Inland Empire: Riverside
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit - Audio
what did you got to go and sit front row of a concert, your favorite man you know what you should do right so so what's a higher priority let in the word of God transform your front row your favorite man what what should be our priority John's plate what should our priority be buddy the word of God huh so we can get front row to hear the word of God and change our life shouldn't we take front row seats all right guess what we have a front row nobody's even sitting in it like who's got the heart I want to see that I'm not starting to this rose build all right great job front row seats could be a Christian band all right you guys hear me all right is this thing working yeah okay good all right here's what we're gonna study tonight what's our topic been for the last month and a half two months the Holy Spirit you know what I've realized is we had Gordon Ferguson who is the consummate teacher on the Holy Spirit I did a great lesson for us on a Sunday but you know what I realized we haven't taught you is sort of the doctrinal teaching of how we receive the spirit and there's a lot of conflict in the religious world about this on on the reception of the Holy Spirit and the different aspects of the Holy Spirit and I will put before you it is a complex topic there is a lot in the scriptures about it and in fact the wisest theologians both part of our fellowship and outside of it don't always totally agree exactly on the details I'm gonna present to you today my conviction and I hope it educates and trains you and get you thinking I won't be able to hit every detail every question today but I will hit a few of the key questions that I know come up for some of us what we're studying with people and I hope this encourages you to dig deeper begin to ask these questions and to really evaluate wow you know how do we receive the Holy Spirit what about all the different accounts of the reception of the Holy Spirit and how they're different in some cases and how does that really fit into our teaching of when we become a Christian and when we don't and so that's what I want to cover today so I hope you have a piece of paper and a pen handy so you need to get that on out so you can take some notes and write down some scripture references so I'm gonna give you a minute to find one get one bar one pull out your little note if you have to do it on your phone a lot of those can do it if you have a note pad in a Bible sometimes little notes on your phone are good to if you have your laptop or your iPad pull it on out we're gonna talk today about the Holy Spirit and we're gonna talk about the different receptions of the Holy Spirit or you could call them measures or ways that we see the Holy Spirit working there's been different teachings on that the first thing I want to begin by reading to you is Ezekiel chapter 36 which we've read twice already I use it on one of my sermons Mike used it one of his but it's in of course the Old Testament where God is predicting what he has in store with this Holy Spirit and our lives in particular so turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 36 beginning in verse 25 and we're gonna move quick tonight is more of a teaching so if you're way in the back you know you know I reckon if you really want to learn this material you need to stay focused you got to move up front you know you sit in the back if he's in his own out alright but we're gonna hit material that you're gonna need to teach your friends you got friends there's a lot of false teachings about the Holy Spirit out there and we're gonna hit some of this you need to be focused geared in understanding what does the Bible say about it amen all right verse 36 verse 25 we find there he says I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean I will clean you from all your impurities and from all your idols right in that he's referencing it's a foreshadowing of baptism right there in the the new covenant we know we saw Lisa and we saw Diana baptized on Sunday also is awesome in the campus really proud of her and guys just working right sprinkling that clean water on new souls as they give themselves to God he goes on and talks about the Holy Spirit he says in verse 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you right the Holy Spirit I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws isn't that encouraging and what he's talking about is that the prediction of the Holy Spirit being inside of us that's being one with God having the spirit the Holy Spirit got himself at one with our spirit that's an awesome promise and we find that in the new testament we teach each of our young people and everybody that studies the Bible we teach them clearly the first Sunday morning sermon when Jesus had ascended to the right hand of the Father and he left the message of how we're all going to follow him and respond to the cross he left it in the hands of his apostles and they begin the church we find in Acts chapter 2 the beginning of the church and we find that the Holy Spirit comes down in a great powerful way in Acts chapter 2 writes the day of Pentecost and he comes down we're going to talk a little bit about that outpouring in the moment but I want to make it clear to you that the scriptures teach us in the first Sunday morning sermon preached to all those that are going to live in the same situation that we're in which is what the situation where Jesus died he's resurrected and he's ascended which is where he's at now right he's in heaven right now he's watching and listening in Acts 2 they are in the same shoes as we're in he's died he's resurrected and he's ascended and the message of how to be saved and the message of how to get that spirit in us is preached the first time right here by Peter and we summarize his lesson in Acts chapter 