going to give you and develop your mind. Set your will so that you can properly handle the tremendous responsibilities that are going to be given to you. I imagine for most of us, if we were given that choice, we'd say, yes, I'm in. I want to be a part of that. And we wouldn't take it lightly. We would start practicing. We'd focus on preparing for that future. We would practice those abilities. And we would probably want to share it with as many people as possible.

Of course, I'm guessing many of you are ahead of me. I haven't... I've been sort of saying this as an imaginary scenario, but it parallels what has actually happened to us, to the amazing gift that God Himself has made available to us. This is something real. And it's more exciting than any science fiction story. A being from beyond planet Earth did come and visit. His name was Jesus Christ. He said, and it's recorded in John 6 44, that His Father chose some people at this time, and they would receive an amazing gift. That gift is the Holy Spirit. If we use it, we gain some amazing powers, abilities beyond normal human capacity. We prepare for an astounding future. And we can look forward to living forever. So today, I'd like to consider more about how it is that we receive this gift. We don't have an alien getting off of a spaceship in front of us and handing us a box, but there is a way that we get the gift. And let's read about some of the extra abilities, superpowers, if you want to call them, that it gives us. And I'll give you a foreshadow. A lot of them aren't what many people might expect, not even what I expected when I was younger. And of course, let's consider the ultimate benefit that does come from God's Spirit.

It's no stretch of the imagination to say that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God, because that's what He says in His Word. It's appropriate, since it's Pentecost, to begin by turning to Acts 2, verse 38. Acts 2, 38.

We'll be visiting this again later, but this is a scripture. It seems like I've been quoting this more often than just about any other scripture lately, but there are some in close competition.

This, of course, is following Peter's powerful sermon that he gave on that fateful day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out. And he preached about how Jesus Christ really was the Messiah. I should say Jesus, because Christ means Messiah. He's saying, this Jesus of Nazareth really was the Messiah, and you killed Him, but now He's been resurrected, and He sits at the right hand of God, and the people heard it, and they were convicted, and they said, men and brethren, well, let me read it. Well, they said, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent! Every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's not an exchange where you earn it. It's a gift.

And apparently, not everyone has that gift. As I mentioned John 644, without turning there, of course, only those whom the Father chooses can come to Jesus Christ and receive that. Well, how then do we manage to obtain it? Two things are covered right in the Scripture. The first two steps are repentance and baptism. I'll add something to that, another physical action, which Peter doesn't mention right here, but it becomes obvious a few chapters later in Acts 8. Acts 8 and verse 12. This is the account of a man who at that time was ordained a deacon in the church, later became an evangelist, but he went to Samaria and preached the gospel.

And of course, it says, this was Philip, when they believed Philip, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. We presume that they repented prior to baptism. And this is referencing Simon the Magician. Simon himself also believed when he was baptized. He continued with Philip. He was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done. So Philip was doing working miracles. When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. And when they came down, they prayed for them that they might receive the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. For as yet, it was fallen on none of them. They'd only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. In the next verse, it says, Simon saw that by the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given.

So there is one more physical action that occurs. Now, repentance isn't a physical action. It's something we do in the mind, but we're physically baptized, immersed in water. And then an elder of the church lays hands on us and prays for God to impart the Spirit. There's another important criteria that God considers to determine who receives the gift. That's back just a few chapters in Acts 5. Acts 5, verse 32. I'll break into a thought here because I want to get basically to the end of this verse. It says, We are witnesses to those things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey Him. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him.

And it's interesting, we see actually following that procedure of you repent and then you're baptized and have hands laid on you, that is actually an act of obedience. Because it would be easy to say, well, what do I need to have some guy come and laying his hands on me? There's nothing special about those hands. I can attest, I've got a pair of them. There's nothing special about these hands. But God does expect the obedience of doing what He tells you to do. He says, go to this person that I've designated, not to just anyone. And He says, I know you took a bath this morning, but before you received the Holy Spirit, I'm telling you to be baptized. So there's a certain act of obedience. But it's not just obedience of that one act, it's a life of obedience. You know, you received the Spirit, you have obeyed God, but the Spirit needs to be renewed. It's a continual thing. And if we stop obeying, it seems that God could stop supplying the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, I won't... Well, we could turn there. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19. I think I referred to this yesterday and didn't turn to it. So today I'll turn to it. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19.

It's a short scripture, but a very important one. Do not quench the Spirit.

