11. The One Who Empowers You

LONNIE: Welcome to Exploring the Word. I hope you’re ready to explore the riches of the Bible with us today. That’s always been a rewarding experience for me and I hope we’ll make it more rewarding for you.

JEANNIE: Thanks for joining us.

LONNIE: Today we’re going to talk about what role the Holy Spirit can play in your life. For a lot of people, He’s a bit of a mysterious figure, right Jeannie?

JEANNIE: He is. We regularly get questions about how He fits into the picture.
Here’s one from a Bible student of ours named Irene. She says, “I’m not sure about the Holy Spirit. Does it come before baptism or after?”

LONNIE: I notice Irene says “it.” That’s understandable. For most of us this member of the Trinity isn’t a clear person, like Jesus, the Son of God.

JEANNIE: And then we have Bola from New York writing with a question about speaking in tongues. She says the people she worships with always speak in unknown tongues and she finds it difficult to agree with that. And then Bola asks, “Do you think I need to grow up? Do we Christians still have to speak in tongues?”

LONNIE: Well maybe not grow up, just get a few questions answered. You know, let’s fill in the overall picture of the Holy Spirit from the Bible, and then answer these specific questions. I hope our homework assignment gave you a good start. What did you discover in John 16:5-15 about what Jesus says the Holy Spirit can do in our lives? We’re going to discover that Jesus’ introduction to the Spirit greatly expands in one particular book of the Bible.

If you want to know what the Holy Spirit really does, there’s one place to look: the book of Acts. It's called the Acts of the Apostles, but it's really the Acts of the Holy Spirit. This book is about the “coming out” of the Holy Spirit. He is manifested dramatically and personally for the first time.

And it’s important for us to look there, because people have all kinds of different ideas about what the Spirit is supposed to do.

The book of Acts presents the Holy Spirit as a very powerful figure in people’s lives. He is an empowering presence. He enables individuals to do wonderful things. And the book of Acts also shows us how He does that. Here’s how He empowers people a day-to-day basis.

First of all, He helps us SEE more. He enlightens us.
One thing you notice, over and over, in the book of Acts is this: those who are filled with the Spirit are also filled with the Word, the Word of God.

In chapter two--Peter’s great sermon--this apostle quotes it at great length, from memory.

In chapter three--another sermon before a large crowd--Peter makes his points from the words of Scripture.

In chapter seven, Stephen’s courageous address to the Sanhedrin, this young believer reviews the entire sweep of Old Testament history.

People see more—IN Scripture, because of the Spirit. That’s what Acts shows us. People filled with the Spirit are filled with the Word. That’s not a coincidence. As Paul tells us in Ephesians 6, the sword of the Spirit “is the word of God.” The Word is what the Spirit wields. It’s His weapon of choice. It’s the instrument He uses to empower people.

Some individuals who think they've been swept away by the Spirit believe they have a private channel into God. They've got direct illumination, so they don't have to rely on a regular study of Scripture.

Friends, we do have a direct link with God. But it’s through His Word. That’s what the Holy Spirit wants to speak through.

We see more, when we open up the Word of God.

God wants to give us wisdom. God wants to guide us. But He wants to do that primarily through His Word. That's what the Holy Spirit uses to enlighten us. When we neglect the Bible and start relying on our own little signs, then it's very easy to manipulate them. Our own desires and prejudices start sounding like the voice of God.

Some of you are at that point in your life when you start having to hold a book farther and farther away to read. You don’t want to wear glasses, you just want longer arms. But at some point the type is so blurry you finally give in and buy a pair. Well the Holy Spirit is the reading glasses we all need. Things can get pretty fuzzy without Him. The Spirit can open up the Word to us and help us understand more deeply, see more, gain insight. But we have to open up the Word in order for that to happen.

Here’s the second way the Spirit can empower us. This has to do with our being able to FEEL more.

And this is related to the phenomenon of speaking in tongues. You remember Bola asked a question about that: “Do we Christians still have to speak in tongues?” Well, at the first great outpouring of the Spirit, in Acts 2, the apostles spoke in languages not their own. Something similar occurred in Acts chapter 10. There the Holy Spirit is poured out on Gentile believers. Look at verse 44:

“The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.”

And then look what happens in verse 46:

“For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.” Acts 10:46

The same thing happened to a group in the city of Ephesus. It’s reported in Acts chapter 19. Let’s read verse six:

“And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.” Acts 19:6

The Holy Spirit moved people to speak in tongues. Now some people have concluded from this that speaking in tongues is the sign of the Holy Spirit. If you speak in tongues you’ve received the Holy Spirit. If you haven’t, you haven’t.

