Acts WK 4
Part of Acts—We are the Church
August 30, 2020

Acts week 4

Unity

It is so easy to see things only from our own perspective. What we are passionate about, everyone should be passionate about.
Covid 19
Racial reconciliation
We are losing America
Human trafficking

The Holy Spirit is actually what should bring us together!
He is what allows us to be less about me and more about we.

Until this point in time the Spirit had only come upon a few believers, who were chosen for a special office or empowered to carry out a specific task for the glory of God. But on that first day of Pentecost, believers were not only permanently indwelled by the Spirit but they were also filled with the Spirit. Who in addition gave everyone who was present the gift of speaking in a language they did not know so that men of Israel from around the world would hear the works of God and be saved, by grace through faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus

Acts 2
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues  as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome  11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

We must see Acts 2 in the light of Jesus promising the Holy Spirit and telling them to wait and receive the power to be witnesses.
The point of Pentecost is mission, and that mission is found in Habakkuk 2.

Habakkuk 2.14
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

Although it was only Jewish believers who were present on day of Pentecost, when the small band of 120 believers, became the Temple of God and were filled with the Holy Spirit it was the point in history when the Church was born.

From that simple beginning the body of Christ has spread to the four corners of the earth as gospel of God has been taught throughout the world to every nation and land and people and tribe.

God knew to succeed in the mission for the world to experience the gospel could only happen with his people full of his Spirit.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son and is of the same essence. Yet He is also distinct from them.
Scripture describes the Holy Spirit in personal terms, not as an impersonal force, when it says that He teaches, guides, comforts and intercedes. He possesses emotions, intellect and will. The Holy Spirit spoke to Philip and gave counsel to the church at Jerusalem. He was sinned against and lied to.

The Holy Spirit today plays a major role in salvation to the individual. It is the Spirit who brings conviction to the unbeliever and causes them to see the truth of the gospel in a clear light. Those who respond to this conviction and place their faith in Jesus Christ receive eternal life and a new nature. The Holy Spirit unites the believer with Christ and places him in the body of Christ, the church. He also unites the believer with Christ in His death, enabling him to live victoriously over sin. The Holy Spirit controls the believer who yields to God and submits himself to God’s Word. When these conditions are met, the believer lives in the power of the Spirit and produces the fruit of the Spirit.

1 Cor 14.1-2
1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue a does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.

the practice of speaking in tongues was important during Paul’s time to efficiently communicate with God through prayer.

*Aside from it being a form of prayer, speaking in tongues is also a form of praising God. *

1 Cor 14.15-17
 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 16 Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer,  say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17 You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.

Aside from it being a form of prayer and praise, speaking in tongues is also a form of building oneself.
It enables a person to improve oneself morally and spiritually through God, as Paul explains, “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:4).

What Paul means by his words is that speaking in tongues in private is praising God through the Spirit. It may not be understood as he emphasized “my mind is unfruitful” but he emphasized that the Spirit is praising and worshiping, instead.

in every biblical text where tongues is mentioned, it consistently serves a positive and spiritually beneficial role in the life of God’s people. Paul’s seemingly critical comment in 1 Corinthians 13:1 is not an indictment of tongues but a rebuke to those who would make use of the gift in the absence of love.

The gift of tongues also serves to edify and strengthen the one who makes use of it in his or her private devotional life. If the apostle Paul himself regularly prayed to God, praised God, and expressed his gratitude to God in un-interpreted tongues in the isolation of his own prayer closet, it stands to reason that we today should embrace this gift of the Spirit and make good use of it to the same end.

The Greek word καρπός (karpos) that we translate fruit usually means fruit in the sense of edible fruits and vegetables, but it can also be translated as offspring, action, result, or profit. In a farming society, fruit is a good thing. It is the result of hard work and careful tending.  Today we might use the word fruit in a phrase such as the fruit of our labor to communicate the results of our effort. Even if we don’t harvest strawberries or apples, we can have fruit, something to show for our work, in a paycheck, a finished project, or even a baby.

Galatians 5.22-25
 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.