By John Stallings
Did you know….. The “stimulus Bill” that has obviously been passed in Washington D.C. [incidentally a Bill that no one has totally read,] contains a provision allowing citizens to sue for health consequences of “Global warming?”
That’s right! Though all the details aren’t clear, it seems that this provision would make it possible for an individual to sue if say, their asthma was aggravated by the quality of the air i.e. - pollutants that could be traced back to climate change.
In my view this means we’ve jumped to an assumption of “Global Warming,” & started building on that assumption. It seems to me that this only serves to fortify what we already have an overabundance of in America - the “victim mentality.”
I’ve walked through some dark valleys in my life & times as I’m sure you have, & one thing is certain; at some point we must decide if we’re going to be perpetual victims or victors.
SOME PEOPLE ARE HIGHLY INVESTED IN YOUR BEING A FOREVER VICTIM.
When King David sinned with Bathsheba & a child was born, the baby was taken gravely ill with a sickness that would prove fatal. David was so emotionally distraught over the child’s sickness he laid on the ground for seven days & refused to eat while he wept & prayed for God to spare the child.
When told the baby had died, David got up off the ground, got cleaned up, changed clothes, went to the house of God to worship & then sat down to eat a meal.
His servants seemed to be displeased with how David handled the situation, even asking him why he’d react in such a way to his child’s death. How could he be taking it so cavalierly? David gave as good an answer as could have been given at such a time. He told his servants in essence,
“Look, while the child was alive there was a chance that God would hear my prayer & spare his life. But now I know that God isn’t going to answer that prayer. The child is dead. What do you want me to do, sit & mourn the rest of my life? That would be the same as jumping in the grave with the baby. I did all I could possibly do to change this situation. I fasted & wept & prayed, but the baby’s dead now so that’s that. I will see the child again in heaven someday but as for now, I’m going to eat something to get my strength back & go on living.” Yeah for David!
SOME FOLK DON’T WANT TO SEE US GO ON
Though it’s awful to have to say it, there will always be those people who don’t want to see us up; they want to see us down. They don’t like it when we go on in spite of our problems. They take great pleasure in our pain & suffering [though they’d never admit it.] They want us to go the rest of our lives with our head hanging down & a perpetual look of grief etched on our face.
Are you familiar with the term Schadenfreude? It’s a word describing a condition in which a person takes pleasure in the pain of another. The dictionary describes it as follows;
“Malicious joy in the misfortunes of others. Damage joy.”
This condition is catalogued under mental illness. Think about that;
A person who takes delight in the misfortunes of another person actually is mentally deranged. As some people say-if you don’t believe me, “Google it.”
There are many folk who suffer from Schadenfreude. This is going to sound a little harsh but-there are a lot of crazy people around. Be honest, haven’t you said that yourself from time to time? These servants of David acted like they resented his ability to get over the death of his baby.
But look at the results of this attitude in David’s life. In the self-same chapter, 2 Samuel 12, where his baby died, David & Bathsheba got pregnant again & this time she gave birth to Solomon. When David’s baby died a small piece of him died, but it was just a small piece of him. David himself didn’t die & he proved that before the chapter was over by fathering the child who would grow up to be the “wisest man who ever lived.”
If you’ve had a loss in your life, for the sake of your sanity, put that loss in perspective. Don’t let any loss become a defining point in your life. Please hear me well;
If you’ve given your best to a person, a situation or a relationship, & you know you’ve given your very best to try to save it & keep it alive, then if that person or relationship dies, let it die & go on with your life. Your life story or mine isn’t going to revolve around anyone who left before the story was complete & that includes a spouse, child, parent, co-worker or friend.
David was a man of robust resilience & soon as the burden lifted he wanted among other things to get something to eat. He had a hankering for some chicken wings. Don’t misunderstand; this whole thing was David’s fault & he knew it. He’d been messing where he shouldn’t have been messing. And make no mistake, David would never totally get over the pain of his loss, but in spite of his massive culpability in the matter, he was able to get things right with God & go on.
Can you tell me even one good thing about being unwilling to forgive yourself? I can’t think of one. It has nothing to do with taking a light view of sin, which would be terribly wrong; it just has to do with accepting the finished work of Christ on the cross. If you’ve read the Old Testament you know that David wasn’t one to play games with God. He sinned largely but he repented just as large & became a man after God’s own heart in the process.
