July 19, 2010

• Four things a believer needs to do to be used by the Holy Spirit by Pastor Don Moore

  Bible Study – Sunday June 13, 2010

  John 6:32-33 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 

  John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

  The process of salvation is integrally connected to our ability to know we have security. If we know He is for us and on our side we behave differently from those in the World. Knowing WHOSE we are is more important than knowing who we think we are.

  The problem comes because many believers have had bad earthly experiences, and we carry those memories and images over into spiritual turf. Believers are waiting for God to drop the other shoe and hurt or disappoint them. Pastor Don calls this “infantile paranoia,”  The way we were treated by family and friends, cause us to think everyone will treat us the same way.

  We walk around with a chip on our shoulder and defend ourselves in situations where you don’t need to do so. This can be a self-fulfilling prophesy for if we behave the way we think we have to in order to defend ourselves from supposed hurts, we will see the same results we saw in the past, for people will respond to our defenses. We spend a lot of energy and effort in this endeavor.

  Pastor asked us to ask ourselves, “How am I playing life’s game?”

  The key to playing it well is to remain teachable all our life.

  What factors contributed to the receiving of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2?

  Acts 1, both men and women were cowards. Jesus was arrested and they ran away and hid. Peter was questioned by a servant girl and denied Jesus three times.  He spoke bold words to Jesus about how he would stand by Jesus, said all the right things.  It is easy to be bold until pressure is applied.  ALL the disciples spoke proud words, and then hid when the chips were down. They went into the upper room COWARDS, and came out speaking in tongues with interpretation, and endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit – they became BOLD for Christ.

  The people heard the tongues in their own languages. We don’t know if the disciples spoke tongues and people translated the strange tongue into their own language in their minds, or if the disciples spoke different foreign languages. Either way, people from around the known world gathered and could understand the disciples in their native language.

  Under the power of the Holy Spirit Peter spoke to the crowds (3000 plus), not fearing the consequences, failure or death. He who was once afraid now had the courage to speak, and people were saved.

  FEAR OF FAILURE KEEPS US FROM BEING ALL THAT WE CAN BECOME. We need to brag on ourselves in the Lord, reminding ourselves, “Look at what the Lord has done.”

  We then looked at Peter’s sermon.

  Acts 2:14-16 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 

  He was able to link their current experience to what the prophet Joel prophesied.

  Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.

  In earlier days the Holy Spirit would rest on a person, but now, with the Holy Spirit in them, the Holy Spirit could do more through them than when He rested on just one or two people. With Pentecost, a different era has emerged, and all generations of the World are affected by the Spirit working through all believers -male and female, young and old. it is ALL FLESH.

  Acts 2:18-20  And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.

  Prophesy.  We are beginning to see some of these signs in the earth beneath now, and some will come in the end days.

  In 2012-2015 all the Jewish holidays will have eclipses, and the moon turning blood red.

  Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’

  This verse implies also the opposite – those who DO NOT call on the name of the Lord WILL NOT be saved.

  AS BELIEVERS THERE ARE FOUR THINGS WE NEED TO DO TO BE USED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

  1. DEPEND UPON CHRIST, not our own resources. You need the supernatural help of God to see supernatural things occur. We need to depend upon Christ to give us strategies in the midst of what we are trying to do. We want to depend on Christ not only in emergencies, but we want to seek God even in the smallest things. If we practice with little things, when we face harder things our faith will be less likely to be shaken.

  2. GIVE SMALL SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS. Ask God what He wants us to give as sacrificial offerings and obey Him in this. We can’t out give God.

  3. COMMUNION WITH HIM.  Have communion at home with your self or with your family. Get together and have communion with God, be present with God. Keep a sense of His presence in your life when you are doing things – go fishing with God, when you are doing the dishes, at work, practice the presence of God with you.

  4. BE OBEDIENT TO CHRIST. If we are obedient to Him we increase our ability to hear from Him. He speaks to us in that still small voice, but when He gives us instructions we need to take the step of obedience. When God says, “don’t.”  DON’T.  When God says, “do.”  DO. 

  Praying this teaching blesses you.

  Heather

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