Thursday, June 24, 2021

Baptism In The Holy Spirit - Part 4

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on June 20th 2021 by Shoma K via zoom. For the audio please click here.  To listen to the worship please click here.


The Leading of the Holy Spirit

There was a preacher who was supposed to fly for his ministry work. But
before he could board the flight, he heard from Holy Spirit asking him not to
board the flight. He obeyed the Holy Spirit and did not board the flight. He
bought another ticket for a different flight. Later he got to know that the flight
which he did not board had a crash.
My topic for today’s sermon is “Leading of the Holy Spirit”.
We have been listening to a series of Holy Spirit. Last week, we listened to the
sermon on fellowship with Holy Spirit and how important it is. Today we will
look into leading of the Holy Spirit. What does the Bible say?

1. Children of God should be led by the Holy Spirit
Romans 8:14 - For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the
children of God.
Galatians 5:16a -  So I say, walk by the Spirit
Romans 8:13 - For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if
by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
The Bible says that we, as believers should be led by the Holy Spirit.
What is the meaning of this?
When we are led by the Holy Spirit, it is not us who is leading our lives. It
is the Holy Spirit. When we are in a daily fellowship, we are led by the
Holy Spirit.
It is a good thing to ask ourselves – Where am I? Am I led by the Holy
Spirit?
Those who are led by the Holy Spirit are marked with obedience.
We as human beings can set our minds according to our own will. Let’s
look at Peter in Matthew chapter 16. When Jesus predicted His own
death, Peter took him aside and rebuked him. Immediately Jesus said,
“Get behind me Satan”.

If we are led by the Holy Spirit, then we are confident about what we
hear from Him.
2. Leading of the Holy Spirit is for our advantage
John 16:7 - But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go
away; for if I do not go away, the [a]Helper (Comforter, Advocate,
Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you;
but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close
fellowship with you].

The Bible says that Holy Spirit is for our own advantage. Jesus himself said that it is for our advantage that he was going away and that if He doesn’t go away, the Holy Spirit will not come.

The Holy Spirit he promised is our helper who comforts us, advocates us
and interceded for us. He is our counselor, strengthener and stands by.
Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit will be in close fellowship with us.
Luke 4:1 - Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness,
I have a question for you all – If Jesus being God, needed Holy Spirit,
then we as humans, how much more do we need Holy Spirit?
Jesus didn’t even start His ministry without filling of the Holy Spirit.

Q. How is leading of Holy Spirit advantageous for us?

 Helps us in not gratifying the desires of the flesh
Galatians 5:16a - So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh.
When we are led by the Holy Spirit, we will not satisfy the desires
of our flesh.
 Helps us in praying

Romans 8:26-27 -  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for
words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of
the Spirit, because[a] the Spirit intercedes for the
saints according to the will of God.
Weakness can be anything – persecution, feeling low, confused
etc, whatever be the weakness, Holy Spirit helps us. He may give
utterances. When we can’t pray, we let Holy Spirit lead us. He may
prompt us to pray. He may give us names of people to pray and
intercede for them. Sometimes you may not know why. But we
still need to obey Him and not neglect His voice. Even if it is in the
middle of the night, we need to obey Him. Sometimes its not for
our edification. It’s just a work for you to do it.
 Helps us in studying the Word
John 14:26 - But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind
you of everything I have said to you.
Holy Spirit is our teacher. He teaches us and reminds us of
everything that we study. He gives us revelation. He leads us and
gives us understanding while studying the Word.
 Gives us wisdom
Acts 6:8-10 - Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power,
performed great wonders and signs among the
people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the
Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of
Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and
Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not
stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

Stephen had a lot of opposition but they could not do anything
against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

 Gives us peace
Romans 8:6 -  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set
the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
When we are led by the Holy Spirit, we will have peace in our
lives.
 Tells us things that are going to happen
John 16:13 - But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide
you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak
only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
I want to share something from my own life. I had a vessel which
was very beautiful. Holy Spirit showed me a vision in which the
handle was broken. The next day, I saw that the handle was
actually broken. Guess who broke it! It was my dear husband. I
could have ben angry but Holy Spirit prepared me in advance and I
was didn’t lose my temper. Holy Spirit helped me to do the right
thing.

