There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love. And if those are the weapons of our warfare, then we can handle them. Hadn't He told them that He'd come back to life again? When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. An eyewitness account, there was a lack of belief that put them in the situation here that they did not understand and didn't believe that had actually happened. INTRODUCTION Jesus told the disciples to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit before doing ministry. He was just [snaps fingers] gone, He was there. Surely for a Christian the only reason to study or be artistic is for God's sake. Everybody who gets up and gives a sermon in a congregation, that sermon before it's ever posted on a website, has been reviewed or at least approved by individuals within the congregation. " They were able to do the things Jesus gave them authority to do and they found it amazing. And this express bus took Route 66 out of St. Louis all the way to Los Angeles, my first time to get on that fabled highway, Route 66. But when was it first true? 1 Samuel 16:14 In Nehemiah 9, Ezra gives thanks to God for all his past benefits to Israel and says in verse 20, "Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them and didst not withhold thy manna from their mouth." Luke 2:25-27. Being mentally separated from other people (because of being ashamed of lost of their 'cause') made them being afraid of people. Four verses later Moses says, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them" (v. 29). I think it will make a difference. If these latter days are to be days of dreams and visions from the Holy Spirit, we had better pray earnestly for gifted Josephs to arise among us who can discern truth and error in such claims. Apparently, two angelic figures appeared to them as the disciples were kind of watching Christ go. That is the vision that Jesus has for His Church as articulated by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:16 Ephesians 4:16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love.American King James Version, and they had it at this moment. A fellowship, a community, prayer, sharing food together, much like we do today. The difference between a historian and a preacher is that the historian says, "Was it so?" Beginning with Easter Sunday (e.g., Luke 24:32,45) and most likely throughout the forty days before ascending, the Lord instructed and formed the Apostles in the Gospel. Those in the flesh are devoid of the Spirit and cannot submit to God's law or please God. He was the one who was the leader of that doubt and fear and terrified approach, because he denied Christ three times, and he had to be pointedly taught by Jesus. And so Christ gives them teaching and He gives them understanding. And the people of God in this period are to be a people born of the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." People should see God in the firstfruits. The Victory over Fear On the day of the Pentecost, The Spirit of God came to them, filled their minds and their hearts and their entire being. Luke 24:53 says that the disciples stayed continually at the Temple praising God. That He had to rebuke them and teach them. The same Jesus who's been taken up will come in a like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." They weren't orphans, and we are not either in our life. "And fear came upon every soul," and this was a different type of fear. What do we do now? I want to show you ten ways the Old Testament saints experienced the Holy Spirit. And this small group of people who had signed on to what they thought was a remarkable, gifted rabbi, and followed Him around and soon learned that they had fallen into something quite different than anything they could have ever imagined, as they witnessed miracles of loaves and fishes, and people being brought back to life, and dramatic healings. The elixir, the antidote to our faith, to every one of our problems, if we could see a miracle; and we like signs, but miracles, well, they're a little harder to come up with. YouVersion uses cookies to personalize your experience. And I was going to go out to California, my first trip to California, visit my brother for about three weeks. A survey of Old Testament spiritual experience is needed to wake us up to our privileges in these last days that were inaugurated at Pentecost. I hope you share this world view with the OT saints: namely, that your conception as a person in your mother's womb was a sovereign act of creation by God's Spirit and that every breath you take now and every chemical transaction in the cells of your body is sustained every moment by work of the Holy Spirit. They thought that Jesus Himself didn't actually know that asleep people wake up? Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died .John 4:11-14 Come on. Otherwise how would they ever overcome their natural hostility to God? We are going to be taking giant steps toward creating that kind of Church that we read about here in the book of Acts, that has been imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit, and changes are being made. And it is also the mission of the Church, we see right here, it has begun. He quotes Joel, he quotes Psalms and he gives interpretations upon those scriptures, here in chapter 1, no one had ever heard of before. And they chose Matthias by casting lots. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit if the Spirit of God really dwells in you." How can I recognize one? If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! We can deal with them. Or is this authority that I mentioned just about Jesus' own power he gave them and isn't about Spirit in themselves like when he said to Peter to cast net into water and pulled out much fishes? This is what He does as He moves them through the Law of Moses, the Psalms, and the prophets, and opening their understanding. Number one was the Roman Empire. They had hoped He would overcome the power of the Roman government and establish a new kingdom, and now their hopes of this vanished. As we came here this morning, to services, and as we gathered here this morning ourselves, there is a very important lesson for us to learn as well. Thomas replied, You are my Lord and my God! Fourth, OT believers experienced the Spirit of God as their Counselor or Teacher. . "Behold, He said, My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Again, the answer is yes. Which again points forward to the last days inaugurated at Pentecost. And God will expose sin, ours to ourselves, sometimes to others. Christ in you, the hope of glory. They looked upon them then as liars, charlatans, or fools, maybe a bit delusional. Again, nothing like this had been a part of their frame of reference before. It was a mighty, powerful machine, the most powerful that the world in that day had ever seen. Does anybody care? Thank you Mr. McNeely , for making Christ more real. I never have believed in knowledge for its own sake or art for art's sake. The Key to a Life Well Lived. The disciples had to walk a week away to get to Jerusalem (Acts 1:12). and there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. But they were frightened and they thought that they had seen a spirit. And so it was very key that His final ascension would be from this mountain. And speaking about the deep things of the Kingdom of God to prepare them for what they were to take part in, and what they were to be a part of. He greeted them and showed them his hands and his side. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. Was the power they received in Matthew 10 different from the one they received in Acts 2? ", A church begins to develop. They thought that the body had been ferretted away by the disciples, someone had stolen it. 60 seconds. This morning let me close simply by returning to the Aswan High Dam for a moment. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Did they experience fear, doubt, and disbelief as we sometimes do? It's God's Spirit that is the only thing that we can have to overcome those fears, because really, it's all the Church of God has ever had. They were with Him and they asked Him in verse 6, "Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" Before Pentecost the river of God's Spirit blessed the people of Israel and was their very life. How was the Holy Spirit being seen (perceived) in Acts 8? But let's go back, let's look at a few of these scriptures in a little bit more detail and see exactly what had been taking place among the disciples during this period of time, that brought them to that morning of Pentecost. Jesus took all believers out of Hades ten days before Pentecost, when He ascended into the third heaven. And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.". In Colossians chapter 1, Colossians 1:27 Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:American King James Version, Paul writes, "To them, God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." And as we've seen, even when they were confronted with the miracle of Christ's resurrection, and they recognized that they still had to deal with the hostility of the world around them, in a kind of a two-pronged government called the Roman Empire and the Jewish society, plus their own human nature, and themselves. And it brings it down to the end of the chapter. And then they had seen that He was resurrected. It only takes a minute to sign up. And we can have the power to believe that, and to grow together and develop together as a bride of Christ, and accomplish His work and His purpose and His will. I don't think it was an intergalactic tour that He was on to get to the third heaven. The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Every generation of God's people have done that. But the Christian ought to see the creative, imaginative work of God's Spirit. 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