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Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

Acts

David Shin

Acts: Baptized By the Spirit

Today we begin a fall series of messages from the Book of Acts focusing specifically on the working of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Church.

And I wanted to share with you a quotation from Michael Green, he's senior fellow researcher at Oxford University in his compelling book, 30 Years That Changed the World, and I quote, 3 crucial decades in world history.

In the years between AD 33 and AD 64, a new movement was born.

In those 30 years, it got sufficient growth and credibility to become the largest religion the world has ever seen and to change the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

It has spread into every corner of the globe and has more than 2 billion putative adherents.

He goes on, it has had an indelible impact on civilization, on culture, on education, on medicine, on freedom, and of course, on the lives of countless people worldwide.

And the seedbed for all this, the time when it took decisive root, was in these 3 decades.

It all began with a dozen men and a handful of women and then the Spirit came.

These men and women didn't have any money.

Poor, penniless, uneducated for the most part.

They didn't have Harvard MBAs in business administration or marketing.

And they gathered together in that upper room and prayed for the promise of the Holy Spirit, and from that upper room experience, they went out with the power of God and literally changed the world.

How did this group of rag-tag peasants move the entire world that the Roman Empire had to deal with this group called the Christians.

And here it is in the book of Acts, and I have been reflecting on the journey of the early church, and I've come to the conclusion, we can't do it any better or any differently than the New Testament church.

Here we are in the 21st century, fancy programs, heat, electricity, resources, education, but we need to go back to the book of Acts because there is something there in the early rain that is critical for us to grasp and understand if we're going to see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which I believe will happen before Jesus comes a second time.

Our scripture reading Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says they were baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Tozer says this provocative quote in reference to the Holy Spirit, If the Holy Spirit were taken away from our church today, 95% of what we do would continue and no 1 would notice the difference.

If the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, had withdrawn from the early church, then 95% of what they were doing would have stopped and everyone would have noticed the difference.

Friends, I am coming to the conclusion that the issue for our church today in the 21st century is not more resources, is not more fancy programming.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for programs, I'm all for resources, please continue to give to church budget, don't misunderstand me, that's not what I'm saying.

But if we don't have the Holy Spirit, we are just empty shells, just going through the motions and the rituals and the programs of church maintenance.

In the book of Acts, if the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn, everything would have come to a screeching halt.

Acts chapter 1, verse 5, here it is in our scripture reading.

And today I have a study guide for you because these texts and these quotations were so compelling to me that I did not want them to be lost and pull it out of your bulletin.

And if you did not get a study guide, raise your hand.

We have a few individuals with some extras.

You will want this study guide because all of the compelling quotations, and they are compelling, are found in this study guide.

And I read an interesting statistic that was quite disheartening as a preacher because believe it or not, I spend hours in preparation for each sermon.

Because I take seriously the time that is here, but I read the statistic that after a sermon, 90% of what a preacher has painstakingly crafted is forgotten.

I've come to the conclusion, what am I doing here?

I might as well preach the same sermon every Sabbath, Mark.

I mean, I mean, so people, there'll be some repetition.

Maybe a few percentages would get in, but that's why we need the Holy Spirit, because it's through the foolishness of preaching that Anything is accomplished.

And so I'm hoping that some of this stuff will stick, and that's why I have this study guide here for you.

Fill in the blank, just like elementary school.

So you have to perhaps stay engaged, but here it is, our scripture reading, Acts 1, verse 5, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Not many days from now, the book of Acts is called the Acts of the Apostles, but in reality it should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, because it begins with the Holy Spirit.

Everything in the Book of Acts flows out of the indwelling empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus says, look, you were baptized with the baptism of John, but many days from now, or not many days from now, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

It's the Greek word baptizo that Jesus is using in a comparative way.

You were baptized with the baptism of John, you will be baptized with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The word baptizo literally means to be immersed.

When you are physically baptized, you cannot consider yourself to be baptized if you get 1 toe into the water.

I would say you're not even baptized if you get in waist deep.

The only way that you can consider yourself to be truly, biblically baptized is if you are immersed, you are soaked, you are drenched, you are saturated by the water.

