The Holy Spirit

[0:00] 1, starting at verse 1. 1, starting at verse 1.

[0:32] In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

[0:47] After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

[1:02] On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

[1:15] For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered round him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

[1:31] He said to them, They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men, dressed in white, stood beside them.

[2:11] Men of Galilee, they said, Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.

[2:27] Amen. Now we go to the song of worship, which is, All Hail King Jesus. All Hail King Jesus.

[3:00] All Hail Emmanuel. King of Kings. Lord of Lords.

[3:12] Bright morning star. Amen. Thank you.

[3:24] Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you for the Bible reading, Gordon. And a little bit of exciting news.

[3:35] This looks really nice, doesn't it? It's a full-on Bible. It's the Bible we use at the front, the New International Version. And so you'll recognize the words and bits and pieces in it.

[3:47] And week in, week out, as you come here, feel free to use them. They're on the back porch as you walk in. The stewards there will happily give you one. But more than that, feel free to take one home.

[3:59] Feel free to take it home and have a good read. It's a love story between God and humanity. And you can't beat it. If you want my advice, I would go to the second half of it, what we call the New Testament.

[4:15] And start with a little story of Jesus called Mark's Gospel. Mark, one of Jesus' friends, who wrote of his life story. And I would begin there if you were brand, brand new to it.

[4:26] But up to you. Take it home. Explore it. Have a good time with the Lord as you try and get your mind around that. They're right there. And I'm going to remind you, for the next lot of weeks, you can read it here.

[4:38] Use it for our Bible readings. You can take one home. Feel completely free. The stewards will more than happily direct you to where find them. And today we read that first part from the book of Acts.

[4:55] Because very, very, very importantly, what happens next? Next time. You know, there you are.

[5:08] Watching through a great, I don't know, a good six-part drama on iPlayer or Netflix. And at the end of each episode, it says next time.

[5:20] And it gives you a little teasing show to keep you on board about what happens next time. However, get to the end of the whole series.

[5:35] And the last episode perhaps finishes on a big cliffhanger. Halfway through a story. And for the time being, there is no next time.

[5:49] No next time shot. And one is left with that big question. Well, what happens next time? Myself and Eileen, Noah and a couple of others here, we're currently there.

[6:05] We're watching through the Chosen series. And season five has just ended. There's no season six yet. And so we're asking each other, what happens next time?

[6:16] Well, that's what, that's what the great author, Dr. Luke, takes care of for us.

[6:30] He gaps the wondering and the waiting. I mean, like for Eileen and I, we're struggling to do with six months for the next season of the Chosen.

[6:42] And back here, that was five years, give or take, after the account of Jesus' life in Luke's gospel. When Luke finally pops back up and says, in my former book, in series one, having wrote all about Jesus, right up until he went to heaven, which we heard read just a moment ago, he says, I'm back.

[7:14] Back with the next series. And so after his introduction, he writes on one occasion, while Jesus was eating with them, he gives them this command.

[7:29] Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

[7:42] For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with Holy Spirit. As we studied some weeks ago, just beyond Jesus returning to heaven, we read about his ascension, the choosing of a new disciple.

[8:06] And then chapter 2, verse 1. Let's go to chapter 2, verse 1. Chapter 2, verse 1. And if you do want one of these, does anyone want this one particularly?

[8:17] And they're all out there, feel free to get one if you need one. Chapter 2, verse 1. It says, They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

[8:57] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. And began to speak in other tongues of the Spirit enabled.

[9:09] Okay. So. Chapter 1. Jesus goes to heaven. But his last words include, You are going to go and take this good news message to the whole wide world.

[9:22] Stay here. Wait to receive Holy Spirit. Chapter 2. We're now reading. The Holy Spirit comes along. And in effect, Now that Holy Spirit is on the disciples, Now that they've got Holy Spirit, They can now get to work.

[9:43] And as I started with, It was the same for Jesus. In our opening reading at the beginning of the service, We heard how Jesus, At the beginning of his ministry, Read and declared, The Spirit, The Holy Spirit is on me To preach good news to the poor.

[10:04] So, Jesus gets drenched in Holy Spirit for his ministry. The first Christians, The first church here, About 120 of them, They all get drenched in Holy Spirit To start their ministry.

