GYC 2012 Acts: The Revolution Continues

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

GYC 2012 Seminar: The Holy Spirit Promise

Chris Holland

The Who, What and Why?

And I'm glad that you've come to this seminar on the Holy Spirit promise.

Just to give you a little bit of an idea of who I am.

I was noticing in my biography, I didn't put anything about there about what I'm doing now.

I pastor the Hagerstown Church in Hagerstown, Maryland.

I've been there about 2 and a half years.

And the Lord is, We are enjoying the Lord's blessings there.

And I also want to clarify a little bit of my biography.

They edited it and in editing some things got a little off.

I was not actually baptized when I was 17 years old.

I grew up in a Catholic home and became a Seventh-day Adventist, Met the Lord, encountered the message of the remnant when I was 20 years old, and I was baptized when I was 21.

And out of that and a set of really miraculous circumstances, I was able to attend Andrews University and then go into ministry.

And we have been in ministry ever since and we're glad to be here.

And actually there is a little bit of an irony of us being at GYC this year.

I, by no means am I an old man, but I'm getting older.

And this year, my wife and I, we talked, and as we talked, we said, you know, maybe we're kind of getting above that age.

And so we had decided we were going to put our efforts and finances towards going to ASI and and we did go to ASI and literally a day after we made that decision I received a phone call from Maria and asking me to speak at GYC And so the Lord has a bit of irony.

And so we are appreciative to be here and be a part of the GYC movement.

I want to let you know, you have the titles and sometimes titles don't help.

So let me just tell you kind of where we're going over the course of time and how we're going to operate.

Right now we're in this seminar, this first session, we're going to cover the who.

And actually what we're going to really explore is what is the Holy Spirit promise?

The next seminar, the next session, will talk about how to receive the Holy Spirit.

And then the third session will be what are the results of the Holy Spirit?

What happens when the Holy Spirit is received, the Holy Spirit is poured out?

And I need to tell you, kind of in these first 3 sessions, I'll be going back and forth amongst those subjects.

And the attempt will be, is we're gonna be building 1 subject upon another and arriving at the point then when in the fourth session we're going to talk about the Holy Spirit and the end times.

How does the Holy Spirit work in the end times, especially in the context of the great controversy theme and most specifically in Revelation chapter 13 and the showdown between God and Satan, between Christ and Satan.

And then the last 2 sessions we will talk about false manifestations of the Spirit and most importantly in those last 2 sessions not just because it's something to know what the false manifestations are it's quite a different thing to know how to protect ourselves from those false manifestations.

Now this this seminar is actually going to be very heavily expository.

We're going to unwind some Greek words and it won't be too technical, but we want to really dig deep.

And I need to tell you kind of my journey on this.

Not that I didn't believe in the Holy Spirit or anything like that, but understanding who the Holy Spirit is and how the whole...

Because we hear a lot in the Adventist Church today about the outpouring of the latter rain.

And what is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?

And so we're going to really explore that.

And so each of our seminars is designed to build 1 upon the other.

And as we go through it, they're going to build 1 upon the other.

Now, you, of course, are welcome to go to other seminars.

I'm not telling you to not go to other seminars.

But what I am going to say is If you only come for part of the seminar, you'll only get part of the blessing.

If you take 1 bite of an apple, you'll get some nourishment, but you won't get the full nourishment of eating that whole apple.

And so I want to encourage you to kind of stay through, but like I said, you're free to go to other seminars.

I taught at Highland View Academy for 2 years while I was pastoring.

And then when I was doing my master's work, I actually taught at Andrews University.

So I love teaching and writing on the whiteboard.

I do use slides in my evangelism, but the main reason we use slides in evangelism is to help people.

We have people who are coming who don't know their Bibles well, and we use those slides to help navigate through the scriptures.

You are folks that have come to GYC, so I am certain that you can navigate your Bibles probably very well.

And so if you have your Bible, you have something to take notes with, you are going to have all you need for this seminar.

Now I will, not in this first hour, but maybe into the second and third hour, I will allot some time for questions.

If you have any questions, by the way, after the seminar I'm very happy to talk with any of you one-on-one, but if you have a question that you would like to have answered from up front, there's a little pad of paper here up on the corner.

