SPIRITUAL MAN
God and Us – A life changing adventure
The Book of Acts
Introducton :
I come from a tradition where I came I thought I knew everything about the Spirit – but sadly I did not.
And unfortunately with the lack of solid biblical teaching in these days much of the church today does not know much about the Holy Spirit.
In fact just this week I listened to a teaching by someone – the title of the message was the “The Power of the Holy Spirit”
The only thing I can say was he made me laugh – a little – but there was no substance to the message
I am sorry to sound critical but you know it does say in James that a teacher of scripture is to be held doubly accountable for what he teaches.
Furthermore, if we are not making disciples then we who stand in the pulpit are failing
And so over the next few weeks I want to introduce you to the wonderful Holy Spirit - His ministry in our lives and through us into the world
Now don’t get nervous – I think you know me by now – we are not going to get into the what I would call the fleshly excesses and such that you might have heard about
So relax and enjoy this time together and let us briefly pray
I want you to say this “ Father I open myself, my heart, my mind, my spirit to you today – teach me about the precious Holy Spirit
In Jesus name - Amen”
And so my appreciation for what the Spirit of God does for us was so small
Over a period of time the fact of the matter was that I had become kind of cynical about what I call the “show and blow” - the junk that I had begun to see being evidenced in the many of the circles I was in
I had also thought that the Spirit was interested in working through me and empowering me complete the vocation and that is true.
But little did I realize that the Spirit actually wanted to do so much for me.
Not just to use me for God’s glory, but also to bless me and that was remarkable
And so I want to explore both these aspects over the next number of weeks in our time together
The premise of my teaching is simply this – the Spirit does empower us as well as affirm us.
Again as I have said – I honestly think so much of the church today is grossly under taught in this area and we do not know that He not only wants to empower us, but He wants to affirm us
And so because of a lack of teaching – the bible says in Hosea 4:6 “ my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge having rejected that knowledge.”
As a result, unfortunately as a consequence we live such mediocre, listless, defeated Christian lives
Folks that is not what God intended for you – yes as we have heard previously the problems are there and will come - but in the midst of that – our God reigns
Not because we are particularly good – but because he is that kind of a God
And so today I would like to give you a brief overview of who the Spirit is in the bible
When Paul comes to speak about the Spirit one might wonder where does he get his information from
Well, some of the information comes from his knowledge of the OT – remember he was a man well versed in the scriptures
However, what we will discover is that the information in the OT about the Spirit is not the full story
And so when Paul writes his letters he tells his readers much more about the Spirit
If those readers are Jewish they will learn information about the Spirit which they did not know before
The most important aspect about the Spirit is that He is in control
And that means we are safe and this is particularly important for the readers of Paul’s letters because they live in an empire that marginalizes them
Their Christianity is a threat to the empire
On top of that the intellectuals among the people think they are crazy and the gospel does not make sense
There are carvings in the catacombs in Rome which show Christians worshiping their God.
And their God is a man on a cross but the head of the man on the cross is a donkey
Because in Greek and Roman society the donkey was thought to be stupid.
So when the people of Roman society thought of Christians they thought of them as stupid
Not only that - to be a Christian in the first century was dangerous
And by the time Paul writes his letters the Christians are experiencing new emotions
They are adding new words to their vocabulary – words like fear – anxiety
The great persecution is coming to the Roman Empire.
40 or 50 years earlier Jesus said he was coming back and he has not yet come back
And so many people are wondering whether they should have become Christians
And Paul and Peter - the writers of the NT have one central message they have to present to these people – God is in control
Paul builds on that and says it is not just God who lives in heaven way up there – but he has come into your life in the form of the Holy Spirit
He controls your destiny – He is not a million miles away
This is a vital message to Paul’s readers
And when Paul talks to us about the Spirit he talks to us and encourages us because he knows the world we are living in today
The fundamental role of the Spirit in our lives – just as those Christians in the first century - is to make us feel safe and secure
He wants them to know that the Spirit of God is always with them
And so think about that for a moment – the Holy Spirit is here right now – in you
Old Testament :
So let me briefly talk to you about the Spirit in the OT
In the OT to the Jewish people the Spirit is equivalent to God
For us now we know there is God the Father , Jesus and the Holy Spirit
For the Jews he is described as having a number of features or characteristics
And so when Paul in his letters speaks of the Spirit his readers will remember the descriptions that was written in the OT
One of the important aspects of the HS in the OT is that he is associated with power.