You could say, well, what does that mean? I believe it means you cutting off the flow of that Spirit, quenching it. And how would you do that? Rebelling against God, resisting His guidance, not obeying Him. That's probably very similar to what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4 verse 30. I'm not going to turn there, but there he said, do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

Don't grieve the Spirit. Considering our message yesterday and how thoroughly we looked at to prove from the scripture that the Holy Spirit is not a person who could have his feelings hurt, I think grieve there means the same thing as quench, as in working against that Spirit, resisting it, cutting off its flow. Thus, we could receive a wonderful gift from God, but we could stop receiving it. We could lose it. And that's something that should strike us as a little bit, well, I shouldn't say scary, but if we start to resist God and leave His way of life, that should be a little frightening, because the gift of this Holy Spirit is so important and valuable, we would never want to lose it. That's a thought reflected in Psalm 51. I'm going to turn there. Again, there are some of these I wanted to turn. I figured if I'm going to go to them both days, I'll read them one day and not necessarily the other. I don't think I turned to Psalm 51 yesterday. Psalm 51 and verse 10, and if I did, Psalm 51 is one we could read every day and it wouldn't hurt us. This is after David's egregious sin. I mean, he had committed adultery and then committed murder and then covered it all up. And now he'd come to the realization of what he did, and he was very repentant, heartfelt. And he was moved so much that as being a poet, he wanted to put it into words on paper, and so we're able to read it. And he wrote, saying to God, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Please don't take your spirit from me. And as I said, this shows that it is possible to have it taken from us. But I take great encouragement that it also shows that even after a pretty serious sin and amount of time elapsing, that doesn't mean the Holy Spirit has automatically been taken. You know, you don't sin and the Spirit's gone. Apparently, God allows quite a bit of time with that Spirit in your mind. You have to resist it and show that you really just aren't interested in God's Spirit leading you before He'll cut off that flow. Okay, with that in mind, let's turn and consider a little bit more about the how that amazing gift comes to us. As I said, it's not by a UPS truck pulling up in the front of our house. And Luke 11 and verse 13, we'll read something. Luke 11 and verse 13.

Now, this is coming in at the end of a parable, but I wanted to get at the last point. He said, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? By the way, I should mention there's a good additional part of getting the Spirit. Ask. And the other part of where Christ said, Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you'll find. Knock and it'll be open. Ask God for His Spirit. I try to make that a point in my prayer daily to say, God, please dwell in me through your Spirit. Put that Spirit in me.

But it is something we see. It's the Father gives the Holy Spirit. That fits with what we would read also in John 15, 26. John 15 and verse 26. It is, of course, part of Christ's instruction to the disciples about what the Holy Spirit is here using that Greek word paraclete, the helper, which, as I explained yesterday, should properly have the neuter pronoun. It says, when it or when the Holy... Let me just read what it says here. When the Helper comes, whom I'll send to you from the Father, the Spirit of... Did I do this again? Yeah. When the Helper comes, whom I'll send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me. I want to get that fact that the Spirit proceeds from the Father. So we've seen Scriptures that say the Holy Spirit is given by the Father. It proceeds from the Father. But that does not mean that Jesus Christ is not also a part of the process. Just further down on the page in my Bible, in John 16 and verse 7, Jesus, speaking to the apostles again, says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him or send it to you. So Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit.

Titus 3 and verse 5 will help us to put these together. Titus 3, 5.

And I realize I'm being a little bit academic in putting these pieces together, but I think it's important every now and then for us to review exactly what the Bible says about how we receive the Holy Spirit. You might be surprised at the disagreement and the great theological arguments that have arose over this very question. Titus 3 and verse 5.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, that is God's mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Let me underline that word renewing. That's as I said. It's not you get it once and you always have it. It's like a flow. We've used the analogy of a flow of water or sometimes a flow of electricity. It needs to be renewed. So it says, let me pick up that last part again, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So without delving into a lot of further explanation and speculation, we can see the Bible says that the gift of the Spirit comes from the Father through Jesus Christ.

