The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, Lesson 32 end, 33 start

OK, so we're going to finish up this morning, Lesson 32, and JD will get up. And there are Lesson 33. I think I sent it out to everybody, too. And a couple of things along the lines of we're going to do question. We were on question six, about halfway through it. We'll do six and seven, and then I'll turn it over to JD. And the question in number six was, give two passages that demonstrate the power to speak boldly. And the first one was Acts 2, 4.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The promised time had come and the Spirit had been poured out. His presence was visible and it was audible. though more yet it was personal and abiding. And that's what you look for in walking with somebody that is personal and that is abiding.

It's noticeable and significant that the form in which the Spirit appeared in coming upon the disciples and upon the Lord was entirely different. Spirit coming on the Lord looked like what? My dove, the spirit coming upon the disciples at Pentecost looked like what? A pillar of fire.

Why the difference? Why the difference? What was the Lord's job? He's come for the sacrifice of sin. What's the disciple's job after Pentecost? Spread the news. talk about the gospel, the gospel message. And then Acts 2, 8-10, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the infinite man, by what means is he made whole? Be it known unto you, unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand before you whole.

I think sometimes we don't realize how aggressive the opposition to Christ was and how aggressive it is obviously now to the disciples and the apostles. It's really aggressive. Wednesday night we're studying John and we're seeing how aggressive it is against the Lord Jesus, you know. And the aggression sometimes makes you ignorant because here they are dealing with the Son of God and they're thinking they're going to argue him to a standstill or they're somehow going to get their point in. He's God and he knows everything. He's talking to them and they're totally dumbfounded. They don't know what he means. But obviously they're talking fleshly and he's talking spiritually.

So where we left off last week was the write-out says they were compelled to own the courage of this reply. In other words, where did the apostles get this courage to be as vocal and aggressive towards their opposition? Where did they get it? Yeah, yeah. So, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They did the same thing with the Lord Jesus.

They wanted to know what seminary he went to, you know. So, they recognized them as Galileans. companions of Jesus, but where did they get this power to speak boldly like that? We'll talk about that a little later in the main service, how one of the big criticisms about the Apostle Paul was that he just didn't fit the mold of what a Greek man ought to be. you know, powerful and, you know, Adonis-looking and a great orator. He's none of those things, yet he's powerful. Same thing here. They knew not of the presence of the Holy Spirit who fills the faintest with boldness, and they couldn't deny that.

So what do you think about that in terms of You know, every one of us to some degree are involved with, you know, hanging out and fellowshipping with some other believers or counseling with them or from them. Where do you get the nerve to do it? Just because you're one of those guys or persons that says, come sit down with me and I'll tell you all your problems and tell you how to fix them. I come from a family that does that. The whole family is like that. We're going to fix the whole world so you don't have to look at ours.

Where does that come from for believers? How do I know? How does your friend know? It does take power to do that because you have to have some sort of insight into the person Can we as just believers function in that capacity? Just do it? What do you think? Come on, it's your turn to talk. I've been reading in the pages upcoming here, he talks a lot about being a broken vessel. Yeah. It takes a broken vessel to have that power poured out. Yeah. Yeah, what else does it take? What does a broken vessel make you? The nerve to boldly proclaim, let's call it that, a message that's centered in salvation, right? I think the message goes beyond salvation, but it definitely has that in mind in these passages.

But where do we get the nerve to go up against a worldly Greek philosophers of the time, false teachers and so forth. But we have our own false teachers. Where do we get the nerve to speak about the scripture? And it could be a more academic environment where you have to speak up, or it could be a very personal one-to-one relationship with a family member or friend where you see something contradictory in their worldview and you have an opportunity to point them to the hope that is in the biblical worldview. where do you get the nerve to deal with that situation?

And the Source is really what you're pointing to there, so maybe we could think about that for a second. No, that's a great question. One, are you prepared? You know what you're talking about, in other words. And two, can you do it in such a way that it's edifying to the other person? It's one thing for me to tell you you've got your problems and It's another thing to do it from an edifying standpoint, that we're going to talk and we're both going to be edified. So along with that same question is just because there's a need in front of me, do I jump into the fray? I mean, I see a need. Oh, I gotta go fix that or no, maybe I don't. Maybe I just need to wait. Be quiet. You know. I remember kind of similar.

This is 40 years ago, 30 years ago. Tuesday men's Bible study and Miles Stanford is teaching it and it's his wedding anniversary. So the guys get him a cake and all this stuff and big deal and One of the geniuses in the class says, well, Miles, what's your secret? For 40 years, or however long they were married, you know what his answer was?

