As we celebrate Pentecost together this year I wanted to share a story that I heard at this year’s General Conference of Elders.  Lisa and I don’t always get to go each year, but this year we were able to travel over to the Cincinnati area for the conference.   Now I say area because we never actually entered Ohio this year.  The Cincinnati Airport is actually in Kentucky on the boarder and usually we are shuttled the 40 minutes north to a Holiday inn used for the conference but this year it was held in a Hotel near the airport so we never left Kentucky. 

The weekend is meant to do the church business but also to recharge and refocus the ministry so that we can start the year renewed with new energy and share that with our congregations.  One of the highlights of the general conference for me is the international reports, especially the exciting events going on in Africa.  This Year, the West Africa report was given by Mr. Paul Moody from the Spokane area.  He talked about how recently over 200 members who left United had come back and also there are some exiting developments that could foster ever more growth in the future. 

Later I asked him if he could give me some more detail about how things were going and he related a story about a visit our Local Nigerian Pastor had with a local Sabbath keeping group.  Since then I contacted Mr. Akinbo and received more of the story.  This account is a combination from both men as I tried to piece everything together.  There is a number of Sabbath keeping groups in Western Africa mainly as a result of previous missionaries from church of God 7th day.  Many, however, are attracted to the Sabbath because they feel there is a link to their traditional worship with animal sacrifices and spiritualism.  For this reason, many of the scattered United members don’t feel comfortable fellowshipping with them. 

But a minister from one of these Sabbath keeping groups with 150 members contacted Mr. Akinbo and asked for a visit.  He had come across the UCG website and read about the Holy Days and after studying them decided that they were true and wanted to learn more.  That was two years ago.  Over the last two years this minister has kept in contact and even convinced the other ministers that the Holy Days should be kept and that UCG could teach them how to properly keep them.  Finally they arranged a visit and Mr. Akinbo was asked to speak to the group.   Before the service, though, they engaged in lengthy rituals such as dancing, recitations (chanting), bible verse reading, and singing “Praise and Worship”. 

All the while, during this three hour marathon, elderly women known to them as prophetesses would hop around on one foot and screaming and chanting. 

He wrote to me and said that even though these churches came from church of God 7th Day, they were heavily influenced by spiritualism; by public displays of being controlled by what they believe to be the Holy Spirit.  They would anoint one another to protect them evil spirits but they did not see these possessing spirits to be evil so they embraced them.

Finally they asked him to teach.  Mr. Akinbo, noticing only 4 bibles for a congregation of 150, gave a sermon discussing the importance on the word of God and reading it to shape our spiritual growth since many of the customs he witnessed were not biblical.  He told them to rely on God’s word for how to worship and not substitute spiritualism for the word of God.  In the middle of his message, and older prophetess stood up and started hopping and screaming that chant he heard earlier. 

What would you do in this situation?  This is their type of worship.  They believe these people are taken over by the Holy Spirit and they believe this to be a good thing.  You are a guest in their congregation and then this happens, what do you do….

The Title of the Sermon today is:

 Receiving Power from the Holy Spirit

In Romans 15:19, The Apostle Paul talks about .. mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God,

How do we receive power from the Holy Spirit and what should we do with that power?  Today I am going to give you 7 things you need to know about the power of the Holy Spirit.  Its not meant to be a complete list in that we would have to start another series.  The Holy Spirit is so powerful and we must learn to use it properly.  It can be difficult to grasp what we can and what we should do with it. 

And Jesus told His disciples in Mark 11:23   23 "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

1.The Holy Spirit allows Christ to live in us and connects us directly to the Father

Having Christ live in us and connected with the Father is more powerful than being able to cast a mountain into the sea.  One lasts only a moment the other is forever.

 

NKJ 1 John 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

 

We read that the Holy Spirit is the very Power of God and the night before Christ’s crucifixion He promised that spirit to all of His flock to help them be as “one” as He and the Father were “one”.

 

John 17:20-22   20 " I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;  21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

 

 

So how does the Holy Spirit manifest this power in our lives and does that explain what our pastor in Nigeria was witnessing?  This type of worship is common among some in the Pentecostal faith which derives its name from this very Holy Day we are celebrating.  The Pentecostal movement is actually only about 100 years old starting at the beginning of the last century.  Pentecostalism was started by an American evangelist by the name of Charles Parham who was said to be a faith healer and who taught that speaking in tongues and other gifts were given to them to bring about a spiritual revival before the return of Jesus Christ.  The movement has grown incredibly over those 115 years to almost 300 million worldwide.  But even though there have been many disagreements that lead to so more than 170 denominations they claim their roots to the church started in Acts 2.

