How Much More, Part II

Epiphany III

January 19, 2014

Fr. Philip Eberhart

HOW MUCH MORE, Part II

Well, this morning I'm sure that many minds are on the battle that will be raging at Mile High Stadium at 1 p.m.  So I consulted the famous book, The One Minute Manager and looked to see of there was a way to do a One Minute Sermon ...

There isn't!  No Way!

I know some of you are disappointed, but I will make this as brief as possible!  After all, we're only talking about eternity, and its place in our hearts and lives today!

------------------

I want to follow on from last week's sermon, entitled HOW MUCH MORE?  We commemorated Jesus' Baptism last week and this morning's gospel lesson from John 1, tells the story a bit more in detail from John, the Baptizer's sign and adds some comments about the significance of the "sign" from heaven, the presence of the Holy Spirit as a dove, to the baptizer.  Here is what he said:

And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

John, the gospel writer and apostle, identifies statements made by John, the Baptizer.  John the Baptizer was beheaded by Herod while Jesus was still alive, so this testimony comes from those who were near John at the time, by name, Andrew for one, Peter's own brother.  This passage identifies him as John's follower or disciple at the time.  No doubt he saw the same things, when Jesus was baptized.  I believe that it was an actual dove that was sent as a sign, a kind of sacramental sign if you will, outward and visible, of an inward gift from the Father to the Son!  But a sign, for John and others who were nearby - not so much for Jesus himself.

And for me the point of extending this sermon into a series is that we need to think about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus just a bit more - especially as it applies to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives and ministries!  So the question remains ... HOW MUCH MORE?

John, the Baptizer, had a word from God.  "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit."   It was a sign from God to John, in witness that this was Jesus, The Son of God.  John was the first in a long line of "eye witnesses."  And the first to make the public confession, "...this is the Son of God."

The point for me to ask the question again this week is to drive home the need we have to enter into the same fulness that Jesus had and that He offers us in, what John's gospel calls, "the Baptism with the Holy Spirit."  This phrase is used unanimously - by all four gospelers:  Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16 and John 1:33.  A unanimous witness across the gospels that Jesus promises to be our baptizer IN< WITH< BY the Holy Spirit.  Any of those three words is allowed by the translators.

So the point is, this "baptism" in, with, or by the Holy Spirit is to be our every day experience!  Just like Jesus had and appropriated the power of God, through the Holy Spirit in His ministry, SO we are to experience and expect the immediacy and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we live out the Jesus' life in this world.

Now I want to take a moment to give you a brief survey of the "works" that Jesus did, by the Spirit:  and for brevity sake I'll limit the scope of our survey to Matt 4 - 9, mentioned last week.  The space of the INCLUSIO, that Matthew intended to be a snapshot of Jesus teaching and works:  Matt 4:23 - 9:35.   The very next verse begins this section with:

The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.

He healed them.  Simple as that.  All in one sentence!

The next three chapters are called The Sermon on the Mount!  No great grand healings - just the deepest teaching the world has ever heard!  That is another, year-long sermon series!!

So we get to Chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew, if you want to turn there with me.  Just put your finger on the text and follow with me:

Jesus heals a leper, in the first three verses, (kind of jumps in the deep end first!!).  Then a Roman Centurion's servant, just by saying the word, according to the faith of the Roman!  In Vs 14, Jesus is at Peter's house and heals his mother-in-law - (always a good thing to have Jesus around when your mother-in-law is sick!).   And in v. 16 we read:

When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.

Then they left and crossed over the Sea of Galilee to the other side.  While they were crossing they got caught in a passing storm, something quite common on the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus stood and calmed the storm, a demonstration of power and authority even over the wind and the waves.

Have you ever commanded a storm?  Any hands?

I have - twice!  Once at a Heavenfest Event and more recently at the Franklin Graham, Rock the Range event a few years ago.  Both were threatened with heavy rain and lightening storms, and both had groups of intercessors.  At Rock the Range they actually stopped the concert and prayed.  I was on a weather app on my phone at the time they prayed, watching the radar of the storm as they prayed and it stopped at I-76 and turned left, up the highway, around the Dick's Sporting Goods Park venue.  The same thing happened at Heavenfest a few years prior to that.  The storm actually split and went around us.  At the end of the evening, we were surrounded by storm clouds and lightning, but not a drop fell on the venue.

