We are so ordinary, yet an extraordinary Holy Spirit has been poured out on us!

Whenever I speak on the Holy Spirit I am glad I am not on a church payroll.  I can’t be fired for anything I say this morning!  I will seek to speak truth based on the Bible and I will seek to be bold.  

A seminary student at Dallas Theological Seminary, told how Professor Howard Hendricks gave his students as assignment to write out 50 observations from Acts 1:8.  Then when they finished with that exercise and turned it in, he gave them an assignment to write out 50 more observations on the same verse. The point of the exercise was to expand the students ability to see more details in God’s word and that can be a good thing.  BUT, as I listened to that story, I had this sinking feeling that the main point of that verse and perhaps the entire book of Acts was being missed by those students.

Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth”.   

The Holy Spirit coming upon us, is the personal presence of God, enabling us to do things we couldn’t do before!  I can imagine this band of ex-fishermen, common, uneducated, untrained men, hearing Jesus tell them the Holy Spirit would come upon them and they would take his message to the whole world.  They were probably thinking, “You have got to be kidding me!  The Holy Spirit will do THAT with US!!  All I can say is this baptism better be really powerful!”  I don’t think they set up a committee and started planning how they were going to make this happen.  I think there response was very much like Mary.  “So let it be done to me according to your word!”.

The Spirit is the power of God, poured out into our hearts.  The presence of the Spirit is to be an experienced, living reality!!  It is to change the course of our lives!  It is not merely something we know about, or can make observations about.  You are meant to live in the presence and power of the Spirit of God!

The question I would like those seminary students to ask themselves, would have been something like, “What is the power of the Spirit, and have I experienced that?  Or “How do I experience that?”.  “How do I live in that?”  When the book of Acts says, so and so was “filled with the HS” do you identify with that?  Can you say, “Yes I know what that means”.  Don’t we need to go find out what that means?  And learn to live in that?  

Jesus said, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father has promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water but not many days from now you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”.   It was clear he was talking about something to be experienced!  He was talking about something that would make a difference, in Peter, and John, and Mary and the other women, and in every single one of the 120 disciples.  He was talking about something that would make a difference in every person who received the Spirit, from that day on.  

The exact events of Pentecost will not be repeated.  But the Spirit out-poured upon us and experienced in us, empowering us, is for every believer.

Jesus called this event in Acts 2 a “baptism of the Holy Spirit”. He said, “In a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”.

I don’t think we should shy away from the phrase “baptism of the Holy Spirit”.  I know it is controversial, and has been misused at times, but this baptism is at the very core of why Jesus came and gave his life for you!  Baptism means to be immersed; instead of being immersed in water, it is to be immersed in the Holy Spirit.  

I cannot think of anything a follower of Christ should want more than to be immersed in the very presence of God. This is the gift of Jesus Christ for you.  John came to baptize with water, Jesus came to baptize with the Holy Spirit.  John himself said “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down, and remain, is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.  In another place John said, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

I urge you with all openness and eagerness to go to Jesus and say, “Lord, the scriptures say that you will baptize us with the Holy Spirit.  I want that!  I want to experience all that that means.  I’m want to live in that”.

AW Tozier “...There developed in me a restlessness.  I was at a place where I wanted everything God had for me, even though I did not quite understand it all.  I did not understand the Holy Spirit.  I did not understand what being filled with the Holy Spirit was all about.  But I was open to everything God had for me.  Then it happened.  I was nineteen years old when I was baptized with a mighty infusion of the Holy Spirit.  Even now it is hard to explain what happened.  (But) I know what God did for me and within me at that time.  Nothing on the outside from then on had equal importance for me.  In faith, I took a leap away from everything that was unimportant TO that which was MOST important, which was to be possessed by the Spirit of the Living God.

Looking back over my life, my testimony is simply that any work God has ever done through me and my ministry dates back to that moment I was filled with the Holy Spirit.  All the credit goes to the Holy Spirit.  That is when I truly became alive!….Not a day goes by but that I give myself completely to the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon a man or woman it changes everything.  He comes with impact, he falls upon us, he fills us.

I well remember when Josh and Alissa were both filled with the Spirit, on the same night, for the first time.  Not everyone has this same experience, but for them it was very much like the experience of the church in Acts, minus the wind and fire. When I shared their remarkable experience with the other elders at Des Moines Fellowship church, Greg Smith immediately said, “Well, this changes everything!”  And it did.  It rocked their lives. They were never the same again and out of that experience eventually came the start of Real Life Church. The infusion of the Spirit of God into your spirit is the most powerful thing that can happen to a human being!

