Unstoppable God | The Holy Spirit and the Mission of God Review from Week One: Do you remember what verse Carl said was key to understanding the whole book of Acts? “...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) So this newly formed community of disciples is given a clear mandate and corporate identity as witnesses, missionaries, ‘sent out’ to the ends of the earth...no pressure! “The purpose of God in calling us together is to send us into the world with a mission. The essence of the church is ‘missional’. The idea of ‘being sent’ is not a secondary addition or an optional extra… We already belong to a mission agency that’s what the church is!” ‒ David Devenish, What on earth is the church for? , p.2021 But what is God’s mission? That all people would know his glory and worship him. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea. (Hab 2:14; cf Num 14:21) “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t ...the goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. “Let the peoples praise You, O God, Let all the peoples praise You! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Ps 67:3,4)” John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad , p.11 This is a MASSIVE job and takes all the courage and power that the Spirit provides. “Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible. There can be no life without the LifeGiver, no understanding without the Spirit of Truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from His fruit, and no effective witness without His power. As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead .” ‒ John Stott, The Message of Acts , p.60 That’s why Jesus said don’t go anywhere until you receive the Spirit! “He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:45) And this wasn’t the first time Jesus told the disciples that we would need the Spirit. Jesus said to them, “You’ve already heard about the Spirit from me”. 1
So what had Jesus already been telling the disciples about the Holy Spirit? 1. We’re born again by the Spirit of God (Jn 3:5ff) 2. We must worship God in Spirit and in truth (Jn 4:24) 3. We need the Spirit to give us life (Jn 6:63) 4. The Spirit flows in and through us like rivers of living water when we are thirsty for God and believe in Jesus, receiving from Him (Jn 7:37ff) 5. The Spirit is sent to us as a Helper to live/abide in us (Jn 14:1617) 6. The Spirit teaches us and reminds us of all that Jesus said (Jn 14:26) 7. The Spirit bears witness to Jesus (Jn 15:26) 8. The Spirit in our lives is an advantage over having Jesus with us (Jn 16:7) 9. The Spirit convicts the world of sin (Jn 16:8), it’s not our job! 10. The Spirit of Truth guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13) 11. The Spirit tells us things that are still to come (Jn 16:13) 12. The Spirit glorifies Jesus ! ( the goal of mission ) (Jn 16:14) So when Jesus said, “Wait for what the Father has promised…” they should have had a full and broad expectation for what that meant! How much more should we be expectant when we can look back at these events and ask God in faith to do it again in our lives ! Read Acts 2:114 The Day of Pentecost “[Throughout] Acts, Luke refers to the promise , the gift , the baptism , the power and the fullness of the Spirit in the experience of God’s people. The terms are many and interchangeable; [but] the reality is one and there is no substitute for [ the Holy Spirit ].” ‒ John Stott, Ibid. Four Signs of SpiritEmpowered Mission: 1. Courage One of the most striking transformations in the Bible happens as a result of Peter receiving the Holy Spirit . The man who denied knowing Jesus to a servant girl (Matt 26:69ff) now stands up before 1000’s of people and publicly identifies himself with Jesus and explains the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus along with the pouring out of the Spirit that has created such a stir. He concludes by proclaiming: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified , both Lord and Messiah.” ...“ Repent and be baptized, every one of you…” And this wasn’t a oneoff for Peter, this man, whom Jesus had prophetically renamed ‘the rock’. Look how he responds when he and John were hauled in by the local religious authorities, the same ones who had just Jesus crucified: 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit , said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people 2
of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ...When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:813) There was no substitute for the Holy Spirit in Peter’s life. 2. Revelation & Guidance Philip Hears a Voice = The Gospel Goes to Africa Acts 8:26ff Peter Sees a Vision = The Gospel Goes to the Gentiles Acts 10:1ff, 11:12 Barnabas & Paul Receive a Prophecy = The Gospel Goes to the Greeks Acts 13:24 Paul Has a Dream = The Gospel Goes to Europe Acts 16:6ff God wants to open new doors for the gospel to reach new people groups, new places and new domains such as education, healthcare, science and technology, government, the arts, etc. Are you open to the Spirit speaking to you and directing your steps, even if it seems like a risky decision ? That’s how the gospel advanced rapidly throughout the book Acts. Do you hear God’s voice, see visions and have dreams ? This was normal Christianity and exactly what Joel promised and Peter preached would be our experience. There is no substitute for being led by the Spirit. 3. The Witness of the Spirit How do you know if someone is a Christian ? In the USA and other western countries how do we typically discern whether someone is a believer? The early church went through a challenge early on in their existence after the Spirit led Peter to share the gospel with gentiles. He had to go to Jerusalem to defend his actions to Jewish believers who were criticizing his actions (Acts 11:1ff). The main explanation Peter gave them revolved around the baptism of the Holy Spirit , this seemed to be a confirming sign of their acceptance by God and their inclusion into the church: “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way ?” 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:1518)
3
And at the Council of Jerusalem a few years later, Peter reminded the leaders that “God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.” (Acts 15:8) So we see when Paul arrives in Ephesus in Acts 19 and meets a small group of believers his first question for them is not to question their doctrine or read through their statement of faith on their website, but he asks them: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? (Acts 19:2) We need to understand that this was a priority for the apostles and the early church , not an optional addon or a fringe theology . It was the Holy Spirit who sent them on mission and it was the Holy Spirit who confirmed new believers as members of Christ’s body the church. 4. Demonstrations of Power (Healings, Signs and Wonders) “The ‘mighty works and wonders and signs’ which marked the ministry of Jesus continued to mark the ministry of the apostles from Pentecost onwards (Acts 2:43).” F.F.Bruce You can’t read through the book of Acts and miss the frequent and extraordinary supernatural activity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is active in: ● giving spiritual gifts (Acts 2:4) ● healing the sick (Acts 3:7) ● shaking the earth (Acts 4:31) ● exposing deceivers (Acts 5:5) ● delivering the demonically oppressed (Acts 8:7) ● baptizing whole communities in the Spirit (Acts 8:1517) ● breaking believers out of jail (Acts 12:67, 16:2526) “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” (Acts 19:1112) All of this prompted John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Church, as a new believer to approach the leader of his church and ask: “When do we get to do the stuff?” Do you ever feel like that? Ask God to do it again! There is no substitute for the demonstration of the Spirit’s power to confirm God’s message. So we must remember that Jesus “...commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:45). And as John Stott said, “there can be no effective witness without His power...there is no substitute for [the Holy Spirit].” 4
“A country must be strong in internal resources before it can wisely venture on foreign wars. Thus it is in the great battle for truth ; a poor, starving Church cannot fight the devil and its armies ...so you see that first of all to keep the church happy and holy within herself there must be a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, and secondly, that the Church may invade the territories of the enemy and may conquer the world for Christ, she must be clothed with the same sacred energy… The only thing I want to say is this; you cannot get out of the Church what is not in it . The reservoir itself must be filled before it can pour out a stream. We must ourselves drink from the living water until we are full and then from us will flow rivers of living water, but not until then. ‒ Charles Spurgeon, Revival
5