The Holy Spirit at Work - Acts 2

Dr Luke's history of the birth and growth of the early church is named "The Acts of the Apostles" may well be better titled the Acts of the Holy Spirit. As like us those early followers of Jesus were totally reliant on the Holy Spirit in everything they did.

Acts 2

• The presence of the Holy Spirit can sound like "mighty rushing wind" v2
• The presence of the Holy Spirit may be seen on occasions. This time as fire. v3
• Experiencing the Holy Spirit is often likened to being "filled". The greek word for filled can also be translated "to be under full influence". v4
• The Holy Spirit can give someone the ability to speak a language they have never learned. v4
• The Holy Spirit draws people to God v6
• One of the reasons the Holy Spirit gives the supernatural ability to speak in another language is that people who speak that language can here the Gospel. v6
• The Holy Spirit tells people about "the mighty works of God". v11
• Being filled with the Holy Spirit can be so overwhelming it can look like a person is drunk! v13
• The Holy Spirit was promised in the Old Testament. On this occasion, the prophet Joel is quoted by Peter. v16
• The Holy Spirit is for every believer not a select few. v17
• A sign of the Holy Spirit is prophesy v17
• A sign of the Holy Spirit is visions v17
• A sign of the Holy Spirit is dreams v17
• The Holy Spirit fills both male and female v18
• The Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin. v37
• Receiving the Holy Spirit is an integral part of salvation. v38
• The Holy Spirit is for every believer from the day of Pentecost onwards. v39
• The work of the Holy Spirit brings "awe" v43
• Signs of the Holy Spirit are "many wonders and signs" v43

Can you add any more?

Acts 3 tomorrow

Joy in the Gospel

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. – Phil 1:12-18

So we find the Apostle Paul in prison awaiting trial, facing death. At the same time some preachers who just don’t like him are getting off on preaching Christ so that things will get worse for Paul.

That’s low. I would be crazy mad. I’d be praying down fire on their heads. But we find Paul rejoicing because Christ is proclaimed even when the motive is wrong.

The man and the message had captivated Paul’s whole being to the point that what happened to him was of no consequence.. Christ was enough. Not when he was planting a new church, preaching at some revival or singing in a beautiful auditorium that’s air-conditioned and has comfy seats. But he was enough in the stench and staleness of a cell facing death any day. Jesus was enough.

When we truly get the Gospel + nothing = everything, it will revolutionise our lives. The Gospel does not guarantee your best life now it guarantees wicked sinful people an eternity with the Holy and Perfect Son of God – Jesus.

And the fact that this message is being shared with other wicked people becomes the consuming passion of Paul’s life. We must be PASSIONATE ABOUT PEOPLE. Lost people matter to God, so they must matter to us.

They mattered to Paul. Outside of prison he preached the Gospel. Inside the prison he preached the Gospel to all the other prisoners and the whole imperial guard!

The Gospel is not meant to make us happy....

Pure Gold - a new video just released by the MLJ Trust of an interview with Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones.

The Gospel is not meant to make us happy....it is meant to reconcile us to God

Click here if you cant see the video

Move into the neighbourhood

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. - John 1:14

Please yourself

Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. - Psalm 135:6

Please Yourself... A phrase I heard my mum say quite often when I was growing up. It usually said with a little exasperation because yet again I wasn't listening, intent to embrace her words even if she hadn't said it. I was, no matter the consequences, going to ignore her advice and do it my own way.

The above verse drives me to my knees because it reminds me that God, who could always do whatever he pleased, chose to do something that seems impossible.

He sent his Son to die in my place. It wasn't if he had no choice. As John Piper puts it:

God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. He is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced.

In fact the prophet Isaiah says:

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief - Isaiah 53:10

The hardest act of God is said to be pleasing to Him. And Jesus on his way to the cross says: "For the JOY set before him".

Pleasure and joy sit uncomfortably with me when associated with hurt and death. Set by it's self there can be no pleasure no joy. But set in the context of God redemptive plan for all mankind the landscape changes.

Only then can the beauty and "the a fragrant offering" (Eph 5:2) of the sacrifice of God be seen its true context.

The barbaric becomes the beautiful because God was free to please himself.

At the moment of salvation....

Ten things that happen AT salvation:

1. You are reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18–20).
2. You are forgiven for all of your sins (Col. 2:13).
3. You become a child of God (John 3:3, 7).
4. You are accepted by God (Eph. 1:6).
5. You are justified by Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:1–5:1).
6. You are brought close to God (Eph. 2:13).
7. You are delivered from the power of darkness (2 Cor. 4:3–4; Col. 1:13).
8. You join the people of God (1 Pet. 2:9).
9. You are granted access to God (Heb. 4:16; 10:10–20).
10. You receive an inheritance (Eph. 1:14; Col. 3:24; 1 Pet 1:4; Heb. 9:15).

HT: Bill Clem

Surprise of the Explicit Gospel

I am nearing the end of reading Matt Chandler's book the Explicit Gospel. The book is split into two parts. The Gospel on the ground and the Gospel in the air. Having read and listened to much of Matt's teaching over the last few years part one was like chatting with an old friend. An enriching conversation that brings into focus the most important theme of our faith which once viewing we can never be the same. The pure unadulterated good news that God's grace though his Son came knocking at my door.

Turning the page to the Gospel in the air was a total surprise. Here the conversation took a turn that I never expected as Matt zoomed out and looked at the epic and cosmic nature of God's restoration plan for not only us as individuals but for the whole of creation. You are left blown away immenseness of the plan that God is orchestrating through the cross and left bowing the knee and shaking your head in humility and wonder.

He quotes Martyn Lloyd Jones description of this:

"Here, it is important for us to emphasise once more that we must present the total Gospel. There is a personal side to it, we must deal with that, and we must start with that. But we do not stop with that; there is a social side, indeed a cosmic side as well. We must present the whole plan of salvation as it is revealed in the scriptures. We must show that the ultimate object, as the Apostle Paul puts it in Ephesians 1:10, is to head up in Christ all things, "both which are in heaven, and which are in earth; even in Him."

"You are emphasising that salvation is not merely something subjective, a nice feeling, or peace, or whatever it is they are seeking. All that is important, and is part of it; but there is something more important, namely that the whole universe is involved. We must give the people a conception of this, of the scope and ambit and the greatness of the gospel in this all-inclusive aspect."

To be honest I still haven't cottoned on the greatness, scope, majesty and beauty of God's ultimate plan and purpose that he is achieving through the towering masterpiece of His Gospel

Buy or download Explicit Gospel here you will not regret it.

Jesus Greatest Achievement

"Jesus and His father were at their brightest in the dark for you" - John Piper