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Amazed and perplexed, they ask 1 another, "what does this mean?" When you begin operating, living out the power of the Holy Spirit through your life, it will be supernatural. It will be "super above the natural". Those around you will be perplexed and it will cause them to ask themselves, what does this mean? It will draw draw a question to their belief systems, to what they always thought, to the logic that they thought that they understood, and they will have the choice.
They will be forced into the valley of decision. Do I believe what is being said or what is being done, or I'm am I gonna go with what I'm comfortable with and stay where I'm comfortable? Let's see what what they did, see what happened. Some, we know that 3,000 gave their life to Jesus on that day. So many people were changed, many people believed.
But in verse 13, some, however, made fun of them and said they have had too much wine. Some people believe the supernatural. Some people went with the logic of the natural and decided to rationalize it and got sarcastic because they were feeling uncomfortable and said, no, they're just drunk. For instance, last week, we talked about a guy being raised from the dead and the gospel being preached and giving his life to Jesus, and I believe that he's gonna be in eternity with us. Did you rationalize it in your head and say, oh, that's not possible.
You know, it could have been just reflexes or this, that, and the other. Or did you say, wow, at the power of God? Supernatural things will force you into the valley of decision and you always have a choice. Always. The only way that some can complain explain the supernatural and not feel uncomfortable is to be sarcastic and explain it away.
How many times in our life has God done supernatural miracles or brought people into our lives and shown us his supernatural love and grace toward us trying to get through our hard hearts and yet we choose to explain it away and make fun of them because believing that there is actually a God who loves me and who is trying to break into my world would require too much change. So what did Peter do? Verse 14, then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd. Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say.
These people are not drunk as you suppose. It's only 9 in the morning. The others were thinking, yeah. Well, it's 05:00 somewhere. No.
Bad pastor joke. Okay. No. This is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel, what we read earlier. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy. These are the days, the those days that Peter speaks of.
Now. We are living in this time. So I wanna go through some questions that people usually have about the Holy Spirit and about all of these things and maybe expose some thoughts right now. So what must someone do then to receive all of that? Acts-2:38, Peter replied though they said, brothers, what shall we do?
Because they were "cut to the quick". Peter replied, repent and be baptized each 1 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will, everybody say, will Will. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Next question, who is this for? Acts-2:39, the promise very next verse.
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. So this is for you. Next question. How important is it being baptized in the Holy Spirit? Let's go to Acts-19.
If you notice, I'm gonna answer everything with scripture. Acts-19:1. While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. So just to break it down, Paul is going around on his missionary journeys at the time preaching the gospel, and he's going through the interior. So probably some country road on his way to Ephesus, is a city back in that time.
There he found some disciples and asked them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Now wait a second. Hold on. Paul's on a journey. He's going something distinguishes these disciples, these followers of the way is what they called it.
And the very first thing that he asked them is not, hey, guys. How's your mom? The very first thing that he asked him is not, hey, you know, what church do you go to? What's what what what denomination are you? The very first question he asked him when he found out the disciples is not not, hey, let's go get something to eat.
No. The first thing as he's on his way, he finds these disciples and the very first thing he he finds out about them is, did you receive the Holy Spirit? Meaning, it's very important. Now, if you would go on there, they said, no, we've not even heard there is a holy spirit. So, Paul asked them, well, what baptism did you receive?
John's baptism. They didn't even believe in Jesus. Paul said, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the 1 coming after him. That's in Jesus.
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse 6, when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Okay. So there's 1 case, 1 scenario. Yes.
It's important to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Next question. Is being baptized in the Holy Spirit automatic after believing in Jesus? May I ask that question again? Is being baptized in the Holy Spirit automatic after believing in Jesus?
Some people believe that it is and I used to too. I wasn't willing to see the next scripture that I'm about to show you. And so subconsciously when I read it, I read over it because I wanted to prove my preferences instead of reading the scripture. Don't be that guy. Acts-8:14.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God. Now background, Philip went to Samaria. Philip was in Samaria preaching the gospel, signs, wonders, and miracles were happening, people were accepting Jesus, and it was amazing. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. Now just to give you a little geographic background, Samaria is probably about this trip that they went from Jerusalem to Samaria is about a 35 to 50 mile walk.
