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Sermon
by Rev. Tom Ramsay "Divine Energy” We are continually being alerted by
scientists, politicians, and the media that we are rapidly facing an energy
crisis. We need to discover new energy
sources or all of our sophisticated electrically operated machinery,
communication systems, and our fuel driven way of life and living will be
severely hindered if not decimated. Without fuel,
without an energy source, our 21st century inventions will be
worthless, will not be able to sustain us. A reduced energy source or no energy
source at all results in impaired functioning at the
least and could result in the inability to function at all! From a spiritual standpoint the same
challenge faces the church of Jesus Christ and all of us as individual
Christians! We also need an energy source, a Divine energy source, if
we are to function properly and effectively in fulfilling our mission in the
world. We
can be born again, be saved by the blood of Jesus. We can exhibit outwardly all the attributes and talents of a very effective church or Christian. We can be in a church of truly regenerated,
Evangelical Christians. We can be a
church or Christian with outward signs of effective witness and ministry. But, without
spiritual fuel, without Divine energy, we will not function properly or
effectively. We will not be at our full
spiritual potential. We will not be as
bold and assertive as we must be in our ministries to each other and the watching
world. Just
as an energy shortage can cause frustration and discouragement in our daily
lives, so, too, a divine energy shortage
causes discouragement and frustration within an evangelical church and
individual, Bible-believing Christians as they seek sincerely to serve, honor,
and glorify Almighty God! What is this spiritual fuel? What
is the Divine energy? The Divine energy
that the church needs today - that you and I need today - is the Divine
energy of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. Yes! That so important, but often neglected
Person of the Trinity! Within many
evangelical churches and unfortunately in many Presbyterian and Reformed
churches this is the sad situation:
God the Father, the First Person, is really
emphasized. Jesus, the Second Person,
is also emphasized. But: the Holy
Spirit, the Third Person, is seldom discussed or focused on as a very vital
personage in that description of the Triune
God. Consequently,
I feel within churches as a whole there has been infrequent opportunity to
study and fully appreciate the importance of the work and ministry of the Holy
Spirit in the life and ministry of the church and individual Christians. You see, my dear
friends, we must develop a better understanding and a deeper respect for the
ministry of the Holy Spirit! For
only as the Holy Spirit fills the Christian with Divine energy will that person
and the Church of Jesus Christ bear fruit and have an effective
transformational ministry in the world.
This is not just my own hobby horse or
personal ambition and goal for you and me.
Yet, honestly, I am very passionate about this subject and have been for
many years. I share this with you because Jesus, our Lord and Savior,
very clearly and assertively commanded His disciples to not do any ministry
until they had received this Divine energy, this Divine power! For Christians to function effectively,
they need Holy Spirit power. Read Luke
24:44-49. Here in these verses recorded
by Luke and reiterated in our text for today, in Acts chapter one, we are
confronted with the very words of Jesus to His disciples to wait for the
infilling of the Divine energy, the Divine power before embarking on their
ministry to the world. The disciples had been taught by
Jesus. They had been born again! They had saving faith. They had observed how He ministered. They
knew they had to go into the world, share the gospel, suffer, and die for it.
In the same way you and I and all who are
God’s in Christ know what our marching orders are through the sermons we’ve
heard, the Scripture truths we’ve studied,
and the Christian hymns we’ve sung. Yet, before they
were to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth the
disciples were to wait for the gift from God: The power from on high, the baptism and
anointing of the Holy Spirit. So must we who have saving faith and scriptural knowledge
need this power from on High, God’s power, as we go forth to minister in Jesus’
name. The
Holy Spirit is indeed Divine power, as Zachariah 4:6 says, ”Not by might, nor
by power (that is, human power) but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts.”
This is the same Spirit that functioned so powerfully
and selectively in the Old Testament through the patriarchs, Moses, the
prophets, David, and others. The
powerful operation and impact of God upon a person enables that person to effectively
serve God in God’s way to accomplish God’s purpose and will. You see, the Holy
Spirit’s operation in and on a person is what enables that person to
effectively function as a child of God.
Read John 7:37-39. The Holy Spirit is the One who enables us to truly minister
to each other and the world. He enables
us to share with others the Good News, the living water. He gives us the ability
to love others as Christ loves us, to forgive
others and be reconciled to others. And
He helps us to worship God joyfully and sincerely with all our mind, soul, and
heart. Too
often we try to do God’s work in our own strength. So often we then fall so far short. We are easily
discouraged and can’t persevere. We become frustrated and lose heart! Praise the Lord! God knows our frame. He knows we are spiritually weak and so He
sends us the gift of His Holy Spirit so that we can serve Him and love Him! The Church of Jesus Christ has received
the Divine energy of the Holy Spirit.
Read Acts 2:1-4. What a day that
must have been! After ten days of
praying in the Upper Room, God sends His Holy
Spirit to His church! All were filled with the Holy Spirit and truly empowered
with divine energy! They became ecstatic with joy!
They were on fire! All fear was
gone! They became extremely bold
preaching the gospel with power and witnessing
with real courage! They also
experienced miraculous signs and wonders.
The Prophet Joel had prophesized about
this day in Joel 2:28-29. Now it was fulfilled! The Church and God’s Kingdom entered
the new era of the Spirit. There was no longer a partial outpouring of power, no longer
limited manifestations of power. But,
God’s Spirit came fully with great power and impactful
activity! O, let us be rekindled with
such Holy fire! Why did God do this? He had
work for His church to do in the world.