[10:25] And all of Scripture is clear. We, Me and you, Are fully dependent On Holy Spirit To do any ministry, To do anything.

[10:39] So, Before we go any further With the book of Acts, Let's get reacquainted With Holy Spirit. Because, We have God the Father, God the Son, And God Holy Spirit.

[11:01] In the Old Testament Hebrew, It's Ruach. In the New Testament, In Greek, It's Numa. But they both mean the same thing.

[11:15] They both mean breath. The breath of God. And not just any ordinary breath.

[11:27] But the translations come With a thump, An exhilarating breath. Not just gentle breathing. Real, Real breath.

[11:39] And so, In effect, It's known As God breathing. Or God's Spirit moving. Within you are simply Holy Spirit.

[11:51] But it is the breath of God. The Holy Spirit, Like Jesus, Has been around from the beginning. Like Jesus, Holy Spirit is eternal.

[12:06] Like Jesus, Holy Spirit was involved In creating the world. Of God. Genesis tells us the earth was formless, it was empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep.

[12:21] And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Right back there at the very, very beginning, creating the world, Genesis tells us the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

[12:36] That is the breath of God. The breath of God was hovering over the waters.

[12:47] God was breathing. That was in this Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit was moving, hovering over the waters. Holy Spirit, part of creation.

[13:00] Holy Spirit, doing creation. And when it came to the creation of us, man, Adam, Holy Spirit, was the one who did the final blow.

[13:16] Genesis 2 tells us the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. And he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

[13:32] And man became a living being. So, for man to become a living being, he needed God's breath breathed within him.

[13:44] He needed God's Holy Spirit breathed within him. And that was what made him a living being. God has given Holy Spirit that job.

[13:55] It is he, Holy Spirit, who gives new life. And changes people. And as we've seen in our little family part with the children, if you want that helpful picture of how that might work, C.S. Lewis is fantastic for describing this in a word picture.

[14:16] In those famous Narnia writings, Aslan, the lion, breathing new life, unto folk that the enemy has disturbed and taken and distorted.

[14:29] So, Holy Spirit is there in Genesis. And moving forward, it's very, very important to note where else Holy Spirit comes up, all throughout Scripture, from Genesis onwards.

[14:44] And I would encourage some home studying, personally, on that effect, find out where Holy Spirit comes up in the Old Testament. There's lots.

[14:54] But a very, very important one is in Psalm 51. As David is repenting in prayer. And he prays there in verses 10 and 11.

[15:15] Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

[15:29] Take me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Take me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

[15:41] And the reason why this one are important, as I said, go home and find them. The reason I point out this one as a very important one is, yes, of course, King David had the Holy Spirit in him.

[15:56] Holy Spirit was obviously a lie in the Old Testament. But B, he did not want to lose God's Spirit. He did not want to lose Holy Spirit.

[16:08] And he cried out to God to let Holy Spirit stay in him. Because with Holy Spirit in him, he had God's very breath moving in and out of him.

[16:20] He had God's breath in his mind, in his heart, in his soul. And King David knew what a privilege that was. And it wasn't something he wanted to lose.

[16:35] Because he had been given jobs and callings like we all are. I knew he needed God's Holy Spirit to be able to do it. So not something we would want to lose either.

[16:50] Because we, here Christians today, also have the great privilege of having God's breath, God's Holy Spirit within us.

[17:03] And further on, we've already heard some of the gospel stuff. But there at the beginning of Jesus' incredible ministry, even before that declaration that we read about, we read about Jesus coming to be baptized by John.

[17:23] And we read, when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him, on Jesus, in bodily form like a dove.

[17:48] And a voice came from heaven, you are my son whom I love, with you, I am well pleased. The Holy Spirit came and descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove.

[18:08] And ever since then, the dove has been the known symbol for the Holy Spirit. Why?

[18:19] Why did God choose a dove to be the animal who would represent his Holy Spirit? Well, you might disagree.

[18:32] I suppose they are actually rather gentle, beautiful birds. They may come from the same family as the pigeon. But just look at the pigeon.

[18:45] It's a greedy bully. It always shows up where you don't want it. Pigeons are always attacking and fighting with each other. Always making a mess, always causing a problem.

