Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP200031S
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00:01 Hello, friends, I'm John Lomacang and welcome
00:02 to our 3ABN Sabbath School Panel, 00:05 where the theme for our quarterly study 00:07 is "Making Friends for God." 00:09 Today is "Spirit-Empowered Witnessing." 00:12 And I know that you are looking forward to the study, 00:15 and we invite you to join us, all you need is a Bible, 00:18 you need to sit down and enjoy this time together. 00:20 We are going to walk through a spirit led excursion, 00:23 asking the Lord to reveal to us the hidden lessons in His Word. 00:28 If you'd like to get a copy to follow with us, 00:30 go to absg.Adventist.org. 00:33 That's absg.Adventist.org. 00:37 You can follow also by going 00:39 to a local Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:41 They would enjoy having you join them for the study 00:44 but right now, 00:45 join us as we walk through God's Word together. 01:19 Welcome to our Bible study. 01:21 Today we are enjoying this time together, 01:24 as we have on past lesson studies, 01:26 and we thank you for taken the time 01:27 to join us also. 01:29 Spirit-empowered witnessing, what does that really mean? 01:33 Well on the surface you might know, 01:35 but we're going to share with you today from God's Word, 01:38 some very important spiritual gems 01:40 so that your understanding can be increased. 01:43 However, before we do anything, 01:45 we're going to introduce our panel today. 01:47 To my immediate left is my... 01:49 I call him Juan Valdez, 01:50 but he's actually Pastor John Dinzey. 01:53 We always, that's our term of endearment. 01:54 Good to have you, Pastor Dinzey. 01:56 It's a great blessing to be here. 01:57 Yes, yes. 01:59 Always good to have you, you're head of Latino, 02:00 and Latino has thrived under the direction 02:02 of you and your wife. 02:04 Praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord. 02:06 And good old brother, Ryan Day. 02:07 How are you today? Man, I'm fantastic. 02:10 Excited to be here. Okay. 02:11 We know that we can always count 02:14 on the fire to be coming from his bosom, 02:17 because he never approaches the Word of God 02:19 any other way. 02:20 I appreciate that. 02:21 And the veteran of the group, Pastor Kenny Shelton, 02:23 good to see you. 02:25 Good to be here. Thank you. 02:26 Yeah, he's always, whoo, praise the Lord. 02:30 Good to have you today. 02:31 Everybody has their own signature. 02:33 And last but not least, the list lady. 02:36 Good to have you here, Jill. 02:38 Thank you so much, Pastor. 02:39 Privilege to be here. Yes, yes. 02:40 And we encourage you to stay 02:42 because we know that we're going to have 02:44 a spirit empowered witnessing study today. 02:47 However Pastor Dinzey would you pray... 02:49 Father, we are grateful to you, Lord, 02:50 because the scriptures 02:52 are able to make us wise unto salvation. 02:55 But they're not going to make us 02:56 wise unto salvation 02:57 unless we dedicate time to read it and study it. 03:00 So we pray that you will help each and every one of us 03:03 receive a, 03:04 such a blessing today 03:06 that we will be encouraged and inspired to read more, 03:09 study more. 03:10 We pray that as we are together, 03:12 Your Holy Spirit will speak through us. 03:14 Use us mightily 03:15 for Your name's honor and glory. 03:17 In Jesus' name, amen. 03:19 Amen. 03:20 Now I'd like to begin with our memory text, 03:24 it is found in Acts 4:31. 03:26 And this is a passage that seems to find itself 03:30 on more than one of our lessons, 03:32 but I love it. 03:33 Because it's showing the power 03:35 and the presence of the Spirit of God. 03:37 Acts 4:31, "And when they had prayed, 03:41 the place 03:43 where they were assembled together 03:45 was shaken, 03:47 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 03:50 and they spoke the Word of God with boldness." 03:53 I often say that if the Word, 03:54 if the Spirit of God was needed 03:56 at the inauguration of the church, 03:58 how much more is it needed 04:00 for the coronation of the church? 04:02 When God begins with the Spirit of God, 04:04 He began with two things, the Spirit of the Word, 04:07 and the Word of the Spirit. 04:09 So we pray today that God will guide us. 04:12 You know, the Holy Spirit empowered witnessing, 04:14 I don't know of any other kind of witnessing. 04:17 The other kind of witnessing is effortless, 04:20 because it's spiritless. 04:22 But when you are under the guidance 04:23 of the Spirit of God, 04:24 you begin to realize 04:26 that certain things begin to come out of your mouth 04:28 that you didn't have there prior 04:29 to that study began. 04:31 I've had many experiences, 04:32 I know that we could maybe just by show of hands, 04:36 we've been in those situations where we have known and wow, 04:40 this study was one that the Spirit of God led. 04:43 But I want you to know why it's important for us 04:45 to have the Spirit of God in our lives. 04:48 Go with me to the Book of John, John Chapter 16. 04:52 And we're going to look and see why the spirit is important. 04:58 And let me also insert this as we go, 05:01 what we're going to see in the Bible 05:03 is we're going to see terms 05:04 that are describing a personality, 05:07 not a force, not a wind, 05:10 not an apparition, not a piece of God, 05:13 not a byproduct of Jesus. 05:16 But we're going to see literally, 05:17 the description that John gives 05:19 is that of the third person of the Godhead. 05:23 And I want to make that clear and you'll see and the reasons, 05:26 you see the reasons in just a moment, 05:27 but John 16:7, 05:29 we read these words, 05:31 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. 