Holy Spirit Pt 2 | Ps Glenn Bleakney

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Newman Church podcast. Wherever you are in the world, we are so glad that you've joined us. Our prayer is that this message will reveal more of who our heavenly father is as we grow deeper in intimacy with Jesus. Enjoy the message. [00:00:15] Speaker B: Every festival, the three major jewish feasts, which is Passover, Pentecost and tabernacles, were fulfilled in Jesus. They're fulfilled in Jesus. Colossians says that those things were jewish, just a shadow and a type. But the reality or the substance is fulfilled in Jesus himself. Jesus became the Passover lamb. Jesus literally became the one who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. And ultimately he's the one who is the soon coming king as well, who will establish his kingdom in its fullness. So this is a powerful story about the coming of the Holy Spirit to not just rest upon people as in the Old Testament, where the Holy Spirit came upon people, empowered them to do a particular task, to fulfill an assignment or role. But now, no, every person, every person who believes in Messiah, in Jesus, will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In fact, the gospels tell us that Jesus is the one who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. Over and over again, in all four gospels we read about the one who comes, who will baptize people in the Holy Spirit and fire. And this really is the one central, identifiable characteristic of Jesus mission. When we think about, yes, he went to the cross, he died so that we would have our sins forgiven, be reconciled to the Father. But it doesn't stop there. And this is where many evangelical christians miss, is it doesn't stop there. Like continue to read in acts two, look at verse 38. Repent, every one of you. Be baptized in the name of Jesus, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's not just like repent, be forgiven, pray no. And you will receive the gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts one, Jesus said, the gift that I promised you. He spoke of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, as a gift, the gift of the holy spirit. We saw last time that Jesus said, it's actually beneficial for you, my people, that I go away, because when I leave, Holy Spirit will come. And when Holy Spirit comes, he will do a lot of amazing things. Jesus was confined to a human body when he was on the earth. Holy Spirit fills every believer and that spreads out literally to every nation on the planet. It's an amazing thing because what happens is we become his body and we are the ones that carry and host his presence in us. It's a powerful thing Luke 316, I baptize you with water. John the Baptist said, but someone is coming soon who's greater than I. And he says, so much greater that I'm not even worthy to be a slave. And untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. This experience was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Now, Pentecost is known as the feast of weeks. Craig mentioned that Shavyah is the word in Hebrew. And it's the time jewish people don't celebrate, obviously, the coming of the Holy Spirit. Those who are not messianic, but they remember that two significant things happened on this day. Number one, this is the date in history when Moses climbed Mount Sinai and God gave him the law of the ten Commandments. That happened on the day of Pentecost, the feast of weeks, or Shabbat. Later on, obviously, it's referred to as the feast of weeks. You can read about it in the book of Leviticus. And it was the time when they would actually reap the harvest. It was the wheat harvest in particular. And then they would present the first fruits of that to God, saying, God, everything comes from you. You're the one who's blessed us. You're the one who's provided for us so that we have this harvest. And so our response is to offer to you the first fruits. Isn't that fascinating? Everything that we have comes from God. Take a breath. There you go. Say, thank you, Jesus. The Bible actually says that breath came from him. That breath came from him. So we never take it for granted. Everything comes from him. What does he want us to do? First fruits. First fruits. The best goes to him. It was a sheep offering or a wave offering where they would take up, would wave it before God as a sacrifice. And ultimately, it was their way of acknowledging him as provider, acknowledging him as the one who had blessed them and taken care of them. But as I mentioned going back previously, when God brought his people out of bondage from egyptian slavery and he began to take them through the wilderness and then eventually crossing over the river of Jordan into the promised land, there was a specific purpose for them going through the wilderness. The wilderness was God's idea. Sometimes people say, why am I in the wilderness? Have I made a foolish mistake? Have I made a wrong choice? I feel stuck. I feel stranded. The enemy, yes, we can definitely do those things. But God has a purpose for the wilderness, as he did with the children of Israel. And what was the purpose for the children of Israel being in the wilderness. Ultimately, you could say this one thing. To encounter and know God. To encounter and know God. Now watch this when we look at Exodus chapter 19, verse 19. Actually, let's go back to Exodus 19. Five, six, nine. Listen to this. God speaks to Moses. And he says this. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant speaking to Israel, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Then he says to Moses, these are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. Verse nine. And the Lord said to Moses, behold, I'm coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak to you and may also believe you forever. So God speaks to Moses. Gather the people at the base of the mountain, and you come up to meet with me. And he says, Moses, I want the people to hear when I speak to you. Very important that we understand this until this point. Up until this point, God had dealt only with Moses on behalf of his people at Mount Sinai. He turns to address them directly in order to express the core of his covenant obligations. Watch this. Exodus 20. Now God begins to speak to them, and he gives them what we call the ten Commandments, right. Do you know that? For me, I used to think when I read this passage, I've read it so many times, but I failed to see this up until several years ago, that I think that they went. Moses went to the mountain. God gave him the ten Commandments on the tablets. He brought it down, and then he, you know, ultimately, we saw them dancing before the golden calf and smashed the tablets. But. And then God, you know, gives it to him again. But what I used to think was that this is how they heard the ten Commandments. Then Moses said, here it is. Read the book. This book will help you. If you honor God, you do his commandments. It will go well with you. But that is not what happened. It actually says here in verse one of Exodus 20. And God spoke all these words. In other words, they literally heard God speak the words of the ten Commandments. Thou shall not. They heard God, the voice of God, for the first time. Now, how do I know that? Go down to verse 22. Exodus 2022. And the Lord said to Moses, thus you shall say to the people of Israel, you have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. I've spoken to you and with you from heaven. So they literally heard the voice of God. What the Lord was endeavoring to do was to let those people, let his people know that he desired to have a relationship with them so that they actually knew him, encountered him, and were able to hear his voice. How did they respond? Well, it freaked them out. Wouldn't you be a little bit undone? So what happens is they respond in a way that in the natural kind of would seem the right response, but ultimately they got to a place that they realized that revelation actually results in obligation. In other words, if God tells you something, you have a responsibility. So some people are like, I'd rather not. God speaks to me, right? Have you ever been like that? Like, God, I'll go anywhere you want to. Don't ask me to go to Africa's not that bad anymore. It used to be a lot worse. And then what would happen is we like, we've got this thing in us where we're like, really? I don't want you to speak to me. And there's a level of closure where we're not wanting to hear the truth. And throughout the scriptures, we see this. People have said, whatever God says, I'm good with it. But yet when he speaks, he's like, that's not God. That wasn't God, right? Jeremiah. There's a story. And Jeremiah confronts the people. He says, hey, God will give you a message. And they said, whatever God tells you, Jeremiah, we'll do it. We obey. So Jeremiah says, are you sure? They're like, yep. So he goes and he prays, comes back several days later. I believe it was ten days later, which, by the way, is the number testing. So this word was going to test them. So what happens is when Jeremiah comes back, he says, okay, this is what God says. If you go to Egypt, you got it? And they're like, nah, that's not God. That's not God. In fact, they said to Jeremiah, you're lying. And Jeremiah, in the original Hebrew Language is very interesting. Jeremiah says in the original Hebrew, why did you ask me to speak to God and give you the truth when in your heart you're a hypocrite? That's what it says in the original. In your heart, you really didn't want to hear the truth in John 717, you know, Jesus speaking to the people. Do you want to know God's will? Yeah, sure. We're the Pharisees. We know his will. You don't even have to tell us. And Jesus is like, okay, so you just asked me a question. The question is my authority. Where did it come from? But he doesn't answer them directly. He says, let me ask you a question. John's baptism, is it right? Remember the Story? Is it from God? Is it from man? He's testing them to see whether or not they really wanted to know the truth. You see, why did he speak in parables? Some said, well, parables are illustrations that bring clarity to imagery and so forth. No, no, no. Actually, Jesus said that parables actually conceal truth. For those who are casual inquirers, those who really don't want to know the truth and apply it to their lives, it actually hides truth from them. Those who are deep seekers, those who really want to know God's will, it brings clarity to them. So when we go before God, we have to make sure that our hearts are open. See what happens when the children of Israel actually respond to Moses. It says in verses 18 and 19 of Exodus 20. Now, when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountains smoking pretty full on, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off. In other words, God was actually inviting them closer. But they backed off. They were actually backed off. How do we respond when God invites us to come closer to him? Maybe in our hearts, we're actually taking a step backwards. And the people say to Moses, you speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die. Prophesy over me. Tell me what God you see. He invites each and every one of us into a