[18:58] The dove, however, it's the absolute opposite. It's gentle, it's delicate. It remains in peaceful, nice places out of the way and will only go where it's welcomed.

[19:15] Sounds a bit more like the Holy Spirit, doesn't it? And so just like the dove, the Holy Spirit is a real gentleman.

[19:30] He will only get involved in your life when you invite him. He won't barge in. He won't make a mess. He will clean him up.

[19:41] He will lead you and guide you in the gentlest of manners. Though, be prepared because he will also bring us conviction.

[19:55] The Holy Spirit brings glory to Father God. And part of the job of bringing glory to Father God is enabling people to live like Jesus.

[20:10] So I'll say it again. Holy Spirit will also bring you and I conviction. He will point out our wrongs.

[20:23] He will lead us to repent of them. He will guide us to apologize and make up with our enemies. He will guide us to make peace with people, to make the first move of peace.

[20:38] All to enable us to live more like Jesus. And when you really, really love Jesus, you want Holy Spirit to do this to you.

[20:55] You want to live like Jesus. Not just in dealing with sin, but in all ways. you want Jesus' characteristics, his attributes, his personality, his attitude, his loving, gentle ways.

[21:14] And so right on cue to enable us to live like Jesus, we are given the fruits of the Spirit. We are told the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, which are in summary Jesus' personality and attitude.

[21:44] And they are what we are called to try and live by. And therefore, the Holy Spirit brings them into our lives. But we can't live up to these in our own strength.

[21:57] again, we need Holy Spirit to enable us to live by him. And when we choose and say, yes, I want to live like this, Holy Spirit will come and enable us to.

[22:15] Remember, he isn't like the pigeon. He won't force in to choose to allow Holy Spirit into your life to work in you and give you these God attitude fruits.

[22:31] Love. Choose to love because no occasion justifies hatred. Choose to love others as God loves you.

[22:42] joy. Choose joy. Invite our God to be the God of circumstance in all occasions of your life so that all occasions may happen with joy.

[23:01] Choose peace. Live your life forgiven with all your wrongs behind you and also forgive others that you may be able to live in peace.

[23:12] Remember the cross? Father, forgive them. Patience. Choose to overlook the inconveniences of the world rather than complaining that the wait is too long.

[23:28] Thank God for a moment to pray. Kindness. Choose kindness. Be kind to your neighbors.

[23:40] Be kind to those and authority. Be kind to the poor. Be kind to the rich. Be kind to friends. Be kind to enemies. Be kind to the unkind.

[23:54] For such is how God has treated us. Goodness. Choose goodness. Go without a pound before you take a dishonest one.

[24:07] Be overlooked before you boast. Confess before you accuse. Choose goodness. Choose faithfulness.

[24:19] Today keep your promises. Give your associates no reason to question your word. Your wife, your husband, no reason to question your love.

[24:31] Choose to be faithful. gentleness. Nothing is won by force. Nothing. So choose to be gentle.

[24:43] Self-control. We are spiritual beings. After this body is dead, our spirits will soar. So refuse to let what will rot affect the eternal.

[24:56] and choose self-control. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

[25:10] These are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which He, Holy Spirit, enables us to do, meaning we get to live out the attitude, the personality, the attributes, the characteristics of Jesus Himself.

[25:28] Choose to commit to these each and every day. If you succeed, give thanks to God. If you fail, no problem. Seek His grace. And also by choosing them, we are well and truly living according to God's two greatest commandments.

[25:47] Love God first, and then love others. The point again is the Holy Spirit and not us who does it all.

[26:00] Scripture continues. Another part of Holy Spirit is of course the gifts. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, teaches about the gifts of the Spirit. And he says, to one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit.

[26:21] To another faith by the same Spirit, gifts of healing by the same Spirit, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, all these are the work of the one and same Spirit.

[26:40] And he distributes them to each one as he determines. So, Holy Spirit also gifts us in different ways to minister God's word, to grow his kingdom.

[26:59] We should all be ready and willing if ever Holy Spirit will anoint us with one of these gifts. And no matter what gifts a person has, each gift is given by Holy Spirit.