Satan and the powers of evil had to be confronted. The Gospel of Jesus Christ had to be
proclaimed in a world antagonistic to this good news! Let us never
forget that the anti-God, anti-Christ forces that the New Testament Christians
had to battle are identical with those we face today in the 21st
century. The spiritual warfare is the
same today as it was in the first century church. Consequently the ministries that they and we are called to engage
in and the battles that they and we will encounter in the process can only be
accomplished and victory attained in the power of that same outpoured Divine
energy, the Holy Spirit. Church history records when great
revivals have occurred; spiritual renewals have taken place in churches; and
individual Christians have experienced powerful spiritual transformations in
their lives. The causal factor, the
catalyst of that change has always been the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in
power and activity.
Throughout the ensuing centuries God’s people
have seen powerful evidences of such Holy Spirit activity all over the world,
even to this very day! I hope as a church and as individual children of God that
we desire, deep within our hearts and souls, to be blessed with an outpouring
of God’s Holy Spirit. Now, some may be thinking if the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost
and has been poured out upon the church, then why be praying for something that
is already here? It’s true, the Holy Spirit is operating in the world today: convicting
people of sin, drawing people to Jesus,
regenerating sinful, dead hearts, and by God’s grace
saving all of God’s children. We see that occurring amongst us here at First EPC. But, it is one
thing to have the Holy Spirit inside of you, it is another thing to be filled
with the Holy Spirit. This leads to my third point. Christians need a continual filling of the
Holy Spirit in their lives if they are to have an impact for Jesus Christ. See Ephesians 5:15-18. Here we see the Apostle Paul giving a
command to Christians: “Be filled” with the Spirit! The Greek
word means that it is a continual process in
passive tense: we must let the Holy Spirit fill
us continually. We must be open to His coming
and infilling throughout our lives as Christians. Now, you need to ask yourself
this question, “Have I wanted and desired to be so filled with the Spirit that
He becomes the source of each thought and deed so that what the heart produces
is the fruit of His presence?”
Hopefully that is what each of us desires. It is that process that enables us to mature
in our relationship with Jesus. So then, we come
to worship with great expectation of God’s loving presence with hopeful joy,
glad thanksgiving, and praise. We have
a deeper and more abiding trust in God.
We have more honest awareness and confession
of sin. We experience the reality of true humility and increased boldness in being God’s witness. We have honest openness to whatever God’s
will is so that trust and faith are magnified and fear is diminished. And we experience the manifestation of the
supernatural, transformational work of God in our lives. This is a matter of yielding ourselves to
Him, of surrendering our pride, ego, and self-centeredness. You know, Jesus said to pray and ask God for
this gift of the Holy Spirit in Luke 11:11-13. I believe that as each of us who knows
Jesus Christ as Savior honesty prays for and asks God for an outpouring of His
Holy Spirit on us and this church, that He will answer far beyond what we could
ever imagine or think. From God’s
standpoint, there is no Divine energy shortage! It will never run out. He
is ready to give it to all who ask.
This is very important! Please
know that I am aware that this information is not new to some of you. Some of you have
experienced such spiritual awakenings in the past. But you have grown
weary in well doing, you have become spiritually lethargic, you have drifted
from your first love and you are not spiritually energized, you sense no empowerment
for serving God. It is not a good place
for a Christian, a child of God, to be.
There are three actions that may be hindering your joy, enthusiasm,
faith, boldness, and peace: We must never forget that the Holy
Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity.
He is not an It. As believers He
resides in us as the One Who enabled us to trust in Jesus for salvation. Consequently, He can be offended by our
actions when we resist Him, grieve Him, or quench Him! We
resist Him when we persistently refuse to trust Him and totally submit to His
transforming spiritual work within us and when we don’t use our spiritual
gifts. This is oftentimes due to a
misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the Scriptures. We grieve Him when we continue to reject Him
when He convicts us of our ongoing sins: sins of thought, word, and deed. We quench Him when
we seek to snuff Him out as we would a fire (which He is) when He prompts us to
witness or serve or use the gifts He has given
us and we don’t, and when we hinder others in the use of their gifts, out of
fear or pride. I confess to you here this morning that I have been guilty
as your pastor of resisting Him and grieving Him in a very specific way! The Holy Spirit’s work of infilling had
a powerfully significant impact on me almost 40 years ago which changed the
direction of my life and led to God calling me into the ministry. While
raising a hand or hands in worship is an individual matter, to not raise your
hands when you really want to because of fear of man or pride, then in that
instance you are resisting, grieving, and even quenching the Holy Spirit. I am guilty of that
action! Consequently, I have hindered
the fullness of my worship relationship with God and have possibly quenched the
Spirit in those who may have wanted to raise their hands in sincere heart-felt
joyful praise but because they did not see a pastor example it, were hesitant
to do it. I ask your forgiveness and will seek to be a better example
of what I believe and preach! Let us all search our hearts and if
there is evidence that we have resisted, grieved, or quenched the Holy Spirit
in any way, we must confess it and receive forgiveness and be renewed in our
openness to receive the fullness of that divine power. I assure you that that will be a
life-changing prayer for you and for us all, as a church, as we grow and mature
in our faith and Christian witness to each other and the world. If you
want to experience a more intimate relationship with Jesus, a more life-changing and joyful, fulfilling worship of God,
a more bold and faithful witness for Jesus, a more
powerful and effective prayer life, and
experience all that God has for you as you use
your gifts to honor and glorify Him then do as
Jesus and the Apostles command: pray
and ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and by His marvelous grace await
with great expectation the empowerment of His divine energy. |