So Jesus here is using this comparison of baptism and he says that you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

In other words, this is not just getting your feet wet.

This is not just a sprinkle of the Holy Spirit.

This is talking about a saturation, an immersion of the Holy Spirit.

And today in the 21st century, we get droplets of the Spirit.

I believe that every Sabbath when we get together, we have the Holy Spirit, but it's not a baptism of the Holy Spirit.

It's not an immersion of the Holy Spirit.

It's not a saturation of the Holy Spirit.

We've been getting little drafts or sprinkles of the Holy Spirit, and I appreciate all of those, but in the book of Acts, there was an experience with the Spirit that was fundamentally an immersion, an experience with the Spirit.

This promise of the Holy Spirit was given earlier, and I have this in your study guide.

Jesus is giving his farewell words to the disciples.

He's foretelling his crucifixion, his death to the disciples, and he says in John 16, verse 7, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your, what?

Why would it be advantageous for Jesus to leave?

I'm thinking to myself when I read this text that I can't find an advantage in that.

I would much rather you here than away, why is it to our advantage?

Because I can't find any advantage from a superficial level, why is it to our advantage that he goes away?

For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you." We have a compelling quote from the Desire of Ages, page 669.

The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative, but divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof, cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally.

In order for the plan of salvation to be accomplished, Jesus had to become human.

And in order to become human, he had to divest himself of a certain attribute of what it meant to be God.

He divested himself of the profound ability to be everywhere at once, omnipresence.

That was a limitation that he chose to take on in the incarnation and that was the only way that the plan of salvation could be accomplished if Jesus chose to limit himself to be at 1 place at a time.

Therefore, the quote goes on, it was for their interest that he should go to the Father and send the Spirit to be his successor on earth.

No 1 could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ.

By the Spirit, the Savior would be accessible to how many?

In this sense, he would be nearer to them than if he had not ascended on high.

I want us to follow the rationale of this.

Jesus says, look, it's to your advantage that I go away, because Jesus physically was limited to 1 place at 1 time.

And it is through the spirit that we have the profound presence of Jesus with us no matter where we are.

Acts: In the Upper Room

Today we are continuing in our fall series of messages from the Book of Acts.

And I want to read again the quote that I read from last week.

He is Senior Research fellow at Oxford University and wrote this compelling book entitled 30 Years That Changed the World.

He says, 3 crucial decades in world history, that's all it took In the years between 1833 and 1864, a new movement was born.

It has spread to every corner of the globe and to more than 2 billion putative adherents.

It has left an indelible impact on civilization, on culture, on education, on medicine, on freedom, and of course, on the lives of countless people worldwide.

And the seedbed for all this, the time when it took decessive root, was in these 3 decades.

It all began with a dozen men and a handful of women, and then the spirit came.

3 decades, a poor group of peasants gathered together in that upper room, and in 3 generations, or I should say 3 decades, 1 generation, they turned the world upside down.

Last week we talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts.

Even though it's titled Acts of the Apostles, it really should be, in my opinion, Acts of the Holy Spirit because that was the place from which all of the blood flowed, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I invite you to Open your Bibles to our focus this morning, Acts 1, verses 12-14.

And while you're turning there, I want to give you a little bit of background of what has transpired prior to this.

The book of Acts begins with Jesus walking on earth after he has been raised.

He was raised 3 days later on the wave sheaf offering.

50 days after the Wave Sheaf Offering is the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell.

Acts 1, verse 3 tells us that Jesus was walking and talking with the disciples for 40 days after he was resurrected.

The Bible does not tell us the nature of all the conversations they had.

It must have been something else to be there with the living, breathing Jesus, who was just crucified not too far from that moment.

And Jesus gives them the promise of the Holy Spirit.

He tells them that they're gonna take the gospel to the entire world.

And then on the 40th day, he's walking with them and Jesus ascends into heaven.

The Bible tells us in verse 12 what they do after Jesus has just ascended.

They go back to Jerusalem, and we pick it up in Acts chapter 1, verse 12.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Oliveth, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey.

And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying.

Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

These all continued with 1 accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, with his brothers." 11 disciples, A handful of women, plus Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the brothers of Jesus, that's what the Bible tells us, are gathered in that upper room, and they gather together to pray.

The Bible tells us, and I looked this up, brushed off my seminary Greek, oh have mercy, and looked at the Greek word, these all continued with 1 accord in prayer.

And I actually like the NIV in this translation.

And by the way, in your bulletin is a study guide to help you to Remember some of the quotations in the text from today.

And so I invite you to pull it out this time as we go to our key passage for our study here this morning.

If you don't have a study guide, raise your hand.

We have some individuals with some extras that can get you some at this time.

They all joined together, and what's the word?

Constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

In other words, this was not a prayer session where they prayed for ceremonial reasons and then said, okay, how do we divide up Jerusalem?

Jesus said, we're gonna take the gospel to the entire world.

They prayed and then get down to business.

The Bible tells us and indicates when you look at the original language in this text that this was a meeting and when you read the book of Acts it seems to indicate because when the day of Pentecost fell or the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost they were still in the upper room which seems to indicate and imply that for 10 days after Jesus was ascended or had ascended, for 10 days the disciples and these women and the brothers of Jesus, and later on it says there were 120 that were totally gathered in the upper room, they gathered in that upper room and their primary function, even though they took care of other business, as you can see later, they picked a replacement for Judas, their primary function was to pray, and as the NIV says, to pray constantly.

Now I want us to just gather and reflect upon the implications of what is taking place.

They have just been given the most bold and audacious task by Jesus, to take the gospel to the world.

They have no money, no education, no resources.

And yet, after Jesus has ascended, giving the promise of the Holy Spirit, they go back to Jerusalem, and they hold a prayer vigil.

Not a prayer vigil where prayer is the supplemental activity, but a prayer vigil where prayer is the primary activity for those 10 days.

Now, as I reflected on this in my own walk, I asked myself the question, What do you, or what do I, David Shin, what is my modus operandi?

What is my methodological approach when I'm given a task or a problem.

I gather together with a group of individuals.

We're about to do this very difficult work to take the gospel to all of Anchorage.

Oh, we have great tasks before us, all of Alaska.

And spend the majority of our time planning and strategizing and so forth, and then we do a ceremonial prayer at the end, And we wonder why we get the same results every time.

In the book of Acts, it indicates that the first thing they did when they got back to Jerusalem, being given the most impossible task ever given to man, they got back and they spent significant time in prayer Where prayer was not the secondary activity, but where prayer was the primary activity.

The Bible is not indicating that we should not strategize and plan.

You can see that happening later in the book of Acts, but we live in an age where we focus on doing rather than being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Friends, I'm convinced that we can't do this any better than the early church.

Prayer was not peripheral to the early church and the apostles.

Michael Green's quotation, how all of civilization and society and medicine and culture has been impacted by Christianity and it was born out of 3 decades, it was really born out of a prayer meeting.

Not the prayer meetings we have in the Adventist church, but a real prayer meeting where prayer is the primary activity.

The entire Christian revolution was born out of a prayer session.

Just wrap our minds around the implications of this they gathered around together and this was not Delegated these were the 12 apostles.

They didn't delegate prayer and say oh You pee on over there you pray.

I need to take care of The leadership Modeled prayer This was the who's who in the early Christian church.

And they gathered together in that upper room and were baptized with fire.

It was not the thing that you did ceremonially in the beginning.

And if we're honest with ourselves, if I'm honest with myself, so much of my praying is just autopilot.

Have you ever been in a situation or a meal where you pray and you forgot that you prayed?

And then I turn to my wife, I'm just being transparent, this is your pastor, I'm just being transparent, I turn to my wife and I say, did we pray?

And this is the way that the 21st century church in many ways functions in the Western world because we don't really believe in prayer.

It is just a ceremonial rite of passage that we do.

Acts: United at Pentecost

We are continuing in our series of messages from the book of Acts, and on the screen I have a timeline of events that took place leading up to the day of Pentecost.

He was raised from the dead, which coincided with the feast of the wave sheaf offering.