And to me, that's enough said because you could ask, well, how exactly does it come through Jesus Christ? I don't know. I'm not sure exactly the answer to that. Just the Bible says it does happen. But part of the reason I wanted to focus on this is there have been detailed theological arguments and even splits over this question. You're aware that there is a Roman Catholic Church, of course, and you're probably aware there's also an Eastern Orthodox Church, and they coincided to the two divisions in the Roman Empire. The reason there are two separate churches is disagreement over this question. There was original teaching, well, the Holy Spirit comes from the Father. Other people said, no, it should say, from the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. They said, no, no, it doesn't go that way. And they argued and eventually split because of what I believe in Latin was called the filioque. Filioque meaning the word, like, and the Son. It's like, boy, they're arguing over this little thing and they split and all these people suffered. And I thought, you know what? Yeah, I can believe that. I've seen leaders of church argue over little things and have splits and the members suffer because of it. It happened thousands of years ago. It seems to happen still today. So, as I said, I'm happy to say, though, the Spirit is a gift from God. It says it proceeds from the Father. It comes through Jesus Christ that He sends it. The important thing to me is that I'm on the receiving end. I want to make sure I have that part down. It's given as a gift to those who repent and are baptized in Christ's name, have hands laid on them, and who obey God. All that's a start to our understanding. That's how we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now, I want to change gears a little and talk about what this special gift does for us.

There are a couple of places in scripture that describe some of the things that the Spirit enables us to do. We could call them gifts of the Spirit. And I'll confess, actually, the first thought of this sermon came in preparation for Passover. As I was reading through this long section of scripture where Christ was explaining to the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come, and He talked of the Comforter, as I said, the Pericletos. And He described that it would come into them, be available to them, and help them. So if you will, turn back to John 14 and verse 26.

Let's note one other thing that He told them.

John 14 and verse 26, Jesus says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, it will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Now, our understanding from yesterday is that it's not a being or a person that was going to walk into the room and start teaching. We understand it's this power of God, so it would teach how? How would it bring to remembrance? Well, one of the things we can see is evidence that it worked. Because look at this long section of scripture that is Jesus Christ's words. I'm pretty sure that the Apostle John didn't have a digital recorder stuffed in his pocket, or even a reel-to-reel recorder in the room, or probably not even a notepad and pen. The Holy Spirit later gave him the ability to remember Christ's words, and then he wrote them down. So we see evidence that what Jesus promised happened. The apostles had a remembrance of many things Jesus said. At the end of the book of John, he says, Jesus said and taught so many things, I could... there's not enough room in the world to fill the books. That was probably an exaggeration, but it shows they remembered far more than they put down. You know, the gospel accounts might be relatively brief, but that's by design. It doesn't mean that they didn't know anymore. I suspect they knew a lot more. Let's turn over to John 16 and verse 13. See a little bit more. John 16 and verse 13.

When the Spirit of truth has come, it will guide you into all truth, for it will not speak on its own authority, or you could say it will not speak on its own. Authority is an italic. So, of course it won't speak on its own. It's not a person. It won't speak, but whatever it hears, because it's in your mind, it gets the information through your ears. It will speak and will tell you things to come. It will glorify me, for it will take of what is mine and declare it to you.

As I said, because the English translators used the word he when they should have said it, that passage gives some people the wrong idea that the Holy Spirit is a conscious being that speaks and teaches. But when we understand that it's not a conscious being, but that it's a power and presence of God in our minds, we start to realize that the Holy Spirit is what enables us to understand the words of God. It takes what God has said and teaches us. It lets us hear and make sense of it. And of course, it blesses our memory.

Having understanding of God's word is no small matter. It's a miracle. It's a wonderful miracle.

With that in mind, let's turn to 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Corinthians 12. I'll tell you which verse it is once I turn the page. Yes, starting in verse 7. This is one of the places where the Apostle Paul lists some of the gifts or we could say abilities or superpowers imparted by the Holy Spirit. And as I said, when I started focusing in, I got a little bit of a surprise. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 7.

The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. So of course, whatever power it gives us isn't so we can say, hey, look at me, I can do this. It's for the benefit of others. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues. One and the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as He will.

I counted, I went back and counted, nine different abilities or gifts imparted by the Spirit. And I should say, I don't think Paul meant this to be a comprehensive list. This is all it does and nothing else. But off the top of his head, he came up with nine things very quickly that the Spirit does. And when I thought of what they are, it surprised me only two out of those nine were the type of superpowers that I would have expected or as a kid would have wanted. You know, if you're like me and you say, okay, what power can I get from the Spirit? I want to heal people. I want to work miracles. You know, I'd love to be able to walk on water and then turn around and turn that water into wine, you know, and then be able to disappear into a crowd just like Jesus did.

But if I read this list again, it seems like several of the gifts of the Spirit don't really seem to do much, physically speaking. You know, from a physical point of view, especially from the perspective of a guy who raised reading comic books and watching Star Trek, these are mostly gifts of the mind. They deal with the powers of communication.