BEAUTY FOR ASHES
One of the most beautiful passages in the Bible is in Isaiah 61. Listen;
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives & the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord & the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He might be glorified.-Ish.61:1-3.
ASHES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH WHAT USED TO BE
Ashes are left when fire passes through something. They are waste material, basically trash, useless things in our lives that no longer serve a life-giving purpose.
When you have ashes, you have the final effect of a change; something that existed in one form has now changed to something else. Ashes are good for nothing except to speak of something that used to exist. It’s beyond ludicrous to think one would eat ashes. As far as I know there is no actual food value in ashes; no vitamins or minerals, hence, no nourishment. You can’t do anything else constructive with them. All ashes can do is blow in the wind & take their place as the dust of the universe.
When a relationship has died, what constructive purpose does it serve to sit & stare at the ashes of what used to be? In the above passage, God promises to give to us beauty for ashes. He doesn’t want us to waste our lives fixated on what we’ve lost. He doesn’t want us to sit on the ashes & choke on remorse & bitterness & complain about all that went wrong. He wants us to move beyond the ashes to live as a victor, not a victim.
ANOTHER STORY FROM DAVID’S LIFE COMES TO MIND
I’d like to tell this story but not in the exact words the Bible uses.
Imagine if you will that you’d been away from home for several weeks; not because you wanted to be away but because of urgent matters that involve the well-being of your family & your future. You’ve missed your family so much that you ached with loneliness. You’ve been looking forward with great anticipation to getting back home & that day has finally come.
You’re headed home & joining you on your journey back are six-hundred men who’ve shared your dreams & your mission. Everyone is happy, laughing & talking about how good it’s going to be to be home & how they’ll try to make up for lost time. The road home winds through narrow gorges & desolate areas & along dry stream beds. Sometimes the path is nothing more than a goats trail leading up, down & around hills.
After several days & nights of travel you see the final hill you have to climb. On the other side of that hill in a little valley is your village. Your home is there. Your family is waiting—your wife & kids you’ve missed so much. The very thought fills you with extra energy so you pick up the pace. Your friends, just as eager, follow closely.
But as you crest the hill you wonder why there are none of the usual signs that home is nearby. Where is the smoke of the kitchen fires & sounds of happy children? The cool stillness of the air nibbles at your mind & the quietness stirs uneasiness in your heart. Once you top the hill the answer is clear. You stop dead in your tracks & stare in stunned disbelief. A horrible reality crashes down on your mind & your heart feels as if it will be squeezed from your chest.
By now the rest of your party has crested the hill & you all race together into the charred remains of once happy home-sites. Tell-tale signs let you know what has happened. While you were away a marauding band of fierce almost animal-like Amalekites has overrun your town of Ziklag burning everything that can’t be transported. They have carried away every living thing especially the woman & children. The shrieks & cries of hundreds of voices now drown out your own.
Everyone stumbles around in the blackened rubble, blinded by their tears, looking for familiar faces but seeing….nothing but ashes.
Then things turn from bad to worse. There’s a growing feeling that someone must be held responsible. You are the leader & you should have anticipated this. This is your fault & a growing agreement emerges that your companions should take up stones & bury you under them.
But you are as heartbroken as anyone. Your family is just as missing as any other’s. Others have friends to share their grief with but you are alone. It’s lonely at the top. Later you will write;
I looked on my right hand but there was no man that would know me; refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. Psalm 142:4
Right now you’re standing on the brink of the greatest disaster in your whole life. The scent of death is rising in the air. Men are picking up stones & tossing them from hand to hand as if weighing them then dropping them. No one is willing to cast that first stone.
It was written of this time; David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. 1 Sam.30:6
David encouraged himself by remembering past victories, remembering God’s mercies, thinking on God’s faithfulness, praising God for His greatness & turning away from discouragement. He encouraged himself by embracing his friends.
In all probability, this is the worst day of David's life. He weeps over Ziklag until he has no more tears to weep. It's here, even on the horns of a dilemma that could have been the death of David, that we get a glimpse of what made the man great. If there had been another man in all this crowd who had the ability to encourage himself, he very well might have emerged the new leader.But obviously David was the only man who could get his spiritual bearings when his world had just been shattered. Indeed I believe the true test of leadership is the ability to stand alone if necessary when the pressure is on & be focused enough to know what to do next.
You & I can learn a valuable lesson from David in this story. There will be times in our journey that things will be so bleak, our ability to encourage ourselves in the Lord will make the difference in victory or defeat.
