Believe_The Simplicity of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit Pt 3

This podcast episode discusses the simplicity of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the importance of belief. The speaker emphasizes that we tend to complicate things in our relationship with God and that belief is the first step in experiencing the simplicity of the Spirit's work in our lives. The speaker also explores the difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, highlighting that the fruit is evidence of the Spirit's work in us, while the gifts are what the Spirit uses to work through us to impact others. The episode concludes with a reminder to approach scripture with a holistic understanding, rather than focusing on isolated verses. 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. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12, Amen. We're still in our series on belief, the simplicity of the baptism of the Spirit. This is part three now, and I want to draw attention to the first part of this title is belief. The point of this series has to do with, yes, the simplicity of the baptism of the Spirit, the simplicity of being empowered by the Holy Spirit, the simplicity of His gifts at work in our life, but it all comes down to the first step, which is belief. And so, as we go through these, as we talk about these in our fellowship groups and everything, let us not lose sight of this principle that all of these happen to them who believe. We must believe in order for these things that are simple to transpire in our lives. We have done over the years of church history, we being the church as a whole, have done so much to complicate the Word of God. We complicate salvation. We complicate the fullness of the Spirit. We complicate giving. We complicate the gifts of the Spirit. We complicate relationship with Christ and with God. We are just complicated as humans, and we don't feel right if we don't complicate it. It can't be that simple. It must be more complicated. For whatever reason, there's something inside of our being as humans that we don't feel that it is right to believe in something if it's not deep and complicated. It can be deep, but it doesn't have to be complicated. It can be involved, but it doesn't have to be confusing. Just believe. Just believe. So last week we had looked at the verses in the book of Acts where it used the phrase filled with the Spirit. We looked at the result. We looked at how that came about. We looked at the different scenarios around that, and what we found in those is one, that it was somebody who believed, and two, most of those instances resulted in some form of public declaration of God's Word, His message, the gospel of Christ, some type of preaching or some type of speech empowered by the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit. This week we're going to look at the different instances in Acts where it has to do with the result of the indwelling of the Spirit was something that was supernatural, something that hadn't been seen before, something that, as the book of Acts describes, as they spoke in tongues and prophesied, and we're going to look through these different things. But here in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 1, Paul says something that really surmises the reason for this series. He says, Now, brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the spiritual abilities the Spirit gives us, or in other versions it says, regarding the gifts of the Spirit, I do not want you to misunderstand this. In one version it says, I do not want you to be ignorant concerning these things. Ignorant, the word ignorant just simply means lacking knowledge. It has become to mean different things, but really at its root, being ignorant of something means you just don't know about it. And so Paul is writing to the Corinthians, which is, in all of the New Testament, our most excellent and complete example of a group of people who desired the simplicity of the baptism of the Spirit, but once they got that, they didn't grow in any maturity or in any understanding regarding it. And Paul was dealing largely with a church that remained as infants in their approach to the things of God. This is something that is simple, but it also requires growth and maturity and understanding. So as Paul wrote to them, I speak the same thing to you. I do not want us to be ignorant or to be misunderstood regarding these things. Let's pray. Father, we worship you and we thank you. We thank you for your presence here. We thank you for the Holy Spirit that you have given us, that you have sent into the world to be our down payment of what is to come, of the things that you have promised. But you also sent him to empower us and to equip us, Lord God, to be used by you as your instruments. I thank you, Lord God, that we have the opportunity to be used by you. And I pray, Father, that we would understand more how much the Holy Spirit wants to work through us to reach other people. And I pray that we would be willing to believe and to receive and to do of your good pleasure, Lord God, that you would be honored and that your kingdom would advance, that others would come to know you because of our desire, Lord God, to trust you, to believe in you and to do what you call us to do. So we pray that tonight you would give us eyes to see, that you would give us ears to hear, that you would give us hearts that are soft and moldable, Lord God, that we would have a spirit that is ready to learn and to receive from you, Lord God, and that you would wipe away all confusion, all misunderstanding. Your word says that the Holy Spirit is our teacher, and he guides us in all truth. So Holy Spirit, we ask you tonight to perform what you were sent here to do, to teach us, Lord God, and help us to understand, in Jesus' name, amen. We spoke specifically, I spoke specifically, I wouldn't say we, you don't talk back in this instance, that's in fellowship group. I spoke specifically last week about the being filled with the Spirit, but what does that really mean, and can it be confused, or can we put within the filling of the Spirit other things that we find in Scripture? For instance, is there a difference between the gifts of the Spirit, which Paul talks about here in 1 Corinthians 12, and the fruit of the Spirit, which Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 5? What is the difference? Are both of them something that says, this is