2 verse 36 and he goes on and they feel moved by it in verse 37 and we're going to pick up in verse 38 which we all know Acts 2 verse 38 is a very clear teaching of how we receive forgiveness of sins and it says the gift of the Holy Spirit all right so let's see that right here remember this is the blueprint for the church that we are a part of today and he says in Acts 2 verse 38 after they ask him well what do we do with respect to this lesson and who Jesus is we believe it we want to respond and so he tells them in verse 38 repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off year 2012 for all whom the Lord our God will call we receive the Holy Spirit when we repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins you see that right there we know this we'll reference these other verses look in Acts chapter 5 verse 32 we see that you know who gets the Holy Spirit well it says in verse 32 of Acts 5 you can go over there a couple chapters he says and we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him all right so we know he gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him now the truth is the Holy Spirit can work on people all right even when they don't obey him but it clearly says he gives it to us when we obey him how repentance and baptism all right also we find that in Galatians chapter 3 the idea of being clothed with Christ and having the Spirit is referenced there let's look in Galatians chapter 3 all right and write this down and skip with me over Galatians 3 verse 26 Galatians 3 verse 26 where he says there you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ there is neither June or Greek slave nor free male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus if you belong to Christ then your Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise you've received the Holy Spirit your baptized into Christ you've clothed yourself with Christ that's a reference again to the baptism that Jesus commanded in Matthew chapter 28 that Peter commanded in Acts chapter 2 and we find that you know you have the Spirit and it is necessary to have the Spirit inside of you for salvation needs to be inside of you one with you totally unified with you it's logical if we have sin then the Spirit of God can't reside in us because God can't be unified with sin right so the death of Jesus pays the price of the sin so we go under that water right by faith we're believing okay Jesus died for us so we go under that water and by faith God says yes we see that you're dying also because you have faith my son died you die and therefore I'm blaming all your sins on Jesus and you're going to be a new creation you're I'm wife I'm blaming all your sins on him he's paying for him he's the only one that could pay for him now you're pure in my eyes if you're pure in my eyes now God can be one with you right so that moment you get the Holy Spirit we find that in Romans so we meet a Romans 8 Romans chapter 8 that you cannot be a Christian if you don't have the Holy Spirit Romans 8 look in verse 9 Romans 8 verse 9 very clear scripture on this you must have the Holy Spirit in you one with you we're gonna talk about other aspects of it in a minute all right says you however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit if the spirit of God lives in you and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ he does not belong to Christ you see that so obviously when we become a real Christian at our repentance and baptism for forgiveness at that moment we have the spirit in us and we have the spirit you know that's a testimony we are God's son God's daughter right we also find that in the classic verse where Jesus is speaking the Nicodemus he explains how we become a Christian he brings in this idea of being born of water in the spirit let's turn to John chapter 3 all right John chapter 3 all right we find again a verse that talks about how we must be born of spirit to enter the kingdom of God right again confirming that we must have the spirit to be saved to be a Christian John 3 and we find in verse um let's see in verse 5 John 3 5 he says Jesus answered I tell you the truth no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit all right we're gonna talk a little about this more in a moment here as well but I want you to see that the scriptures are clear that we're not a Christian unless we have the spirit at the moment we become a Christian simultaneously is when we get the Holy Spirit you can't be a Christian and later you get the Holy Spirit in you it's all happened simultaneously which is very logical all right um let's look over in one more verse it's a great one to see that reference to this idea in Titus chapter 3 turn with me to Titus chapter 3 all right these are all verses you got to have in your arsenal about baptism but as well as the Holy Spirit Titus chapter 3 is a great verse that references this idea of washing with the word and with the Holy Spirit all right Titus 3 looking verse 5 he says he saved us not because of righteous things we had done right we don't earn our salvation it's the grace of God it's a gift from God he saved us not because of righteous things we had done but because of his mercy well how do you do it he saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior so the why we're saved and the why we get the spirit is what Jesus did for us and our response to it right we don't earn it we're not good enough nothing like that but it's clear he's talking about the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit and when does that occur Acts 2 38 you repent your baptized you get that washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit you get the forgiveness of your sins now here's the interesting thing and I've been studying this Jack a lot of you guys know Douglas Jacoby and he's one of our teachers in our fellowship and I agree with the