You're welcome to write that question down.

Just fold it up on the paper and set it right next to there and I'll pull those questions and in the second and third hour I will address some questions And we'll go from there.

So with that, why don't we have a word of prayer and get started with our seminar, The Holy Spirit Promise.

Heavenly Father, we are grateful for the opportunity to be here.

We are grateful, Lord, that you have brought us here for such a time as this.

And so now as we explore this topic, please open our eyes that we might truly see and truly understand more about you.

You know, coming to GYC is a very important, it's a very important thing when you're coming to GYC, ASI, these types of meetings.

I want to read a couple of quotes from Ellen White to help us.

See, these meetings are not designed simply for us to be information gatherers.

This is not just another file we want to put away in the cabinet.

And you may have come here for multiple reasons.

Maybe you've gotten dragged here through a youth group situation.

Maybe your child dragged you here with them.

But I want to read a quote from the fifth testimony talking about how these meetings, as we prayerfully consider and as we pray about the things we're learning, the Lord can really work in our lives.

This is in 5th Testimony, page 163 and 164.

While preparing for the meeting, Each individual should closely and critically examine his or her own heart before God.

If there have been unpleasant feelings, discord, or strife in families, it should be 1 of the first acts of preparation to confess these faults to 1 another and pray for 1 another, humble yourselves before God and make an earnest effort to empty the soul temple of all rubbish, all envyings, all jealousies, all suspicions, all fault-findings.

But let deep heart-searching commence at home.

Pray 3 times a day and like Jacob, be importunate.

At home is the place to find Jesus, then take him with you to the meeting.

How precious will be the hours you spend there, but how can you expect to feel the presence of the Lord and see his power displayed when the individual work of preparation for the time is neglected?" And so, you may not have done that before you came to GYC, but even while you're going through these meetings, there is a personal preparation to prepare our heart to receive the full blessing that God has.

And so each of the meetings at GYC is set up to help us to grow in our spiritual understanding, to help us grow spiritually, to come to the Lord and really experience His power.

Listen, read again, for your soul's sake, for Christ's sake, and for the sake of others, work at home.

To Receive or Not to Receive... That is the Question

And I talked about this yesterday and I talked about the whole GYC experience and the importance of that experience.

This is from the book The Faith I Live By, page 246.

We should improve every opportunity of placing ourselves in the channel of blessing.

The convocations of the church, as in camp meeting, and I was talking about GYC is kind of like a camp meeting for youth so to speak.

So she says the convocations of the church as in camp meeting, the assemblies of the home church and all occasions where there is personal labor for souls are God's appointed opportunities for giving the early and latter rain.

And so when we assemble together in meetings like this, when we assemble together for GYC, we are actually placing ourselves in a position of receiving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in latter rain power.

And so you have made a wise choice in coming to GYC.

And the choice in coming in, sometimes, and I talked about this a little bit yesterday, sometimes we really are not believers or practicers in righteousness by faith sometimes we're practice there's of righteousness by stubbornness righteousness by decision-making Just the decision to come to GYC is not where the outpouring will come.

It is through the, and not just by the attendance of going through the motions and pulling out the schedule and being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there.

But it is actually through not just your attendance but your willing, submitted attendance to hear what God is speaking through the different speakers.

And too many times, and I say this, I am a little biased, I'm a pastor, too many times people will look at the church bulletin and they'll say, oh this guy's speaking this week, this guy's speaking this week, and I'm gonna go him here, but I'm not going here.

And like in Hagerstown, Maryland, although a small place, we have 6 churches within about 15 minutes.

And so we have what I call church tourists who go from place to place.

And it is a misunderstood concept that I'm going to church to be blessed.

And while that is certainly true, I'm also going to church and being a part of the assembly to be a blessing and so the Holy Spirit is poured out in convocations like this not by our mere attendance but because we've committed and submitted ourselves to the Lord and in preparation for receiving the message he has for us.

So let's go ahead and get started with prayer and we'll have a brief review of yesterday so if you weren't here yesterday you'll get a very very brief review And for those of you who were here yesterday, my review is actually the part of the notes that I didn't get to.

So you'll get to hear something new as well.

So, and then we're going to go into this hour.