05:35 It is to your advantage that I go away, 05:39 for if I do not go away, 05:42 the Helper will not come to you, 05:45 but if I depart, I will send him to you." 05:49 There's the term right there, that word him, 05:51 is not I will send it to you. 05:53 And so many people, we say we're praying for it. 05:57 No, we don't pray for it, we pray for Him. 06:00 Because when you pray for it, 06:02 that's an impersonal byproduct of something 06:07 that was manufactured, 06:08 that somehow are leftover. 06:10 The Spirit of God is not a leftover of Christ. 06:13 He's not a guy that's stepping in, 06:15 well, I'm going to try to do what He could never do. 06:16 No. 06:18 This is the expansion of the work that Christ began. 06:21 And He's called the Helper, Him the Helper, 06:24 I will send Him to you. 06:26 It's not a metamorphosis of Christ, 06:30 or some other aspect of Him, but in fact, the continuation, 06:34 God sent His Son, Jesus sent the spirit. 06:40 And the spirit, the Bible says will continue always with us. 06:43 Let's look further in John Chapter 16. 06:45 Let's now look to verse 13. 06:48 And you see over and over and over 06:50 and over the terminology 06:52 referring to a personality and not a force. 06:55 It says in verse 13, 06:56 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, 07:02 He will guide you into all truth, together, 07:06 for He will not speak on His own authority, 07:10 but whatever He hears He will speak, 07:14 and He will tell you things to come." 07:17 If somebody said he is on his way over, 07:19 I'm expecting a person to show up. 07:21 Amen. 07:22 Right? That's right. 07:24 So let's see, he, he, 07:26 he, his, he, he, he. 07:31 A breath of when? 07:32 No, no, not at all. 07:35 The Holy Spirit began to work on the disciples 07:38 before he arrived. 07:41 And so what we have to keep in mind 07:42 and this is something we often get, 07:44 we often get mixed up. 07:46 We don't separate the two. 07:47 The Lord is saying, I am going to empower you. 07:51 But the empowerment that I give to you 07:53 will be aided by the one from whom the empowerment came. 07:57 So when he left, 07:59 when Jesus breathed on His disciples and says, 08:01 "Receive you the Holy Spirit." 08:03 He was empowering them, imparting to them divine power, 08:07 that He is life. 08:09 He is life unborrowed, underived. 08:12 He was imparting to them this unborrowed, 08:14 underived power. 08:16 But then He says, "Now I'm leaving, 08:18 and you're going to continue to need this power 08:20 so I'm going to send Him 08:22 and when He comes, that's why Acts 1:8 says, 08:27 "And you shall receive power after that 08:30 the Holy Ghost is come upon you." 08:32 So the word here helper is the Greek word parakletos, 08:36 which mean one who walks alongside you, 08:40 one who is alongside you, 08:42 meaning when we witness for Jesus, 08:44 we are not alone. 08:46 The Holy Spirit is beside us to guide us 08:49 in our witnessing activities. 08:50 The Holy Spirit prepares our hearts 08:53 for those before we meet them. 08:57 The Holy Spirit prepare the hearts of the one 08:59 we are heading to, before we get there. 09:02 That's why we prayed. 09:04 I remember going through, 09:05 this very quick story because I have Jill, 09:06 I have six points, five points. 09:09 I got a very quick story. 09:10 But I remember, I remember 09:12 once there was a pastor locally here, 09:14 one of our members 09:15 who was a member of a different church. 09:17 When he died, the pastor said, he's going to do the funeral. 09:21 And I said, you gonna do the funeral, 09:22 but that was our member. 09:24 And I knew that they believe 09:25 that they die and go to heaven right away. 09:27 And I said, Lord, so I called the pastor said, 09:29 "No, you can't do the funeral. 09:30 He was our member, 09:31 although he was a member in your church longer. 09:33 He's our member. 09:34 And I know your belief 09:35 is that we die and go to heaven. 09:37 And that's not the scriptural belief. 09:38 And the Lord gave me holy boldness." 09:40 I said, "Pastor, 09:41 you do not have the authority to do this, 09:42 to do that funeral, and I will not allow it." 09:45 So I hung up the phone, I said, "Lord, 09:46 this is for the glory of Your name. 09:48 We cannot allow Your glory and Your Word 09:51 to become a spectacle. 09:52 So Lord, so I got about, I said to the pastor, 09:55 "What are you doing tomorrow?" 09:56 I said, "I'll be at your church tomorrow 09:58 between 10 and noon." 09:59 All right. 10:00 He said, Okay, I'll meet you there. 10:02 And on the way from here in Thompsonville 10:06 to the next destination, 10:07 I'll be very vague about that. 10:08 I said, and I'm speaking, I'm talking to God on the car, 10:10 "Lord, this is for Your glory. 10:12 This is not about me. 10:14 This is about Your glory and Your truth. 10:16 So Lord, send your spirit ahead of me. 10:18 When I arrived there, this man will be receptive." 10:21 When I got there, it was a different person. 10:24 He said, "Come to my office." 10:25 Then he said, "You know, 10:26 I thought about what you said yesterday. 10:28 And yes, Pastor, 10:29 I've given you complete authority 10:31 to do the whole entire funeral. 10:33 He said, here's the bullet tonight, 10:35 put together. 10:37 And he pointed out the outline. 10:38 He said, could I say that? 10:41 I said, "Let me read the bulletin." 10:46 No, no, you can't say that 10:48 because it's incorrectly phrased. 10:49 You said receive him into your presence. 10:51 He will receive them into His presence 10:53 when he returns. 10:55 Rephrase that and that will be okay. 10:56 All right. 10:57 And the whole point was not arrogance, 10:59 and I want to make it very clear. 11:00 The whole point was not arrogance, but when... 11:02 But as the text said, 11:05 they spoke the Word of God with what? 11:07 Boldness when the Spirit of God took over. 11:10 When the Spirit of God takes over our lives, 11:12 He removes timidity. 