So what really happened on that Pentecost in 31AD

Pentecostals claim to base their beliefs on what happened on that Pentecost in 31AD, then let us turn to Acts 2 read the account for ourselves because I would put to you that what happened two thousand years ago is not at all what we see today in Pentecostal churches.  I would even challenge the notion that they can trace much at all from Acts 2 but rather from 1 Corinthians 14.  More on that later, but for now let’s turn to Acts 2 first and we will read that account first and then we can look at 1 Corinthians 14.

 

Acts 2:1-6  NKJ  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.  5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.  6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

 

• Sound from Heaven
• Tongues of fire over the heads
• Speak with other tongues
• Everyone heard in his own language

 

But what do we find in Pentecostal churches today?  When someone speaks in tongues it is not intelligible.  I listened to a message where a preacher was trying to promote this type of speaking in tongues on a large congregation that did not believe in tongues.  What was interesting is he read from Acts 2 but quickly went to 1Corinthians and even told them that they can only understand speaking in tongues if read 1Cor 14.

The problem with 1 Corinthians is first of all it was not intended to be a place where we go to learn to speak in tongues but it was meant as a rebuke of those that were abusing spiritual gifts.  And while there are scriptures that imply that you have to have an interpreter which was clearly not needed in Acts 2.

You can also read it to mean that they were speaking in foreign languages without a foreign audience to hear them and thus would need a translator to understand.  Paul made the point over and over that their goal was not to teach and exhort but to show off.  Paul even said in:

1 Corinthians 14:18   18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all;

Now we know that Paul spoke many languages but where does it say that he spoke unintelligible words that someone else had to interpret so he would know what he said?  What is clear here is that Paul says it is better to speak in words of Teaching, Prophecy, and Exhortation because these have a purpose to edify the membership.  Those that were doing this type of speaking in tongues were only edifying themselves as you can read in verse 4.

2.The Holy Spirit leads us and gives us that power to carry on as long as it takes

Romans 8:14   14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

NKJ Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Remember that they saw the Kingdom of God in the transfiguration.  That didn’t mean they lived to see Christ’s 2nd coming.  It meant they had what they needed to sojourn on.  If we need Christ to return quick or we are going to quit then we have the wrong motivation toward the kingdom of God. 

If Jesus Christ Lives in us, and He told those around Him that the Kingdom was in their midst, then that means that with the Holy Spirit the Kingdom lives within us.  We still wait for Christ’s 2nd coming to bring that Kingdom to the whole world but we should have what we need right now to make it as long as we are here. 

But why did God call each us individually?  What is the work that is set before us personally?  That Day of Pentecost in 31AD was when individuals were called into the family of God.  Not because of their bloodline but because God called them and united them with His Spirit.  Paul tells the church that they have been called to be “Saints” and to minister to the Saints. 

Each of us is to minister to one another until Jesus Christ returns and we are given new spiritual bodies we can use to minister to the whole world. 

 

3.The Holy Spirit will tell you what to say when you need it most

John 14:26   26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Let’s go back to Nigeria and our visiting Pastor Mr. Akinbo preaching to a congregation of a different faith and all of sudden a woman gets up, a self-proclaimed prophetess and starts speaking incoherently and being controlled by some spirit.  What do you do?  If you had never been confronted by this I would expect you would be rather startled and might not know what to do.  From the email I received last week I would like to read Mr. Akinbo’s account of what he did next.  First he described what the woman was doing by chanting, screaming, hopping.  Then he wrote this: 

They had been doing this repeatedly at various times in the almost three hours (Yes, 3 hrs!) before I was to speak. They did it during their recitations, bible verses reading, singing "praise and worship" and it was irritating.  I just turned and walk to the woman and strongly said "Keep Quiet! Come out of her you foul spirit!".  it was spontaneous and not thought out.  The woman just stopped; sat on the floor as if slugged looking around.  Two men came and escorted her to her seat and she was quiet all through my message.  No one else had "prophetic experiences" and from the front, I could see the shock and surprise on the members faces.

I would say shock was an understatement.  Mr. Moody told me what came next.  He said that Mr. Akinbo went back up to the front and said with authority, “The Holy Spirit, does NOT interrupt, the Holy Spirit”.   That is Power. 

 

Hebrews 4:12   12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

You never know when you will be called on to defend your faith.  If there is time.  My story of not being mentally prepared to do spiritual battle.