They deal largely with words. If you look again in verse 8, to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, the other word of knowledge. That's two that specifically are words. Looking further down, of course, well, let me... yeah, sorry, I'm looking at my notes so I don't get out of track of what I was saying. To another, uh, faith by the same Spirit or prophecy.

Oh yeah, sorry, I got lost in my notes here. Yeah, I was looking down at the bottom, of course, you have speaking in tongues. That is, speaking a different language, and another is interpreting tongues. These are all dealing with words and understanding the meaning. That's four out of the nine that are all about words. Well, you got faith. Faith is good. Except then, I turned to Romans 10 verse 17. I'll turn over and read it if you like. It's...

because I don't want to read the whole section. Romans 10 and verse 17. Then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. That's more words! Faith comes hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So even faith is dealing with words. Looking back here, of course, uh, one is prophecy. Well, at least that's a cool power. I can predict the future. Well, okay, Frank, you got to understand the original Greek.

It's not necessarily about imagining the future. It's not picking lottery tickets or Super Bowl winners or, you know, the winner of the Belmont stakes. Actually, I didn't have to have prophecy. That happened yesterday. Rather, the Greek word profitees here translated prophecy literally means inspired speaking.

Now, speaking under the inspiration of God is the only way that a person could foretell the future. At least as far as predicting certain things. Now, if I say, if you throw that ball in the air, it's going to come back down. Now, that's just common sense. That's not foretelling the future. But speaking by inspiration of God through the Spirit is also how you discuss and how you explain God's Word. True prophecy has to do a lot with words.

If you look across the page there on 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 3, Paul wrote, I therefore make known to you, no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed. Where he says, speaking by the Spirit, he could have said, no one prophesying calls Jesus accursed.

The same word would apply. And no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Now, someone could say the words Jesus is Lord, but to mean it and understand what it means, that takes the opening of the mind by the Holy Spirit. It's more words.

Even if we look here in verse 10. Okay, I'm looking at these and they're a jumble of words. I'm going to have to put my glasses on. It's in verse 10, discerning of spirits. That sounds pretty cool, but it's also something that goes on in the mind. It's a thinking and an understanding process. You know, as a sci-fi fan, you know, comic book fan, I could be a little disappointed.

You know, these wondrous gifts mostly are working in my mind. The kid in me wants super strength. I want the ability to fly, to turn invisible, or to run 60 mile an hour. You know, at least there's healing and it says other kinds of miracles. Well, that's at least good. Now, that's kind of condescending for me to say that's at least good.

But I could look and say, well, you know, I want to do all the great miracles like they did in the early New Testament church. Didn't they work lots of great miracles? Well, maybe not as much as I thought. Let's go there. Let's go back to Acts 2. Matter of fact, we'll start right there at the beginning. As I said earlier, it's very appropriate to read this passage of Scripture, so we'll start in Acts 2 verse 1.

My voice was a little bit rough this morning. I think it might have been sleeping in the hotel room with a different air conditioning. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind. It wasn't necessarily actually a wind, but it sounded like it.

It had filled the whole house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them divided tongues like fire. One sat on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. What a fabulous thing!

And they began to speak. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and what did they do first? They started to speak. They spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So that's the start. They used that great power, and words started coming out. And when the sound occurred, the multitude came together, and they were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. This fits with what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12, that the gifts of the Spirit included speaking in or understanding other languages. So when these disciples had this power, what did they use it to do? If we look down in verse 11, they were speaking this, and this is the end of the list of the various nations or countries where people were from. Crets and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. They use this power to talk about God, to teach His ways, His truths. And of course, much of the chapter that follows includes this powerful sermon by Peter. And as I said, it might have been a much longer sermon. Perhaps this is just the Cliff Notes version. Peter might have spoken a long time and elaborated greatly.