proof of the Spirit's work in my life, or proof that I have been baptized in the Spirit? Well, if we take the examples that are in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament, and if we take the teachings of Paul, here in 1 Corinthians, what he doesn't talk about is the fruit of the Spirit. And if we take what he is teaching the Ephesians in chapter 5, when he talks about the fruit of the Spirit, what he is not talking about are the gifts of the Spirit. And so, I was praying about this before coming to service, Lord, help me answer this question, is it the same, is it proof, what is the difference? And this is what I believe the Lord showed me, that the fruit of the Spirit is yes, evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in a person's life. It's evidence that you have become a believer, it's evidence that you are in a relationship with Christ, it is evidence of the inner working of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. But that is different than the desire of the Holy Spirit, or the job of the Holy Spirit to empower us to reach others. And that's where the gifts of the Spirit come in. If we continue to read through chapter 12, we'll find that, I think it's verse 4 specifically states that the gifts are given for the edification of others. So the empowering of the Holy Spirit is not necessarily a personal thing, though personal benefit absolutely comes from being empowered by the Holy Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is evidence of the Spirit's work in a person, the gifts of the Spirit are the evidence of the Holy Spirit's work through a person. Does that help make things clear? When that came to mind, I was like, well that makes complete sense. It's like, never thought of that before. I grew up in a Spirit-filled church, I got filled with the Spirit when I was 11 years old, I have been in this a long time, and that's the first time I've seen it like that. Which means that I just love how the Holy Spirit throughout our life will help us to understand things and cause us to grow deeper in the revelation that he has in his Word. The fruit of the Spirit is evidence of the Spirit's work in your life. The gifts that he gives you through the empowerment are what he's going to use to work through you to affect somebody else's life. Mark chapter 16, verse 15 to 18. And he said to them, go into the world, into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes, there we go, our belief, is baptized and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who, what? Believe. In my name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them, they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Verse 19 and 20 says, so then after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, and they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs, amen. After the Lord had spoken to them. If we read just this section of scripture, not considering anything else, what it seems like is that after the Lord had spoken to them refers to just and exclusively verse 15 to 18, but we know more, because in the book of Acts, it tells us what Jesus's last words were to them. He spoke these things to them, but Luke, in writing the book of Acts, brings in another part of the conversation that Mark doesn't include here. Why didn't Mark include it? I don't know. Ask the Holy Spirit. He's the one that inspired Mark to write it. But if we bring in the other things that we know, it helps us have a more complete understanding of what's going on. Be careful any time you use one scripture or one section of scripture excluding the rest of what scripture says. We will inevitably find ourselves in an imbalance and in error of understanding when we focus overly on one verse without bringing in understanding from the other side of what scripture says. So what had the Lord spoken to them before he was taken up? Acts 1, verse 4 through 8. And being assembled with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, say, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Still oblivious. But don't lose, don't lose the understanding that this conversation is taking place at the very same time or within the very same conversation as what took place in Mark chapter 16. This is all the same conversation. It's a continuation of what, what Mark didn't expound upon, but Luke expounded upon. And if we just read what Luke writes in Acts, we lose what Mark wrote in chapter 16. It is together. Verse seven says, and he said to them, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons which your father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Mark 16, 17 tells us that these signs will follow those who believe, but we, we see the, the rest of the instruction here in the book of Acts, that in order for these signs to follow those who believe they needed to wait, these signs will follow those who believe. But before you get excited and you go running out, wait, you need to receive the promise. We know through scripture that there's 10 days that pass between Jesus's last words to them. And when the Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost, they waited and just waited. In their conversations with each other, they could have said, well, Jesus said, these signs will follow those who believe. Let's go. We could be out there doing things. We could be being used by God. And someone else says, yeah, but don't forget, Jesus said that there's a component that we're, we're missing here. And that that's the empowerment of the Holy spirit. Certainly they could have gone out in their own ability. Certainly they could have gone out saying, well, Jesus said, believe I believe, but they waited because he also said, you will be empowered and to be used by God as his witnesses to be used by God as his instruments of righteousness to be used by him to reach others. We need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to them, those who believe will receive and then they will do. You will receive power and you will be my witnesses. There's an action there. There's, there's a task there. There's not just a naming. It's not just giving them a title. It's not just giving them an identity as witnesses. It's giving them an assignment, a calling, a task to perform a responsibility, but it starts with believe and it goes to receive. And then it goes to do believe, receive, do believe, receive, do believe, receive, do. We can find it throughout the new Testament, believe, receive, do believe, receive, do many times. want to do, because we believe, but we're not so sure about the receive thing. But the formula, if you will, is proven in Scripture. Believe, you receive, and then do. So within the book of Acts, we find the result of the indwelling of the Spirit. We, we, we find the result that those who believed then received power, that they went out to do. But what we find is that the initial sign of the baptism or the infilling of the Spirit within the book of Acts was that they began to speak in tongues and prophesy. Actually in chapter two, we've read it multiple times in these past couple weeks, it says that the Spirit came upon them, that the cloven tongues as a fire rested upon their head, that they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them the ability. And they went out from the room, you know the story. Why did God choose that as the initial sign? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever asked that question? Why God did you use tongues as the initial sign? Well, it was so that all of those people could understand in their own tongue, OK? But don't miss the fact that these hundred and twenty in the upper room had no idea what they were saying. It wasn't that they spilled out into the street and purposefully, with full knowledge and understanding, went up to somebody and started speaking to them in their own language. It says as they spoke, they understood. So what did they speak? This is why I believe that there were two miracles done on that day. One in the speaker and the speaker. The Holy Spirit was at work in those that were speaking other tongues as he gave them the ability to do so, but he was also at work in the crowd, making sure that they could understand what was being spoken throughout these hundred and twenty. Now as we look through these examples in the book of Acts, what we do find is it is only on the day of Pentecost, it is only within that example that the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write that they spoke in a language that other people could understand. That's the only instance in the book of Acts where we have where it said, and they understood in their own language. Or rather, it's the only reference to being an earthly language that these people were empowered to speak. What did the other one say? And what does that communicate to us? Five minutes. Let's go. Are you with me? We talked about the hundred and twenty in the upper room. Cornelius and his family. Another story that we have used over and over again, and we still have not taken out of just Cornelius' story, everything that we can learn from. In Acts chapter 10, verse 46, it says, For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnified God. What tongues? It doesn't say. Well how could they recognize them as tongues? Well keep in mind that when Peter went to talk to them, he spoke to them in a language that they could understand. They had a common language that they could speak with each other in. So what language were they speaking when it said they spoke in other tongues? What was it that they were speaking that caused Peter and the other believers that were with him to recognize that the gift of the Holy Spirit had come upon them, because they spoke in other tongues? Anyone got an answer? If you do, your answer is not scriptural. Why? Because it doesn't tell us. It doesn't say. Which means that if we believe that all scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, through the writers, that it was the Holy Spirit's decision not to include that detail in this story. So what does that communicate to us? It doesn't matter. What mattered in this story was that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the Gentiles. That they too received salvation, and that they too could be empowered by the Holy Spirit. That is what is trying to be communicated there. And whatever the sign was, whatever the tongues were that they were speaking, it was in such a way that Peter and his companions were able to recognize it as the indwelling empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The disciples in Ephesus, Acts chapter 19, verse 6, and when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. The two there are together. They spoke and prophesied. They spoke with tongues and prophesied. What language did they speak in tongues? Does it say? Then does it matter? We lose so much of the truth, and we get distracted so many times by trying to insert into a biblical story our own understanding, and we write a narrative in there that the Holy Spirit had no intention of writing, or any intention for us to be focused on. It doesn't matter what the language sounded like. It was proof that the Holy Spirit had come upon them. And it says, and they prophesied. But why? Okay, why, God? Why did you use tongues? Why did you use this example to show or to be the proof of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? And remember, the reason we use the word indwelling is because in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon certain individuals, empowered them in that moment, but that dwelling of the Spirit was a temporary thing, and for certain occasions. The difference between that and now, after the day of Pentecost, is that the Holy Spirit, that his empowerment, that his dwelling within us, is something that is constant, is something that is every day, in every moment, in every situation, and encompasses anything that we would be involved in. Jesus said, I will not leave you alone, but I will send you the Spirit to accompany you throughout your life. He dwells within us, which means his power dwells within us. Why did God use tongues? I believe he used tongues because it had never been seen before. If we look at the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12, you have the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, you have speaking in tongues with the interpretation of tongues, you have working of miracles, discerning of spirits. I can't remember all nine of them now, but this whole list, other than the speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues, all of the other seven happened in the Old Testament. It was nothing new. Well, what's new about it in the New Testament? What's new about it in the New Testament is you don't have to be a prophet, a priest, or a king for these things to work through you. That's the difference. I believe that God used tongues as the