11:14 And He gives a spirit of confidence, 11:17 not arrogance. 11:18 And you'll find that Paul the Apostle continually, 11:21 Peter, John, all of them, 11:23 they had this holy boldness 11:25 that must proceed the individual 11:27 who's speaking as Jesus, the Bible says, 11:30 He spoke as one having authority 11:33 and not as ascribes. 11:34 So let's look, 11:35 the Holy Spirit's work is very powerful. 11:37 Let's look at the first thing. 11:39 The Holy Spirit equips and empowers. 11:42 Luke 1:35, 11:44 "And the angel answered and said to her, " 11:46 and this is, you'll find that I use this scripture, 11:50 speaking about, well, I'll read it. 11:54 Luke 1:35, 11:56 "And the angel answered and said to her, " 11:57 that is Mary, 11:59 "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, 12:01 and the power of the highest will overshadow you. 12:04 Therefore also that one who is to be born 12:09 will be called the son of the highest." 12:10 Now watch this. 12:12 Jesus cannot be born in us, 12:15 until the Holy Spirit comes upon us. 12:19 Christ in us, 12:21 but that can't happen 12:22 until the transaction 12:23 of the Holy Spirit comes upon us. 12:25 And I use the illustration there 12:26 of Mary when Gabriel came and visited her on schedule, 12:29 but right on God's time. 12:31 Also the Holy Spirit convicts, John 16:8-11, 12:36 "And when He has come, 12:37 He will convict the world of sin, 12:39 and of righteousness, and of judgment of sin, 12:41 because they do not believe in Me, 12:43 of righteousness, 12:44 because I go to My Father 12:46 and you see Me no more of judgment, 12:48 because the ruler of this world is judged." 12:50 So the Holy Spirit convicts. 12:53 Thirdly, the Holy Spirit seals us. 12:56 Ephesians 4:30, 12:59 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 13:03 by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." 13:06 You can't grieve someone 13:07 who doesn't have a sense of emotion. 13:11 Grief is not something 13:12 that's the byproduct of your desk, 13:15 or your chair, or your car tire. 13:17 Grief is a human emotion. 13:18 Grief is an emotion born within a person's heart. 13:22 Look at Matthew 12:32. 13:25 And that's why this is so vitally important 13:27 that you do not grieve the Holy Spirit. 13:29 You see that, you'll see the Bible brings out the fact 13:32 that he is a separate entity. 13:34 Mark, Matthew 12:32, 13:36 "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, 13:39 it will be forgiven him. 13:41 But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, 13:44 it will not be forgiven him, 13:46 either in this age or in the age to come." 13:49 They're not the same person. 13:52 Now, the next part is, 13:54 the Holy Spirit is imperative in our work for the kingdom. 14:01 Luke 11:13. 14:03 Luke 11:13. 14:08 I love this. 14:09 "If you then, being evil, 14:13 know how to give good gifts to your children, 14:16 how much more will your heavenly Father 14:20 give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" 14:25 I believe one of the reasons why we don't have 14:27 the Spirit of God working actively in our lives, 14:29 is because sometimes we become so linked to... 14:33 I'm using this phrase loosely Jill, 14:35 we have a list of our activities. 14:37 We're gonna go through that, 14:38 go through those activities 14:39 in our own ability and our own strength. 14:42 But when you enter your day with the Holy Spirit leading, 14:45 you'll find that the power that He makes available to you, 14:49 not only informs you and equips you, 14:51 but brings about success that can never be experienced 14:54 otherwise without the Spirit of God 14:56 in your life. 14:57 So yes, the Holy Spirit is a promise 15:00 and the promise brings results. 15:01 Amen. That's right. 15:03 Praise the Lord. Pastor Dinzey. 15:04 Amen. Amen. 15:06 Well, we continue studying this lesson. 15:08 And we move now to Monday's lesson, 15:11 and it's entitled, "An Empowered Church." 15:16 And this is, 15:18 when you look at the Book of Acts, 15:19 you'll find that there are wonderful stories of God 15:23 doing wonderful, mighty miracles 15:26 through regular human beings like you and I. 15:29 And God is willing to do these things today. 15:32 What we need to do is do what they did, 15:35 so render our lives completely to the Lord, 15:37 and be of one accord. 15:40 And we should endeavor to do this as soon as possible, 15:44 because there's a great need in the world today 15:47 for people to see Jesus 15:49 and hear Jesus in God's children. 15:51 So the Book of Acts 15:53 is really the acts of the Holy Spirit, 15:55 and the way you said it yesterday 15:57 on another lesson. 15:59 And so, let's go to Acts 2:41 and 42 16:02 to see some of the great things 16:05 that God was doing through His children. 16:07 Acts 2:41 and 42, 16:10 "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, 16:14 and that day 16:16 about three thousand souls were added to them. 16:20 And they continued steadfastly 16:22 in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, 16:24 in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." 16:27 So we see here 16:29 that they were baptized and continue, 16:31 they were part of the Christian family, 16:35 and continued in fellowship, it says here, 16:37 doctrine and fellowship and in prayers. 16:41 Prayer is very important, and we must continue this. 16:43 Let's look at Acts 4:4. 16:46 Acts 4:4. 16:47 Once again, we see here 16:51 the Lord telling us wonderful things. 16:53 "However, many of those who heard the word believed, 16:57 and the number of the men 16:59 came to be about five thousand." 17:03 So we have great numbers joining the church 17:06 during this time, 17:08 after the Pentecost, 17:10 after the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples 17:12 and upon those that were ready to receive the Holy Spirit. 