He said, I've learned what not to do. What a great answer that was, because we have to learn what not to do. Just because we can diagnose the problem doesn't mean that God has called us to be involved in the fix. And that's where the spirit comes in. you know, and the spirit will put it together and it will just flow. in that moment. And that's something that comes with maturity, right? And you don't know the Holy Spirit's leading and subsequent power that's going to be provided for that scenario if you haven't listened to the Lord's guidance in your life, right? So if you're kind of just bootstrapping your way through life, with the Christian context and Christian conversations, it's easy to go apply your knowledge to a situation right away. But I think it's different to walk through that situation where you're dependent upon the guidance of the Lord. There you go. Dependency is a different response in that scenario than, I can fix this. Yeah.

I don't know how to say this. How do you get that clear sense that I'm not supposed to speak here? Does it does it give you a handwriting on the wall? Does he do you know? It sounds good, but I don't know that Today, yes, I'm supposed to talk tomorrow. No, you know, I don't get a you know, maybe there's peace I think there's peace and maybe not talking you're doing anything.

I always you know, this is what you said, you know when you said the wrong thing at the wrong time and And I do the finger thing. You know, you're pointing this way. Three of them are working on you. I just never notice these things. I have pointing out, I guess. But I mean, I don't know. I don't always have a clear yes, no. I shouldn't, I should.

I think it's just a piece that he gives me either to talk or not talk. And it may be, as I was saying, He may be working on me in that situation. And that's where, you know, we can overthink almost to some degree, waiting for the Holy Spirit to give us clear direction. Well, I may be sitting in a room for 10 years waiting for the writing on the wall, but should I be, you know, it's just, Do we see any New Testament, even Pauline, examples of where maybe he wanted to do something, but the Lord had a different plan? Well, he had several times where I wanted to go and the Spirit told him not to go through or not to go there. Does that happen to us?

I think so, and I think it's the peace part of it. To me, if you have peace about it, I think that's where the Holy Spirit is giving you peace, either to talk or not talk. And it may be the wrong thing at the wrong time, but it was what you needed at that time. And that's where I say, I think we can overthink it, but I think it's really the Holy Spirit is the one that gives us peace in these situations.

I think dependency is a huge issue here because we discount the growing intimacy that the Holy Spirit is trying to produce in the believer's heart with the Lord Jesus. That there is enough of a line of communication, spiritual communication, that we feel totally open to go to Him and say, hey, should I talk to this person or not? Now sometimes there's a doctrinal issue and you have to stand up and take a stand, but mostly what I'm talking about here is like the situation you mentioned, you know, we all have, you know, like we have neighbors that we would love to talk to Christ about with them.

And they kind of know what we're about. And they make sort of platitudes about what we do. But we would just love to say to them, well, are you saved or aren't you? You know, and sit down. We want to talk to you about it. But it's just the opportunity has never been there, as far as we can tell. So we pray for them.

I find it's interesting, you know, with Paul there, it never tells us how they were constrained from going, right? Because it is very personal and individual in the Holy Spirit's working, like, you know, talking about, how do you know? I mean, I was in a church service one time where the pastor was preaching a horribly false gospel, and I was ready to stand up, and just as I was about to address the issue publicly, you know, like Paul to Peter, you know, turning back to work, and Alyssa just held my arm, and she whispered, not now. And I realized later yeah, that was the Holy Spirit because No, I think you're right, I think it I think the breaks come from a lot of places I also think you know you like it you're trying to calculate what I found sometimes is like I Jump off the dock into the water And then I realized, oh, I probably shouldn't have done that.

Because there's no rest about it. There's no peace. The opposition is like, who are you? But that's a learning experience for you for next time or for whatever. And that's what I'm saying. The learning was you on that one. I was thinking this morning's Hungry Heart.

Again, I think it comes back to the intimacy with Christ that the Holy Spirit gives to us through His Word. If I only think of my position of Him above and do not study Him and His ways while here, then though there may be a sense of power, there is no direction given to it. It is only in combination of both that there can be a true study of the Lord Jesus and conformity to Him. The eye of the soul must be open and receptive to learn his ways and walk here.

I think it's true The intimacy with him will give us more Direction I think through the Holy Spirit of when to talk what to say and that it's it's again our Relationship with him and there's been several of the hungry hearts and say, you know, don't jump on the mission field or anything you know too early or to do this and tell you you know, it's overwhelming I think You learn and you said the wrong thing. Well, that was the next time when you do that Do I think about jumping off the dock? Yeah, maybe not, you know or but but again, even if you did jump off the dock the next time It's still he's using all the licenses. Yeah, I recognize it God does work off all things all things. That's what you know, even our failures and all the things we do It's that you know, whatever for us to learn in that situation So yeah Yeah, there's so much that has to be developed. The paragraph that Rideout wrote I thought was good.