Another incident was that one night, Holy Spirit had put a great
burden on my heart. I got up and prayed in tongues as led by the
Holy Spirit. But the kids were hungry and I had to go cook for
them. And then I was tired and I just went to bed and slept. Next
morning, in my devotional, I heard Holy Spirit say to me that He
was going to heal me of my sickness. I was confused because I
didn’t have any kind of sickness in me. I was sitting in the living
room and even Manu was sitting there. Usually he doesn’t sit
there during that time. But that day he was there and I just
collapsed and I died. I could feel my spirit leave my body and go
up slowly. Manu, having led by the Holy Spirit, got up and prayed
over me and then I came back to life. Later when we went to see

the doctor, we found out that there was a cyst in my brain. But we
prayed and I was completely healed.
Leading of the Holy Spirit is for our advantage

3. Heroes of the Bible were led by Holy Spirit
All the heroes of the Bible were led by the Holy Spirit.
 Stephen – Acts 6:5-8
 Philip – Acts 8:26-40
 Paul – Acts 16:6

What did we learn from all this?
When we are baptized with Holy Spirit, filled with Holy Spirit and have a
fellowship with Holy Spirit, He will lead us. If you are waiting to get married, be
filled with Holy Spirit and have fellowship with Holy Spirit so that you would be
guided in choosing your partner.

 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org. 

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

The Baptism In The Holy Spirit - Part 3

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on June 6th 2021 by Colin D via zoom. For the audio please click here.  To listen to the worship please click here.

The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

 

Today we are going to look at the person of the Holy Spirit.

We receive power when he comes on us. Holy Spirit is not wind, river, rain etc. But He is actually a person. He is the third person of the trinity.

 

2 Corinthians 13:14

 

Why do we need to fellowship with the Holy Spirit?

 

It is with the help of the Holy Spirit that we fellowship with God.

 

Q. What is fellowship?

 

   Communication

   companionship

   communion - joining of minds as a result of communication and companionship

 

For fellowship, we need to invest one precious commodity - time.

 

1. Holy Spirit is a person.

          2 Cor 13:14 “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ”

 

# Holy Spirit has a mind

# Holy Spirit has will - 1 Cor 12:11

# Holy Spirit has feelings - Isaiah 63:10a; Eph 4:30

 

As he is a person, the Holy Spirit speaks - Acts 10:19-20 Holy Spirit is speaking with Peter. In Acts 8:29 we can see that the Holy Spirit was speaking to other people too. We too should be hearing from the Holy Spirit.

 

Are you able to hear from the Holy Spirit? If you are a believer you should be able to hear him. John 10:27. The only question is if you are his sheep.

 

If you have not given your life to Jesus, today is the day of salvation.

 

Q. How does the Holy Spirit speak with us?

 

Col 3:5 - peace

The bible - the Holy Spirit will never contradict the word of God

Knowing - by walking with God we practice hearing

 

How can we be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit?

a. Appointment - have an appointed time set yourself apart to meet with him and speak with him. Mark 1:35; Matthew 6:6. Then be in an appointed place.

b. Stillness - Ps 46:10a ; How can we be still? Phil 4:6-7

c. Word - The study of the word of god is essential to hear from the

d. Journal

e. Obedience - John 10:27

f. Humility - James 4:6

g. Praying in tongues - this makes us more sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

 

2.  Holy Spirit is God

 

   2 Corinthians 3:16-17 - Paul refers to the

   Psalm 139:7-8 -

   Luke 1:35 “” Jesus was conceived by the power of the most high I.e. the Holy Spirit

   Holy Spirit raised Jesus from dead

   Holy Spirit was involved in creation. Job 26:13a

   Holy Spirit is involved in regeneration. John 3:5-7

   Holy Spirit knows what is to come. John 16:13

Holy Spirit is not our equal, he is God. We need to have reverence for the Holy Spirit

 

3. Holy Spirit longs for us

 

James 4:4-5 - The Holy Spirit yearns for us. John 14:16-17 says “I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to help your and be with you forever - the  Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

 

John 17:3 - we need to have an experiential knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

 

The Holy Spirit has come to our tent - to reside with us permanently. He is always with us. So would you not give your attention to him? He longs to be in fellowship with us.

 

Having an experience of the Holy Spirit is precious! He is real and right here with us.

 

It is possible for us to lose the fellowship with the Holy Spirit. That’s why we need to be in constant communication, companionship and connection with the Holy Spirit.

 

Express your affection and adoration to him and receive his affection, We are specially chosen to have this fellowship with him - 1 Peter 2:9a

 

Let us always be aware of his presence.

 


 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org. 

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

The Baptism In The Holy Spirit - Part 2

 


This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on May 30th 2021 by Colin D via zoom. For the audio please click here.  To listen to the worship please click here.