17:15 It is exciting to read these things 17:17 in the Book of Acts, 17:19 and we encourage you to read that again. 17:21 And so, let's now turn 17:23 to our attention to Acts 4:31-33. 17:27 "And when they had prayed, 17:29 the place 17:30 where they were assembled together was shaken, 17:33 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 17:34 and spoke the word of God with boldness." 17:38 Like Pastor Lomacang said. 17:40 "Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart 17:43 and one soul," 17:45 I like that, 17:46 "neither did any say 17:47 that any of the things he possessed was his own, 17:49 but they had all things in common. 17:52 And with great power the apostles gave witness 17:54 to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus 17:56 and great grace was upon them all." 17:59 So we see here again, 18:02 the Lord working through His children. 18:05 What a wonderful time that was. 18:07 And this is going to happen again. 18:10 And with greater intensity, greater power, 18:14 because the latter rain will be poured out. 18:17 And I'm looking forward to that. 18:19 But today we are to do what's right there 18:23 in front of us to do. 18:24 We are to improve upon the opportunities 18:27 that God gives us 18:28 to witness to others through the Holy Spirit. 18:32 We are not to wait for some special moment 18:33 in the future 18:35 when the Holy Spirit is poured out. 18:36 We need to be busy today, 18:38 going about the Lord's business 18:40 because there's a lot of things 18:42 that God wants to do through us even today. 18:45 And again, Acts 5:14, 18:47 "And believers were increasingly added 18:50 to the Lord, 18:51 multitudes of both men and women." 18:55 So wonderful blessing, the church was growing, 18:59 but I want to point something out, 19:01 because these people were united, 19:05 of one accord, they held things in common. 19:08 It was like a family. 19:10 Because when you become a child of the Lord, 19:13 you form part of the great family of God 19:15 that's here on earth and in heaven as well. 19:18 And I've had the opportunity to travel from time to time. 19:21 And I remember the first time I went to Germany, 19:24 on my first long trip, when I was younger, 19:28 and went to church. 19:31 At the same time, 19:32 I went to church here in the States, 19:34 and it was a family. 19:35 It's a family atmosphere there among believers. 19:38 Didn't understand the language, but I understood the love. 19:41 Okay, I like that. 19:43 So Acts 3:11 and 12. 19:47 I want to point something out here because... 19:53 there was a mighty miracle done. 19:56 "Now as the lame man 19:58 who was healed held on to Peter and John, 20:01 all the people ran together to them in the porch 20:04 which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. 20:08 So when Peter saw it, 20:09 he responded to the people: 20:11 'Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? 20:14 Or why do you look so intently at us, 20:17 as though by our own power or godliness 20:21 we had made this man walk?' " 20:25 So they were pointing out, hey, this is not us. 20:29 It is not us. 20:31 It is God working through us. 20:33 So as you continue reading, he tells us the God of Abraham, 20:37 Isaac, and Jacob, 20:38 the God of our fathers glorify His servant Jesus 20:41 whom you delivered up 20:42 and denied in the presence of Pilate, 20:44 when he was determined to let him go. 20:46 He continues to talk to them. 20:48 And then he says 20:49 that it was through God's power 20:52 that this man was made whole. 20:55 In other words, they gave God the glory. 21:00 Wonderful amount of people 21:02 were being baptized 3,000, 5,000 21:04 every day people coming into the church, 21:06 but they gave God the glory. 21:10 And so I enjoy working at 3ABN 21:13 because I see this same thing here. 21:16 Seen it in Sister Jill, Pastor Kenny, Pastor Ryan, 21:20 Pastor Lomacang. 21:22 They give God the glory and this is what we should do, 21:25 give God the glory. 21:26 And, brothers and sisters, 21:29 I'd like to point this out 21:30 because we have another instance here 21:33 because these people were united. 21:36 Notice Acts 5:42, 21:38 "And daily in the temple, and in every house, 21:43 they did not cease 21:44 teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." 21:49 What a wonderful lesson is here for us 21:51 and I want to encourage you to consider 21:54 that we need to take advantage of time. 21:56 A lot of time is wasted by God's people. 21:59 And we need to take advantage of time, 22:02 because we are living in the last days 22:04 and it is high time to wake out of sleep. 22:06 God wants to do something marvelous. 22:09 And He wants to do it through His children. 22:12 And those that are willing 22:14 will be used by God on His keyboard. 22:17 Those that are willing will be used by God. 22:19 Are you willing? There you go. 22:21 Are you waiting for some special moments, 22:24 something, some great training, God will use you today. 22:29 Take up the work that He shows you 22:30 and you will see good things happen. 22:34 Notice, I want to read this because you know, 22:37 we read men and women and joining the church. 22:40 But there was a lot of resistance, 22:43 Scribes and Pharisees, priests, 22:46 but the Word of God is powerful, powerful. 22:50 So I want to read this verse as well 22:52 because God will convince those that we think, 22:54 oh no, they are never going to change. 22:58 Acts 6:7, "Then the Word of God spread, 23:01 and the number of the disciples multiplied, 23:04 multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. 23:06 And great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 23:12 So praise be to God. 23:13 And so we see here a lot, we see here mention of numbers, 23:16 sometimes we, you know, 23:18 oh, it seems like their focus is numbers. 