We're going to talk about how do I receive the Holy Spirit?

And then the second hour that we'll be together we will talk about what the results are and the answer may surprise you and so and we'll get to that.

Father in heaven, we are grateful to be here.

We are grateful to have the opportunity to learn.

And now, Lord, as we sit for a moment and study your scriptures, it is our prayer that you would work in our hearts, work in our minds, help us, Lord, to understand you.

But more than just a intellectual understanding, Lord, we want to be cut to the heart.

So yesterday we started with the Holy Spirit promise as found in Acts chapter 1.

And if you have your Bibles, in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 1, we find that promise as Jesus is leaving the earth and having his last words with his disciples in Acts chapter 1.

And for those of you who were not here yesterday, you can listen to this on AudioVerse on GYC web and get more of the details.

But in Acts chapter 1, verses 7 and 8, we have 3 key words that give us the very foundation of the Holy Spirit promise.

And by the way, I'm leading to How do I receive the Holy Spirit?

But in Acts chapter 1 and verse 7, Jesus makes it very clear to the disciples who, remember, at this time are still struggling with the idea that Jesus has come, the Messiah has come as a political leader to wrangle from the Romans authority and now Jesus is going to rule the earth.

And when they ask him, the disciples ask Jesus, when are you going to restore the kingdom?

And Jesus answers, it says, it's not for you to know times and seasons and then he says but it's been given by God's authority and authority is the Greek word exu sia God's authority God reigns over the earth and it is by his authority that he reigns.

And so it is by God's authority, the timing of the second coming, when he will restore the earth, when he'll bring spiritual Israel together.

And so, as a bit of a side note, if sometimes because we're people who love to study, we can get ourselves caught up into all kinds of timelines and and we've got it all down and this is going to happen and that's going to happen and this is going to happen and then the second coming will happen.

We must be very careful because it is within God's authority as to when the second coming will happen.

And remember what Ellen White herself said, when would Jesus have come?

Jesus would have come at the turn of the 20th century in the 1900s, had the church done her appointed work in its appointed time.

That is God's prerogative as to when the second coming will happen, when the kingdom will be restored.

And I know some of you are saying, but wait a second, can't we hasten the coming of the day of the Lord?

Yes, and that's actually something we're gonna talk about.

But then in Acts 1, verse 8, Jesus says that we will receive power.

And the word for power is the word in Greek, dounamis.

It is from the, It is from that word that we get our word dynamite and it means to be able.

So the Holy Spirit is, so he's going to give us power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

And it's very critical here that we now understand why the Holy Spirit is given.

Unfortunately in the church, and hopefully some of you have no idea what I'm talking about, but I did not grow up in the church, some of us talk about the Holy Spirit like we're in Star Wars and the Holy Spirit is the force.

And I and now like I said hopefully you hit some of you are like what are you talking about and that's great I'm glad you don't but that whole concept by the way from that trilogy is a concept steeped in Near Eastern mysticism.

See, the Holy Spirit is not a force which we wield at our command, but the Holy Spirit is power to make us able to be what?

Witnesses, which is the word martus, from which we get the word martyr.

The power of the Holy Spirit, the fundamental, the fundamental promise of the Holy Spirit is the ability for us to be witnesses.

That word martus, which is translated witness in Acts 1.8, is also translated testimony.

By the way, if you have the King James, these 2 words are translated power.

In Acts 1.7, it's in God's power, and then he will give us power.

But notice in the Greek it's 2 different words.

God has authority to give us power, but it's not just any power.

And being a witness and witnessing are what we talked about yesterday while related 2 very distinct things.

Sometimes we say, oh, the latter rain will come so we can finish the work.

But the Bible is quite clear where is 1 primary place that the work needs to be finished?

For me to be a testimony or a witness is when God changes me that not only can I proclaim, but my proclamation matches the transformation that is within me?

Who does God grant the authority to before it arrives to us?

All authority, exousia, has been granted to me, and then Jesus, through the promise of the Holy Spirit, gives us the power by His authority, granted to Him by the Father.

We have all 3 figures of the Godhead working with 1 goal in mind.

And for us to be witnessing, excuse me, witnesses, And I want you to think about this now.