Coincidence?  Hmmmmm?!!  The disciples asked, what kind of man is this that the wind and the waves obey him?

Following that, you have the healing of the Gadarene Demoniac, the incident with the pigs and Jesus being asked to leave the area!

Jesus returns to Capernaum, heals a paralytic after forgiving his sins;  He calls Matthew, the tax-collector, and goes to his house for dinner - all quite controversial.  Teaches there that "I am not come to the healthy, but to the sick and the sinners" and about New Wine and New Wineskins...  By The Way - please don't think that your ministry, if done with Jesus' power, will be any less controversial !!  I'm just sayin.

While he was teaching, the ruler of the local synagogue, whose daughter lay ill, near death, came to Jesus and asked him to come.

As Jesus was going, the woman in the crowd, who had been bleeding for 12 years, was healed by "touching the hem of his garment."  Power "went out from him" -  Hmmmm?!!

What a coincidence!

He goes on to heal Jairus' daughter, who was reported to have died, and afterward heals two blind men there and a mute who was demon possessed.  We also see that controversy was brewing already in the barbs of the Pharisees, "He casts out demons by the father of demons."

and then the verse that is the end of the INCLUSIO:  9:35

Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Now this is a fairly short list of Jesus miracles, a sampling if you will. But its a good representative slice of his ministry:

Healings:  A leper, A Roman Centurion's servant, Peter's Mother-in-law, All before dinner!  After he returned from Gadara, a paralytic, Jairus's daughter, two blind men and a mute person - and by the way / or ON the way, the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years.  

Demonic oppression:  The passage begins with "they brought him many who were demon-possessed and he cast out the demons with a word" -  then there was the Gadarene demoniac, a pretty hard case with "thousands of demons" - so many that they caused the herd of swine to run into the sea.   (on a side note - we think this is probably the first instance of "deviled ham!")

Also we want to note that the demonic oppression was the cause of the mute state of the last healed man.  

This was a two day stretch - a snap-shot of Jesus life and ministry.  9+ physical healings,1 raised from the dead, 2 or 3 demon possessions,  Oh and a storm calmed along the way.  All in a couple day's work!

Do you see my point?

We are likely talking about a 48 hour period in the life of Jesus, the Son of God.  And my point is, friends, we have the same Holy Spirit and the same mission and commission from Jesus, that He had from His Father!

Look at the next three verses, no the next four verses

"Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."

  "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

and 10:1 

Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

OK.  There you have it.   Authority.   The power of the Holy Spirit!    The compassion of Jesus!  A world white unto harvest - in which there is no shortage of sickness and oppression.

What are we waiting for?  

The opportunities are all around us just like they were all around him - in every day of our life.  

Those are the instructions:

"Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness."

"And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give."

Friends, this is the normal Christian life!  It is what we've been saved, called and empowered for.  From the first followers of Jesus down to us, with no difference!  The difference is in us.  Will we appropriate for ourselves the power and the legacy of the followers of Jesus Christ, the Messiah?  Will we?   Will you?  Or will we substitute excuses for EXOUSIA (Greek for Authority and Power - Jn 1:12)

HOW MUCH MORE?    How much more do we need the equipping of the Spirit to do the work of the Kingdom of God.  What we have seen and heard this morning is the command and expectation of heaven for us. It is our prayer in fact as we pray every week, some every day?   "Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven!"

So I want to pray this morning and ask you to simply place your hand on your heart.  I want to pray for a renewal of the power and of the gifts of God's Holy Spirit - for His fire in your heart - the fire of compassion, and open eyes to see, open ears to hear the needs around you.  I want to pray for our willingness, our availability and our obedience every day.

Will you pray with me - and if you want to participate in the answer, please place your hand over your heart:

Dear Jesus,

You have sent us.  But you have given us the equipment of the Holy Spirit as you send us.

  

Renew in us today - renew in me and in each one who is asking you this morning, the refreshing of the Holy Spirit - His presence in our lives and His power for our lives.  Lord we want to be Your witnesses, as it says in Acts 1, so Come, Holy Spirit and fill us anew with your presence and your power.  You are not reluctant to give, as we are reluctant to receive.  