take he has on this with respect to another verse that demonstrates how we enter the church all right I want us to turn to first Corinthians chapter 12 first Corinthians chapter 12 we find a verse there it talks about when we enter into the church all right and he says that in first Corinthians 12 look in verse um we'll begin in verse 12 and we'll read down to verse 13 okay first Corinthians 12 verse 12 and 13 talking about the church the body is another name for the the church is the body of Christ right the body is a unit verse 12 he says though it is made up of many parts and though all its parts are many they form one body so it is with Christ for we were all baptized by one spirit into one body whether Jews or Greeks slave or free and we were all given the one spirit to drink now in my international new international bible I want you to notice in verse 13 I don't know which version you're reading but it says for we were all baptized it uses the word by one spirit or you have a little reference to Greek they're not totally sure that you have it could be with one spirit or in one spirit you see that we're all baptized in one spirit or with one spirit or by one spirit into one body and here's what I want to make clear that at this moment he's talking about being baptized by the spirit or with the spirit in the spirit he's really just referencing this concept of washing and renewal by the Holy Spirit but he's talking about actual normal baptism but at your baptism in water aren't you also being baptized in the spirit at that moment what you think about this in John chapter three we find that he says you must be born of water and born of the spirit okay you can go back to that let's go back to that verse go back to John 3 now what I want you to see is that our baptism is our baptism in the name of Jesus forget of sins but it's also the baptism in and with the spirit of God at that moment I want you to see that because see the Bible does talk about how you know we must be baptized in the spirit right and there's two ways to look at it one is that the whole world's already been baptized in a sense and I'll explain that in a minute but for us to really be baptized by Jesus in the spirit we must respond to his message and he even says that in in John chapter three right where he says you know you must be born again no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again right he goes on and says well how can a man be born when he's old I tell you the truth unless a man is born of water in the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God and so what he's saying here is that born of water we immediately go yeah that's when we're baptized born of spirit what is that also when you're baptized so baptized in the spirit I think first Corinthians 12 13 relates very clearly to John 3 because when when do we baptize in the spirit at our actual baptism Alicia baptize in the you know in water but in the spirit as well at that moment because indwelling occurs at that moment Diana that just happened to them on Sunday an awesome event the same thing that all people from here until the end of the world will have to undergo all right so what does this mean here's why this is important because there are some confusing teachings about being baptized in the Holy Spirit all right and here's why there are other aspects of the Holy Spirit coming upon people that create some confusion in the scripture but I want to put before you that the one baptism that all of us undergo is this baptism through repentance you know faith in Jesus repentance and then we're baptized the name of Jesus and at that moment we're born of water and spirit we're baptized in water and spirit God's spirit at that moment infiltrates us now the Bible does talk about a predicted event when the Holy Spirit would be poured out now here's what you think about let's turn to um Acts chapter 1 turn to Acts chapter 1 all right Acts chapter 1 we have Jesus talking about this predicted event and he's actually referencing John the Baptist who talked about this event and we read in Ezekiel already that God said he's going to put his spirit in us we also are going to find that he talked about how he's going to pour it out on all people and here's we want to explain it a little bit more all right look in Acts chapter 1 verse 4 Acts 1 verse 4 he says 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 for John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit all right he's talking about the Holy Spirit's going to come down on them and in Acts chapter 2 we find that's exactly what happens right turn over to Acts chapter 2 all right and we find in verse 1 and 2 we says when the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting all right so what happens the Holy Spirit is poured out in fulfillment of the prediction that's in the Old Testament and the New God poured out the Holy Spirit Peter begins to reference this as he quotes Joel look with me further down in Acts chapter 2 and he's explaining what's going on looking Acts 2 verse 17 all right he says in the last days God says I will pour out my spirit on all people your sons and daughters will prophesy your young men will see visions your old men will dream dreams even on my servants both men and women I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy all right so so what's going on the spirit is poured out in fulfillment to prophesy and it's poured out on all in the sense of it's on earth now but it's not unified in spirit with every person now God could choose to put the spirit on anybody he wanted truth is you know we find in the Old Testament sometimes the Holy Spirit was on people who were downright ungodly we find in first Samuel it's down at the end of the chapter of my notes here about miracles 1 Samuel chapter 19 verse 18 through 24 talks about how Saul who had gone gone bad he'd gone