The Holy Spirit cannot be cowed, dear brother, and when one is speaking as led by him, he has all the power of God on his side. What are chief priests and scribes and elders to one who has the Spirit of God with him? I think the examples that we see of Paul and the Lord Jesus and their confrontation with the religious people of the world. And, you know, the last person any of us want to take on as a denominational expert, you know, a seminary graduate, you know, you just, what's the sense?

The biggest, I've said this a hundred times, the biggest disease in Christianity, you know, it's called, it's called, I've made up my mind, don't confuse me with the facts. That's a huge disease that we all have. I have my opinion and it's gospel. Alright, last question. Is it proper to pray and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

Boy, you jumped on that one now that we've talked about it. You're speaking too quickly. You're asking for something that's already done. You're already filled. You can't be filled more. Yeah, Rydout makes a good point here. He says, you'll notice that they did not pray to be filled with the Spirit. They prayed that they might speak the Word of God with all boldness. That's different. That's really different. Now this, I'm sure, is of greatest importance And in keeping with the entire subject, we never find the disciples waiting for an endowment of the Spirit or anything of that kind after Pentecost. Why?

They're already enveloped by the Spirit. They had the Spirit. He dwells in them. They were full of the Spirit, so to speak, and needed but to realize the necessity constantly for the power of God. There's one of the answers. I'm not going into this unless I'm really aware of the fact that this is something God is doing. And you know what goes hand in glove with that? It's God's Word.

What you find out over time when you learn how not to do it, is that your opinion is not near as powerful as just the plain, objective God's Word. The words themselves have power. So if you're going at it from that perspective, think because the Word of God forces people to decide about things. The way it's structured, you can't say, you can't quote a verse that doesn't require you to make a decision about that verse.

Is it true or not? What does it mean? Do I understand it? And it's the words themselves. So I think that's, you know, we've been talking on our Sunday main service about that. One of the things that believers personally are involved in is the tearing down of strongholds in your mind. What are the strongholds? What are they? Really what they are, your opinion about stuff. and your feelings about stuff. And, well, I think this is, and it's not, if it's not of the Lord and you can't back it up in the Word, then it's a stronghold.

So how do you tear those things down? How do you replace them with God's Word? Well, first of all, you've got to know God's Word. That's number one. And you don't do that by, you know, walking around with the Bible balanced on the top of your head all day long. You have to spend time learning.

The thing about God's Word is it gives us how God thinks about everything, plus what you just read out of The Hungry Heart. I know the Lord Jesus personally, intimately. And I know because I have walked with Him, what's of Him and what isn't of Him. And whatever this subject is, is not of Him. Or that viewpoint is not of Him. It just isn't of Him.

So, we can't discount the power of God's Word alone. But people on the other side of the spectrum say, well, all you do is quote scripture at me. Well, the scripture should be relevant and explainable. What you find in studying God's Word about this back and forth between Christ and the Pharisees and between Paul and his detractors is that Scripture has a specific definable effect on the non-believers. They don't like it. They're convicted by it. They don't want to hear it. And that's because it's penetrating.

I guess that's what I was going to say when you talk about this giving scripture. This would be to a believer. And anything about, you know, changing in a believer's life or anything, because to a non-believer, it's nonsense. You know, you can't bring other than the need for them to know the Lord and walk them through that. But scriptural wisdom is nonsense to a non-believer. So this is to a believer, where you're bringing scripture to correct or whatever. I go through it. I know the word, but I fail.

Not perfect, but it's the word that is ultimately what you have to go back to. And I think that's why Hal was such a good counselor, because he never got into all the other stuff. He always brought you back to the word. And I think that's, he had just a soft you know, softness to it that, you know, he'd bring it to the scripture. And that was the key for him. Well, and Maloy was the guy that kind of took God's word as an instruction that you, personally, person, may be the only Bible somebody gets to read.

Because of that Corinthians, where it says, you're the epistle of Christ. You are. What are they reading? They're reading the life of the Lord Jesus in a person. He's either attractive or not and so sometimes What's the saying? I? Can't hear what you're saying because your actions are Too loud So one last paragraph or sentence then See he dwelt in them they were full of the spirit so to speak and needed but to realize the necessity of constantly for the power of God. Then, as the occasion arose, the Spirit took possession of them and used them as the instruments of His mighty energy. And the last phrase is, is there not much instruction for us here? Yeah, there sure is. Okay, J.D. Lesson 33. I've been trying diligently to put the cage numbers in there. Right in. So lesson 33.