 

Mark 13:10-11   10 "And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.  11 "But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak.  But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

 

4.God’s people possess the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit does not Possess God’s People 

Demons possess but the Holy Spirit allows Christ to live in us.

 

Later that evening, when Mr. Ankinbo was meeting with the leadership of that church they asked if we believe in revelations (speaking of what the woman had been doing).He said that in times past there were revelations from God but the book of Hebrews teach us that God communicates through Christ the Living word and the bible the written Word.God may again do very visible signs but you must remember what the bible teaches about it to know it comes from God and not some other source.

 

1 John 4:1  NKJ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

 

1 Corinthians 14:32   32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

He then asked them if they had read about Acts 16:16.  He then turned there and discussed it with them.  Let’s turn there and read as well.

 

Acts 16:16-31   16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

 

Some would call what this girl had a gift.  That she could help people know their future.  But just because someone has power does not mean that power is good.  Today you would see this girl on a late night TV commercial with her own 900 number trying to part you with your money.

 

17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation."  18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.

 

 

I laughed when I read this thinking about Mr. Akinbo being irritated by the display of false prophetesses.

 

19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. 

 

 

So they were brought before the magistrates and then the crowd was incited to beat them with rods and then they were thrown into prison.  They use the Power of God’s Holy Spirit to rid this girl of a demon and they are beaten and jailed for their efforts.

 

25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.  26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.  27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.  28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here."  29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.  30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."

 

So Mr. Akinbo was able to read this story to them about Paul and Silas that even though this false spiritualism was harmful and got them beaten and imprisoned, God used it ultimately for good. 

It was a powerful tool that God allowed to teach these people in Africa the right and wrong use of spiritual power and hopefully, they are seeing that this type of worship is not Godly but disruptive and distracts them from studying the real truth from the word of God. 

 

It’s like what Paul was trying to get across to the Corinthians.  Having gifts that do not preach the Gospel or make disciples are not profitable and if you are testing the spirits to see if they are from God than you have to discern if they bring people to a closer relationship with God or do they serve some other purpose.

5.The Holy Spirit will allow you discern God’s word and His will

1 Corinthians 2:10-12   10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

My wife is always telling me to listen with my heart.  That doesn’t mean to follow your heart (Proverbs 14:12) but to use your heart to listen with God’s ears.

You know, we think about the Holy Spirit as a New Testament revelation but let's look at David’s understanding of the Holy Spirit.

And we know that In Psalm 110 and Verse 1 David talked about the relationship in the Eternal Godhead when he said:

 NKJ Psalm 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD (Yahweh/Jehovah) said to my Lord (adonia), "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."

But how did he know that?

Mark 12:36   36 "For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." '

6.The Holy Spirit has the power to Cure Disease and even bring people back from the Dead

James 5:14-15   14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven

I have anointed many and I have watched some healed and some not yet….

The story of Tonia brought back from the Dead…..

2 Timothy 1:7-8   7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

7. The Power of the Holy Spirit can literally save your life.

 

Matthew 16:24-26   24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

 

I have miraculously been saved from death or serious injury by God.  Falling in Slow Motion.  The Spirit of God can save us from danger as we have told many stories around the potluck table.

Inspire speech long ago where after an accident someone knew they needed to move their car out of harm’s way and did so not knowing the engine was no longer connected to their car.

But much more important than this physical life is the spiritual life and future that we are building now.  Forever is so much more than now.

 

Ephesians 1:11-14   11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,  12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.  13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;  14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.

 

I want to encourage each one of you to ask for a renewal of the Holy Spirit each and every day.

NLT Luke 11:13 If you sinful people 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."

Psalm 51:10-13   10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.  13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

Don’t go a day without asking for the Power of the Holy Spirit to transform you live and help you minister to one another.

Romans 15:13  13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The movement has influenced many other churches through the Charismatic movement.

 

Acts 1:4-8  NKJ 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;  5 "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"  7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.  8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

 

We often focus on the part where Jesus tells them it is not for them to know when the Kingdom is coming and we read quickly over the part where we are to receive power from the Holy Spirit.  I have been in the church of God for 40 years.  And in that time I have read the scriptures and heard them expounded telling how the Kingdom of God is coming to the earth.  I have so many times imagined how everything was going to work out.  We read this passage and put it with that passage and therefore we guess who the two witnesses might be.  We take this prophecy and add it to that and whamo; we have the book 1975 in prophecy.  If experience has taught us anything it is that God works things out in His own way and in His own time.  But we try to figure stuff out so that we can encourage others to hang on until Christ returns when the truth is, the Holy Spirit is enough.