We can see here what really seems to be a pattern in the church. God would work a miracle, and that would get people's attention, and then the Holy Spirit would work through God's ministers in their use of words. They would preach the truth to people. And of course, it is inherent that once you know the truth, you have to do it. It's not just a matter of knowing. Acting on that truth is an important thing that we have to follow through on. Let's look at the next chapter, Acts chapter 3. I'm going to skip in near the end of this actual story because remember the apostles, they came to the temple daily teaching, and God was calling more people in. And I wonder if they noticed as they walked in every day by this one gate called Beautiful, there was a fellow who was disabled. I'm not sure if they said crippled. I think they used the term lame. He couldn't walk. And so his way of earning a living was to sit there every day with his basket asking for charity. Finally, walking through Peter and John stopped, and they said, hey dude, look at me. I'm not sure if they said dude, but they looked at me. He looked up, thinking they're going to give him something. Peter said, I don't have silver or gold, but what I do have I'll give you. And he stretched out his hand and said, in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. He pulled him up and the scripture says his legs and ankles received strength. And he stood up and then he couldn't stop. He was jumping and leaping. He's so happy. He's like, God healed me. This is wonderful. That got people's attention. Let's begin reading in verse 9. All the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging at the beautiful gate in the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. This is a powerful miracle. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch, which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. Now when Peter saw it, well, let me stop there. The people came in and they were amazed at what happened. They were ready to listen. And then Peter used the power of the Spirit to speak. Peter saw it and he responded to the people saying, men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you look so intently at us as though we by our own power, for godliness, made this man walk? And he continues on through the rest of the chapter and part of the next preaching. Peter uses the power of the gift of inspired speaking that God had given him so he could teach people about God's plan, God's way of life. I thought about it. When he reached down and grabbed that man's wrist and pulled him up, the healing happened like...

There we go. Like that. It only took a fraction of a second for the miracle to happen, at least that particular miracle. And then the sermon took considerably longer. We all know what long sermons can be like. But the biggest miracle that occurred that day was neither of those. I imagine the biggest was the people listening having their minds opened to begin to understand something they'd never known before. And I say that's been a humbling thing for me. The few times I've talked to people who haven't grown up in the church counseling for baptism and saying, I understand this. Why didn't I understand this before? Because a miracle has happened. God is opening our minds. And it happens to people who do grow up in the church. A lot of times at one point you sort of know you understand, but at some point you know it in a different way. You know, you grow in that understanding. It's a miracle, not a coincidence.

Let's continue over in Acts 5. This is a case where the apostles would be put in prison. Acts 5 and verse 18. Of course, they're still going in the temple. The priests don't like them doing that. They're going there teaching. So finally, actually if you're back into verse 17, the high priest and those who were with him, the sect of the Sadducees, filled with indignation, they laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out. So they're put in prison. Angel comes and lets them out and says, go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. And that's what they did.

But it's interesting. The super-powered miracle of opening the prison doors was performed by the angel. God didn't even have the men do it. But the angel worked the miracle and then the apostles spoke words. But I'm saying speaking those words was a miracle, a gift by the Holy Spirit. It's not a sideshow, a small thing. There are several similar examples. Let's look to one more in Acts 16. I think one more. Let me look and see if I have another one up my sleeve. Nope.

Acts 16 beginning in verse 24. Another case of being in prison. This time it's Paul and Silas as they're traveling. And of course, they were put into a Roman prison with their feet down in stocks as it says in verse 24 and in verse 25. At about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying, singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Of course, they didn't have any radio, so it's the most entertainment they have. But suddenly there was a great earthquake. So the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were open. Zoom! They all opened. The chains fall right off and were loosed. The keeper of the prison, he must have heard the earthquake and everything rocking. And he opened and saw the doors open.

Supposing the prisoners had fled, he drew a sword. He was about to kill himself. That was the Roman tradition. If you failed in your responsibility, a Roman soldier knew he was obliged to kill himself rather than make the expense and trouble of a trial. But Paul called with a loud voice, do yourself no harm. We're all here. And he called for a light, and he ran in, and he fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought him out and said, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'" That's interesting. This was a powerful miracle, an earthquake. The prison doors opening, all the locks undone, and that led to a question. The result of the powerful miracle was a question, and then words spoken in answer. In verse 31, they said, "'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved, you and your household.' And they spoke the word of the Lord to them, and all who were in his house." And God worked a mighty miracle. You know, Paul was sitting there singing songs. He didn't say, "'By the power of gray stroke,' or whatever it is they say, and open the door." Is that what they say? I know I've heard that in commercials, but I didn't, I'm not even sure which show that was from. Key man. That's one I should have watched. See, I'm a little too old for that one, but, you know, Paul didn't work a miracle to open the doors. He was surprised as everyone else. God worked that miracle, got everyone's attention so that Paul could use the power of the Holy Spirit to talk.