But the reality remains that David’s home, Ziklag has been burned & now lies in ashes before him. Let’s look at some things David could have done with the ashes of Ziklag. He could have sat down in the ashes & blamed himself or others for the tragedy. He could have lain down in the ashes & had a nervous breakdown. He could have spent the rest of his life in burned out Ziklag refusing to leave the ruins until he went mad or died there. He could have sat & ruminated about all his dreams & how they had gone up in smoke. He could have told the men with him that they had no other choice but to accept defeat & sentence them all to a life of depression.
When our personal Ziklag goes up in smoke if we choose to we can wallow in the ashes of negativity, bitterness, anger, broken promises, unrealized hopes & dreams, plans that failed to materialize & any number of soul-numbing truth-blocking emotions that make it impossible for the soul to know victory.
What did David do? He asked God what he should do. He was directed by God to pursue the enemy & take what was stolen from him. He rose up to defeat the enemy & everything he’d lost was restored.
David would later write;
He raises the poor out of the dust & lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that he may seat him with princes—with the princes of his people. Ps. 113:7-NIV
Do you feel you are poor?
Do you feel that you’re in the dust?
Do you feel needy?
Do you feel you’re on the ash heap?
This promise is tailor-made for you.
God promises to lift you out of the dust.
He promises to give you the oil of joy for mourning.
He promises the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
He promises you…..BEAUTY FOR ASHES!
There’s a chorus I love written by Milton Bourgeois;
Rise & be healed in the name of Jesus,
Let faith arise in your soul.
Rise & be healed in the name of Jesus,
He’ll cleanse you and make you whole!
Blessings,
John
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
God's Stimulus Plan
By John Stallings
Maybe this is the most remarkable story in the entire Bible.
A rag-tag group of men & women emerge from a fog of shock, grief & fear to become the greatest agents of change & transformation the world has ever known.
These are the disciples of the preacher who was executed; Jesus of Nazareth.
Their story started in good times when they were called out of ordinary lives by an extraordinary presence-Jesus.
Jesus, this healer, this traveling teacher who spoke the word of God.
He found truth in the farmer sowing seed & in the woman baking bread. He offered hope, love & acceptance to the poor, sight to the blind & love to the leper.
He was welcomed by the crowds as He went from village to village. He was welcomed when He went to Jerusalem for the feast.
But quickly it all turned bad, ugly dark & evil. He was arrested & put on trial. This small band of people was scared. They did little to support Jesus, actually Peter denied knowing Him.
Then came the tragic day when they saw him beaten until the skin hanged in ribbons down his back & He was forced to drag a cross to the place of execution. There He died between two thieves.
Now we fast-forward about seven weeks & find this motley crew sitting in an upper room waiting. They are still lost in fear, bewilderment & longing. If ever a group of people needed their faith stimulated it was this one.
Suddenly a sound came from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind & tongues of fire sat upon each of them. They began to speak in languages they’d never learned.
Over the last forty years, I’ve heard & read hundreds of sermons preached by men who I hold in great esteem, saying that these upper room Christians were speaking in other languages in order to preach the gospel in the diverse languages of the foreigners that were visiting in Jerusalem on this feast day.
If what we wish to do is somehow brush away the “tongues aspect” of all this, that would be the best way to do it. We would explain this in such a way as to allow the miracle to be one of hearing, to get the gospel disseminated in the languages of all the foreigners who were in Jerusalem for this festive occasion. However if we look closely we’ll see that no one was converted by the “tongues speaking” mostly because these individuals weren’t preaching they were praising…..we do hear them speak the wonderful works of God.- Acts 2:11.
It wasn’t until Peter stood up & preached in Aramaic, a language they all understood, that the 3,000 were saved & brought into the church.
Also, if we’re true to the information at hand, we’d recognize several other places, such as Acts 10:44-48, & 19:1-6 where tongues were present when the Holy Spirit fell & yet there were no foreigners to preach to. At the house of Cornelius, there was no one but Italians present.
Then of course we have Paul’s infilling of the Spirit, his praying in other languages & the in -depth teachings he gave us on the subject.
Others might point to the fact that Paul had to straighten out the Corinthians in their over exuberance where tongues & the Gifts of the Spirit were concerned. There can be no doubt that there was abuse by the Corinthian Christians where the Gifts of the Spirit were concerned. Because some confusion existed here, some deduce from this that these things are better left alone & excluded from our spiritual lives. Obviously many whole denominations have done this.