Cleanse and forgive us for our fears - give us your Holy Boldness, the boldness Peter acquired on the Day of Pentecost.  The boldness the church prayed for in the face of persecution weeks later:  So we pray... ""And now, Lord, ... grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence,"

"while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.""

Shake this place and us, Lord, and fill us anew with the presence and power of your Holy Spirit.  Let your Kingdom come, Jesus,

here on earth, among us and through us, as it is in heaven.

Amen!

Blueprint for Pentecost

Pentecost 2012

May 27, 2012

Fr. Philip Eberhart

Acts 2:  Blueprint for Pentecost

So often in our lives we know that we have a need – a deep seated, even sometimes desperate need – but we don’t know how to fulfill that need, or even how to get it fulfilled!  Our need of the Holy Spirit in our lives is like that.  In fact at the most basic level of life in Christ, it IS that need!

It’s very common these days to hear people asking the question, “Isn’t there more to life than this?”  People of all walks and stations of life:   rich as well as poor, accomplished people and homeless people, professionals, day laborers, shop clerks and managers – all are in the same boat, searching for that “something more” that makes life worth living.

Well friends, today is the day we celebrate the secret!  We celebrate the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world, poured out on all flesh, by the Father and the Son.  The Secret! 

The Holy Spirit himself is the Secret!  The secret to the abundant life that Jesus promised to his followers in John 10.  The Holy Spirit is the Secret to the motive power for living a victorious life as a follower of Jesus!  The Holy Spirit is not the fancy, optional equipment that makes your car special, no!  The Holy Spirit is the engine, that moves the car down the road.  

I love that Subaru commercial where the dad is leaning into the window and giving instructions about the mirror and the seat belt and the camera pans to a 5 year old in the driver’s seat – and we all panic – then he continues about the cell phone and hands his little girl the keys, only to pan back to the 16 year old, going out for her first time in the car!  That’s how I feel about my role as a pastor.

At some point in your life, you have to take the keys and put them into the ignition and fire this baby, called the Christian Life up!!  But getting “fired up” is the purview – it’s the will and the work of the Holy Spirit himself.  But you need to know that you have a part in this process, just like all of the processes of salvation, God has made you to have a volitional part in the process.  

Last week, Valerie delivered a word that the Lord had laid on her heart for our church body, but that word applies equally to this sermon this morning!  “You have not because you ask not!”  Friends, our Christian experience is anemic.  Anemia is a constant state of weakness, caused by lack of red blood cells which carry needed oxygen to the cells of the body – the carry the fuel for the fire that keeps our body going.

How willing do you think God is that we should be fully alive in Him and fully active in His Kingdom and its work?  Well, God is so willing that He sent his Only Son to die in order to wipe away all the barriers that stood in front of you – that stood between you and Him – that stood between you and asking God for ALL that He has for you!

When Jesus said, “It is finished!” this is what He was talking about.  All the obstacles have been removed – all our sin, all our bondages, all our addictions – the power of them have been wiped out and swept away in the moment of Jesus death.  “It is finished” wiped the slate clean and God reached down in that moment and tore the curtain of separation between His people and His Presence in two!

How anxious is God for you to come and ask Him for ALL that he has for you?  Hmmmm?

It’s interesting though, we are preoccupied with the old toys.  We would rather stay in the sand box and play with the dump trucks there than go and drive the real thing!  We would rather play with the cars on our indoor race track than ask Father for the keys.

Anyone here ever known a 15 year old boy?  How interested are they in cars?  Man, I was obsessed.  I had a subscription to Hot Rod Magazine!  I bought my first car the day I turned 16 – a 1966 Pontiac Tempest – appropriately named!  It had bucket seats and a big motor and could get on down the highway.  I lived, ate, slept and breathed cars.  I had all the accessories, the wheels, the big tires, the stereo tape deck – yeah, I’m that old! – but the most important part of that car was the engine.  The rest was just window dressing!

Friends, how is your engine?

The presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians isn’t optional equipment!  God has given us the most powerful force in the universe – His Spirit – to move us along in the life He has designed for us to live!!