The book of Acts tells us that he was on this earth for 40 days with the disciples, and on the fortieth day, he went to heaven.

The disciples spent 10 days in the upper room praying for the Holy Spirit, and on the day of Pentecost, which is 50 days after the Wave Sheaf Offering, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples there in the upper room.

And as we begin our study for today, I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Psalm 133.

This is a psalm that is a description of the anointing of Aaron at the inauguration of the earthly tabernacle.

Aaron was the first high priest, and before he began to perform the duties of the high priest, he was anointed and in Psalm 133 verse 1, notice how this Psalm begins.

We will come back to this later in our study, but just take note in our minds how Psalm 133 begins.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in what?

It's interesting in Psalm 133 as it begins there's a, just this wonder at the beauty of how God's people can dwell together in unity.

Then it goes on, verse 2, It is like the precious oil upon the head running down the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down the edge of his garments.

It is like the dew of Hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing forevermore.

Take out your study guides if you have not already.

It's an outline of today's presentation and study.

It is like the precious oil upon the head running down the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down the edge of his garments.

Before he began to perform the duties of the high priest in the Old Testament, he was anointed.

There was significant oil that was administered during this anointing.

The oil ran down his head, if you can imagine it, down his beard, and there was so much oil that it began to drip down the edges of his garment upon the ground.

This was at the inauguration of the earthly sanctuary, and Aaron was anointed as high priest Aaron Was a type of Christ who is the high priest and in the book of Hebrews?

You have this description of Jesus being anointed.

But to the son, he says, "'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

"'A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.

Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you, the Son, with the oil of gladness more than your companions." Here's a description of the anointing of the Son of God.

In the book of Hebrews, if you read it, there is a theme that emerges throughout the book of Hebrews, a better sacrifice, a better sanctuary, a better high priest, a better promise.

That is the theme of the book of Hebrews.

And if you go to Hebrews 8, verse 1 through 2, you have this description of the high priest.

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying.

We have a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man.

But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which is established upon a better, or which was established on better promises.

You see that theme emerging, better promises, better covenant, a more excellent ministry.

Jesus is not only the Lamb of God, he's also functioning in heaven, according to Hebrews, as The high priest in the sanctuary, according to Hebrews 8, which the Lord erected and not man.

Now it's interesting because Jesus went to heaven 10 days before Pentecost, and on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out.

There's An interesting description in the book Acts of the Apostles that ties this all together, Christ's ascension to heaven was the signal that his followers were to receive the promised blessing, for they were to wait before they entered upon their work.

When Christ passed within the heavenly gates, this is after his ascension to heaven, he was enthroned amidst the adoration of angels.

As soon as this ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in rich currents, and Christ was indeed glorified, even with the glory which he had with the Father from all eternity.

The Pentecostal outpouring was heaven's communication that the Redeemer's inauguration was accomplished.

According to his promise, he had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to his followers as a token that he had, as high priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth and was the anointed 1 over his people." When you put this all together, Jesus went to heaven at the ascension and they had an inauguration of Jesus as the high priest and he was anointed, I believe with oil.

And as that oil, like in the inauguration and the anointing of Aaron, ran down the head of the Son of God, and down his beard, and down his garments, I believe that some of that oil fell from heaven and was baptized with fire and fell on the disciples, the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost.

When you weave Scripture together, during those 10 days, there was a ceremony taking place in heaven where the heavenly sanctuary and the heavenly high priest, Jesus, were going through an inauguration before the commissioning of Jesus as the high priest for you and me.

Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 2 as we look at the day of Pentecost.

While this inauguration is taking place in heaven, as Jesus is being anointed, and when that anointing ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended to a small group of believers, men and women, in the upper room.

Acts chapter 2 verse 1, When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with 1 accord in 1 place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven.

Notice the location from which this sound is coming.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues of fire, and 1 sat upon each 1 of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And you know the story in the book of Acts.

They go out from the upper room and literally turned the world upside down.

3000 people are baptized in 1 day and the church grows exponentially.

Now just as a side note, there's some confusion in the Christian community as to what these tongues were or what the gift of tongues were.

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Acts

Acts: Empowered by the Spirit

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