And they didn't have cars and planes back then. Right? So 35 to 50 miles, it took them probably about 3 to 5 days. It was important enough for them to send them a 3 to 5 mile day a 3 to 5 day journey in order to get to Samaria. What did they do?
When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit, listen to this, had not yet come on any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. So is being baptized in the Holy Spirit automatic after believing in Jesus? These guys in Samaria believed in Jesus, were baptized in the name of Jesus, but yet had not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Put that your in your theological pipe and smoke it. Meaning, think about it. I didn't wanna read that. That went against what I had always thought, what I'd always been taught, what a lot of people that I went to seminary with and doctors told me, but they never read that scripture to me because we have a preference that we like to lean on instead of going by his word. I just choose to go by his word.
And man, I hope the Holy Spirit continues to correct me and I continue to grow in areas of my ignorance. Amen? Verse 18, just just because when Simon saw that the spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, give me also this ability so that whom I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit. So Simon, when they laid their hands on these people to receive the Holy Spirit, he saw something amazing happen. He's like, man, I want that because he used to be a magician.
He liked power. It didn't work for him. But anyway so this is not weird. It's just real. Now question then.
This brings up some more questions in a logical in in a man's mind. It brought them up in mind. Number 1, does the Holy Spirit have to be given through the laying on of hands? It would seem in the scriptures that we just read. Maybe that would be the case.
And then number 2, does being baptized in the Holy Spirit have to happen after salvation? Is it always this, like, second experience that happens, like, later? Because it would seem so based on the scriptures that we read. Well, let's go to Acts-10:44. While Peter was still speaking these words, what words was he speaking?
Once again, little context. Peter went to the centurion's home because the Holy Spirit led him there. And the centurion was a follower of God, but he was seeking after him and the Holy Spirit wanted him to preach the gospel, to teach Jesus to him. So the centurion who which is like an army soldier who has multiple people under him, he had all of his servants and all of his family and everybody in his home, and so there's this crowd of people that's connected with this centurion, this army guy that is there. Okay?
So Peter is preaching the gospel and then it says in verse 44, while Peter was still speaking, preaching these words the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, meaning the non Jews. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, surely no 1 can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They've received the Holy Spirit just as we have.
So they they ordered that they were baptized in the name of Jesus, and they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. So does it have to be given through the laying on of hands? Peter was just preaching, and the people believed in Jesus, and so they believed in Jesus. In that moment, they were born again, and they believed and received at the same time the Holy Spirit. Boom.
Right there. So, no, Acts is pretty clear. It doesn't have to be given through laying on of hands. Question 2, does being baptized in the Holy Spirit have to happen after salvation? Is it always a second experience?
It seemed to there to have happened all at 1 time. Boom. Boom. Saved and filled with the the power of the Holy Spirit all in that moment. Man, that's awesome.
That goes against a whole lot of a whole another section of people, but I'm just reading scripture and loving people. That's it. And so what about you have to be water baptized first? Well, these guys weren't. These guys these guys got water baptized after they were filled with Holy Spirit.
So basically, what I'm saying is, Holy Spirit's a big boy. He is a the Holy Spirit is a big boy. He's a person and we just gonna trust him and not put our box of how we've experienced it or how we've always seen experience or how it's always been taught to us on god and just let him flow however he wants to flow and let him do whatever he wants to do and trust him because he's good. Amen? Question.
What is the prerequisite to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The power to be a witness, the power to display to the world around you that the kingdom of God is in you. What must we do? Let me answer that with a few questions. What's the prerequisite to forgiveness?
In order to be forgiven, forgiveness doesn't happen without the shedding of blood. Prerequisite to being forgiven is Jesus shedding his blood for us. All we have to do is believe and receive it. What's the prerequisite to being born again? Well, that's Jesus risen from the dead.
All we have to do is believe in that he died and rose again, Right? Believe and receive it. Believe. This is the work you must do. Believe.
So then, what is the prerequisite for us to be filled or baptized, immersed. What is baptism? Simply being immersed in his presence. What is the prerequisite? Let's go to Acts-2:33.
Exalted to the right hand of god, he has received from the father, talking about Jesus, the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Remember in John-7, it said the Holy Spirit had not been given yet because he had not been glorified? What was the prerequisite of the Holy Spirit being poured out? It's Jesus being exalted to the right hand of god. Prerequisite for for forgiveness of sins, Jesus died on the cross.