Let's take this train of thought and just keep building on it because we've got a condition. We've started talking about a condition where you're relying on the Holy Spirit to to guide you and to provide you with the power necessary to go through a condition, in this case, where we're kind of talking about something that another person either may be not ready to hear, doesn't want to hear, or you find yourself, yeah, am I moving around? Okay, thanks. Mike stands over here. I stand in the middle. Okay, got it. So how do we enjoy the power of the Holy Spirit in a condition like that, a situation like that, right?

So the first question is contrast Ephesians 1, 19 through 20 with 2 Corinthians 4-7. And I think what we want to focus on here is this contrast. OK, we're going to make it a little bit more clear as we go, but let's read Ephesians 1, 19 through 20. I'll give you a second to turn there because I want you to be able to see this in the scripture.

We talked about The peace that comes in a situation or a condition, like Mike was talking about, this has a lot to do with that. Ephesians 1 19, it says, And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe? These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might. Verse 20, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. We go back to verse 19.

And what is the surpassing greatness? So this word is really important to us. This is something that we possess. This is personal to you. You possess a surpassing greatness. And that word surpassing greatness of his power, surpassing is superabounding.

And you want to know something funny? This morning I was practicing my Greek pronunciation of this word. Because I knew Courtney would be like, it's not hyperballoon, it's hooperballon. And what's funny is, Les was getting ready, and she hears this audio come over my computer in the room, and she's like, did you say something, babe? And so I just played it again. She's like, what? What are you talking about? Anyway, I find it fun to listen to how to pronounce these words. But this word is really important, and it's personal, and it applies to you in a very specific way. And it's meant to be enjoyed.

This is a super abounding greatness of his power that we're talking about. So how do we enjoy this power of the Holy Spirit? We're talking about a power that is exceedingly beyond measure. The idea of throwing beyond. You've got a quarterback trying to hit the receiver and it's like the receiver in another stadium altogether. I mean this is super abounding.

This is a word that goes beyond the power that is a creature-based power. We oftentimes try to take this concept of the Holy Spirit's power and we creatureize it. We take it and we say, okay, it's a lot like our power, but maybe a little bit more kind of like a Thor or a, you know, whatever the Avenger, you know, Marvel comic that you happen to like this week. It's like, no, this is a creator type of power. This is a unique power that belongs to the creator himself.

And guess what? It's inherent in your new life. This is something that changes the perspective of the conditions that you're going through, whether it be with a friend, or with a family member, or even with your own mental struggle with yourself. What do you possess?

And so here we have this exceedingly beyond measure, more than enough superabounding power, and we see that this power applies to those of us who believe. That's what this verse says. For those of us that believe, this power is present. And you would think that the context of this Ephesians passage would have to do with with just sharing the gospel message.

Wasn't Paul and the apostles, weren't they facing a situation where they needed this super abounding Holy Spirit power in order to communicate the truth of God's word against these false teachers? Wasn't that the purpose of the super abounding power?

Well, it was. But I think that if we back up, we've kind of generalized what was going with Paul, it was God's word going into an unbelieving mindset. It's God's worldview clashing with the world's worldview. And at this case it was specifically around the gospel message. But he says that this super abounding or surpassing greatness of his inherent power towards us who believe, there in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, And he says that he brought it about, and this brought it about as an operative, active energy. This is something that goes on consistently. It wasn't just for that situation. It was operative, it was active, and it was in what? Where was this power? This is the key to this entire verse. In Christ. Right? So this is really, this is a present active power. That's what we want to take away from this. This is where the Greek Greeky geeky stuff gets us something very specific about what it means to us. We've got a present active power.

This is an amazing statement about the superabounding power of God. We see Christ in his tomb, then raised and elevated to the throne of God. Could any power be greater? This is where that Jeremy Camp song comes in, right? The same power. That's a beautiful song, but this is a beautiful verse because we love that song, but we can actually, we can anchor ourselves on the truth of this verse.

It says, he goes on to say, and yet this same power has worked toward us, not merely for our benefit in Christ, which is something that we enjoy. We enjoy the benefit of this power, but it goes beyond that. that we have been quickened or made alive, raised with Christ. And this is the key point that the power that worked in him has worked in us.

This is something that needs to be contemplated and thought through. So Paul's in a situation where he's got to go up against this worldview, this false teaching, and he has this he has available to him the super abounding power of the Holy Spirit. Right. And it's the kind of power that's beyond it. He knows that this message goes above and beyond all that the false teachers are propagating against him. He knows that. But where does he go in his mind? Where does he go in his mind?