Now, I've heard some ministers speculate, you know, because the question comes, why don't we have the great miracles that we read about in the book of Acts? Well, some people have said that maybe God doesn't work as many big or flashy miracles because those were largely to get people's attention. And as we saw, the miracle would happen in the temple and the people would come running around and say, what's going on here? And then here comes the sermon. We don't need to do that to get people's attention so much anymore. Now, that might change. I often say, if God started working miracles like that, we'd have CNN trucks in front of our houses right away. You know, for whatever God's purpose and plan is, it seems that we can get people's attention enough as it is. You know, and we can produce TV shows and radio and print magazines. If you think about it, if the Apostle Paul were told, stand in front of that little box there and look in it and start talking, and people all across the country, millions of them, will see and hear you, he would have said, God's working a great miracle. So we have, you know, the same results of those miracles. And then, of course, we don't want to forget that what happens with the speaking is a miracle, if whoever's doing the speaking is submitting to God and following the lead by the Holy Spirit. And, of course, the listening is also perhaps the greatest miracle. Whether or not it's true, we ask the question, why all the emphasis on words, on language? Now, I would say that the kid in me was disappointed that I didn't get to turn invisible and have super strength, but the grown-up in me likes words and language. Now that I'm getting older, my body's tending to get weaker. Even though I work out and exercise, you know, it just, you know, I appreciate the concepts and the ideas that I've developed in my mind more than the strength and the skills that I've developed in my body. Now, I still like doing some of those things. I still like to go out and run and such, but it's not as much fun as it was 20 years ago. That thinking, that understanding, that's what really matters. That's where the gift of the Holy Spirit is going to make the most difference, especially in the long run. I'm reminded of Proverbs 23.7 again, where it says, as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. As a man thinks, and it says his heart, but it means in his mind, as you think in your mind, that's what you are, who you are. You know, I was born as a human being, and so I could, you know, as I grew to maturity, could think and understand concepts far beyond what dogs can understand, and, you know, or any animal. Dogs came to mind. I was thinking of a Larry Larson cartoon. You remember the far side when that was out? One sticks in my memory. I always liked, he had a great, unique view of mankind. I saw one, once it showed a split panel. One was a fella chewing out his dog. His dog had gotten into something. He said, now, Ginger, I told you to stay out of that cupboard. Ginger, you're going to be in big trouble. Ginger, you shouldn't have done all that. So that's what the man says. The next panel says, what the dog hears is, blah, blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah, blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah, blah. Dog had no understanding of all those words. Human beings can understand things that animals can't.

But, for most of us, you're like me. When the Spirit of God joins in your mind, you begin understanding things that most people don't. You can know so much more. The Apostle Paul explains that in 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2 will begin in verse 11. So what I've just described, I learned from reading this. What man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man, which is in him? We use that term Spirit in man. This is where we got the term. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. For we have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words, which man's wisdom teaches. So we're speaking these things, but not in words of man's wisdom, but it's the Holy Spirit that teaches. Remember Christ said the Holy Spirit would teach you things? Of course, it works so you understand those words. Comparing spiritual things was spiritual. The natural man, that is a normal person, doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to him. They're like the blah blah blah ginger. It doesn't make any sense. He can't know them because they're spiritually discerned. There's a lot said there in a short amount of time. Now, we've emphasized it a lot in the church, so it might sound like, yeah, of course we know that. I hope we do. But this is saying that ideas, and that's what words represent, ideas can be understood by a spirit that's in you. Man has a spirit in him, called the spirit in man, and it allows a certain level of understanding of certain things.

But unless God's spirit is added to that spirit, understanding the other concepts, the spiritual concepts, isn't possible. So what I'm saying, understanding the things of God is a miracle. It's a miracle that's only made possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And that's a miracle that happens all the time for us.

Now, again, we might wonder, of all the abilities and powers we could imagine that we might want to be given to us by this wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, why does God emphasize the ideas and the words, rather than healing, or flying, or walking on water? And of course, the answer comes down to God's thinking in the long term. One of the most amazing and important gifts that God plans to give us won't be different for different people. We read in 1 Corinthians 12, one person's given this, one person's given that. The one thing we all are looking forward to is life, and that's eternal life. Let's read 1 Peter 3 and verse 18.