 

History of the First Century Church

What was the church like in those days?  Remember in the weeks prior to that first Pentecost after the Resurrection when Jesus appeared to His disciples?  Jesus used this time to prepare and focus His people before the coming day of Pentecost where religion was about to be forever changed. 

Up to this point, the church was a people that were born into a family that was special because of their shared blood.  It was their bloodline that God chose in Abraham and Sarah to make a people.  God made a covenant with those people to obey Him and His Commandments but the people failed to follow Him and as a result, their nation on earth was conquered and the people subjugated. 

For so many generations, the leaders in the church spoke about a time when the Messiah would save them and restore Israel to its former greatness.  It was so well known what would happen that Herod had ordered the deaths of children when Jesus was born and that is why Joseph and Mary was sent by God to Egypt for a time after His birth.

Even when Jesus was about to suffer His disciples could not get the teaching they were brought up with and reconcile this with everything Jesus had taught them.  They believed that all these wonderful events would happen in their lifetimes. 

Luke 9 has an account of the transfiguration that I would like to read from the New Jerusalem Bible.  You can follow along in your bibles as I read about this miraculous event starting in verse 27 of Luke 9.

 

Luke 9:27-32   New Jerusalem Bible  'I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.'  28 Now about eight days after this had been said, he took with him Peter, John and James and went up the mountain to pray.  29 And it happened that, as he was praying, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became sparkling white.  30 And suddenly there were two men talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah  31 appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.  32 Peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they woke up and saw his glory and the two men standing with him.  33 As these were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He did not know what he was saying.  34 As he was saying this, a cloud came and covered them with shadow; and when they went into the cloud the disciples were afraid.  35 And a voice came from the cloud saying, 'This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.'  36 And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. The disciples kept silence and, at that time, told no one what they had seen.

 

Even as momentous as this was, there was much they did not understand.  First of all, when Jesus said that some here would not taste death until they saw the Kingdom of God, they did not know that to meant this transfiguration where they got a glimpse into the Kingdom when Moses and Elijah would be alive and where they could speak to the father directly.  This is evident by the number of comments that were made about not knowing that Jesus was going to actually die and be resurrected.  Let’s look at another account in Matt 17.  Here we pick up the story just after the vision of the Kingdom.

 

Matthew 17:8-13   NKJ When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.  9 Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead."  10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  11 Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.  12 "But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."  13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

 

So His Disciples are trying to piece together what is going to happen and understand how everything they have been taught is going to take place.  It must have been earthshaking to hear that John the Baptist fulfilled the role of Elijah in their lifetime.  Even though they had just witnessed Elijah in the vision Jesus told them it was John the Baptist who was to play Elijah.  This is what they grew up learning was going to happen, and it was happening, just not the way anyone imaged it.

God’s plan never works out the way we imagine

Later, after Jesus’ resurrection and right before that Pentecost they were still asking about how things were going to work out.

 

If you study the whole chapter what you see here is not the spiritual way to worship God but the way these people were miss-using their gifts for personal promotion.  Paul spends this chapter not extolling the virtues of speaking in tongues but rather he spends the chapter taking them to task and trying to get them to see what is truly important.  Not showing off but teaching the word of God and making disciples for Jesus Christ.  Back to Acts 2

Acts 2:6-12   6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.  7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?  8 "And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?  9 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  10 "Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  11 "Cretans and Arabs -- we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God."  12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?"

 

 

So whatever did it mean?  What was the purpose of this miracle and how long did it last?

Remember that up to that point, the truth of God was given to the Children of Israel.  Now everyone from every nation heard the word of God some for the first time ever.  We often refer to the vision that Peter had before going to the Gentiles to baptize as the moment that salvation was open to all men but it was here when the Word went to everyone.  This miracle was the first step in opening the Kingdom of God to the whole world.  Now, while there is a number of places that tongues are talked about, this is the only place where you have this particular miracle with visible flames above their heads and multiple people hearing each language at the same time.  The reason for the miracle was that the men of Galilee did not speak any of the languages that they did speak that day.  For the Word of God to go out on that day, a miracle was required.  Today we send out the Gospel in many languages around the world and without miracles but in simply having gifted people that can speak different languages.

At the General Conference we get to hear from many overseas ministers but fortunately, they don’t give their reports in their native tongue as we would have needed an interpreter like many feast sites use to translate the sermons as they are given.  If those services were not available it is possible that God would give people that gift so they can perform that service.