However, if we use that principle, in order to be consistent, we’d need to take that same position where Holy Communion is concerned. After all, Paul went so far as to tell the church at Corinth that they were so abusing the communion table [some were showing up drunk] that many of them were getting sick & some were dying because they weren’t properly discerning the sanctity of communion.-1 Cor.11:20-30
Thankfully I haven’t heard of anyone discontinuing the Holy Communion because there was too much controversy surrounding it.
As far as these upper room Christians, the result was clear after the Pentecostal experience. The grief was gone. The fear, puzzlement & doubt have now become understanding & faith. Looking back, the resurrection of Jesus hadn’t changed them much for they still cowered in fear, but this experience infused them with a new boldness & vision that overwhelmed them & filled them all with ecstatic joy.
Then Peter rises to speak to a crowd of thousands gathered in Jerusalem. This is the same man who’d thrown a cussing fit & denied he even knew the Lord three times. He said-“I don’t know this man you’re talking about.” Mark 14:71.
There’s a story about a man who was accused of some wrongdoing & was brought before a judge. When the judge asked if he had an attorney to represent him, the man answered, “No I don’t, I can’t afford one.” The judge replied, “Well, don’t worry about that, I’ll appoint a lawyer to represent you, & I’ll choose a real good one.” “I appreciate that, judge,” answered the man. “But if you really want to appoint somebody to help me, what I need most isn’t a good lawyer, but several good witnesses!”
Good witnesses is what God was in search of to catapult His message of hope to the ends of the earth & when this group was filled with the Spirit, that’s just what they became. This is precisely what Peter was doing when he stood up to speak at Pentecost. He was boldly bearing witness to the truth of God.
Now we see this former Christ-denier preaching openly & boldly about the crucified & resurrected Savior. He says, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.”
What a difference the power of the Holy Spirit made in the life of Peter. Peter was an impulsive character who said & did whatever came to mind without first considering the consequences.
It was Peter who cut off the ear of a servant, who temperamentally insisted that Jesus wash not only his feet but his hands & head as well. It was Peter who rebuked Jesus when he predicted His death. It was Peter who first went to the Gentiles with the Gospel. [Acts10] It was Peter who stopped running away & went to prison for his faith in Christ.
What happened to this man? What turned him from a weakling to a witness? The answer is simple & right there in scripture for us to see. Between his denial of Christ & this sermon- slightly less than two months later, he’d been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Peter had been among the 120 who waited in the upper room for ten days & witnessed the great audio-visual phenomenon on the day of Pentecost.
Peter, along with the other disciples had just finished three & a half years of intensive daily training by Jesus Himself. They’d been with Him 24/7. They were given “on the job training” & were debriefed afterwards. Jesus had taught them the Word of God & modeled godly behavior & effective ministry. Surely no men on earth ever had better training. By today’s standards, they had the accumulated knowledge of a person with a double PHD.
Yet to these men Jesus said, “Don’t go out yet to minister. Stay in Jerusalem. You’re not fully ready for New Testament ministry. There is still something you lack;
….you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and to the ends of the earth.—Acts 1:8
To paraphrase here, Jesus was promising to send heavenly stimulus-heavenly empowerment-power poured out from on high. It’s amazing to think that even though these disciples saw the great miracles Christ performed, even though they saw the dead raised & the lame walk, & the blinded eyes opened, & even though He showed Himself alive to them with many infallible proofs, it still wasn’t going to be enough to keep them from returning to their regular jobs they occupied before they met Jesus.
Nothing these people had seen or experienced up to then was going to kindle the kind of fire under them needed to get the gospel out of that little obscure area of the world. And Jesus knew that fact, which is why He insisted that they tarry in Jerusalem until they were filled with power from on high.
Then came Pentecost. Once this group had acutely felt the absence of Jesus, but now they again knew His presence. Not His physical presence but in the Spirit. And not only did they know His presence, they experienced a unity of heart & mind & purpose that would transform them into flaming world changers.
Once Jesus was with them teaching them the great truths of the Christian life, now He is creating that life within them by the action of the Spirit.
What we have here are amazing historical facts. In spite of that, the story of these people changing the way they did, if we were reading the account anywhere but in the Bible, it would strain credibility.
Think about this; the change that was accomplished in this group in that upper room in Jerusalem was so profound that it radiated out of them until it transformed the society, culture, & spirituality of the whole world.