[27:15] Holy Spirit, as said here, determines and decides which gifts each of us you have. And we are responsible to use those, sharpen them, but we can take no credit for what God has freely given us.

[27:38] The Holy Spirit is God with us here in our lives today. He is God's very breath and movement in the world.

[27:53] He is the one who keeps us close to Jesus and helps us praise Jesus. And everything he does, aims of giving glory to Jesus. Pray for more of Holy Spirit in your life.

[28:09] Pray for a Spirit filled life. Ask Holy Spirit to lead you all your life and giving praises to Jesus and striving to be a good Christian and staying close to Jesus and having a heart like God's and spreading his message.

[28:28] And so when it comes to spreading his message, witnessing, surprise, surprise, Jesus says, that's also all done by Holy Spirit.

[28:41] at the end of John's Gospel, as Jesus is returning to heaven, he's risen from the grave, again, just like we've read, he's sending the disciples out, but John tells us that with that Jesus breathed on them.

[28:59] John 20, verse 22, Jesus breathed on them as he received! the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathed on them, the breath of God.

[29:11] You can see the very clear linkings, can't you? Mankind starts by God breathing his Spirit into man. Mankind walked away from all that.

[29:22] And so here Jesus is enabling the disciples to deliver his new life fulfilling message again by breathing. God comes back and breathes back into the disciples to enable them to preach this new life giving message.

[29:41] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all working together as one. And it was having Holy Spirit in the disciples that then empowered them to go, to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

[29:59] And we need to remember as we seen earlier Jesus was clear to his disciples don't even try and do this on your own. He told the eleven stay in the city don't go anywhere until you get this power.

[30:16] And for a moment pause with me taking that in that we may get how serious this is. In effect Jesus says you eleven guys who know me better than anyone on earth you eleven who after seeing me alive are now fully convinced of my resurrection.

[30:40] You eleven who have been by my side for three and a half years. You eleven who know all my stories. You know all my teachings.

[30:52] You eleven don't even try and go without Holy Spirit. You would think that if there was anyone on earth able to press on before this that it was these eleven guys who had walked with him hand in hand three and a half years knew all his teaching.

[31:11] You think they could go ahead but no. No. In spite of their teaching by his side in spite of their eyes physically seeing his resurrection Jesus is clear.

[31:25] You still need Holy Spirit. You still need Holy Spirit. So they didn't go and their own strength at all. They couldn't. And it wasn't just about the ability to preach and evangelize.

[31:40] Holy Spirit had much more to equip them in. Because truth is most of these guys were not educated men. How could they write up plans, direct council business, organize preaching tours?

[31:53] They had no strategic training to direct a new movement. Peter was always jumping to the wrong conclusions too quickly. Thomas was now officially known as a doubter across the spectrum.

[32:09] James and John were after a crown on the throne. John was a sloppy, loved up, far too relaxed, too easy going guy. How on earth could they be the ones to go and start God's church?

[32:24] To start the biggest movement on earth? Precisely the point. They really, really, really couldn't. They needed Holy Spirit for each and every part from the preaching to the admin and everything in between.

[32:41] They needed Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit equipped them as he still does today for us. And so be confident in whatever tasks and jobs God has put in front of you.

[32:56] You can do them because his Holy Spirit will equip you. God equips the called. He does not call the equipped. And so just look at what happens next when the 11 and the wider of 120 finally get Holy Spirit.

[33:15] Just look at how it all comes out to be. Holy Spirit preaches the gospel through Peter and sees three flies and see you. Holy Spirit takes Philip to meet the Ethiopian and leads him to faith.

[33:28] Holy Spirit takes Annias to Paul and sees him saved and equipped for a preacher. Holy Spirit takes Paul a once hate filled murderous guy and uses him to write the Bible and start churches.

[33:41] Holy Spirit takes Priscilla to Apollos and sees him come to faith. Holy Spirit takes Peter to go to Cornelius' house. The list goes on and on and on all Holy Spirit and not them.

[33:58] And when we read these particular accounts and acts we can see a lot of the detail. We see for example how Holy Spirit was working in Cornelius' house as well as leading Peter to the house.

[34:14] We get the details all behind the scenes stuff. Peter didn't realise all the facts at the time. It was only five years later when Dr.