23:21 No, here God is letting us know 23:24 of the marvelous and great things 23:26 that were done through common everyday people. 23:30 God did these wonderful things, 23:32 people willing to be used by God. 23:34 And so, let us make ourselves an empty vessel 23:38 for the Lord to work through us. 23:39 Let us put self aside and say, Lord, here I am. 23:44 Use me according to Your goodwill. 23:47 I want to... 23:49 I see time is escaping again. 23:52 I want to read Revelation 18. 23:57 I'm going to read verse 1 and 2 only. 24:03 "After these things I saw another angel 24:06 coming down from heaven, 24:08 having great authority, 24:10 and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 24:14 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 24:16 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, 24:19 and has become the dwelling place of demons, 24:21 a prison for every foul spirit, 24:23 and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird!" 24:26 And it continues. 24:27 But I want to point out it says 24:29 that the earth was illuminated with His glory. 24:32 This is God working through His people, 24:35 the whole earth will be illuminated 24:37 with the glory of God, 24:38 the character of God shining through God's children, 24:42 as the Holy Spirit is poured out, 24:44 and I want to encourage you to get ready 24:48 to remove whatever obstacle 24:50 is in the way of the Holy Spirit 24:52 working in your life, 24:53 so that God will use you 24:56 and the results will be wonderful. 24:58 And remember, all the glory goes to God. 25:02 Amen. 25:03 Pastor Dinzey, I appreciate that very much. 25:05 Yes, amen. Wow! 25:06 We have gotten off on a good leg here. 25:09 No self-praise but praise God as the spirit leads, 25:12 the Word of God just keeps coming alive. 25:14 And we have three more. 25:16 Well, Holy Spirit abled family members 25:20 that are coming up next, so don't go away. 25:22 We'll be back in just a moment. 25:29 Ever wish you could watch 25:31 a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again, 25:33 or share it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? 25:36 Well, you can by visiting 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com. 25:41 A clean design makes it easy 25:43 to find the program you're looking for. 25:45 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 25:49 so you can follow along. 25:51 Sharing is easy. 25:52 Just click share 25:53 and choose your favorite social media. 25:55 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 26:00 We welcome you back to our lesson study. 26:02 And we now continue on Tuesday, the Holy Spirit and Witnessing. 26:07 Ryan? Amen. 26:08 That's right, we're going to be talking 26:09 about, "The Holy Spirit and Witnessing." 26:11 And you know, 26:13 I have to just give a shout out to you guys here. 26:14 Thank you so much for setting the groundwork for this. 26:17 And, Pastor, I love what you brought out 26:18 about the personality of the Holy Spirit, 26:21 because there seems to be some disagreement on that 26:24 here in these last days. 26:26 But, you know, yeah, it said lightly. 26:29 But you know, I just want to emphasize also, 26:30 you brought out something amazing, 26:32 and that's the fact 26:33 that this is a distinct third person 26:35 separate from the Father and the Son. 26:37 And we have to emphasize that in the fact that you know, 26:40 in rejecting the power of the Holy Spirit, 26:43 you know, you're setting yourself up 26:44 for a very dangerous situation. 26:46 I mean, this is salvation. This is life and death. 26:48 And I love the fact that you know, 26:50 Bible says God is not the author of confusion. 26:52 He's very clear on this. 26:53 And the fact that Jesus Himself said 26:55 that He would send another helper, 26:58 another parakletos. 27:00 You know, if I said that I was going to take this, 27:02 you know, say this was Pastor John Dinzey's, 27:04 and I'm going to take this away 27:05 and bring you another glass of water, 27:07 but I brought you the same glass of water. 27:09 That's not another glass of water, right? 27:10 And so, you know, we need to be receptive 27:13 of the Holy Spirit in these last days 27:14 for the working of witnessing 27:17 because God is going to empower us 27:18 as Acts 1:8 says, 27:20 to be a witness into all the earth. 27:23 And I love how this study begins 27:25 because Pastor Mark Finley 27:26 does another beautiful job of setting the study up. 27:29 He says throughout the Book of Acts, 27:30 and we're going to be focusing 27:32 in on the Book of Acts in this particular study here. 27:34 Throughout the Book of Acts, 27:36 the Holy Spirit was powerfully present. 27:38 He ministered to 27:40 and through the believers 27:41 as they witnessed for their Lord 27:43 in a variety of ways, 27:44 and we're going to see those variety of ways here 27:46 in just a moment. 27:48 He strengthened them to face the trials and challenges 27:50 of witnessing in a hostile culture. 27:53 He led them 27:54 to honest hearted truth seekers. 27:57 He prepared the hearts of people 27:59 in whole cities 28:01 before the believers ever came to those cities, 28:03 He opened doors of opportunity that they never dreamed of 28:07 and empowered their words and actions. 28:10 And here in these last days, 28:12 we definitely need to be empowered 28:13 by the Holy Spirit 28:15 so that we can finish God's work. 28:16 Just as Christ came to finish the work of the Father, 28:19 we're here to co-labor with God in finishing His work. 28:22 And so here we are. 28:23 I'm going to begin here in Acts Chapter 7. 28:25 While we're going there to Acts Chapter 7, 28:28 you know, obviously, 28:29 we already see early on in the Book of Acts, 28:31 the wonderful working power of the Holy Spirit 28:34 through God's people, 28:35 right there in Acts Chapter 2, Day of Pentecost. 