So when the judges are looking after Israel the Spirit gives them wisdom
And when the prophets speak on behalf of God the Spirit gives them the ability to prophecy
And when Daniel speaks through the emperor the spirit gives him the words to say
So when you see the spirit in the OT you know the person is going to be empowered somehow
In OT the spirit is rarely associated with miracles – he is mainly associated with prophecy – when King Saul prophesied the people said
“ the spirit has come on him”
And when the prophets speak of the spirit they are referring to the Spirit coming on them
And so when Paul speaks of the Spirit in the NT they think it is as it was in the OT
But there were some changes
In the OT the spirit came on a person for a short time and then left
As I previously said the Spirit had two fundamental roles in the OT :
1. He authenticates people – eg Samuel laying hands on David – the
shepherd boy
2. He empowers people – again David killing Goliath
That is different to the NT
Remember when Jesus said “ it is necessary that I go so another comforter may come and he will never leave you nor forsake you”
Can you imagine what a big deal that was ?
Paul then talks about the Spirit living in us – not only the leaders – but ordinary people like you and me as well
This was huge
New Testament :
You must remember that each of the books of the NT were written to different audiences who often had different needs to one another.
Thus, the authors often wrote with different agendas.
These factors should encourage the contemporary reader to treat the books and their contents separately, with an awareness on the original setting.
I have tried to stay rooted in the text, focusing specifically on one main question : Why has the author included information on the Spirit?
Here are the answers :
• The issues concerning the Spirit referred to by the authors are often reflected in the lives of believers today.
• I want to encourage you to see yourself and your situations in the writings of the NT authors to their first century readers.
• At the same time, I hope that each of us can identify lessons relating to the person and work of the Spirit and apply them to our own situations.
• Fundamentally, the message of the NT is that the Spirit is dedicated to the development of the life of the believer.
• And so the Spirit is the focus of attention
• And so as believers, you and I are to ask the following very important questions regarding the Holy Spirit :
o Why is the Spirit given and how can we be influenced by him?
o What does he do for / in believers and how can we take advantage of his resources for our growth?
o What is he like and how can that influence our response to him?
o Whether there is a divine hierarchy in the Godhead, how the Spirit differs from the Father and the Son and what relationship Jesus had with the Spirit were issues discussed by later theologians.
o The NT authors were more interested in the practical application of a knowledge of the Spirit and so that is what will concern us as well
So for the next little while lets take a look at the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts :
The Book of Acts :
The Role of the Holy Spirit
The book of Acts is of course the description of the start of the church
Remember I previously said the church was living in a hostile environment
They needed to know someone was in control so in the very first chapter Luke who is one of Paul’s co-workers tells us that the Spirit is in charge
Acts 1:8 “you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem / Judea / Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth”
This is the agenda of the Spirit – he has a plan
The church is not established by Peter or Paul or James – it is established by the Spirit
The people who knew their OT know that the Spirit has empowered
people to fulfil the objectives God has set for them
And they know the Spirit can be trusted
Of course some of the people who are reading the book of Acts are not Christians and they would be reading the book to see if it would work out as it was planned from the beginning
Will the church succeed – remember the Christians are not only living in a hostile environment – but the world of those days was populated by very many god’s ( small g)
The people don’t need anymore god’s
And certainly they would not have had much time for this new thing when the leader of it was crucified as a criminal
So how on earth can it succeed ?
So Luke says in chapter 1 verse 8 that the spirit has set the agenda and is in control
And I, when I come to read the book of Acts, I am reminded throughout it that the Spirit is able to control my destiny
You will notice that it says in this verse that the Spirit is going to empower the believers to be living testimonies of the working of God in our lives
Unfortunately many people forget the context of this verse
They claim that it refers to the Spirit enabling them to go into the streets and just talk to them about Jesus
What they do not realise that when these people talk about Jesus in the streets they would be rejected – they would be persecuted and maybe their lives would be in danger as well
When Luke says power will be given to you it is because the people need power – they need courage – they are just ordinary people like you and I.
