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1.2 The Biblical Framework for Pentecost
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If Acts 2 is more than myth -if it is meant to be our lived reality and the standard for Christian life- then it challenges us to pursue that standard as everyday reality.
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What a beautiful gift! As a believer, I have the joy of ministering while having received the Holy Spirit. I love that we are not only filled once, but we are able to continue being filled and refreshed by Him.
To those we witness to and are walking out discipleship with we get to share the Good News about Christ AND the good news about being filled by the Holy Spirit. Powerful!
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Right, @smythc1 it is a joy that we can be filled with the Spirit again and again. When Paul says in the NT “Be filled with the Spirit”, it would probably be better translated as “Go on being filled with the Spirit” or “Continually be filled with the Spirit.” We need ongoing renewal and fillings. As D. L. Moody said when asked if he was filled with the Spirit, “Yes, but I leak.”
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I need to have the same desire to pray (and wait) for the Holy Spirit to empower me to be an effective witness just as Jesus commanded and the disciples did in Acts 2 and later (Acts 4). Jesus’ command implied that I and other believers can’t be effective witnesses UNTIL we have received the baptism and empowering of the Holy Spirit.
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@Zondervan your comment reminded me of this quote from J. D. Greear’s excellent book, Jesus Continued:
“I've always thought that Jesus gave a very odd "first step" to completing the Great Commission: "Do nothing until the Holy Spirit comes upon you." With millions of people waiting to hear the gospel, he told the only ones who knew anything about it to sit and wait until he had sent them something mysterious from above. That meant they were not to write books. They were not go out and try to make converts. They were to do nothing.
Why? They were to do nothing until the Spirit came because they truly could do nothing effectively until he did. Jesus had promised that he would build his church, and he could accomplish more in one moment through his Spirit than they could accomplish in 10,000 lifetimes through all their expertise.
Do you live with that sense of dependence on the Holy Spirit? Do you really believe that you can do nothing without him? As a parent, as a spouse, as a friend, as a witness?
The book of Acts tells the mind-blowing, earth-upturning story of what a group of people filled with the Holy Spirit can do. We're still reeling today from that first Christian century.”
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The quote “They were to do nothing until the Spirit came because they truly could do nothing effectively until he did. Jesus had promised that he would build his church, and he could accomplish more in one moment through his Spirit than they could accomplish in 10,000 lifetimes through all their expertise… Do you live with that sense of dependence on the Holy Spirit? Do you really believe that you can do nothing without him?” reminds me of Exodus 33:15-16, when Moses is asking that the LORD’s presence would go with the people of Israel, saying, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from the wilderness. For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
It amazes me how God is consistent throughout scripture. Moses seemed to be on the same page with Jesus, knowing that the people of God are set apart by the presence of God in their midst, and are not special in any way without the Spirit of God as their strength and guide. In the same way that Israel could not have survived or be unique in any way (or fulfill Abraham’s covenant to be a blessing to all nations) without the Spirit of God, the followers of Jesus could not fulfill the Great Commission to build the church and be a blessing to all nations without the Spirit of God.
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I think it’s a great reminder to press in and seek Holy Spirit. I want all of him. Even if I don’t know what it will look like. Too often, I want the Holy Spirit to look a certain way, but if I can just seek Jesus, I can trust the timing and work of the Spirit.
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@Jenn thanks for sharing. It reminds me of how the Spirit’s role is to point us to Jesus. Sometimes it is said that the Spirit is like the sound person or spotlight operator. You shouldn’t be paying attention to them, rather their whole job is to direct you to what is happening on stage. When we learn to relate properly to the Spirit then, the Spirit will reveal more of Jesus to us.
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That’s a fantastic analogy! I like the idea of the sound person as the Holy Spirit!
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