28:38 You know, the Holy Spirit of the Lord 28:40 begins to give power to the disciples 28:43 to supernaturally be able to speak 28:45 in other earthly languages 28:47 for the purpose of communicating the gospel, 28:49 and I'm not going to speak on tongues 28:51 in this particular episode. 28:52 That's going to be in next week study 28:54 where we're going to be talking about the gifts 28:55 because we'll get to that later. 28:57 But nonetheless, we see the Holy Spirit 28:58 working through a variety of different ways 29:01 to forwardly advance the kingdom of God. 29:03 And so here we see, 29:05 we're going to start here in Acts Chapter 7, of course, 29:07 this is the experience of Stephen. 29:09 And, of course, it comes within the context of him 29:11 about to be stoned. 29:13 And so notice what the Bible says 29:14 beginning in Acts 7:54 and onward. 29:18 It says, "When they heard these things 29:20 they were cut to the heart, 29:21 and they gnashed at him with their teeth." 29:23 This is the Sanhedrin judges here, 29:27 but he's speaking of Stephen, 29:30 "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, 29:32 gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, 29:35 and Jesus 29:36 standing at the right hand of God and said, 29:38 'Look, I see the heavens open 29:40 and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.' " 29:43 This brother is about to die. 29:45 I mean, he's on his deathbed, but yet, 29:48 full of the Holy Spirit, 29:49 he finds means to uplift the Lord 29:51 and to witness for the Lord right there. 29:53 The Holy Spirit strengthened Stephen 29:56 to witness for Jesus in the face of a ruthless 29:59 and out of control mob stoning him to death. 30:02 What does that say about us in these last days? 30:04 Man, I want that kind of power. 30:06 I want that kind of faith. 30:07 Let's move on quickly to Acts Chapter 8. 30:10 We're going to go to the next chapter. 30:11 Now we're looking at the instance 30:12 in which the Holy Spirit uses Philip, 30:14 the disciple here. 30:16 And, of course, beginning in verse 29, 30:18 and reading on to verse 30 of Acts Chapter 8, 30:20 notice what the Bible says. 30:21 It says, "Then the Spirit said to Philip, 30:24 'Go near and overtake this chariot.' 30:27 So Philip ran to him, 30:29 and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, 30:31 and said, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' " 30:35 This is powerful, because again, 30:37 oftentimes the Holy Spirit will give you a holy boldness, 30:40 to be able to go into a situation 30:42 that otherwise you yourself 30:44 would not have chosen to do, 30:45 but the Holy Spirit will impress 30:47 upon a person's heart do this and go. 30:49 And in this case, he was addressing, 30:52 you know, a person within the royal line 30:55 or within the royal palace of the Ethiopian government. 30:58 And, of course, 31:00 this was a higher person, obviously. 31:01 But he felt the need impressed by the Holy Spirit 31:04 and as it said here, the Holy Spirit told him go. 31:06 And so, he miraculously guided Philip 31:08 to an influential truth seeking Ethiopian 31:12 to open up the continent of Africa 31:15 for the gospel, 31:16 which is powerful in this one instance. 31:18 I remember one time hearing a story, 31:20 it was when I was with Amazing Facts. 31:22 And there was a story that often fluctuated 31:24 because there was a couple of evangelists 31:25 on the team 31:26 that witnessed another Amazing Facts evangelist 31:29 at an actual live public evangelistic series, 31:32 and they were getting toward the end 31:33 of the evangelistic series. 31:35 And they had been, you know, giving appeals they had been, 31:37 you know, preaching the gospel 31:39 and had been several people 31:40 that had not yet made a decision. 31:41 And there was this one guy that they had visited often, 31:44 and, you know, pled with him and really worked with him 31:46 and he was receiving the truth, 31:48 had no problem with all of the truth 31:49 he was learning, 31:51 but he just hadn't made a decision yet. 31:53 And the guy that told me this story, 31:55 he said, "Man, I was there, I saw this, 31:56 this brother was preaching 31:58 right in the middle of the sermon 31:59 got down to the altar call or to the final appeal, 32:02 and he walked down the middle of the aisle, 32:04 went right up to this brother in front of everybody and said, 32:06 "Brother, you need to give your heart to the Lord 32:08 right here tonight." 32:10 Now that kind of got some shocking 32:12 because we don't usually take those very, you know, 32:14 straightforward bold ways of bringing people to the Lord, 32:17 and a lot of people might find that 32:18 to be offensive. 32:20 But nonetheless later when they asked him and said, 32:21 "Why would you do such a thing? 32:23 That was bold, you know, that was risky." 32:24 He said, "I just felt the Holy Spirit inspired me 32:26 to tell this brother 32:28 that he needed to make a decision 32:29 for the Lord tonight." 32:31 He did and that brother was baptized 32:32 and he's a worker in the church today, 32:34 it's powerful story to hear. 32:35 So the Holy Spirit works in various ways, 32:38 it works in ways 32:39 that sometimes surpasses our understanding, 32:42 but we just simply need to be obedient 32:45 and follow the Lord. 32:46 So notice Acts Chapter 11. 32:48 Let's go really quickly to Acts Chapter 11. 32:50 Of course, this is referring to Jesus 32:53 or excuse me, 32:54 Peter and his experience with Cornelius's house, 32:56 but notice beginning in verse 15. 32:58 It says, "And I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, 33:02 as upon us at the beginning. 