place where we can hear his voice and know who he is and walk in his truth. When we read acts 217 18, where it says, this is to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Joel, sons and daughters were prophesied, etcetera, you see, what he's saying here is, if you look at it, this is for all generations. It's for all social classes. It's for male, female, young, old. Each and every person is invited into this relationship where they actually hear the voice of God and they can speak forth as counsel. It's not saying that this is for some elite, special, extraordinary people that we might call prophets. No, this is a prophetic people. This is a people that know his voice. The very beginning, going back to what I already quoted, God is looking for people that he can speak to. God is looking for people that will know his will and hear his voice. And how that is realized in our life is through the person of Holy Spirit indwelling each one of us out of that place. We actually become very powerful. Why? Is it because I've already mentioned this during our pre service prayer time this morning. Acts one eight says this, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you'll be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, the uttermost parts of the earth. When Jesus said to them, the purpose of the Holy Spirit coming is to give you power, he tied it to power for a specific purpose, power to be witnesses unto me. It is a power to succeed in life, even though God does bless his people. He didn't say power to overcome specific things, even though he does give us that ability. But he will say power to be a witness on the man. The word witness. Let me ask you the question first. How many want that power? All right. How many want the purpose that's tied to the power? I hope everyone that put your hand say, now you may not after I tell you what the purpose is. Okay. He says, power to be a witness. Do you know the word witness in the New Testament language means a martyr. Power to be a martyr. A martyr is someone that is so convinced of a particular belief that they're willing to lay down their lives and die. So I'm willing to receive this power so I can be a martyr. Oh. Eleven out of the twelve apostles literally died, were martyred. Eleven out of the twelve. John. They tried put him in a pot with boiling linseed oil, but he didn't cook, so they didn't know what to do with him, so they chucked him out on an island. He wrote the book of revelation, had encounters with Doug. So the reality is we are called to martyrdom. What is martyrdom? Well, literally, yes, it could be. But some people will literally give their lives. And there are more people dying as martyrs today for Jesus than ever before in history. Hard to believe there are more people today. But a martyr, first and foremost, is a posture of the heart. Martin. It literally speaks of what Jesus or what Paul referred to. Remember back in Galatians, chapter two, verse 20? And he said that when Jesus calls us to take up the cross, to deny ourselves and to follow him, and that's something that is really what we live out. But there is a calling and an experience. The moment we identify with Jesus, that Holy Spirit enables us to outwork. That calling is to share in his death. To share in his death. What it means is to die to self, to die to our own agendas, to die to self promotion, to die to our own desires so that we follow him. It's a strong call, what he's called us to is not to show up on a church on Sunday. Most people, many people struggle with that. Listen, the reason why you struggle with things is because you've not received the power. I will tell you that's true. You've not received the power. And I'll explain how it's a game changer in just a moment. The truth is, we're called. Even though we may struggle at times, we may go through difficult seasons and experiences in life. We will. In fact, Jesus said, in the world, you will have tribulation to be of good cheer. I've overcome the world, but we have to recognize that there's a place for us to identify with his death, to share in his death. So, Paul, understanding that, says in Galatians 220, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, in my human body. In other words, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Wow. I no longer live for myself. But he doesn't say, here, watch this, guys. I live for Christ. He says something before that. He says, but Christ lives in me. Oh, okay. He didn't say, I no longer live for me, but I live for God. No, there's something in between. And he says, christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God, the one who lives in me. This is where everything changes. The Holy Spirit comes to enable us to share in his death in order that we may experience his resurrection. How many know that death without a resurrection? But Paul said in one corinthians 15, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, our faith is in vain. So we're called to experience the resurrection, but we cannot bypass the cross. We cannot circumvent the reality that we've been called to step into identifying with his death. Martyrdom. In the kingdom of God, there's no place for self promotion, selfish agendas or self desires or self aggrandizement or any self whatever. It's, I live for Jesus, I live for him, I live for him. He even said, you say, hey, next year, I'm going to go to this city. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to do that, I'm going to prosper, I'm going to succeed. He said, no, no, no, no. Don't you know that your life is a vapor? It's like fog. What you should say is, if God wills. If God wills, I'll do that. There's a place of identifying with him. The Holy Spirit gives us power, but he only and he only energizes that which is dead. There's no resurrection if there's no death. Two Corinthians one nine. Paul said this said we have the sense of death in ourselves. Why then we might not trust in ourselves, but a God who raises the dead. See, Christianity is the exact antithesis of every other religion in the world. Christianity does not teach what Jesus taught. What the apostles continue to disseminate has nothing to do with try your best and God will do the rest. That is a lie. Don't try your best because your best will never cut it. Die to yourself. Die to human effort, die to trying to do things on your own strength. Give up your life. Ask him what he wants to do in you and through you and acknowledge him in all your ways and he'll direct your paths. Come into a place of identifying with him. And Holy Spirit enables us to do that. This is so powerful. Holy Spirit enables us to literally walk in a place where we deny our flesh. Now I'm preaching on the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit came. They spoke with other tongues, they preached and there were 3000 people added to the church. And yes, that happened, but that is not the primary purpose of the day. Pentecost. The primary purpose was what happened afterwards. Do you know you're going to read several times after this event. In fact, later on in the bottom portion of acts, chapter two. And so they continued. And so they continued. Look at many people. Start off, they're quick out of the gate, but do they continue? Do they continue? Do they endure? It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. Jesus said at least two times he endures to the end. The same will be safe. It's a call to engage in a lifelong pursuit of God. A lifelong taking up our cross, denying ourselves and saying, Holy Spirit, have your way. And I love what Paul says in Philippians. He says in chapter two, verse 13 that God works in you to will and to do his good pleasure. This is where the role of the Holy Spirit kicks in. The Holy Spirit works in us to will and to do the new living. Translation says, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. He gives you the desire. Who wants to become a martyr on our own? Think about the apostles. Hey, I don't know this Jesus guy. And they fled. But when Holy Spirit came upon them, they were bold, they were commanded. And they said, yes, we'll follow Jesus no matter what happens. We no longer live to ourselves. It's not about me, not about my ministry, not about my calling. Can I say, it's not about your destiny. It's not about your purpose. It's not about anything that has to do with you other than he's called you and me to a place where we are literally engaged and followed him no matter what that looks like. And that's where the blessing lies. He gives you the power. Not just the desire, but the power also. I can't do that on my own. There's a lot of things I can't do. So when we say just do your best and God will do the rest, no no no. He's giving you the power. The word power. Dunamis. In the greek language it literally means divine, supernatural, miraculous power. Remember when Jesus went to Nazareth and it says that they rejected him and they dishonored him and their unbelief. And it says he wasn't able to do any mighty works there. Okay. Some translations say miracles there. It's the same word. Dunamis. He wasn't able to do any Dunamis there. Miracles. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, he will give you divine ability. Not human ability. Divine ability. Somebody said Christianity is difficult. No, it's not difficult. It's impossible. You can't do what he's called you to do. I can't do it. We're not capable of doing it. But what does he say? I'll give you my spirit and when my spirit comes upon you, he'll raise you to life, he'll change you and he'll give you power to work in you, to will and to do my good pleasure. To have the desire and the power to be able to perform it. Wow. See, Holy Spirit is the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Romans 811. Now the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you is what it says. Romans one talks about how God raised Jesus from the dead through the spirit of holiness and resurrection. So he's the same one that raised Jesus from the dead. The same holy spirit that when he was on the earth, he literally performed miracles and overcame the enemy, resisted temptation, denied himself to only do the will of his father. It was by the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing's changed. He doesn't give the spirit in measure. He doesn't say, hey guys, when I was on the earth, yeah, I was able to do all those things because, you know, like God gave me all Holy Spirit's power. Some people say it's because he was God. No, no, no, of course he's God. But he put that aside, Philippians two and walked in the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit. So what happens is he says to you, to me, I give you this power. I give you this power to overcome. And I've seen it happen so many times where someone experiences and is baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. And the most powerful miracle is not that they speak in tongues. So that will happen. It's not that they prophesy. We read the biblical accounts where that happened, both prophesying and speaking in tongues. But it's, their life changes. They become a different person. Like, literally, they become a different person. They're like, they used to swear, they used to struggle with anger. They used to struggle