Some in this group were slack-jawed cowards, liars & deserters, who used to fight over who’d be the greatest in the kingdom. Now they were selfless & would gladly lay their lives down for Christ. They wouldn’t be satisfied to be keepers of the aquarium, but rather wanted to be fishers of men.
The most exciting aspect of all this is that this same experience, this same power from on high, this same transformational energy is still with us every bit as much as it was this small group 2,000 years ago. It is a gift & is ours for the asking. We can’t earn it or seize it, we have to make room for the person of the Holy Spirit & receive Him with open hearts.
As a matter of fact Peter stressed this fact in his sermon;
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, & to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:39
Let’s go back & look at Peter’s words about the prophet Joel. Joel 2:28-31 contains direct promises from God.
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons & your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
And also upon the servants & upon the handmaidens in those days will I pout out my spirit.
This is the way God stimulates His people; He pours out His spirit on them & they’re never the same.
The definition of stimulus is;--Something that incites to action & quickens. Motive, provocation causing a response.”
Pouring something out is more than a slight trickle. It means God is going to open the floodgates of heaven unto the human heart. I could preach for hours but I couldn’t pour out God’s Spirit on you. This isn’t the result of church membership or the organized aspects of church life. This is God doing what only God can do.
THE HOLY SPIRIT DOESN’T DISCRIMINATE
He doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sex: your sons & daughters will prophesy.
He doesn’t discriminate on the basis of age: your old men will dream dreams; your young men will see visions.
He doesn’t discriminate on the basis of social class; even on my servants…I will pour out my Spirit.
God isn’t a “high-roller.” He doesn’t pick His friends from the better part of town. He’ll hang out with anyone who’ll hang out with Him. Our God doesn’t play favorites. He’ll pour out His spirit on the poorest of the poor.
God never pours our His power for the sake of entertaining us or to cause certain manifestations. Those things may happen but they are beside the point. There’s no pork in God’s projects. God poured out His spirit so that we would be bold witnesses for Him, starting where we are & going to the ends of the earth.
LET ME TRY TO EXPLAIN WHAT THIS EXPERIENCE OF HOLY SPIRIT FULLNESS WILL DO FOR YOU.
Imagine a child walking along holding his fathers hand. The child is happy & secure in the knowledge that his father loves him. While he believes his father loves him, there’s no unusual urge to talk about it or sing about it. It’s a fact & it’s a pleasant fact.
Then all at once the father startles the child by reaching down & sweeping him up into his arms & hugging him tightly & kissing him on the neck & whispering, “I love you so much!” And then holding the stunned child back so he can look into his face & say with all his heart, “I’m so glad you’re mine.” Then the father hugs the child once more with great warmth & affection, then he puts the child down & they continue their walk.
This is what happens when a person is baptized with the Holy Spirit. A pleasant & happy walk with God is swept up into an unspeakable new level of joy & love & assurance & reality that leaves the Christian so utterly certain of the immediate reality of Jesus that he is overflowing in praise & more free & bold in witness than he ever imagined he could be.
The child is simply stunned. He doesn’t know whether to cry or shout or fall down or run, he is so happy. The fuses of love get such an overload they almost blow out. The subconscious doubts that pop up from time to time are gone. And in their place is utter assurance so that you know that God is real & that Jesus lives & that you are loved & that to be saved is the greatest thing in the world. And as you walk on down the street you can hardly contain yourself & you want to cry out, “My father loves me! My father loves me! O, what a father I Have! What a father! What a father!”
I think this partially explains what happened in that upper room in Jerusalem. They were so filled with the fullness of God & the depth of the love of Christ that they were no longer advocates who could speak like a lawyer about the resurrected Christ. They were now so under the influence of this power, this experience in the Spirit of the risen Christ that they spoke with unwavering assurance that all doubt is gone. This would be the power that would take Christ’s gospel to the end of the earth.
So I ask you this; is the promise of this power for us, in our day, or was it revoked after the Apostles died? I could answer that in a personal way because it’s been, & is my personal experience. But in a broader sense, if this power was given to enable individuals to take the gospel to the end of the earth, surely God hasn’t withdrawn the power because the work isn’t done yet.
In other words, if the promise was given to fulfill the Great Commission, the promise is still valid until the Great Commission is complete & the gospel has been planted among all the unreached people of the world.
If you’re living a faithful, honest, obedient, loving, persevering Christian life today & have never experienced the Holy Spirit baptism, please don’t minimize that in any way or think that I’m minimizing it.
