Believe: The Simplicity of Receiving the Baptism of the Spirit

Welcome to CCI Fellowship's podcast. Today's message is about Pentecost and the simplicity of receiving the baptism of the Spirit. The speaker emphasizes the importance of the physical and spiritual aspects of the Bible and the need to listen to the Holy Spirit. The message encourages believers to pray, gain confidence in hearing the Holy Spirit, and be obedient to His guidance. The speaker also discusses biblical examples of how the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of Gentiles, people outside Jerusalem, and disciples in Ephesus. The message concludes by emphasizing the importance of belief and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. Welcome to CCI Fellowship's podcast. Thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship, we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. So if you could open your Bibles to Acts, chapter 2, verses 1-4, that would be great. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord and in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one said upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So this message today will have questions, questions that you'll be able to think about over the next several days, and then bring them up in your fellowship groups. This message, of course, will have words, but I'll highlight the words for you, and let's see what happens. And the one nice thing about this, whenever you get called to share a message, is you sit down and you're praying, and the excitement that comes when you know the Holy Spirit will be working if you open your mind, if you listen, and then you do. So Pastor John sent me his notes, and in our text conversations we both agreed, well it's Pentecost, you've got to talk about Pentecost. And it is a big deal. It was a big deal back then. But the title is Believe, the Simplicity of Receiving the Baptism of the Spirit. So some of these are Pastor John notes, John's notes, and I'll say that right off. A lot of it is stuff that I've heard and that I want to use as well, and we're both good with that. So if you hear me saying we a lot, that's who I mean, it's not just because I lose it. So just know that. So let's get started. So let's start with two words, physical and spiritual. This is the physical Bible. You can feel it, touch it, smell it. Bibles smell good. But it's also spiritual. And because we read the words, you have to listen to the Holy Spirit to help you understand what he's saying. These are just words. So there's the two words, physical and spiritual. As God calls us closer to a relationship with him, remember a couple weeks ago when I was talking about the Beatitudes and how I don't live up to them, but it is about the relationship that you have with our Lord that is moving in you to be those Beatitudes. To be those Beatitudes of the lost, the hungry, the poor. They need to hear it from you. So Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples, but it was just not a regular falling. It was in power and fullness of the new covenant. That is, God announcing the old covenant is done, and here's the new covenant. For as much confusion as has come to surround the baptism, the empowering of a believer by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, no one knew less about baptism, the Holy Spirit, than those on the day of Pentecost. You probably know more about Pentecost than all of those early believers who were in the upper room, all 120 of them. But we, the church, have made it more complicated. We've thrown things in there. We've made it complicated, muddied the waters. We've created formulas. When we served in Europe, they had a formula for everything. A formula for evangelism, a formula for this. They had it laid out, but that's not working. It is about the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that comes in us and works through us to do that. We want that full relationship with the Holy Spirit, but you have to use it. You have to practice it. You have to exercise that. You have to grow in hearing by having those little prayers and then those big prayers. The big prayers that a lot of us are looking to right now, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? The big prayers about health, about our families, about everything. So you pray the big prayers, you pray the little prayers, and you watch as God answers as you move along. You gain confidence in what the Holy Spirit is saying. So here's a question. Can you hear the Holy Spirit? You don't have to answer, it's all hypothetical, but we'll call on you on Thursday. Another question. Have you done what the Holy Spirit has asked? Have you listened to the Holy Spirit and actively done that? We have to gain confidence. This is where we start to move into the obedient part. Is God speaking to you through the Holy Spirit? And I suppose he could be just watching you going, well, are you going to do something? I could send you messages, but are you obedient? So some more words. Do or don't do. That's your choice. Do or don't do. Will you be obedient or will you be disobedient? When we were called first here to Honduras, the Lord said, go work in the medical brigade. And we did. Then he called us out of here and he said, go church plant in France. If he would have said go church plant in France when we were sitting in our comfortable suburban Chicago area, I don't know if we would have gone. I don't think we were trained because we didn't have the confidence in his word to actually go at that time. We had confidence to go to Honduras and now we never want to leave. So we will have three biblical examples tonight and more things to think about. Who receives these biblical messages? Who brings the message? And also, I was sitting there today going, oh, I didn't even think of this. What people groups did God use and who did he use to send them to the different people groups? So I was thinking about that and going, oh, that's kind of cool. Pastor John picks up pretty good verses. So go to Acts 1, verse 15, all together. There were 120 of them all together. Why were they there? Because Jesus told them so. Now, I don't know, I haven't studied how long they were there together, those 120. Was it a day? Two days? Ten days? That's not the point, but they stayed there because they were obedient to what Jesus told them. If the 120 people that are here tonight were together for ten days, would we all stay? Would we all be in prayer? But they received the promise. And as evidence of they weren't sure what was going on, they all asked Jesus, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Do you really think they had a full or any intellectual grasp about what was going to happen? And what the promise of the Father was? Or what it would be to be empowered as witnesses all over the world? No. They didn't know that. But they stayed there and waited because they trusted, they trusted in Jesus. We need to trust in Jesus. One example, Gentiles. Who was the Lord going to send to the Gentiles, except Peter, the Apostle Peter, why not? He was sent to Cornelius and his family. Cornelius had been praying and praying. He knew God. He was praying to God. And he was praying and he received the vision from God. And they summoned Peter and Peter showed up. So it's Acts chapter 10 verses 44 through 46. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Imagine that Peter, a couple chapters before that, he finally sees the sheep lowered down with the food and he said, Lord, I can't eat that food. But he still believed and he listened. And then he was summoned to the Gentiles house to share the gospel. Think of what he went through. His world was rocked because all of a sudden he shared it with someone with no Mosaic laws, no dietary restrictions, Gentiles. Do you think Cornelius and his family understood the ins and outs of what the Holy Spirit does and will do? Do you think they could explain it exegetically, theologically, or doctrinally? No! I can't. Pastor John can. And then verse 46. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. The Holy Spirit comes in. Magnify God. They believed. They received. Question, do you see a change in your life after the Holy Spirit has entered you? And then you've prayed. It's not just a one-time fill. It's refilled and refilled and refilled. And as you determine what the Holy Spirit is saying and you gain confidence, it's refilled and filled again. Let me hear you, Lord, stronger and stronger each day. And the words, believe or unbelief. There's only two types of people in the world, believers and unbelievers. The third example, people outside of Jerusalem. They were students but did not know Christ. And who did the Lord send? The Lord sent Paul, who got knocked down by the Lord and said, why are you persecuting my church? In Acts 19, verses 1-7, and it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus and finding some disciples, he found some disciples. And he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, we have not heard so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, into what then were you baptized? And they said, well, into John's baptism. And Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all. Paul, wandering around, but he wasn't wandering without a purpose. He was on journeys. And who sent him on those journeys? Holy Spirit. So Paul happened upon the disciples in Ephesus. Paul checks their salvation. When they said they had not even heard of a Holy Spirit, he gets them baptized in water and then prays over them. And they received the promise of the Father and began to preach in tongues and prophecy. These disciples were believers. They were disciples, but they had not gone that full distance. Paul says, no worries, let me explain. And they received. They weren't mature Christians. They had just been born again. They were not biblical scholars, theologians. They were just believers. And they believed and they did, they worked, they did that. They spread the gospel in Ephesus. A couple words. They believed, therefore they received. Do we believe? Have we received? And the question is, have we gone the full distance with the Holy Spirit? Much of the church is unable to advance God's kingdom, or be his witness, or minister to one another, because they have not been empowered. They have not been empowered because they either have not heard or do not believe. Which group are you in? No one can answer this except for you. So I tell you tonight, the fullness of the Holy Spirit's power is available for us. Today, it did not die off with John on the island of Patmos. God did not withdraw his spirit's empowerment from his people when the Bible was canonized. The power of the Holy Spirit is poured out on the day of Pentecost and is flowing in this earth with as much available force today as it was then. However, we must believe and receive. So what is that prayer that you've been praying? What is that thought that the Lord has put in your head? Is it, and you're thinking, is it actually the Lord or not? Angie and I are currently house hunting, because we want to rent a house now. We think it'll better the ministry, and that's what we've been hearing. There's certain things that we need to do that we aren't doing right now. So we have an area, but we take baby steps. We look at houses. We see if the budget is going. And every reassurance that we're getting will bring us to the exact house that God has for us. He has never let us down in the seventeen years that we've been missionaries, and he never will, because we listen and we do. You have to listen. You have to do. The fullness of the Holy Spirit's power is available for us today. Question is, do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? The Christ that has been sent, do you believe that Christ has taken away every sin out of your life as a sin bearer? So as the worship team comes up, I want to pray over some scriptures that we've been thinking about, we, I have been thinking about, because I know there's hindrances of listening to the Holy Spirit, understanding what he's saying. There's also physical things that are stopping us from accepting his call. And it's those physical things that we really need to get rid of. The relationship that you have with Jesus is important. He is not an object. He is spiritual, and he's speaking to you this day and every day. So here are some verses. If you'd like to come up to the altar and pray, altar's open. Jesus is the sin bearer. Is there sin stopping you from doing the kingdom work, sin that you've already been forgiven of for this sin, future sins, previous? Is there sin in your life? Jesus is there. John 1.29, the next day John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It's right there. Jesus has already bore your sins. Do you feel lost, estranged from family, angry, disappointed? Jesus is the beloved son. Two verses, Luke 3.21, 22. When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus was also baptized. And while he prayed, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, you are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased. Can you imagine when you hear that? You are my beloved daughter. You are my beloved sister, my beloved son. Luke 4.1 and 2, then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for 40 days by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, he was hungry. Jesus has walked every road that we've ever imagined walking through. Those roads that we're embarrassed now to even admit. Those sins that we want to forget, and we pray for that forgetfulness. We pray for those images to leave our head, for the words that were spoken to us that were not right. Jesus has taken all the hurt, the anger, disappointment. Jesus says, come to him, all who are weak and weary. Are you in unbearable pain, sin, psychological pain? Are you mournful, broken hearted, and not sure what to do? Luke, verses 18 and 19, Jesus is the pain bearer. Cast your pain on Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, as Jesus is saying, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. And in Luke, verses 20 and 21, then Jesus closed the book and gave it back to the attendants who sat down, and all the eyes of those who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus is Savior, and he says to come to him. So let me close this by praying. Father God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the people who hear and do, and hear and need more help. So Lord, I pray for them. I pray, Lord, for more preachers of good tidings to the poor, more healing for the brokenhearted. We proclaim liberty to the captives of sin, of just words that are not good. We pray for comfort of those who mourn. We pray for the conversion of beauty for ashes. The ashes of our old life is now beauty in the shining face when we see you face to face, Lord. We pray for the garment of praise, for the spirit of heaviness. We pray for the ones who turn into trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Lord, may our actions, may our words, may our thoughts glorify you. And I pray these things in your son's name. Amen. Thank you for listening to this week's podcast. If you are ever in the Tegucigalpa area and looking for an English-speaking congregation, please join us on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. in the main auditorium of Iglesia CCI in Colonio Trevici, just off Boulevard Sollapa, near Puna. If you'd like prayer or more information about our church, contact us at fellowships.cci at gmail.com. That's fellowships.cci at gmail.com. Or follow us on social media. We hope to see you or hear from you soon. Blessings. Amen.