rogue he was trying to kill David the Holy Spirit was on him and working through him causing him to speak but that didn't mean he was right with God okay so you got to be clear God is examples of the spirit being upon the heart every anybody ever feel like a miracle happened to them when they were a total non-Christian anyone ever feel like that happened like your card didn't crash you that as a miracle the Holy Spirit's working on earth that doesn't mean people are saved just because the Holy Spirit did a miracle in their lives we're clear on that all right but we do find that God promised from Ezekiel and then John the Baptist mentioned it and Jesus mentioned it hey the Holy Spirit is going to come out it's going to be poured out on all people all right but it's not in people until they respond to repentance and baptism becoming a disciple repenting getting baptized in the name of Jesus because that's what he said in Acts 5 verse 32 who did he have his spirit to on the inside those who obey him you guys with me all right now so now let's clarify some things there's another kind of this pouring out I want to explain to you one of the big confusions we have as well Steve what about some of these situations in the book of Acts we see some unique situations I want to approach one of them now and that's the example of Cornelius okay Cornelius was a devout God fearing man he was praying to God he was not Jewish and he's praying to God and God sends him a vision he says go get Peter he's going to bring you a message of how you can be saved so turn with over to Acts chapter 10 all right Acts 10 I want to try to explain this to you a little bit all right how is this a unique situation well it's this is a very unique situation keep in mind the book of Acts gives us the blueprint of how to become a Christian and then it gives us the history of the beginning of the church so you're going to get a lot of situations that are historical in nature tell us understand what God was doing and how he established the church the situation of Cornelius I believe is one of those unique situations explaining to us how God is approving and showing his approval that all people whether you're Jew or not you can become a part of God's spiritual kingdom right he clarifies that in Acts 10 and we find here let's look in Acts 10 let's skip on down to verse let's start in verse 39 all right Acts 10 and let's look down in verse 39 says we're witnesses everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem he killed him by hanging him on a tree but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen he was not seen by all the people by by witnesses whom God had already chosen by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living in the dead all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin through his name while Peter was still speaking these words all right so we're not sure at what point he was saying all these words wow could have been in the beginning we find actually in Acts 11 we're to find that maybe he didn't even finish that sentence that we just got done reading as you read this in contest as the historians writing it what we find is while he's explaining this truth that we all know we need to know to become a Christian it says the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God then Peter said can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water they have received the Holy Spirit just as we have so ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ then they asked Peter to stay with him for a few days all right now before I explain it let's turn over to chapter 11 because he has to explain what's going on to the elders in Jerusalem because they're wondering what's going on and look over in Acts chapter 11 one chapter over and look with me down in verse 15 as he sort of referencing what we just read he's telling these elders he says as I began to speak the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning then I remember what the Lord had said John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit so if God gave them the same gift as he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus who was I to think that I could oppose God all right so here's what I believe is going on a lot of people say okay well the Holy Spirit came on them and they hadn't been baptized in water yet sure that's true why because see this was God demonstrating to Peter and to all and to us that he's going to accept the Gentiles into the church truth is this wasn't the first time that Gentiles probably were had already become Christians the reality is we find that after the persecution in this connection with Stephen they were preaching a lot of people but there were still not a sense of clarity in the early church so he sends you know has career says this vision Peter then comes and he begins to preach this lesson what's interesting is it says look at a verse 15 as I began to speak the Holy Spirit the truth is he hadn't taught him everything about discipleship yet he hadn't taught them maybe the whole you know lose your life to save it hadn't taught him the whole message he began to speak and I'm sure he finished sharing the whole lesson but the Holy Spirit then comes down and my belief is that this they were not saved just because the Holy Spirit came down and began enabling to speak just as the apostle or rather the king saw in first Samuel Holy Spirit came down him he began to prophesy he wasn't saved I mean he was trying to kill David but the Holy Spirit was still working so what's going on here this is God saying okay I accept the Gentiles this is a historic unique situation where the Holy Spirit decided I'm going to show that I accept them for people to say well you know Holy Spirit just came on me and I got saved I say well hold on a second here Peter had to harken back eight years earlier to