For our new life, Jesus rising again. For the Holy Spirit on us, giving us the power to be witnesses, be effective at doing ministry. Well, Jesus being exalted, lord overall. What must we do? Believe and receive.
The Holy Spirit is a person, not just a power. He's a complete gentleman. He's a gift to us given by Jesus. We must believe and receive all of him. The Bible even says to "ask and it will be given" to you.
Luke-11:13. If you then, though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who asks? 1 John-4:5 14 and 15 is 1 of my favorites. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, we know that we have what we've asked.
We ask our father, if we've never experienced that, we ask him, hey, I don't understand what's going on. Maybe it's because I've never believed that this is real. But I'm open to what the scripture says. I ask you to baptize me in your presence, in your power, to make me effective at witnessing, to make me effective at ministry, to maybe able to do the same things Jesus did and even greater like he said. What was the difference in Peter before and after?
Well, before he was a frayed cat. He was scared. They were hiding. What happened after? He went right to the people he was hiding from and preached the gospel to them in the streets boldly.
That's a major difference and a major shift. Super it's not just natural. It's supernatural. It's above the natural. And that's pretty amazing.
So when I receive the Holy Spirit, when I receive the baptism of Holy Spirit, does something have to happen? That's a big question. Well, let's look at scripture. Stick with me here. What happened to the disciples in Acts-2 when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit?
Well, we see a mighty rushing wind. We see something like tongues of fire on their head. We see them speaking in other tongues. And then we see people thinking that they're drunk, like it's crazy and it's different. What did Peter say that that was?
He referred to Joel. And he he said, Joel said, this or Peter said, this is that which Joel prophesied about. Or this the Nehemiah says, this is what Joel prophesied about. In Joel-2, where he said, your young men will dream dream or your young young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams, sons and daughters are prophesying, or your servants, the men and women will prophesy. So I see dreams, visions, and prophecy.
But yet the disciples, I see rushing wind, tongues of fire, speaking in other tongues, and acting kinda weird and crazy and drunk. What gives? Peter said, this is that. They had an experience of the person of Holy Spirit, and the person of Holy Spirit can manifest however he wants to. This Joel is that.
We so often had this amazing experience that is awesome, but we worship the experience and say everybody else has to experience exactly what I experienced in this moment. No. We worship the person of the Holy Spirit, the person of Jesus, the person of the Father who is 1 God, period. And we're in relationship with him and it's awesome. And there's a excitement and a joy because we we know who he is and we know his character and he's the same "yesterday, today, and tomorrow", and and forever.
But at the same time, it's exhilarating because we're still getting to know him and we never know what he's gonna do next. And that's wow. Acts-4:31, after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Doesn't say anything about tongues there. Most of the other ones it does.
There it doesn't. Meaning, the Holy Spirit can do whatever he wants. He just can. What must we experience? Faith.
We have faith in his word, not in the experience. We put our faith in what God said, ask and it will be given to you. Ask in the gift, He will be given to you. He will be poured out. We put our faith in fact, which is eternal fact with which is his word.
And where we put our faith, we don't live by experience. But where we put our faith, our experience will eventually line up with what we put our faith in. And I'm a put my faith in his word. Period. Will I speak in tongues?
Maybe, if you're willing. Will I speak the word of God boldly? Maybe, if you're willing. Will I prophesy and dream dreams? Maybe.
I'm gonna be open to whatever he wants me to do because it's not about me anymore. Why does the Holy Spirit manifest in different ways, different gifts, different things? Why does he do that? To build up the body, to build up those so that you can be an effective witness, so that they can see the kingdom of God through you and be drawn to Jesus. Other people see it and they're like, wow, it's not about you.
It's about his kingdom. People get and maybe I'll teach on this another time, but people get worked up over over praying in tongues. That is an amazing gift. It's amazing thing that I believe anybody can do if they're willing, if they are willing to be obedient to the Holy Spirit's leading. However, what is the purpose of that?
It's building up ourselves so that we can build up others. The end result is still building up others. It's all about others. It's all about people. It's all about laying our lives down so people can experience what we have.