And so the Spirit says I am coming with you – it is not just you going – I am going with you
It is in fact only a few chapters later that we read about Stephen being martyred. Her is in fact not the only one – he is one of many
And so we need to always remember the context of these NT scriptures
It was written many times to people who had in fact had to make some very difficult choices knowing that because they were Christians they more than likely would be ridiculed and even be killed for their faith
And yet they remained faithful
Folks just think how easy we have it here in the USA and yet the church is rapidly losing ground as our witness and effectiveness is being eroded
And so we need to remember that the Spirit is with us – in every situation and under every circumstance
Whatever you are going through today – know that He is with you
So throughout the book of Acts you will see that the Spirit is the controller of the mission
So first of all he will empower Peter to preach in Jerusalem – the very city that killed Jesus a few months earlier
Where does he get his courage – he knows Jesus has risen from the dead
And the other comforter as Jesus called him would be present with them
always
Then in Chapter 8 we see the Spirit guides Philip to the Samaritans
Again remember that the Samaritans and the Jews were moral enemies
And here the Spirit guides him to these people who accept this good news.
And so the Spirit is not there just to keep us safe or achieve the destiny God has for us – but the Spirit will do his part to see that your destiny is fulfilled
Let me give you an example – for most of my life as a Christian I thought that my walk with God developed on the basis of my commitment to God
It was up to me - it was base on my discipline
And of course to some extent that is true – but what I learnt from Paul is that Spirit is more committed to my development even more than I am
It is not that he will just help me do my best – he is going to work in me as well – not just when I am in church but all of the time
It is not me changing myself or even me changing myself with his help – it is him working in me all the time
2 Corinthians 3:18 “changed from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the living God”
Paul and Barnabas –
And for the middle part of the book of Acts we see Paul preaching the gospel throughout the Roman Empire
So here is this man Paul – a learned Jew who knew about the Spirit in the OT – the spirit empowered a few people – Jews only – people who had attained a high level of spirituality
And now he discovers that the Spirit can come on all people
Men and women – young and old –
The trouble with most people is that two conditions exist – we either do not know much about the Spirit of God or simply it is not a remarkable fact any more.
We take the things of the Lord for granted as opposed to being delighted / startled / and surprised by the Spirit of God
And so I want you to understand today the remarkable ministry of the Holy Spirit in the earth today – but not only in the earth today – but in your life as well
And I never want to lose sight of that again and what He can do through me – if I would just allow him
He is in control
The Spirit is in Control :
Map
This is a descripton of Paul’s final journey
The last two chapter of the book of Acts to describe this
This is the last thing Luke will say about the life of Paul
Take a look at the journey Paul takes – he is on his way to Rome
In today’s world a sea voyage is not very special
However in those days it was different
Let me explain to you a little about what the people in those days thought of the sea
In the ancient world people learnt much from Homer and Virgil – these were their text books
So the people who were reading the book of Acts would know these works of these two authors
The significance of both of these stories is that they tell of a sea voyage
The first is a story of Odysseus and he overcomes many supernatural forces who want to prevent him from going to Rome
Many gods and goddesses try and resist him
The second story tells of a man by the name of Aenead - who also goes on a great sea voyage and when he gets to the end of his voyage he establishes the city of Rome
He also goes through great trials on his voyage- but the god who is on his side assures that he achieves his objectives
This sea voyage now that is written about concerns an unknown man called Paul
No one special – he is just a little Jewish man
And so Luke takes two chapters to tell of this voyage
You may know what happened – there was a great storm – a shipwreck – he nearly drowns – when he lands a snake comes out of the fire and bites him –
Everyone says “ the gods are against him – he will surely die ”
But Paul gets to Rome – his final destination – against all the odds
But who was on his side – the Spirit
And so lets read the very last verse in the book of Acts -
Chapter 28:31 – the last word in this book is in Greek –
Remember the agenda that Luke presented in Acts 1:8
The Christians are moving out of Jerusalem – they are scared – who is going to believe us – we have not been to seminary – who is going to believe us?
So Luke says – you are not going on your own – the spirit is with you
And then the Spirit says this is what we are going to do
Spread the news in Jerusalem then Samaria – then the rest of the world and Paul goes to the end of the world – he goes to Rome
Two thousand miles from Jerusalem and the spirit takes Paul on the most hazardous route possible – across the sea.
In this time this sea was known as the Greek sea because the Greek gods were in charge of this sea
Paul does not serve a Greek god – he serves the God of all gods –
And so nothing can stop Paul getting to Rome because the Spirit has set the agenda
And it is no surprise that when we get to the last word in the book of acts the word is unhindered
Nothing can stop the gospel from going to the uttermost parts of the earth
Paul in getting to Rome has fulfilled what was required of him
It has not been a smooth journey – the sun has not been shining all the time
There have been times of pain and suffering
There have been times of worry
But when he looks back Luke can say - the Spirit guided Paul through his life
This is the same Spirit who is in charge of our lives
PRAYER
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