when when he says at the beginning in Acts 2 to find another example of when the Holy Spirit came on people in this kind of way it was very unique it's not something it really ever happened in fact this specific situation never happened exactly like that except in Acts 10 alright that's the only time it happened. Acts 2 was somewhat similar the Holy Spirit came on the Jews but wasn't totally the same then either and you'll find no other case so when people say well see Acts 10 says Holy Spirit came on they weren't baptized so yeah but that's a unique example God is allowing the Holy Spirit to come out on them so that Peter could see wow they are allowed to be in the kingdom and the Holy Spirit's working on them just as he did on us interestingly here's something very interesting keep mine in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came out the apostles were already saved so they didn't really need the Holy Spirit to save them or anything they're already saved because Jesus had given the Holy Spirit inside we find that in John 20 he says he breathed on him told the apostles to receive the Spirit they already had the Spirit but the rest of humanity didn't alright and so the Holy Spirit coming down is usually for a unique purpose a historical purpose was in Acts 2 and it is again here in Acts 10 it certainly doesn't take away the teaching that well when do we receive the Holy Spirit inside us one with us that were saved hey when we repent and we're baptized in the name of Jesus Peter knew how important that was because he said he commanded them they need to be baptized right there so they can have not only the Holy Spirit upon them in a miraculous sense to show them that God's favor was upon them that he wanted them to respond but I put before you people right there and said no I'm not going to get baptized Peter I don't agree with you even if they were speaking in tongues that didn't mean they're saved and if they had disobeyed Peter's command they wouldn't be right with God so this is not a lot of people say see that proves that that's not when you get the Holy Spirit no that's not true because see these are unique situations even Peter had to go wow this is like what happened to us in the beginning in Acts 2 you see that this is important to keep in mind because a lot of people will look at Acts 10 and 11 and it confuses them they were not saved by this outpouring clearly he probably hadn't even finished the whole message it's like as he began to say it then the Spirit came down clearly you can't be saved you don't have the full understanding of what you're doing you make an adult decision right you repent and you're choosing I'm gonna live this way right so the Spirit came out before all that had happened even in Acts 10 and Acts 11 all right so that's how you refute people who try to use that as an explanation for that's not when you get the Spirit all right so now there are a lot of other questions that might be arising in your mind here but let me hit another another sort of manifestation of the Spirit that is the issue of having miracles going on which we also see the Spirit coming upon and miracles get done and let's talk about that for a minute all right so first of all when could miracles be done if God decides to do them right if he wants to do a miracle and come down on Rick you know Garcia's head right now and I'm not gonna I'm gonna be like great but there's nowhere the Bible commands it you know he's got to try to do that this is you know we want it to happen if he wants it to happen but the Bible actually gives us the full message of how to be saved it's inspired of the Holy Spirit so we don't need these overt miraculous gifts those overt miraculous gifts you're gonna find that we'll look at a few verses to prove this we're always done to testify and confirm God's working all right now we have the Bible to confirm that inspired by you know the Holy Spirit and we got the miracles in there and certainly we can see miracles but they're in a different form so I want you to look in um acts let's go to Acts chapter six the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit this Sunday we want to have a guest speaker talk about how we get gifts and how to use those gifts and how to find our gifts all right that's what I want this Sunday's lesson to be about we're gonna have a guest speaker in uh to preach that Greg Moretti's gonna come in he's a doctor of uh of all kinds of Bible theology and he's gonna give us some great insight on this but I want you to see that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were very prevalent in the first century in a really overt way and we find in Acts chapter six all right you guys are in Acts still we look in verse six where we see that they're commissioning some people for roles of leadership and it says that they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them these are the like the six leaders that are going to help distribute the food correctly and and help solve some some conflict well look over now in chapter six look down in verse eight Stephen one of the guys who they laid hands on in verse eight says now Stephen a man full of God's grace and power did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people well what we're gonna see is that how do you get these overt miraculous signs well one way is God just gives him that he puts it upon you but then how else could it happen it can happen if the apostles laid their hands on you and we find that in the text multiple times right here apostles laid hands on Stephen and the other six Stephen right away is doing miraculous signs all right look over in um in chapter eight okay Acts chapter eight turn me to Acts chapter eight and we see here the overt scripture the straight-up scripture that says uh you know how we get the how the apostles can pass on the gifts look in chapter