But I ask you, do you ever feel the need of more power in your life or do you feel that power is unnecessary? Do you ever feel the need of a “heavenly stimulus” that will make your service to God more pungent & effective? What do you think it would be like for you if our Father swept you up in His arms, as the Father did his young son?
These heavenly stimulus visitations of the spirit like the day of Pentecost, these extraordinary, miraculous outpourings of God’s Spirit have taken the work of the kingdom forward in Quantum leaps, accomplishing overnight what people had been waiting for years to see.
I pray the Lord will give as all a double-portion of His power from on high. In these days when man’s stimulus plans are in full swing, God grant that we all might yearn more & more to be swept up into our Father’s arms & baptized with such love that the world might know assuredly that the power of God is a reality.
Blessings,
John
Maybe this is the most remarkable story in the entire Bible.
A rag-tag group of men & women emerge from a fog of shock, grief & fear to become the greatest agents of change & transformation the world has ever known.
These are the disciples of the preacher who was executed; Jesus of Nazareth.
Their story started in good times when they were called out of ordinary lives by an extraordinary presence-Jesus.
Jesus, this healer, this traveling teacher who spoke the word of God.
He found truth in the farmer sowing seed & in the woman baking bread. He offered hope, love & acceptance to the poor, sight to the blind & love to the leper.
He was welcomed by the crowds as He went from village to village. He was welcomed when He went to Jerusalem for the feast.
But quickly it all turned bad, ugly dark & evil. He was arrested & put on trial. This small band of people was scared. They did little to support Jesus, actually Peter denied knowing Him.
Then came the tragic day when they saw him beaten until the skin hanged in ribbons down his back & He was forced to drag a cross to the place of execution. There He died between two thieves.
Now we fast-forward about seven weeks & find this motley crew sitting in an upper room waiting. They are still lost in fear, bewilderment & longing. If ever a group of people needed their faith stimulated it was this one.
Suddenly a sound came from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind & tongues of fire sat upon each of them. They began to speak in languages they’d never learned.
Over the last forty years, I’ve heard & read hundreds of sermons preached by men who I hold in great esteem, saying that these upper room Christians were speaking in other languages in order to preach the gospel in the diverse languages of the foreigners that were visiting in Jerusalem on this feast day.
If what we wish to do is somehow brush away the “tongues aspect” of all this, that would be the best way to do it. We would explain this in such a way as to allow the miracle to be one of hearing, to get the gospel disseminated in the languages of all the foreigners who were in Jerusalem for this festive occasion. However if we look closely we’ll see that no one was converted by the “tongues speaking” mostly because these individuals weren’t preaching they were praising…..we do hear them speak the wonderful works of God.- Acts 2:11.
It wasn’t until Peter stood up & preached in Aramaic, a language they all understood, that the 3,000 were saved & brought into the church.
Also, if we’re true to the information at hand, we’d recognize several other places, such as Acts 10:44-48, & 19:1-6 where tongues were present when the Holy Spirit fell & yet there were no foreigners to preach to. At the house of Cornelius, there was no one but Italians present.
Then of course we have Paul’s infilling of the Spirit, his praying in other languages & the in -depth teachings he gave us on the subject.
Others might point to the fact that Paul had to straighten out the Corinthians in their over exuberance where tongues & the Gifts of the Spirit were concerned. There can be no doubt that there was abuse by the Corinthian Christians where the Gifts of the Spirit were concerned. Because some confusion existed here, some deduce from this that these things are better left alone & excluded from our spiritual lives. Obviously many whole denominations have done this.
However, if we use that principle, in order to be consistent, we’d need to take that same position where Holy Communion is concerned. After all, Paul went so far as to tell the church at Corinth that they were so abusing the communion table [some were showing up drunk] that many of them were getting sick & some were dying because they weren’t properly discerning the sanctity of communion.-1 Cor.11:20-30
Thankfully I haven’t heard of anyone discontinuing the Holy Communion because there was too much controversy surrounding it.
As far as these upper room Christians, the result was clear after the Pentecostal experience. The grief was gone. The fear, puzzlement & doubt have now become understanding & faith. Looking back, the resurrection of Jesus hadn’t changed them much for they still cowered in fear, but this experience infused them with a new boldness & vision that overwhelmed them & filled them all with ecstatic joy.