Let's look at this exact same resurrection power seen in 2 Corinthians 4.7.

It says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not of ourselves. This is what Miles was talking about earlier, and Donna, this is what you were picking up on in terms of What does the experience look like when we go through this condition where we need to see the superabounding presence of the Holy Spirit and His power in a situation where the worldview of God is at conflict with the worldview of the world?

And he says, we have it, this power, and then all of a sudden he contrasts it with what's the vessel of the power. He says, I'm not putting this power in a vessel that's adorned and looks spectacular and shows well on TV and bodes well with the marketing team. I'm not looking for this outward expression of adornment. He likens it to a broken vessel, a clay jar. So Paul makes this interesting contrast that we see the messenger contrasted with the superabounding power. What are you in the situation where God's superabounding power is present in the life of another?

You're a broken vessel. Well, you're a vessel first. We're going to talk about why you're broken. Why is it necessary to be a broken vessel and not just a vessel? Lord, make me a vessel. You know, that might be some kind of prayer that we pray. Make me a vessel in this situation. I can't imagine trying to communicate my own words. Use your words, Lord. Make me a vessel.

Well, what's interesting is that's halfway there. The broken part is really key here. Why do we need to be seen as a broken vessel? If you're not broken and you're just a vessel, you might allow some kind of human pride to step in a little bit. That's where we get into our academic thinking. I'm a vessel, I'm saying the right things, I'm processing this the right way. But Paul says, in this situation, I find myself as a jar of clay, where he goes on to say that this resurrection power is displayed in spite of my brokenness.

It's like the vessel in and of itself can't contain the power to the degree that it can't be seen unless it's busted open. Right? That's the picture that we see here. And so the vessel in which this resurrection power is displayed was not an adorned vessel like we're talking about. It's a surrendered vessel. That's what it means to be broken. You're surrendered. Because whose power is it that needs to be present and seen in this situation?

Is it yours? Is it your really intuitive way of understanding people? you know, your smooth delivery? Is it the words that you choose to use? Is it the stories that are really relevant to the situation? Or is it the fact that you're broken and the power of God is seen because you are a broken vessel? And remember, broken is synonymous with surrendered. Why is it important for us to be a surrendered vessel in situations in order to enjoy the Holy Spirit's power? Why? It's that pride factor. There's a lot of space for human pride to start to creep in with this stuff. And the fact that Paul internalized this in his own situation, he realized that it caused him a sense of unworthiness compared with the grandeur of his message. Compared to what I'm sharing, I am a broken vessel.

And he saw himself in that situation. Otherwise, what could the onlookers and hearers of his time have possibly said about Paul? What was the potential outcome? Well, Paul's a slick dude. We at least, I mean, yeah, he's coming from a totally different perspective, but he delivers it in such a way that it's just like, primo, he should run for office type of thing. You can hear those kinds of things. Delivery can sound really great, but he said, I would rather be seen as a broken vessel, that the message, yeah, The first thing you want to get back is one, Paul's attitude is, it was interesting. The tractor guy, you know, who is this little street guy that doesn't talk very well and doesn't look very well? Yeah. And you know, who is he? Who is he really? Yep. So, um, thinking about the very first question of the day, I can tell you, totally insane for you. Someone wants to walk beside somebody else. The one that's going to do the walking beside must be a broken vessel.

That's the criteria. That's the key. Yeah, because if you're not broken, there's going to be more of us that are getting done than there is you. And so the effect is going to be... and luckily now people can pick that up. Right. No, I think that's a really good point. So let's end there. I was getting excited and getting going. And that's OK. We'll see if we can't pause that button and pick it up next week.

But I think that maybe one takeaway that we can can grab a hold on to this week. is that no matter the situation, no matter the condition, the subject of the Holy Spirit's power is meant to be enjoyed by you. As broken vessels, we can enjoy the rest of what that means so that the power of God is the clarity that comes across from an unbeliever or a fellow believer. This is meant to be enjoyed. This is not meant to come and sweep you away and take you over. You're meant to and there's a benefit to you to being in Christ and in experiencing this super abounding, beyond measure power that the Holy Spirit provides to us in the circumstances where God's Word is needing to be made clear specifically, but in so many other situations, does it relate?

Let's pray. Father, how we thank you for your love for us and that for those of us that believe Lord we know that this super abounding surpassing greatness of your power is present in the person of the Holy Spirit which we enjoy and we have fellowship with and I pray that we would be in fellowship And that we would desire to continue to know your word, behold you through it. And I just pray for those of us that are here today and joining us online, that Lord, we would just be mindful of the opportunity to let your power be seen in our lives as a broken vessel. And it's in your name I pray. Amen.