1 Peter 3 and verse 18, Christ also suffered once for sins the just for the unjust, meaning he didn't deserve death, he paid the price for us, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh. He literally died, but made alive by the Spirit. It was the Spirit, by the Spirit, I mean, that the Father brought Jesus back to life. And that's the same process that he has in mind for us. If you will, join me in over in Romans 8 verse 11. Romans chapter 8, and we'll begin in verse 11. We just read that the Father used the Holy Spirit to give life to Jesus Christ. Here in Romans 8, 11, it says, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal body through his Spirit that dwells in you. Now, I would, well, I'm going to address that by giving life to your mortal body means he's going to give you life. The mortal body part, well, I'll just leave it there. Let's drop down to verse 16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our Spirit. We are children of God, and if children then heirs of God. Join heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. I consider the sufferings of this present time are not even worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Why doesn't God heal every ache and pain, spare us of every trial or trouble? Partly because that's nothing, not compared to what's happening. And, of course, we can look at other parts of Scripture to see that going through the trials in the test are what help build the character in us that God wants for eternal, for eternity. But his goal isn't to give us a perfectly comfortable physical life. He's looking at the long term.

Now, to understand how this will happen, though, as I said, we're talking about having eternal life.

That's, if we understand that, that will show us why it's the words and the ideas, why the thoughts in our mind are what matters, and the physical miracles don't so much. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter, will begin in verse 35.

As Paul is addressing the question, it'd obviously come to him. It's like, we're going to be raised from the dead? People are saying, how does that work? How do we come up?

So he addressed that. Here in verse 35, he says, someone will say, how are the dead raised up? With what body do they come? Do you come up in the same exact body that you had? Because that could be a problem for someone who died 4,000 years ago. That body is not around anymore. It was made out of physical matter, and it's decomposed, and it might have become, even certain molecules might have become parts of other people's bodies. Some elements might have been reused several times. Paul says, I'll foolish one. Or he might be saying, you're being silly. What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. What you sow, he could be saying, what you plant, you don't plant the body that will be, but mere grain. He's saying, if you're sticking seeds in the ground, which fits in with our special music, you're planting seeds. You're not going to have seeds come up. You're going to have a plant come up. So perhaps wheat or some other grain. God gives it a body as he pleases. Each seed its own body. So you put a seed in the ground. You know, I might put a kernel of corn in the ground, and I get a corn stalk up. Not a huge kernel of corn. I get a corn stalk. God made it a different kind of body. Paul is using agriculture, something that everyone would understand, to make the point that God is not concerned with resurrecting our actual physical body that we're dwelling in. That's going to decay and disappear. When God resurrects us, he's going to give us a new body. Look to verse 42. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption. It's raised in incorruption. So a corrupt or mortal physical body is put in the ground, but an incorrupt body will come up. It's sown in dishonor, raised in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised in power. It is sown in natural body, or we could say a physical body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a physical body. There is a spiritual body.

So that's what we're getting at. Now, I have to confess, at times it seems hard for me to imagine a body made of spirit, but that is what Paul is saying. And it matches with what we read yesterday in John 4 and verse 24, where Christ sat at that well and told this American woman, God is spirit. As I said, God is composed of spirit. He has a spirit body. He wants to give us a spirit body.

I suppose this is why the miracles of physical things just don't have that priority with God. You know, if God gave me super strength, like, I'm trying to think, I was thinking of the Disney cartoon, The Ultimates. The Incredibles. Yeah, that's it. The Incredible Man. If I had the super strength of Incredible Man, I'm getting, I gotta stop making pop culture references.

If I had that, though, I would still grow old and eventually weak. And I think in the cartoon, remember he started off with a big gut, you know, and he had to get back in shape, but even that doesn't last forever. No matter how great the power of healing that I might experience, or any of us might experience, there is no living eternally in these bodies. And I think we know that. And the older we get, the more we become aware of it. God is going to give me eternal life in a spirit body. And I'm saying me just to, you know, he's going to give each of us. Anybody he gives spirit life or eternal life will be in a spirit body. And I want to say to me, because, pardon me, he says, well, wait a minute. If it's a different body, would it still be me?