We covered the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out and I shared last week the baptism with the Holy Spirit is needed to infuse power into the life of a Christian. Today, we're going to look at more about how we can be filled with the spirit, be baptized with the spirit and for that what we're going to do this morning is I'm gonna show you a couple of instances, from the Old Testament, on how important the baptism with the holy spirit is. Let me just turn to scripture in Romans chapter 15 verse 4.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

  In Genesis 11, there is something called the Tower of Babel. Today we have hundreds, if not, we have thousands of languages, and have you ever thought or said, hey, what are these languages, how they are so different from one another. And the answer to that is found in Genesis 11. Genesis chapter 11, it says,

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

 So their goal, as they came together in unity, one language, one purpose was to build a city to be together. Not to be scattered and build a tower. That would reach up to the Heavens to God, but see what happens in verse 5, But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. In this case, what they wanted to do was not a good thing.


 Remember, the original command was to Adam and Eve was to  go and fill the Earth and subdue the Earth. That was God's command. It wasn't to settle but it was to scatter.  And these guys said, let's just stay together and enjoy life. And the second thing they wanted to do was to make a name for themselves.  This is what God says. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

So, the Lord scattered them from there to over all the earth and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called the Babel of Babel because the Lord confused, the language of the whole world from there. The Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. Now, you know, some people say that this is only a story.  But I tell you, as Christians, we know that the word of God is true. And that's how we have people moved across the earth and we have different languages.

Now this is what happened, some of these people went to China. People started to use picture languages, and if you go into Chinese and see, the word for' create' in Chinese (Remember Chinese don't use alphabets, they use pictorial forms to write).  

So the word for 'create' is made up for the pictures of mud, life and someone walking.That's the word for create. The word for devil is made up of, man, a garden and a picture for the secret. That's the word for devil. A man, a garden, and the picture for secret. So the Devil is a secret person in the garden. Their word for tempter is made up of the word for the devil, plus, two trees, and the picture for "cover". So, the tempter is the devil, two trees and cover. The word for boat, the word for " boat" is made up of the word for vessel or a container, mouth and eight. So boat in China and the Chinese language is a vessel for eight people. As was Noah's Ark. Isn't that incredible? We can construct the whole of Genesis 1 to 11 from the Chinese language. This is just to show you that what we believe in is true. Even if you look at secular sources, they will attest to the truth of what we believe.

So what is Babel to do with the baptism with the Holy Spirit? Remember God came down because these people were united. So he was going to scatter them across the face of the Earth. They spoke one language. He brought in, multi, multiplicity of languages. So that they couldn't understand one another. And so they moved out.

Now, in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, we see God reversing some of the things that happened at Babel. There were people from all the different parts of the world -Jews, who had come there to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. And what do they do? They were also amazed and it also confused them because they could hear Galilean Jews speaking in different foreign languages and they could understand them.  Acts chapter, 2 verse 7 says: Utterly amazed, they asked: Arent all these who are speaking Galileans?  Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?  So you see that, what happened at Babel was reversed on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the 120 who had gathered with the  Apostles, they all began to speak in different tongues and, and people from different nations could understand what they were saying, and that is what God was doing here. What he had done in Babel was confusing the languages.

 He now, broad unity, he brought these people together to hear the gospel. We're going to look at the second and, God is doing the same thing. Here, in the sense of now- He wants to build a city. He wants to build a city that's happening in Revelation but He wants us to go across the whole of the world. That's been Jesus's command- go and make disciples of all nations. But now we are going with the blessing of God -with the holy spirit being poured out.

We can see a similar incident of an Old Testament event being reversed in Acts chapter 2, in the giving of the law. Pentecost is 50, that's what it means, 50 days. And you know, these Jews, celebrated Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover. In Exodus chapter 32, the law was given to the Jews. 50 days, after the Passover, they came out of Egypt and fifty days they are in the desert and then God gave them the law. And in Exodus chapter 32 we see this happening. In verse 15, Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.  The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.” Moses replied:“It is not the sound of victory,
    it is not the sound of defeat;
    it is the sound of singing that I hear.”When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

 Verse 27 says. Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbour.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.

 And you know what happened -the law brings death, 3,000 people died that day and the reason is their idolatry. They made a golden calf and worshipped it saying it brought them up out of Egypt. God hates idolatry and that day 3,000 people were killed. But  in Acts chapter 2 with the coming of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, the holy spirit is poured out and Peter proclaims the gospel and (Acts chapter 2 verse 41) those who accepted his message were baptized and 3000 people were added to the church.