When the Holy Spirit fell upon the church in Acts 2 it was not some unplanned, random, event.  It was shocking, in the sense that the Spirit came with wind and fire and tongues, but it was not just some bizarre thing that came out of left field for no rhyme or reason.  This outpouring of the Spirit was a part of God’s sovereign plan for the ages.  It was a part of his plan his church. It was part of his plan for you.  God promised it, and he delivered on that promise!  

Just as God send his Son into the world at the right time, he sent his Spirit into the world, according to his schedule and his will.  The plan of God was to pour out his Spirit just after Christ ascended into heaven.  And God’s Spirit would then empower, and energize, and  manifest himself in a unique way through each and every believer.  The Spirit would direct the church and dwell in the church.  This was the Father’s plan.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the promise of the Father”. He told his disciples to wait for the promise of the Father. In Luke 24:49 he said, “I am going to send you what my Father HAS PROMISED; stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high!”  He was talking about a promise made a LONG TIME AGO by the Father. He wanted his disciples to experience THAT promise of the ages!

Just at those who knew the scriptures and loved God were looking for the Messiah, those who knew the promises of scripture and loved God were looking for the outpouring of the Spirit.

I am going to take a huge risk this morning and take you on a journey through time.  I would not do it, except that I do not think you will never fully understand the Holy Spirit and the outpouring of the Spirit without it.  

The greatest gift of God to human beings is the gift of his immediate presence.  That was the gift he gave to Adam and Eve in the garden.  His own presence was the gift he gave his people Israel. God’s presence is what made them different from everyone else on the earth.  This was the one magnificent blessing and privilege that set them apart.

The Lord told Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest”.  Moses said, “If your Presence does NOT go with us, do not send us up from here.  How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?  What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”  Ex. 33:14-17  The one thing that made Israel different for all other people, was that the presence of God was with them.

Almost everyone has heard some of the Old Testament stories of God’s powerful presence among his people.  If you have read your Bible or seen the 10 commandments you know that God led the Israelites out of Egypt with a pillar of fire to guide them at night and massive cloud of smoke to guide them by day.   

Then in their journey through the wilderness, God gave them instructions to build a tabernacle where he chose to manifest his presence.  “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.”  Ex 25:8  “There I will meet you and speak to you; there I will also meet with the Israelites.” Ex 29:42  “I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.  I am the Lord their God.”

When they finished building the tabernacle, the cloud, which had been leading them all the way, settled over the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  “So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.  God’s presence was right there with them, IN THE TABERNACLE!

Years later, David wrote many Psalms about his sheer joy in being in the tabernacle, because God’s presence was there!  That’s why he said, “This one thing have I desired and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold   the beauty of the Lord”.  He loved the presence of the Lord!   “One day in your courts is better than a thousand outside”.  “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord”. Why this desire and joy? Because God real presence was there in the Tabernacle.  

David wanted to build a permanent house for God’s presence and God did not let him do it, but did let Solomon.  At the dedication of that temple, again, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.  God was there, present among his people, in the temple.

But all through Israel’s history there had been a massive problem with spiritual adultery, and after David, this increased greatly.  Eventually the Lord withdrew his presence from Israel.  After hundreds of years of relentless, gross idolatry, the Lord himself brought Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon to Jerusalem to judge his people.  And Solomon’s Temple was burned with fire and completely destroyed.  There was no temple, there was no place where the presence of God was displayed to the people or experienced by the people.  In a sense, God was lost to them.  The glory of the Lord departed.  

But all during this time of spiritual adultery, there were a group of men called the prophets, that God raised up, warning the people of the judgment of God but ALSO foretelling of a glorious age to come when God would again dwell with his people, but in a new and even greater way.  These were men like, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and a man named Joel.  Here are just a few of their prophecies:

“The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted, the watchtower will become a wasteland… “until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high….” Is 32:14,15

“This is what the Lord says –  Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, whom I have chosen.  For I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring and my blessings on your descendants”.  Is 44:2-3

“As for me, this is my covenant with them”, says the Lord.  “My Spirit who is on you and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever”, says the Lord.  Is 59:20,21

“I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you.  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”.  Ez. 36:25-27

Then we come to Joel: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”  Joel 2:28-29

When the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples in Acts. Some who heard the noise and the speaking in various tongues and commotion said, these men are drunk.  But Peter said, These men are not drunk, but this is what was spoken of by God’s prophet Joel.  Peter said this is the outpouring of the Spirit.  This is a fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies!

Gordon Fee said, “The Spirit is none other than the fulfillment of the promise that God himself would once again be present with his people.”  And in these promises God spoke of a broader work of the Spirit, coming powerfully upon all of his people, in greater measure, in greater manifestations, with greater power to soften our hearts towards God, empowering us to love God and obey God from our hearts.  