with this. But now they learn to walk in and embrace the power of the Holy Spirit. And God changes that. See, a lot of people try to change themselves, but what we're actually called to do is to lean in. I said this in the first teaching on this topic. In the final week of Jesus life. He literally mounts on a donkey, goes into the city, and we call that palm Sunday. And what happens is that's literally the beginning of his last seven days on the earth. And he begins to wash his disciples feet, but then he begins to speak to them about Holy Spirit. Chapter 14. Then chapter 16, Holy Spirit. And he begins to unpack. The Holy Spirit comes. He's going to do this. The Holy Spirit comes. He'll do this in you and do this through you. And then in the 15th chapter, if you look at it, it's almost like this random discourse is plucked down in the middle of it. But that's not anything random. That's very intentional. In the 15th chapter, Jesus is speaking about the vine and the branches, that he's continuing on the theme of our relationship with Holy Spirit. What he's saying is this, Holy Spirit, when he comes, you need to learn to abide in him. And what that means is you stay connected with him. And just as the branch abides and stays connected to the vine, guess what happens when a branch is connected and is intact to a vine? The life that is in the vine flows into the branch and the branch effortlessly produces. The interesting thing about that is the fruit is actually God's responsibility. Every branch that abides in me will bear fruit, much fruit. Our responsibility is to abide. His responsibility is to produce the fruit. A lot of times we focus on on the fruit. I gotta stop doing this. I need to change. I need to have good fruit, not bad fruit in my life. Right? And Jesus actually says, no, no, no. Bearing fruit is a promise. Abiding is a process. You're called to abide. You're called to abide. You're called to abide. And if you abide, just like that branch where the light flows from the bind into the branch, everything changes. Your desires change, everything changes. But when you disconnect, then what happens? And you allow other things to fall into you, then you lose that natural work of transformation forfeited. It's hindered at least. So what does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire? Glad you asked. First Sunday in June. I will address that next Sunday. J long is preaching. That's why so good today, by the way, guys. So let me, let me just say this. Fire is obviously a metaphor. The Holy Spirit and fire, it's not two different things. You'll be baptized in the Holy Spirit and you'll be baptized in fire. That's not what he said. There's actually some people that teach that. What he's calling us to is that place where we encounter holy spirit living in us. I'll close with this. The word baptize is the word baptizo. And it literally means to immerse, to saturate, and it can also be translated to marinate. So think about this. In fact, in the New Testament language and the Greek, the word is actually used in a pickling recipe. Think about it in the brine. What happens? What happens when you pickle something? What happens when you marinate something? What's the goal? Come on, guys. You like to barbecue, right? Saturation, permeation. That's what he's saying. Holy Spirit. The baptism of Jesus to permeate you, to fill you all over, round about, through in you, through you. That means osmosis. Like Holy Spirit. Osmosis. It's awesome. Come on, I want to pray for you this morning. Would you just stand? Here's what we're going to pray. We're going to pray. [00:38:39] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us. We hope that you enjoyed today's podcast and we realize that not everyone has had the opportunity to respond to the good news of the gospel. And for this reason, in all of our services and platforms, we want to extend to you the opportunity to follow Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we have been created for a relationship with God. However, sin, which is essentially disobedience, independence and disbelief, or us simply missing the mark entered the world and separated us from God. Romans chapter six, verse 23 says that the wages of sin is death and a debt was owed. And the Bible tells us that he, Jesus, demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, he died for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. John 316 says, for God so love the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus, that whoever believes in him will be saved. All that is required of anyone is that they believe in Jesus. The Son of God who came, lived, died and rose again so that we could be forgiven, made right and given the right to become children of God and to have life forevermore with him. Today you can begin a relationship with Jesus. To believe in him is to simply to respond with faith in our hearts and confess with our mouths that he is Lord and we do that through a simple prayer. Follow along with me dear Jesus, I believe that you are the son of God. I thank you that you love me and came to forgive me of my sin. I repent from my old way of life and I turn to follow you. I receive the free gift of eternal life and I ask that you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live a life of following after you. I thank you that I am born again as a child of God and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you prayed this prayer for the first time, we would love to connect with you and connect you to your next step and the local church in your area. You can contact us on our website at Numa Church thanks for listening.