Someone who is seeing, someone who is hearing, someone who is handling has something to witness to.

God is not looking for Second-hand witnesses.

You all are familiar with the legal system.

And you watch these courtroom proceedings, and someone will say, and this is what I heard from someone that they said.

God is not looking for witnesses of hearsay.

God is looking for someone who has personally experienced Him.

It is only when we experience Jesus, when we see Jesus, when we hear Jesus, when we handle Jesus.

And by the way, just so we're very clear, how do we see, how do we hear, how do we handle Jesus?

We spend time in His Word and we'll be talking about that in the last session on how can we be protected from false manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

We talked about these verses yesterday, 2 Peter 1, 16-18, for we did not follow cunningly devised fables." But what did they bring?

See the disciples, the whole idea of power and witness come together.

God doesn't grant us the power of the Holy Spirit so we can say we're powerful.

He grants us the power of Holy Spirit first and Primarily to change us.

The Holy Spirit Results

This message was presented at the GYC 2012 conference in Seattle, Washington.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

So, we talked about the receiving of the Holy Spirit and that was in the context of personally receiving the Holy Spirit.

How does the church receive the Holy Spirit?

I believe that actually in 2 places in Acts chapter 2 and in a quotation from Acts of the Apostles we see some very important conditions for the church to corporately Do you all understand when I use the word corporately what I'm saying?

The first and important step is that, number 1, we as individuals need to be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

We each need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And we could spend a lot of time talking about that, but the reason that we see such a lack of success in the church is because the church, and by the way when I say the church, it's easier for us to go, the church, the church is filled with people who lack the full baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So, but then the church corporately, because we move as individuals, but we are to move as individuals who have been entwined together as the church the corporate body so Right go to Acts chapter 1 and put your finger in Acts chapter 1 And in Acts chapter 1, we see that we've already studied through verse 8.

The disciples are promised the Holy Spirit and then what happens immediately after that?

In verse 9, now when he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, 2 men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus who has taken you up into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go to heaven.

Luke 24, and I'm going to move through this rather quickly because we need to get to, because we're finishing how to receive the Holy Spirit, bridging it into what are the results.

In Luke 24, we see that the disciples, after they are let out, in verse 52, that they worshiped him and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

Because remember, the disciples were concerned about Jesus departing but now it says they're filled with great joy.

Because the angel has just told them, hey, he left, but he's coming back.

And so corporately, the first principle of receiving the corporate outpouring of the Holy Spirit is hope and joy in what?

And we're gonna see in just a moment from the results of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the promise of the Holy Spirit is given in the whole context of the Second Coming.

So when the church has true hope, true joy in the Second Coming, it is 1 of the first principles in receiving the corporate outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Some people will say, but we're Seventh-day Adventists.

Just remember, we need to do more than talk the talk.

The Bible says in Acts chapter 1 and verse 12.

They return to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey.

And when they had entered they went up into the umpire room and they were staying.

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

And they all continued with 1 accord in prayer and supplication.

And then the Bible also goes on to talk about how they worshipped in the temple continually.

So there is this, we've given several of them.

Okay, and I need to be very quick on this.

If you want to hear the sermon on this, you can go to hagerstownadventist.org.

And the title of this sermon was The Upper Room.

The Greek word for 1 accord is of like-mindedness, of unanimity.

Now there has been great controversy in the church lately about this idea of being unanimous.

Does the church ever in the book of Acts have disagreements?

They came together corporately and settled those issues in Acts chapter 15.

Remember, there's an issue about Gentiles coming into the church.

The church gathers at Jerusalem, which, and I'm not trying to be blasphemous by saying it, but Jerusalem is the silver spring of the first century.

They gather at the general conference headquarters and they settle the issue corporately.

It is when the church comes to 1 accord, when we truly love 1 another, when we truly respect 1 another, even though we may come with differences.

And by the way, not only did the early church have differences, did the early Adventist church have differences and what did they do?

They settled it with and by the way this is what we just read with prayer and supplication and study and study.

The other night, the presenter talked about the scourge of politics.

Series

GYC 2012 Seminar: The Holy Spirit Promise

False Manifestations of the Holy Spirit and How You Can be Protected, Part I

Transcript

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