initial sign because they knew what the other ones were. Oh, well, we've received prophecy before. In fact, all of their teaching was based on the law and the prophets. So prophecy was nothing new to them. Miracles, the prophets did miracles. Signs and wonders, Elijah called fire down from heaven, burned up the altars. Signs and wonders, that's like, that happened. The Red Sea parted, the Jordan parted. It was all stuff they knew, but to represent this new thing that was transpiring in God's people, God gave the ability to speak in tongues. Whatever that looked like, whatever that sounded like, it was something new that landed on the scene. And this brings me to the other reason why I think that God used tongues. If you remember the story in the book of Genesis where all of man was united and they built a tower and God said, lest they accomplish anything that they desire, let us go down and confuse their languages. And separation came. What comes from the empowerment of the Spirit? What came on that day of Pentecost when so many nations, that our nations, so many languages that were languages because of what happened at the Tower of Babel, God said, okay, it's now time to bring everybody back together. What we have done in the church over history is use this miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, which is meant to unite, and we have used it to divide and divide and divide. That was good. There are some times when I'm preaching that the Holy Spirit just interjects something and I'm like, wow, that wasn't in my notes, that's good. We should not use what God has meant to unify as a point to bring division. But we've done that, and he's had grace upon us anyway. Division is supposed to unite. At the end of chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, Adrian and I are getting ready to go on a trip. We leave on Wednesday. We'll be back in July. And I'm thinking that I'll bring us back to this topic at that point. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11 through chapter 14, those four chapters, all have to do with what happened in the church service. Read it, go ahead. Chapter 11 to chapter 14, that's your homework over the five weeks that we're gone. It has to do with what happened in the context of the service, because Paul was trying to bring order to them. He says in chapter 14, God is a God of order, and he's trying to bring them to a place of a healthy, Spirit-filled meeting to worship God. Where was that supposed to go? That's why he says, I don't want you to be ignorant concerning gifts, not just gifts in general. These gifts that you have, how do we know they have them? Chapter 14. At the end of chapter 12, Paul says something very, very good that I think we miss when we read the Bible chapter by chapter. It's leading into Paul's message about love. Verse 1 says in 13, though I speak with the tons of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or clanging cymbal, and we know how it goes. Why is he talking about love right here? So easy to isolate it, so easy to pull it out, it's so easy to focus on it concerning Godly love for each other. But what is the context of Paul talking about love here? At the end of the previous section, verse 31, he says, but earnestly desire the best gifts. Desire the best gifts, the ones that are needed in that situation. Don't get overly focused on, I have this gift and I have that gift, and I only work in this gift. Don't limit the Holy Spirit in your life. Desire the best gift. And then he says, and yet I show you a more excellent way. Now there are teachers that will take that phrase, I show you a more excellent way, and completely negate the importance of chapter 12, for the gift of the Spirit, and say that what Paul was communicating was that no matter everything else, love is more important. Which is, in all reality, a narrow perspective of the context of this scripture. How can you say that it's a narrow perspective? Just read the context, I'm not being arrogant. If we were supposed to focus on love and not have any focus whatsoever on the gifts of the Spirit, God would not have put it in the Bible. He does not waste his words. I show you a more excellent way gives this understanding of what Paul is saying is don't be ignorant about the Holy Spirit, but you have to do it in love. If you are pursuing these gifts, if you are pursuing being empowered by the Spirit, but all you want to do is call attention to yourself, and say look at all these prophecies that I've made, look at my ability to speak in tongues, look at how many people that I've prayed for and they've gotten healed, look at my ability to discern spirits, has nothing to do with you, you are the vessel. They're his gifts, not yours. And Paul says if we're not doing it in love, you are wasting the power of the Spirit in you. He does not negate that we need to be empowered. He shows us that it needs to be manifested out of love for one another. Amen. I'm done. The worship team can come up. I'm just going to leave it right there. Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. Believe, receive, do. In love. Father, we bless your name, and we thank you, Lord God, for the seeds that you have planted in our hearts today, and I pray, Father, that these seeds would grow in each one of us, that understanding would increase, that, Father, the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of you would come upon us, Father, that we may grow, that we may mature, that we may bear the fruit of the Spirit, changing who we are, changing, Lord God, our motives, changing our actions, Father God, that there would be proof that we have been made yours, Father, and that, Lord God, by the gifts of the Spirit, as we believe that the Spirit will empower us, God, that you would use us to affect the lives of other people so that the fruit of the Spirit can begin to grow in them as well. May our desires, Father, always be to love you in our interaction with you and to love you in our interaction with other people. God, use us as your vessels. We love you, Father. Have your way in us and have your way through us. In Jesus' name. Amen. 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 Colonia Trapiche, just off Boulevard Suyapa, near Una. If you would like prayer or more information about our church, contact us at fellowship.cci at gmail.com. That's fellowship.cci at gmail.com. Or follow us on social media. We hope to see you or hear from you soon. Blessings.