This baptism of the Holy Spirit was promised by God, it was from God, brought about by God. So the events in Acts 2 are the BEGINNING of the fulfillment of the Spirit being poured out that God the Father promised, long ago.

Now let’s re-read the passage with this understanding:

1 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place”. Pentecost was a Jewish Holiday 50 days after the Jewish Passover.  God ordained this outpouring of the Spirit to take place when Jews from all over the Roman Empire were in the City!  Perhaps a quarter of a million additional people!

2 “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting”. The first evidence was a loud sound, like a rushing wind.

3 “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them”. The second evidence was visible fire.

4 “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them”.  The third evidence was the believers speaking in other tongues or languages.

5 “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

At least 15 people groups are mentioned here.  It seems they heard the disciples all speaking together, yet everybody heard them speaking of the greatness and goodness of God, in their own language or dialect.   

13 “Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”  To some it was NOT a great miracle, but it merely sounded like the unintelligible speech of drunk men and women.

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14 “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17“‘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. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”  

So when they charge the disciples with drunken and disorderly conduct, Peter goes back to the original infallible promises of God to justify and explain this rather strange event.  

Why does Peter appeal to this promise of Joel?  Because God said, through Joel, that phenomenal things would accompany the out-pouring of God’s Spirit.  And phenomenal things were happening there in that room.   Throughout the Bible the Holy Spirit caused many remarkable effects on God’s people!  People dreamed dreams, they had visions, they prophesied.  Those were ways that God’s immediate presence upon a man or woman was sometimes manifested.  

But Joel predicted a time when God’s Spirit would be so generously poured out, on such a massive scale that virtually all God’s people would prophecy, even your sons and daughters!  John Piper said, “When God almighty pours himself into an individual, the inner life is changed; it is filled with God. And since the mouth is simply the pressure valve of the inner life, when the inner life is full of God, the mouth prophecies!”

Young men will see visions, even on my servants, BOTH men and women, I will pour out my Spirit and they will prophesy”.   Young and old, men and women, even the lowliest people, all would have this immediate, direct communication and experience with God.

The disciples here in Acts 2 were experiencing other miraculous phenomena, but it was LIKE what Joel promised. God’s Spirit was acting upon people and they did things they could not do without the Spirit!  So Peter said you should not mock this!  God promised this or things LIKE this would happen when the Spirit is poured out on his people.

That doesn’t mean that all people filled with the Spirit have the same experience, but things LIKE this happen!   God’s presence has an effect on people!  And we should expect that!  The Holy Spirit brings much more than phenomena like dreams or prophecies.  Remember Jesus said the ultimate effect would be that we would be his witnesses.  The Holy Spirit also brings his fruit to our lives. He leads us in holy living.  He manifests his gifts through us.  But He also does fill our hearts and minds and our mouths with remarkable direct experiences with Holy Spirit.  And we should not be shocked by it and we should not mock it!  Because God spoke about these things by his prophets!  It is rooted in his own word!

This does not mean that everything that goes on in the name of the Holy Spirit is from the Holy Spirit.  But if that concern becomes our entire emphasis then we risk quenching the Spirit.

With the Holy Spirit poured out, the doors are blown off.  The possibilities just expanded exponentially! All things are possible!  You might have dreams from God tonight, or get up and prophecy in church next Sunday, speaking of great things God has done for you or shown you.  Or you may have a vision or visual impression given to you by God that meets your need, or you might speak in a new tongue! You might be a witness for Christ to some people you never imagined in your wildest dreams.  God might use you or use this church family to accomplish things beyond what we could ask or think.  

I know I’m making some of you uncomfortable and I don’t want to do that but we have to realize that with God’s Spirit poured out upon us, everything changes!  There’s a saying you can’t close the barn door after the horse is out of the barn.  The Holy Spirit is out!! And you can’t put the Holy Spirit back in the barn!  No one can!  Some people would like to.  But God already let him loose, so to speak!   He’s on the loose!  Aren’t you glad he is!!

I want you to remember this: Today we live in the times AFTER the Spirit has been poured out!  We live in the days of the Spirit.  We are to to enter into that; we are to experience of that, personally, and as a church family.  We are Post Pentecost People, people living AFTER the Spirit has been poured out.  So how are we to live; how are you to live; how are we to function as a church, in these days of the Spirit?  These are the things we will seek to explore in this teaching series in the book of Acts.  Certainly this should raise your expectation of what God can do through you!!  This should raise our expectation of what God can do through us!