It's harvesting. It's ministry so that we can be satisfied and others can experience the satisfaction of Jesus. That's what it is. Let me read a couple of accounts. It's 1 of my favorite books, by the way.
If you're an avid reader, I recommend The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Neh. R a Tory, he was a major evangelist in the 18 hundreds. As a matter of fact, he was the superintendent, if you ever heard of the Moody Bible Institute. He was the superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute back in the day when it was first starting. Very good friend of DL Moody.
And R. A. Torey, let's just go from what he said on on his experience. He says, recall the exact spot where I was kneeling in in prayer in my study. It was a very quiet moment, 1 of the quietest moments I've ever known.
Then God simply said to me, not in any audible voice, but in my heart, it's yours. Now go and preach. Talking about the Holy Spirit. He had already said it to me in his word. In 1 John-5:14 and 15, which I quoted to you earlier, if you ask anything according to his will, he hears you.
And if you know that he hears you, you know that you have what you've asked. He already said it in his word. It's yours. But Tori says, but I did not then know my Bible as I know it now, and God had pity on me and on my ignorance and said it directly to my soul. I went and preached, and I have been a new minister from that day to this.
Sometime after this, now check this out, this is crazy. Sometime after this experience, I do not recall just how long after, while sitting in my room 1 day, suddenly I found myself shouting and I was not brought up to shout. And I'm not a shouting temperament, but I shouted like the loudest shouting Methodist. Glory to God. Glory to God.
Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. And I just couldn't stop. But that was not when I was baptized with the Holy Spirit.
I was baptized with the Holy Spirit when I took him by simple faith in the word of God. When he said, it's yours. Now go and preach. The experience will follow with faith. Check this out.
DL Moody says this, I was crying all the time that God would fill me with his holy spirit. Well, 1 day in the city of New York oh, what a day. I cannot describe it. I seldom even refer to it. It is almost too sacred an experience to name.
Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for 14 years. I can only say that God revealed himself to me and I had such an experience of his love that I had to ask him to stay his hand. I went preaching again. The sermons were not different. I did not present any new truths and yet hundreds were converted.
I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me all the world. It would be just a small dust in the balance. The outward manifestation that accompanied Moody's experience was not exactly what Joel said, visions, dreams, and prophecy, but yet it was of the same essence because it was from the same person, the Holy Spirit. The experience that Tori had, it was not exactly what Joel said or what Acts said, but it was of the same essence because it was from the same person and had the same effect, power to be a witness. Charles Finney, another evangelist, and I'm done.
I received the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Ghost, he calls it, without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was even such a thing for me, like the guys in Acts-10. Without any recollection a recollection that I'd ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through my body and soul. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love. Phinee wept, just cried like a like a baby aloud with joy love.
3 different experiences. Same person. Amazing. What does it take? Ask, believe, and receive.
And what is the result? Power to be a witness. The Holy Spirit enabling you to take what's in you and flow through you and impact the world around you with effectiveness. Now if you're willing, would you all stand? If you've never given your life to Jesus, would everybody close your eyes and bow your head?
Just wanna do this this time if you don't mind. If you've never given your life to Jesus and you've never experienced knowing God personally, and you would like to give your life to Jesus to know him. You've experienced salvation, and you would like to experience salvation right now. You want to know loving God. You believe that he died for you and he rose again.
You realize it's time to give your life to him right now in this moment. If that is you, I'm gonna count to 3 and ask you to raise your hand. And we're gonna pray. Count to 3. 1, 2, 3.
I see you. That's amazing. Anybody else? Anybody else? Let's pray.
Let's pray. Do you believe that Jesus just shake your head yes if if you say everybody else's eyes closed, bow head bowed. Do you believe that Jesus died for you? Do you believe he rose again? Are you ready to give your life to him?
Okay. Well, just just say this with me. God, I give you my life. I believe in you. I believe you died for me to forgive me of my sin.
I release my past to you because you purchased it.
Jesus purchased it in your past.
I receive your new life. Thank you, Jesus. I receive you. Just take a deep breath. Isn't that awesome?
Now the rest of you, I'm gonna ask you the same thing that Paul asked them on the road to Ephesus when he saw that they were disciples. I see that you're disciples. You believe in Jesus. Jesus. I'm gonna ask you the same thing that that Paul or Peter and John were sent to Samaria to ask them.