I want to look at the outline of the 2^nd Chapter of Acts this morning as an outline that we can overlay onto our Christian Life.  This overlay will keep us focused on the main things as pertaining to the Holy Spirit and the force and direction of His life in our life and in the midst of His People.

Acts 2:1   Willingness, Availability & Obedience

All that has gone before in Acts, chapter 1, has been the orchestration of these three be-attitudes in the community of the believers and followers of Jesus.  Jesus said, several times, “stay here until…”  -  don’t get out ahead of me, don’t try to help me out by doing things out there in your own power!!  WAIT HERE –

For ten days – from Ascension to Pentecost morning, the whole company of the disciples waited and prayed.  Friends, if we did that for ten days, we would have this kind of Pentecost too!  I’m convinced that the root of our emptiness and powerlessness when it comes to the Holy Spirit is our busy-ness.  Our lack is in our preparation – in our willingness – in our availability to Him – and in our obedience when He calls, when He gives us instructions!

Acts 2:2  The Suddenly

In God’s timetable there is no suddenly!!  It is only from our earthly perception that what God does happens suddenly, but when God comes on the scene, things change!  Rushing, violent wind – tongues of fire – the gift of the Holy Spirit given to each one there – the speaking forth as God gave utterance.  

You know we can make a lot of all the phenomenology around the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Much has been made of the giving of these gifts, especially the gift of tongues.  Most all of the Pentecost experiences recounted in Acts include this phenomenon or the presence of other gifts, such as prophesy and healing, as signs of the coming of the Spirit.

The point is, friends, you will know when this happens.

The word in verse two for violent, only occurs once in the whole of scripture.  Here in Acts 2:2 – and its root only occurs another 4 times.  Its not a common occurrence that you could mistake for something else!!!  It’s like being handed the keys to the car!  Your heart is racing, the blood is pumping, the senses are keen; you put the key in the ignition and turn it and wow!!!  The suddenly happens!!

And then you turn it off.  And you turn it on again.  And you turn it off. And you turn it on again.  WOW?   NO!!!

The engine and the key aren’t just for your fascination in hearing the sound of the engine or turning it on and off to make sure it will start!  The engine is here for a reason.  Look at verse 5:  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.

Here is our first hint as to purpose!  The reason the Holy Spirit was sent, wasn’t for the amusement of the Church!  It wasn’t for the edification, the up-building, of the Church!  It was because “there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem!”

You don’t have an engine in your car so you can go out and start it and listen to it run!  Or sit and start it and rev it up, over and over and over.  Wouldn’t that seem a little ridiculous to you if you saw someone doing it?  Just revving up their car but never going anywhere?

The Holy Spirit, the engine in the Christian life, is MOTIVE power!  This MOTOR is given to you because around you live “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs” – actually lets bring it home. . . around you live residents of Arapahoe, Douglas, Jefferson, and Denver counties, residents of Aurora, Centennial, Lakewood, Littleton, Evergreen, Castle Rock, Parker, Denver, Commerce City, and you can name the neighborhoods and businesses that you work at and live in.

I had opportunity to listen to a young lady in our midst who is being given an vision for an orphanage in India – why? Because she works with a group of Indian people who have a heart for their nation and its plight, who belong to Jesus!  She is able to minister to the people from India, from the comfort of her own home!  

The Holy Spirit is sent, my friends, from God, by Jesus, to you, FOR THEM!!!

Jesus said it in Acts 1, during his preparatory teaching in his last speech ever to the disciples:  His very last words were:  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  If we combine this with the other picture we have of Jesus last moments with the disciples, from Matthew, we see a clearer picture of our charge, our commission, as well as the power to accomplish it:

Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age!”

The rest of Acts 2 is Peter telling this story to those people.  If you want to know what to say when God sends you to the people of the world, study what Peter said here in ACTS 2.  It is the gospel in a nutshell.

And then the chapter ends with verses that are very familiar to us here at REZ!

The outcome of the day of Pentecost was a community!  A living, dynamic, growing and alive community of faith.  The rest of Acts is the REST OF THE STORY!  But it begin here in Acts 2.

“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.  And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.  Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Friends, we have not, because we ask not.  Let’s ask dad for the keys!  Amen.