eight and uh we'll start there in verse six gives you context it says when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did they all paid close close attention to what he said incidentally Philip went to the town of samaria and from a jewish perspective the samaritans were half they're half-breed they're half jews half gentiles and they were you know exiled from the the jewish family they were not accepted in the jewish family i find it interesting that you have acts two the jews were the first ones were peter preaches them in Jerusalem to get the message of how to be saved and then here in acts chapter eight you find that they're scattering they go to land of samaria and they send steven who who's not jewish to this town and he's helping samaritans become disciples repent and get baptized and they're seeing these miracles that steven is doing well remember the apostles had laid hands on steven and this is a brand new world religion this is brand new stuff so god always likes to confirm his truth his brand new new covenant with overt miracles that show his presence is there all right and so he's doing miracles well what happens is this guy named simon sees it he's sort of the rich magician guy he's amazed by it and look down in verse um look in verse chapter eight verse uh 18 look down in verse 18 all right he says when simon saw that the spirit was given at the lane on of the apostles hands he offered them money and said give me also this ability so that everyone on whom i lay my hands may receive the holy spirit was he talking about the holy spirit inside couldn't have been because people were being baptized and the church was growing already uh because philip was there right or or steven rather he was preaching or philip yeah i'm sorry it was philip and philip went down or so philip was the one preaching there and he was doing these miracles and people were getting baptized being shaved holy spirit inside but there's another type of gift they were seeing it was this overt ability to do you know heal a guy with you know it was been paralyzed his whole life stand right up i mean we're talking overt miracles that will be front page of time magazine stuff that you just couldn't deny and so what he sees is like give me this ability because he realizes it's the apostles laying on of hands giving people the ability to do these overt miracles those overt miracles then strengthen the faith of people uh in the first century because they didn't have a new testament to read right that old testament and there were great miracles there but now they got a whole new new covenant new teaching and so it got allowed those miracles to happen and he allowed the apostles to have the ability to pass on those gifts you see that all right so what does that mean for us well look over in roman's chapter one let me show you another reference this uh jesus also gave the apostle paul the ability to pass along miraculous gifts why to strengthen the churches because they were brand new just getting formed they didn't have a new testament yet to rely on and know how to live and to look at the miracles of jesus and so he was showing him look this really is of god it's going on right now all right and so paul wanted to go to roman why because he wanted to give them some extra gifts look in roman's chapter one look in verse 11 you guys with me he says i long to see you said i may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong all right and he's going to pass that along by the laying on of his hands just if you read second timmy chapter one verse six he laid his hands on timmy that's what gave timmy gifts abilities to do things all right now what's the situation our day here's what i believe that god allowed the apostle gifts to do overt mind-blowing front page time magazine type type gifts god could do him even today but no man can say well i you know god gave me the you know i i've never seen a person with no arm grow a new arm but in jesus day that kind of stuff would happen right people that literally totally dead you know right elazirs in the tomb come out last for four days and i've not seen that kind of stuff now god can do it but he gave them and the ability to do these amazing things the apostle paul raised me live in the dead people even touching peters you know gown getting healed amazing stuff just like with jesus he did that for a reason however once the apostles passed away those overt miracles and then the people of course when they passed them on to passed away those overt gifts also passed away that's my conviction all right second century church history actually demonstrates that some writers common on it a four-century church writer john christinum talks about how he he was having trouble understanding some of the text of first krentians because it's talking about the use of these gifts and he comments and you can find this in in any of the early church writers john christin says oh i see these texts in first krentians chapter 12 talking about the use of the gifts are a little bit obscure because these gifts occurred in the first century what they no longer occur in the same way now he even says that in writing back and i think it's something like 346 i was trying to uh... pasting uh... cut and paste that for you today to show you but it is easy to find that on internet search john christinum and his early writings about the the miraculous gifts all right um what you also find is that the supernatural gifts were absolutely a confirmation of the message all right you can see that in x-fourteen uh... verse three or look go with me and turn to Hebrews chapter two actually i think it's hebrews one that's a typo okay go with me to hebrews all right hebrews and we see how the gifts are a confirmation actually no it's correct hebrews two verse um verse three and four all right talking about jesus hebrews two look at