Have you ever received the gift of the Holy Spirit? And if you haven't and you want to today, I'm not gonna call you forward. I'm just gonna pray for you while you're in your seats. Would you raise your hand? I see it.
I see it. Anybody else? Anybody? Say, hey. You know what?
That's for me. I see you in the back. Anybody else? Lots of hands. Gone up.
I see you. I see you. Awesome. Now I'm gonna pray, and what I want you to do right now is say say this with me, and everybody just say it together. God, I believe in the Holy Spirit, and I welcome you right now.
I invite you to baptize me in you in you, to make me a powerful, effective witness for you. Now if you would, if you would just raise your hands as a this is just like a sign of surrender. You know, if if you feel if you feel comfortable, just do that. I'm just gonna pray for you. Father, I thank you for these amazing people.
And just like Paul and Peter and John, I'm laying my hands on them from a distance. In the name of Jesus, be filled with his presence. In the name of Jesus, be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus. We welcome more of you, Holy Spirit.
We just welcome you right here, right now. Transform them. In Jesus name. Amen. You require to simply believe and receive and trust.
That's it. It's that real. Just like everything else. We are going to because it's 11:15. I'm gonna ask my wife to come out.
Baby, would you come out? Would you finish up the service? And then they're gonna sing a chorus, set a fire. You're welcome to stay and sing with that, or you're welcome to leave as well. And if you would like for us, you're like, hey.
You know what? I feel like the other guy's in Acts. I just want you to lay your hands on me like like they said. Hey. We'll do that too.
Just come and find us. It doesn't have to happen at the altar. Shoot. We can do it on sidewalk. But just come and find us.
We'll lay our hands on you, and it's just that real. Real people, real Jesus, real big time.
So as believers, the Bible says that we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit as a guarantor of our inheritance. Holy Spirit in us changes us from the inside. Our outside might not catch up to what God's done on the inside. And sometimes sometimes that that frustrates us because it's like, why why isn't my life? Why don't I feel the way that I feel like I I should feel with Holy Spirit on the inside of me?
And just know that after you've given your life to Jesus, Holy Spirit is in you to lead, guide, direct, and comfort you. When we pray to receive Holy Spirit on us, the baptism, immersion, whatever whatever you wanna call it. Bible calls it a lot of different things. That is so that God can "flow through us". So it's for us and it's for the world.
Whenever we give our lives to Jesus, there are things that we do in response to what he's done in us. Matthew-6 talks about them. And it also says that we do it in secret when we pray, when we fast. Now we we we pray together, we fast together, but there are things that we do to "build up ourselves" in private. Right?
When we pray, when we fast, and when we give. And this is the part of the service where I want to open up giving to you. This is not about you and me. This is not about you and pastor David. This is simply about being obedient to what Holy Spirit is telling you.
We like to say that we will never ask you to give, but we will unashamedly ask you to "ask God" if and how and how much that he will have you sow into this ministry here. So if you see God at work and you wanna partner with us in giving, we have 3 ways to give. That is open to you. But the bible says, don't give reluctantly and don't give out of compulsion. Because the Lord loves a cheerful giver.
And so if that is something that God has led you to do, simply be obedient. It's "between you and Him". It's not between you and me. We just want to open that up to you and not put any pressure on you. Also, I don't want you to forget about small groups.
Small group sign ups are on our website, realchurch.us. You can click on small groups, scroll down, and you'll see a description of every group that's available, and we're starting this week. That is a place where you can "get connected" to people. If this, if you don't call this your home church, guess what? That's okay.
If you have friends that are like, I wanna, like, meet people, but I don't wanna go to church. That's fine. You do not have to be a member or a regular attendee here at Real Church to get connected to a small group. It's not about our kingdom here on earth. Right?
It's about his kingdom. It's about drawing people into his presence, loving people.
Thanks for listening to the Real Church podcast. If you have questions, comments, or would like to get to know us, be sure to check us out on social media by searching real church clear water or visit us online at www.realchurch.us. If you'd like to play a part in what we're doing, you can do so right where you are. Your prayers are powerful and effective. You can also be a part through giving.
Go to realchurch.us and click the gift button. Whether you're praying, giving, or serving with Real Church, you are playing a part in every life being changed. Thank you. Until our next podcast, be blessed. We'll see you next time.