33:04 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, 33:06 how He said, 33:07 'John indeed baptized with water, 33:09 but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' " 33:12 So the Holy Spirit in this instance 33:14 gave Peter a confirmatorial sign, 33:17 when the Gentile believers also received 33:20 the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that's one. 33:22 But I also love here 33:23 that just as pastor brought up earlier 33:24 the attributes and the powerful, 33:26 wonderful work of the Holy Spirit, 33:28 the Bible tells us in John Chapter 14, 33:30 that the Holy Spirit will also bring 33:32 all things to our remembrance. 33:33 And in this case, he reminded Peter 33:35 of the word of the Lord, which is wonderful. 33:38 Acts 15, moving on quickly, 33:39 because we have little time here. 33:41 Acts 15. 33:42 We're going to see all of these multiple examples 33:44 of how the Holy Spirit works. 33:45 This is Acts 15, which I believe 33:47 this is referring to the council at Jerusalem. 33:50 So notice what it says here, 33:51 Acts 15, beginning with verse 28. 33:53 It says, "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, 33:56 to lay upon you no greater burden 33:58 than these necessary things: 34:00 that you abstain from things offered to idols, 34:03 from blood, from things strangled, 34:04 and from sexual immorality. 34:06 If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well." 34:09 So in this instance, 34:11 we see the Holy Spirit 34:12 brought the church together in unity 34:14 at a time 34:15 when it could easily have been split 34:17 over the issue of circumcision. 34:19 We could use a little bit of that today. 34:20 You know, we need the Holy Spirit to unify us 34:23 on some of these issues that often, you know, 34:24 the devil tries to use to split God's Church, 34:27 but we see the Holy Spirit working among God's people 34:30 to unify them in these trying times. 34:32 There's one more example I may not read 34:34 the entire thing for lack of time, 34:35 but Acts Chapter 16, very next chapter, 34:40 this is the instance in which, well, let's just read it here. 34:43 Verse 6, Acts 16:6, this is, 34:45 "Now when they had gone through Phrygia 34:47 and the region of Galatia, 34:48 they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit 34:50 to preach the word in Asia. 34:52 After they had come to Mysia, 34:54 which tried to go into Bithynia, 34:56 but the Spirit did not permit them. 34:58 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 35:01 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. 35:04 A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 35:07 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' 35:10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately, 35:12 we sought to go to Macedonia, 35:14 concluding that the Lord had called us 35:16 to preach the gospel to them. 35:18 So what does they show us here? 35:20 This is powerful. 35:21 The Holy Spirit opened up the entire continent of Europe 35:25 to the preaching of the gospel through the Apostle Paul. 35:28 You know, Paul was deceased. 35:29 His plan was to go over here. 35:31 "I'm going to go to Mysia. 35:32 I'm going to go over here to Bithynia." 35:33 "No, no, no," the Holy Spirit said, 35:35 "No, no, that's not where I want you to go." 35:36 He gave Paul a vision, He impressed upon his heart, 35:37 you need to go over here to this brother in Macedonia. 35:40 And through that it opened the way 35:41 for the gospel to pour open into Europe. 35:44 The Holy Spirit was active in the New Testament Church, 35:48 and it is active in the life of the church today 35:50 and we need to remember that, 35:52 we need to be surrendered to God's Spirit today. 35:54 We need to ask Him into our heart and say, 35:56 "Lord, guide me, lead me, 35:58 show me what it is, 35:59 show me where you want me to go. 36:01 Lord, help me to surrender to you today, Lord." 36:03 And so that's my prayer for myself. 36:05 That's my prayer for the church. 36:06 And so, hey, we need to be surrendering 36:08 to the Holy Spirit, 36:09 so we can be a witness today, Brother Kenny. 36:12 Praise the Lord. 36:13 Thank you for that 36:15 for the good foundation, all three. 36:16 Praise God for that. 36:17 All right, Wednesday's lesson it talks about, interesting, 36:20 "The Holy Spirit and Word and Witnessing." 36:22 So I see a awful lot of time on that. 36:24 So we'll just try to do the best we can 36:26 by the grace of God. 36:27 First I want to do it, 36:28 there's a paragraph I found in book 36:30 called Education 126. 36:32 Why? Because it's powerful. 36:33 We've been talking about the power of Pentecost. 36:35 We've been talking 36:36 about the power of the Word of God, 36:38 but the power of miracles that God, 36:39 miracles that God used, 36:41 you see through individuals who are willing to be used, 36:43 but it says here. 36:45 It says, "The creative energy 36:46 that called the world into existence 36:49 is in the Word of God." 36:51 Now, let's, lot of people say, 36:52 "Well, I don't understand that." 36:54 But you know, Hebrews 11:3 says, 36:55 "The worlds were framed by," what? 36:58 "The Word of God." 36:59 These worlds here. 37:01 So in other words, it looks like what you're saying here, 37:02 the world's an exit, the Word of God is powerful, 37:06 much more than maybe some of us can really realize 37:08 how powerful it is. 37:09 Goes on and says, "This word imparts power." 37:13 We know the Bible talks about in Hebrews 4:12. 37:16 It says, it's powerful. 37:18 The Word of God is powerful, 37:20 you know, sharper than any two-edged sword. 37:22 So we know the Word of God is powerful. 37:25 It begets life. 37:26 It produces life, 37:28 the Word of God, there's life in the Word. 37:29 So when the Word is spoken, there's life, it goes out. 37:32 Every command, I love this, every command is a promise. 37:36 I love that, I tell you why, 37:38 Hebrews 10:23, said he is faithful. 