this it says this salvation which was announced by the lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him god also testified to it to the message of jesus and the new salvation how by signs wonders and various miracles and gifts of the holy spirit distributed according to his will he's trying to confirm hey what we're learning is real and right and the bible is true and how can we know this for sure how can we be sure of what we're learning he confirmed it by these overt miracles that just blew everybody's mind all right you guys see that that's hebrews two verse three and four all right michael's probably trying to find that that reference to john chris of them up there thank you michael all right so you see that hebrews two verse three and four talks about that's why those miraculous gifts do we need those overt miraculous gifts to know that the bible and to know that serving jesus is right we don't need that now do we why because we have we have faith in the miracles that occurred in the word of god all right um so there's just no need for it anymore clearly those signs wonders and miracles were marks of apostles all right we find that in second korean themes 12 verse 12 says that those signs and miracles and wonders were a mark of an apostle of jesus all right once the apostles completed their work and laid the foundation of the church the supernatural ministry was no longer needed so do i believe that there's miracles today yes do i believe there's supernatural ability that you can you can yourself because of your decision heal somebody no we can all pray for really i've been praying desperately you know eveline prayed for healing and we saw healing miracle god does that but she couldn't say i have the power and therefore it wasn't it wasn't her will it was god's will and response to our prayer but in the first century he gave the power if they will that it happened you see i mean it's different than god's will he gave them those gifts which those miraculous abilities have ceased all right that's my conviction they're not that's why we don't see this a pretty committed group but we don't see that kind of stuff that we're getting on you know the video i'm getting on tv it would blow people's mind now there are some places where they think that's going on right and i i'm skeptical of that you know are miracles still possible yes but i am very skeptical of people who think that miracles are the key to your spirituality you know the truth is you don't need a miracle to be saved all right and sadly people who are sometimes don't want to take it serious they just want an emotional experience look for the miracle and they don't want to respond to truth they just like the idea of a miracle the miracle doesn't prove you're saved or lost just proves god's good and he wants to help you all right you could find miracles that are of the devil that's the truth he'll do them and god will even let him happen to test you we find that in the text look in uh i have it written down here in these notes look in uh second krentians or second thessalonians uh second thessalonians chapter two second thessalonians chapter two all right so here we show that satan can work he's working to confuse us and you know the reality is god allows it because he's testing our hearts he'll allow some counterfeit miracles that really don't originate with him uh but there are spiritual forces out there chapter two look with me in verse nine he says the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles signs and wonders and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing they perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved you see that you know other merit i mean we know miracles happen around us but miracle doesn't prove necessarily truth um you can read deuteronomy chapter 13 verse one through five where he he'll let people even make he talks in there about people making prophecies that even come true but they're not of him and he says i do that to test you want to see if you'll follow me or follow other gods so he's testing he'll allow us to be tested don't let a miracle steer you astray right pray for him for people because you know we want people to change and be healed and we want more servants but what god's interested in is us obeying the word of god all right the word is sufficient for anyone with a pure heart and um you know he says in luke 16 that if they won't listen to the word they won't even listen if somebody rises from the dead right in front of them right parable the rich man and Lazarus the Lazarus said send send somebody back to tell my brothers he listen they won't believe the words of Moses they ain't going to believe it you know somebody rises from the dead right in front of them right they won't believe so how do we receive the holy spirit the holy spirits received at our baptism we're baptized in the spirit at our water baptism that's baptism in the spirit all right so if anyone says you know the scripture teaches Jesus baptizes yes the only spirit came upon the whole earth sort of outpouring but we are baptized in the spirit sort of one with the spirit at our baptism through repentance and commitment to Jesus in the water right we die and come up to a new life that is both born of water and the spirit that is being baptized in the spirit which all of us that are true Christians true disciples that's what happens to us that's what we want for everybody in the city and on this earth amen so i hope that helped you guys if you have more questions feel free to email ask one another ask other smart people about this stuff and i know it's very complex okay there are a lot of people to have a lot of views on this so keep growing ask Don he knows all about this he knows it inside now okay let's go to our d groups thank you guys have a great night you [BLANK_AUDIO]
Midweek lesson by Steve Lounsbury