So the gift of the Holy Spirit is very, very important.  We're going to look at one more example, in the New Testament, of the giving of the Holy Spirit upon a group of people. Acts chapter 19, it says Paul found some people who look like believers. And so this is what happened to Paul when was travelling and he saw a group disciples. While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?” e.  Did you receive the Holy Spirit? When you believed or after you believe the some translations say. They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues[b] and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.

He realized that they had only heard the pre-Christian message of John's baptism and they were not believers yet.  They were Seekers. And so he corrected them and he shared the full Gospel with them. After hearing the gospel, they were baptized.  Remember, last time I shared about three different types of references baptisms, they were immersed, in water, and believed in Jesus, the next step was Paul placed his hands, and then the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied and they were 12 of them. So first they heard the gospel became born again, baptized in water and then Paul places hands on them. And they spoke in tongues and prophesied, they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. And that seems to be the normal sequence of how things happened. Now, you may be sitting down here and say, I heard the gospel. I give my life to Jesus,.I was baptised in water but Baptism in the Holy Spirit, I don't know about that. And we're gonna answer a few questions do that. And how do we know when we receive the Holy Spirit? We have to receive it by faith.

 Ephesians 1:13, 14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.  Like all the important and official documents are sealed, Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit is a seal attesting to the authenticity of your conversion. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is where people can see that you are truly born again. The second thing is He is a deposit guarantee of our inheritance.

Paul says here is that; the Holy Spirit is a seal that demonstrates and proves that you truly are a follower of Christ. And the Holy Spirit is a deposit. If you receive the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's a deposit, concerning the inheritance that is in store for you. We got to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit because he's a seal and he's a deposit knowing that when I have received this deposit, I'm going to receive my full inheritance. Now how do we receive the Holy Spirit? Do we need to do something? How do we receive it? Let's look at a couple of verses in Galatians.

 In Galatians chapter 3, verse 5 tells us  So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? We can never live a good enough life to earn the Holy Spirit. We just can't make it. You have to rely on Jesus for that. We receive the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit when believe the gospel by faith. Verse 13 says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

 The Bible says here that He redeemed us, that's what Jesus did so that the blessing given to Abraham, all the promises given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles. That's us through Christ Jesus. So we can receive the blessings of Abraham. We are spiritual descendants. And we can say,  I can hold on to God's promises to Abraham through Christ Jesus. One of the blessings, the most important one is this promise of the spirit which is not just the Holy Spirit but the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Believe that God wants to bless you. He wants to pour out his holy spirit upon you. It's not by observing the law. It's not by you're keeping the commandments; it's by believing in Jesus.

The second thing is to turn to John chapter 7: 37 and 39.  On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

If you believe, God wants to give you his holy spirit. The second thing is, it says that if anyone is thirsty, we've got to be thirsty. Let's be thirsty and say to the Lord:  I can't do anything without you apart from you Lord.  I am thirsty for you. Would you give me more of your Holy Spirit? When we go to Jesus declare who He really is,  streams of living water will flow from within us.

The third thing. Luke 11 tells us Which of you fathers if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

A father is waiting to pour out the Holy Spirit, His promise. He wants to give us the Holy Spirit. What is He looking for? He wants us to believe. He wants us to be thirsty. He wants us to come to Jesus. He wants us to ask for things. Believe, be thirsty. Come to Jesus, ask, that's what we need to do. As we do that, the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon us. And now, how do I know that I've been baptized with the Holy Spirit? Instances where people were filled with the Holy Spirit are recorded in scripture three times. The people spoke in tongues, they prophesied, or they declared the wonders of God. That's what happened, three times. And so, that's what we've got to do. We've got to believe that as we pray for the Holy Spirit, God will fill us. He will give us the gift of tongues, not just the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, and we will declare His praises.

  If you want to see miracles, signs, wonders, and the power of God -we need the Holy Spirit. I hope you're hungry and I hope you're thirsty. So this morning let’s turn to Jesus. Let's praise the Lord for He has been planning this from Genesis 11 Babel episode. Now he's giving us a language to speak to God. So can we pray this morning? Can we come to Jesus by faith? I like you all to just hold out your hands to Jesus. Put your hands up. Say, Lord, I'm thirsty; I want to be filled with your Holy Spirit. I want the gift of tongues. Let's hold on to our Father in heaven. We lift our hands to God as a sign that we are thirsty for him and pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

   

 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.