[34:27] Luke comes researching and he came and asked Peter tell me how it all happened and as Peter was looking back putting the pieces together he was able to see that's where Holy Spirit was leading that's what Holy Spirit was doing at that point.

[34:44] Yes Holy Spirit went ahead here and put it all together and I can assure you from my own experience as I'm sure many of you can as well that is exactly what God does for us when we go out to preach as well.

[35:02] At the time we don't see all those bits and pieces God's doing. When we look back yeah we can break it down and see what God was doing. I'm able to report in the same way.

[35:14] He prepares the people for us coming to them just as he prepares us and leads us to the people. The point of all this is that it's fully Holy Spirit I can't stress that enough this morning and uses us to preach to the people not us.

[35:34] I stand here in the strength of the Holy Spirit in his ability his righteousness his forgiveness his joy to be able to do anything and during the great commission of Matthew Jesus says I am with you don't be worried don't be scared you don't need college training I am the one doing it through you.

[36:01] 2000 years later it hasn't changed. We are still a bunch of useless failures at the first eleven. We are still failing Jesus every day. We cannot evangelize we cannot preach and just like back in the gospels Jesus preached Holy Spirit into us Holy Spirit does it all and not us.

[36:20] this is certainly true for Peter. If you have one great example look at Peter look at that sermon he's going to give which we're going to go into next week of chapter two.

[36:33] One could be forgiven for thinking that's definitely the same person that's Peter preaching there is the same person in the gospels but it is the difference of course is Holy Spirit is not in him and through Holy Spirit Peter quotes all these scriptures he goes right back to the Psalms through Samuel all the rest of it he lectures like a professor this is an uneducated fisherman lecturing like a professor because Holy Spirit is in him as it is for me and you in finishing be convinced about what the Bible says about Holy Spirit be convinced about what the Bible says Holy Spirit does be convinced about who the Bible says Holy Spirit is if you want more reading into it R.T.

[37:29] Kendall's book Holy Fire is the best one I've read with regards to Holy Spirit's work in our lives R.T. Kendall's Holy Fire for more a few bullet points to hang on to about the Holy Spirit are Holy Spirit is God He is a person and not an it He is eternal just as God the Father and Jesus are Father Son and Holy Spirit are one and receive the same glory as one He is the Spirit of Truth and will always reveal God's truth to us if you are ever unsure about something if you ever sense the devil trying to trick you fall to your knees and ask Holy Spirit to show you God's truth Holy Spirit using people wrote the Bible Holy Spirit is our teacher and be aware of this one

[38:31] Holy Spirit can be grieved when you live in wrong ways you upset them the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of our sin ask him to show you your sins our sins and to enable us to repent Holy Spirit enables us to repent Holy Spirit is our guide to living like Jesus Holy Spirit only tells us what the Father tells him to say Holy Spirit is our reminder Holy Spirit is all powerful and he gives us power and strength to overcome the world's attacks temptations depressions threats and failures Holy Spirit is wonderful and is the performer of great wonders Holy Spirit works within us and gives us the ability to push on Holy Spirit is the evangelist within you and within I Holy Spirit enables us to first and foremost have hearts that are after

[39:36] God's own heart Holy Spirit gives us the lovely kind attitude of Jesus and most of all as already said Holy Spirit gives glory and praise to Jesus and leads and helps us to do so with the Holy Spirit strength we stay committed to him as faithful Christians he keeps us focused on Jesus if he didn't help us there would be no Christians in the world we're all dependent on the Holy Spirit to enable us to press on and stay committed to Jesus in Acts chapter 1 as Jesus returns to heaven Holy Spirit comes enabling the disciples to be Christians 2000 years later nothing nothing has changed that same Holy Spirit is necessary for us to be

[40:38] Christians let's pray Lord Jesus thank you for bringing this to our attention of the fellowship today reminding us of you Holy Spirit and the wondrous wonderful works you do in our lives keep us all so close to you Jesus Holy Spirit everything we've went over here how you enable us to be like Jesus can be convicted of our sin enable us to repent enable us to preach enable us to stay focused on all the above help us all here seek that from you enjoy that from you and be thankful for it bless us out now Lord as we would be faithful servants of your good name thank you Amen Amen