Well, I say yes, it would, because it's the mind that makes me what I am. You know, our minds, our thoughts are affected by our physical bodies, and they rely on our physical bodies. You know, that's one thing I think Mr. Armstrong had right when he wrote, he said, you know, we have a brain and our brain thinks, but the spirit that's in the man makes it the brain able to think. It's sort of like at home on my desk, I've got a computer that does things, but it has to have the right program in it to be able to do those things. So, you know, the spirit works and it helps my body to think. You know, the spirit doesn't do the thinking, the brain does, but the spirit makes it possible. And when I grow old, you know, I get weaker. The memories and character that I have still are there, even if my body is changing, it's declining. You know, and of course, many of you have experienced that I get frustrated because I'll go to take on a task and think, yeah, I can do this. I've done it before, you know, my mind says I can do it, and my body says, no, you can't either. You know, I had the experience of moving some railroad ties, working on that retaining wall. It's like, yeah, I can pick that up. And as I picked it, it's like, oh, I can't move it as quick as I thought I could. I can't carry it as far. And, you know, I started picking up one end and carrying in the other end. And, you know, and what struck me is this idea of that, can you have the same mind in a different body? All of us have experienced that already. Look at you. If you're over 70, you've got that same mind, but your body is not what it was 40 years ago. And I'll say the same for me. I'm 50 years old. I have the same mind, but I'm in a different body than I was when I was 20. Actually, I think I was a little more fit when I was 30. I was, I was, I would say I was buff. No, I wasn't buff, but I was, you know, I was strong and healthy. I was running marathons. I was feeling good. I still have that mind. Well, I've got a little better mind. It's been growing and hopefully improving, but I'm in a different body. Well, if God can take that mind and put it in a spirit body, I'm all for it. So we talk about the Holy Spirit joining with our spirit and man and taking all those memories and everything we have, and that's what can last. That's why Paul wrote in Philippians 2 verse 5, let this mind be in you, which was in Jesus, which in Christ Jesus, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. It doesn't mean his actual mind, but develop that same kind of mind so that you can have the same experience he had.

The mind is housed in a physical brain and body, and we each have a physical body. Some are more impressive than others. Some are stronger than others. Some have great amazing abilities, and God could use the power of his spirit to give us more. He gave Samson super strengths. He could do that with any of us if he wanted to, but where's Samson now? He didn't live forever, not in that body. The mind is what can last. The products of the mind, the ideas and thoughts, they can stay strong even when the body grows weak. And if you want to turn to Ecclesiastes 12 in verse 7, we're reminded of what happens after that. Solomon had a way with words, not surprisingly.

Ecclesiastes 12 in verse 7.

He's speaking poetically of the end of life and death, and he says, The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit will return to God who gave it. So the Spirit, and I know that word could be translated to mean breath, or wind, or as I said yesterday, invisible force, but I believe it's talking about the Spirit that God gives us, it'll return to God who gave it, and it'll have that record of everything we had, that recording of our memory, of our thoughts, of our manner of being, and that could be put into a different body, and there's the person. That matches, I'm not going to turn there, but in Luke 23 verse 46, just as he was about to die, Jesus, you know, he's on the crucifix, or he's on the stake, or the cross, whichever it was, and he was about to die, and he said, Lord, Father, into your hands, I commit my Spirit. He knew that the Spirit would return to where it went, and he was trusting that that body was going to die. The only way he could have life again is if God put it in a living body. When God is ready, he can put our Spirit into a new body. He did it for Jesus Christ, and the Bible says he'll do it for us. And that tells us why the greatest and most important gifts of the Holy Spirit center on words, language, ideas. In the long run, those will endure. They'll shape what will be for eternity. They'll be part of us. Physical miracles won't. The memory of the physical miracles might be, and that's good. If I ever get to walk on water, I'm not going to forget it. The memory of the experience will stick with me. But, you know, if I, you know, have a serious wound and I'm healed, I'll remember that, but the body will still decay and I'll die eventually.

I'm sure all of us would like for God to give us amazing physical abilities, but aren't you glad that he's given us the greatest gift of all? He's given us the ability to understand spiritual things, the ability to develop the mind of Christ and to prepare for eternity. He's given us the ability to build faith and righteous character.

Thinking back to my fondness for Star Trek, most of you remember that introduction at the beginning when William Shatner would talk about the, this is the five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise, to seek out new worlds and new civilizations. I'm only doing this by memory, too. To do something, something, but at the end he says, to boldly go where no man has gone before, and then it's for some reason when I say boldly go, no one has gone before, I think of the music. And our quest is to boldly go where one man has gone before. Jesus Christ did what we want to do, and it was possible by the Holy Spirit. He was filled by the Holy Spirit, and by that spirit the Father glorified him and gave him eternal life. That same spirit is available to us. That same spirit dwells in us. It can let us do much cooler things than any devices in any sci-fi movies. It can give us better abilities than the best comic book heroes. They're better because they're works of the Spirit, because they'll endure for eternity. God's Holy Spirit will help us develop the mind, the mind of Christ, the mind of a Christ-like person. And doing that will give us the ultimate gift, the gift of eternal life.