Then Peter rises to speak to a crowd of thousands gathered in Jerusalem. This is the same man who’d thrown a cussing fit & denied he even knew the Lord three times. He said-“I don’t know this man you’re talking about.” Mark 14:71.
There’s a story about a man who was accused of some wrongdoing & was brought before a judge. When the judge asked if he had an attorney to represent him, the man answered, “No I don’t, I can’t afford one.” The judge replied, “Well, don’t worry about that, I’ll appoint a lawyer to represent you, & I’ll choose a real good one.” “I appreciate that, judge,” answered the man. “But if you really want to appoint somebody to help me, what I need most isn’t a good lawyer, but several good witnesses!”
Good witnesses is what God was in search of to catapult His message of hope to the ends of the earth & when this group was filled with the Spirit, that’s just what they became. This is precisely what Peter was doing when he stood up to speak at Pentecost. He was boldly bearing witness to the truth of God.
Now we see this former Christ-denier preaching openly & boldly about the crucified & resurrected Savior. He says, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.”
What a difference the power of the Holy Spirit made in the life of Peter. Peter was an impulsive character who said & did whatever came to mind without first considering the consequences.
It was Peter who cut off the ear of a servant, who temperamentally insisted that Jesus wash not only his feet but his hands & head as well. It was Peter who rebuked Jesus when he predicted His death. It was Peter who first went to the Gentiles with the Gospel. [Acts10] It was Peter who stopped running away & went to prison for his faith in Christ.
What happened to this man? What turned him from a weakling to a witness? The answer is simple & right there in scripture for us to see. Between his denial of Christ & this sermon- slightly less than two months later, he’d been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Peter had been among the 120 who waited in the upper room for ten days & witnessed the great audio-visual phenomenon on the day of Pentecost.
Peter, along with the other disciples had just finished three & a half years of intensive daily training by Jesus Himself. They’d been with Him 24/7. They were given “on the job training” & were debriefed afterwards. Jesus had taught them the Word of God & modeled godly behavior & effective ministry. Surely no men on earth ever had better training. By today’s standards, they had the accumulated knowledge of a person with a double PHD.
Yet to these men Jesus said, “Don’t go out yet to minister. Stay in Jerusalem. You’re not fully ready for New Testament ministry. There is still something you lack;
….you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and to the ends of the earth.—Acts 1:8
To paraphrase here, Jesus was promising to send heavenly stimulus-heavenly empowerment-power poured out from on high. It’s amazing to think that even though these disciples saw the great miracles Christ performed, even though they saw the dead raised & the lame walk, & the blinded eyes opened, & even though He showed Himself alive to them with many infallible proofs, it still wasn’t going to be enough to keep them from returning to their regular jobs they occupied before they met Jesus.
Nothing these people had seen or experienced up to then was going to kindle the kind of fire under them needed to get the gospel out of that little obscure area of the world. And Jesus knew that fact, which is why He insisted that they tarry in Jerusalem until they were filled with power from on high.
Then came Pentecost. Once this group had acutely felt the absence of Jesus, but now they again knew His presence. Not His physical presence but in the Spirit. And not only did they know His presence, they experienced a unity of heart & mind & purpose that would transform them into flaming world changers.
Once Jesus was with them teaching them the great truths of the Christian life, now He is creating that life within them by the action of the Spirit.
What we have here are amazing historical facts. In spite of that, the story of these people changing the way they did, if we were reading the account anywhere but in the Bible, it would strain credibility.
Think about this; the change that was accomplished in this group in that upper room in Jerusalem was so profound that it radiated out of them until it transformed the society, culture, & spirituality of the whole world.
Some in this group were slack-jawed cowards, liars & deserters, who used to fight over who’d be the greatest in the kingdom. Now they were selfless & would gladly lay their lives down for Christ. They wouldn’t be satisfied to be keepers of the aquarium, but rather wanted to be fishers of men.
The most exciting aspect of all this is that this same experience, this same power from on high, this same transformational energy is still with us every bit as much as it was this small group 2,000 years ago. It is a gift & is ours for the asking. We can’t earn it or seize it, we have to make room for the person of the Holy Spirit & receive Him with open hearts.
As a matter of fact Peter stressed this fact in his sermon;
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, & to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:39
Let’s go back & look at Peter’s words about the prophet Joel. Joel 2:28-31 contains direct promises from God.
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons & your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
And also upon the servants & upon the handmaidens in those days will I pout out my spirit.