But, in fact, there are other instances in Acts of people receiving the Holy Spirit and not speaking in tongues. Or at least there’s no mention of tongues.

In Acts 18:17 people receive the Holy Spirit. No mention of tongues.

In Acts 9:17 Saul himself, the man who would become the Apostle Paul, receives the Spirit. No mention of tongues.

And most importantly, speaking in tongues is listed as one of the many gifts of the Spirit in the New Testament. Other gifts, in fact, are given much more prominence. Tongues is never described as the gift, or the sign.

Strange things happen when people insist that if you receive the Spirit, you have to speak in tongues.

The gift can be faked. But, we have to admit there is this phenomenon described in Acts. People who received the Spirit sometimes spoke in tongues. What does it mean?

Well, Paul wrestles with this issue in 1 Corinthians 14. He’s talking about the ways we can best worship, and he says in verse two:

“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.”

The phenomenon of tongues seems related to what Paul calls praying in the Spirit, or singing in the Spirit. It wasn’t just about the head, about understanding intellectually. It was about the heart, expressing something from the heart.

Whatever we may believe about tongues, and how this gift should be used, or not used, I think there’s a basic point here. The Holy Spirit opens up our emotions. The Holy Spirit helps us feel more.

Look, for example, at the first three qualities that are described as “fruits of the Spirit.” Galatians 5:22. Here’s what the Spirit produces. What are they? Love, joy, peace.

Well, those are emotions. They’re moral qualities, but they’re emotions. And there are a lot of human beings who are just shut down emotionally, closed in emotionally. We don’t empathize enough with others. We don’t really admire the things God has given us. We just sleepily nod our heads.

Friends, Paul pointed out, in 2 Corinthians 3:6, that the letter of the law kills, but the Spirit gives life. Many of us are stuck in that deadness of the letter of the law, going through the right motions, trying to simulate holiness. We need the Spirit to give us life.

We need to feel more, by opening up our hearts. Open up your heart.

We’ve got to open ourselves to what God wants to do inside us. To allow the Spirit, as Jesus said, to well up inside us like a fountain.

People who are stunted emotionally, cannot be empowered. They’re like a sieve. God pours good things in, but nothing sticks; it goes right through. The Holy Spirit helps us absorb what God can give. The Spirit helps us feel more, as well as see more. He wants to give us a sense of the glories of heaven, give us something to express from the heart---welling up like a spring.

Now let's take a look at the final thing we can say, from the book of Acts, about how the Spirit empowers us. This relates to how we can DO more.

In Acts 5 we read about something remarkable. We find Peter doing more than he could have. He’s speaking powerfully and bravely and eloquently before a Jewish council. Now this was the man who was always saying the wrong thing. He couldn’t get his foot out of his mouth. And this was the man who had just betrayed Christ, intimidated by the questions of a servant girl.

Now he’s doing much more than he could have---filled with the Holy Spirit.

Turn over to Acts chapter 16. Here we find Paul in a dungeon, his back bloody from a beating, his feet fastened in stocks. But verse 25 tells us that, at midnight, he and his companion are, what? “Praying and singing hymns to God.”

Now this was the former persecutor Saul. This was the blood-thirsty fanatic who hunted Christians down. But now he’s encouraging the other prisoners with a hymn of praise. Paul is doing much more than he could have---filled with the Holy Spirit.

Friends, the Holy Spirit enables us to do more, accomplish more than we should with our normal abilities. And He does that through the gifts of the Spirit. They’re described in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. Gifts like wisdom, faith, healing, encouragement, teaching and mercy.

And the New Testament urges us to pray about our gifts and find our gifts and begin using our gifts. In other words, we do more when we open up our gift, our gift from the Holy Spirit.

I want you to picture Christmas and all those presents piled under the tree. Remember the anticipation you felt as a kid? Now picture the day after Christmas. What do you see? Wrapping paper all over place, boxes here and there, toys around the house.

Why? Because everyone has opened their presents, of course. What would Christmas be like if no one opened their presents? A pretty sad affair.

Friends, far too many people come to church and do all the religious things but never open their present. It just sits there, nicely wrapped, looking good, but unopened. Please find your gift, and open it up. Begin using it.

The Holy Spirit makes more out of us, not less. He broadens us, not narrows us.

The Holy Spirit has gifts, not restrictions.

He is the God who empowers human beings. He is the God who enables us to be more like Jesus, because we see more and feel more and do more.

That’s what the real Holy Spirit does. That’s how He’s working in people all over the world today. And that’s how He can work in your life.