This is the way God stimulates His people; He pours out His spirit on them & they’re never the same.
The definition of stimulus is;--Something that incites to action & quickens. Motive, provocation causing a response.”
Pouring something out is more than a slight trickle. It means God is going to open the floodgates of heaven unto the human heart. I could preach for hours but I couldn’t pour out God’s Spirit on you. This isn’t the result of church membership or the organized aspects of church life. This is God doing what only God can do.
THE HOLY SPIRIT DOESN’T DISCRIMINATE
He doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sex: your sons & daughters will prophesy.
He doesn’t discriminate on the basis of age: your old men will dream dreams; your young men will see visions.
He doesn’t discriminate on the basis of social class; even on my servants…I will pour out my Spirit.
God isn’t a “high-roller.” He doesn’t pick His friends from the better part of town. He’ll hang out with anyone who’ll hang out with Him. Our God doesn’t play favorites. He’ll pour out His spirit on the poorest of the poor.
God never pours our His power for the sake of entertaining us or to cause certain manifestations. Those things may happen but they are beside the point. There’s no pork in God’s projects. God poured out His spirit so that we would be bold witnesses for Him, starting where we are & going to the ends of the earth.
LET ME TRY TO EXPLAIN WHAT THIS EXPERIENCE OF HOLY SPIRIT FULLNESS WILL DO FOR YOU.
Imagine a child walking along holding his fathers hand. The child is happy & secure in the knowledge that his father loves him. While he believes his father loves him, there’s no unusual urge to talk about it or sing about it. It’s a fact & it’s a pleasant fact.
Then all at once the father startles the child by reaching down & sweeping him up into his arms & hugging him tightly & kissing him on the neck & whispering, “I love you so much!” And then holding the stunned child back so he can look into his face & say with all his heart, “I’m so glad you’re mine.” Then the father hugs the child once more with great warmth & affection, then he puts the child down & they continue their walk.
This is what happens when a person is baptized with the Holy Spirit. A pleasant & happy walk with God is swept up into an unspeakable new level of joy & love & assurance & reality that leaves the Christian so utterly certain of the immediate reality of Jesus that he is overflowing in praise & more free & bold in witness than he ever imagined he could be.
The child is simply stunned. He doesn’t know whether to cry or shout or fall down or run, he is so happy. The fuses of love get such an overload they almost blow out. The subconscious doubts that pop up from time to time are gone. And in their place is utter assurance so that you know that God is real & that Jesus lives & that you are loved & that to be saved is the greatest thing in the world. And as you walk on down the street you can hardly contain yourself & you want to cry out, “My father loves me! My father loves me! O, what a father I Have! What a father! What a father!”
I think this partially explains what happened in that upper room in Jerusalem. They were so filled with the fullness of God & the depth of the love of Christ that they were no longer advocates who could speak like a lawyer about the resurrected Christ. They were now so under the influence of this power, this experience in the Spirit of the risen Christ that they spoke with unwavering assurance that all doubt is gone. This would be the power that would take Christ’s gospel to the end of the earth.
So I ask you this; is the promise of this power for us, in our day, or was it revoked after the Apostles died? I could answer that in a personal way because it’s been, & is my personal experience. But in a broader sense, if this power was given to enable individuals to take the gospel to the end of the earth, surely God hasn’t withdrawn the power because the work isn’t done yet.
In other words, if the promise was given to fulfill the Great Commission, the promise is still valid until the Great Commission is complete & the gospel has been planted among all the unreached people of the world.
If you’re living a faithful, honest, obedient, loving, persevering Christian life today & have never experienced the Holy Spirit baptism, please don’t minimize that in any way or think that I’m minimizing it.
But I ask you, do you ever feel the need of more power in your life or do you feel that power is unnecessary? Do you ever feel the need of a “heavenly stimulus” that will make your service to God more pungent & effective? What do you think it would be like for you if our Father swept you up in His arms, as the Father did his young son?
These heavenly stimulus visitations of the spirit like the day of Pentecost, these extraordinary, miraculous outpourings of God’s Spirit have taken the work of the kingdom forward in Quantum leaps, accomplishing overnight what people had been waiting for years to see.
I pray the Lord will give as all a double-portion of His power from on high. In these days when man’s stimulus plans are in full swing, God grant that we all might yearn more & more to be swept up into our Father’s arms & baptized with such love that the world might know assuredly that the power of God is a reality.
Blessings,
John
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