JEANNIE: Lonnie, I remember when I felt the Holy Spirit come very close. Remember when we were in the Ukraine for those evangelistic meetings.

LONNIE: Oh yes.

JEANNIE: Well, I gave a short talk on "persevering in prayer." Later, a young woman, Natalia, came up to talk to me and really poured her heart out. She wanted to know Jesus, but how do you pray to someone you don’t know? Natalia came from a very abusive home; her alcoholic father had abandoned the family. Well this girl was so hungry for something spiritual and so hurt I started praying hard that the Holy Spirit would show me how to help this precious young woman. And then I started sharing from my own experience about learning to know Jesus as a friend, someone I could share anything with.

And it was amazing, the lights just went on in Natalia’s eyes. She said she’d go home and try it out, ask the Holy Spirit to come into her life. I’m thrilled to say Natalia has developed a steady, rewarding relationship with Jesus and now loves Him with her whole heart.

I just know that the Holy Spirit gave me the words to reach Natalia that night. And there have been many other times when I’ve been able to give counsel and encouragement that I just don’t naturally have. It’s someone bigger working through me.

LONNIE: And I just love seeing that happen in you, Jeannie. You know, let’s talk about how people can take that first step, that first step of receiving the Spirit.

Let’s say you’ve received Christ as Savior; you’ve placed your faith in Him. But you don’t know much about the Holy Spirit, or don’t have much experience with Him. How do you receive the Spirit? How do you bring Him into your life? Does it involve a pastor or elder laying their hands on you? Does it involve baptism? Remember Irene’s question about whether the Spirit comes before or after baptism.

Well, the most common answer in the New Testament is simply this: ask. If you have Jesus, then you can have His Spirit. So ask for it.

Here's what Jesus had to say about it. Luke 11:13:

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

The Holy Spirit is a gift. He's a gift the Father is eager to give. God isn't reserving Him for the select few. He's not holding him back until we attain a certain level of holiness. God is eager to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

To answer Irene’s question, the one thing we can say from Acts is that the Spirit comes after a person believes in Christ as Savior. But it doesn’t specify that He always comes after water baptism. I believe that’s because sometimes people have an encounter with the Spirit before they’ve had a chance to be immersed.

There's another expression the Bible uses that sheds some light on how we encounter the Holy Spirit. You often hear the phrase: "Be filled with the Spirit." Paul in Ephesians, for example, says, “Don't get drunk on wine, instead be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) In Romans he talks about being filled with "all joy and peace in believing" and about abounding "in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

God wants to fill us with His Spirit. And do you know what? Sometimes we don't give God very much room to fill. We get cluttered up with other unhealthy things. Paul refers to one kind of clutter that people have in their lives: getting drunk. Getting filled up with alcohol doesn't leave room for the filling of the Spirit. You can either get drunk or get the Spirit; it's hard to do both.

But there are many other examples, many ways in which we clutter our lives.

It's important to give God space, space to fill. We need to empty ourselves in a sense and take in the Spirit. Spend some quiet time seeking God. Remember that this includes opening up of the Word and opening up of our hearts.

I'd like to lead you right now in a prayer of reception for the Holy Spirit. Remember that this is God's gift to believers. It's God's gift to those who ask. This can be the first step in a new experience with God. This can lead you into a life filled with love, joy and peace.

Are you ready to give Him space? Are you ready to give Him time? Let’s take that further step right now, shall we? Let’s see what life can be with the Spirit of the Living God dwelling inside us.

So please pray along with me now. Make this your request, and your commitment.

Dear Father, thank You for making it possible for us to come boldly before You with our requests. Thank you that Jesus died on the cross so that we might have forgiveness and acceptance. Now we come to You because You've promised to give us your Spirit gladly. Please reach out Your hand right now and put your Holy Spirit in our hearts. Please fill us with the Spirit. Please help us to give You a space to fill. And help us to walk with You day by day. Thank You for this priceless gift. Thank You Lord for coming to live inside us. In Jesus' name, amen.

JEANNIE: How about getting a head start on our topic for next week? Here’s your Exploring the Word homework assignment. This one’s a little different. Do you have a Bible concordance? That’s a special kind of dictionary that tells you where various words are found in the Bible. We’d like you to look at the word “better” in the book of Hebrews.

LONNIE: List all the things that are described as “better” in Hebrews. You can also look up the word using Bible search engines on the internet, like Bible Gateway.

JEANNIE: So find out all about “better” in the book of Hebrews. Lonnie’s going to lead us in a wonderful study about Jesus as our High Priest.
Until next week, God bless you and yours. And remember, never stop exploring the Word.