37:41 Notice that of the things 37:43 that He's faithful that promised. 37:45 So we know that God's faithful, anything He's promised 37:47 He's faithful in fulfilling that. 37:50 And then it says here, 37:51 "Received into the soul 37:52 it brings with it the life of the infinite one." 37:56 We need life in us. 37:58 We need life, we say in the church. 38:00 We need life in our experience with Christ. 38:03 It transforms the nature, 38:05 and it recreates the soul in the image of God. 38:08 That means it changes the mind and the heart, right? 38:11 Romans 12:2, we need a transformation, 38:13 we need a change. 38:15 And I really believe 38:16 that we were just as God's people today 38:18 just simply said, Lord, I need to change. 38:20 You know, been going on for years the same way, 38:21 I don't want it to go on like this anymore. 38:23 I want to experience that. 38:25 And I'm like rest of you, 38:26 used to talk about when you read the Book of Acts, 38:27 I keep saying, Man, I want more of that experience. 38:30 And many of you, I'm sure have experienced that, 38:32 but God's going to do it 38:33 in greater and greater depth than I think. 38:35 Just I'm really enjoying that, 38:37 looking forward to what God is going to do. 38:38 2 Corinthians 3:18, 38:40 "Beholding the glory of the Lord 38:41 we're changed into," what? 38:43 "The same image," when it says here, 38:45 "that the Word of God will change us 38:47 into the image of God." 38:48 So I like to say our job or our commission 38:51 is simply here is to, you know, 38:53 just simply be open 38:55 and ask the Holy Spirit to come into us 38:57 and change our life. 38:59 And it's certainly through the word 39:01 that God has inspired 39:02 and you know, maybe it's not the problem 39:04 is we've not been reading the Word 39:06 like we should be reading the Word, 39:07 spending time in the Word. 39:09 This is what it takes. 39:10 You know, how are we going? 39:12 How's it going to benefit us 39:13 if we're not really spending time 39:15 in prayer and in study? 39:17 Our lesson brings out the word is shared 39:20 when it shared something good is about to happen. 39:23 You know the song something good is on its way. 39:25 Something good is about to happen. 39:27 Example, some of them have mentioned here 39:28 about Peter, 39:30 the Sermon on the Day of Pentecost, 39:31 what happened, quickly. 39:33 There was, why there was conversions, 39:35 the Word of God when it went out with power, 39:37 Holy Spirit accompanied, there were conversions, 39:39 people were changed. 39:40 That's right. Stephen dying testimony. 39:43 What did it do? It changed life. 39:45 Oh, just those who have witnessed it, 39:46 it just changed it. 39:48 Paul, he told over and over of the coming of Messiah, 39:52 Jesus the Messiah. 39:53 So all these prophecies in there, 39:55 and then we fill up 39:56 I think that you mentioned about Philip. 39:58 You know what, it was Isaiah 53 that resulted in a baptism. 40:03 So I could think of that's kind of exciting right 40:05 to preach out anybody else that there's baptism. 40:07 So I said, you know the Word of God, 40:09 there's conversion, there's changed lives. 40:11 You know, this has changed heart 40:13 and there's the, you know, coming of the Messiah Jesus. 40:15 And then there's baptism. 40:17 Read a few passages quickly that shows relationship 40:20 between the Holy Spirit and the Word 40:23 and witnessing in the New Testament. 40:25 I think was already read, we read it in Acts Chapter 4, 40:28 we read it again. 40:30 Sometimes these things overlap, 40:31 but hopefully we can draw something too from it 40:33 each time that we read it. 40:35 Acts 4:4, it says, 40:37 "How many of them which heard the word, " 40:39 what did they do? 40:41 Bible says, "They believed it," notice, 40:43 "and the number was about 5,000." 40:45 Man, that's it. 40:46 Whoo, talk about blessings, right? 40:48 Five thousand. Yeah, we love that. 40:50 And verse 34, 40:51 "Neither was there any among them that lacked 40:54 for as many as were possessors of lands and houses." 40:57 You talk about change of the Holy Spirit, 40:59 something took place. 41:00 We became unselfish. 41:01 Selfish became unselfish. 41:03 And they began to sell what they... 41:05 sold what they had, 41:06 and they brought 41:08 the money back in and they begin. 41:09 It's all common. 41:10 We're just going to share with everybody. 41:12 You know, that can't happen 41:13 without the power of the Holy Spirit. 41:15 No hoarding at all, like we see happening. 41:17 That's exactly, no hoarding. 41:19 Everyone was willing to share 41:20 and to give to his brother and his sister. 41:22 So we realized 41:24 as the Holy Spirit began to work 41:25 in the hearts of New Testament Church, 41:27 the people accepted the call. 41:30 We need to accept the call today, do we not? 41:32 Accept the call, but how they did it? 41:34 They did it with such vigor, such excitement, 41:38 such enthusiasm, 41:40 that it began to rub off on those roundabout, 41:42 they did it with, you know, power, 41:43 they did it courageously, 41:45 it talk about boldly they accepted, 41:47 you know, the power in the Word of God. 41:49 They began to publish everything they could, 41:51 they begin to preach wherever they could, 41:53 and they had the example of Jesus Christ. 41:56 We can't go wrong if we publish and we teach that 41:59 which Christ came as He taught. 42:01 We just need to take that right now. 42:03 And it becomes lively, 42:05 it becomes something 42:06 that we need excited about to learn 42:08 that we want this same experience. 42:10 And I like this part, it says great grace, Acts 4:33, 42:15 we need to consider this great, notice this, 42:17 "Great grace was given to them," 42:19 notice, "them all. 42:21 And we need the grace," 42:23 notice this, why we need the grace? 42:24 "Because the grace of God 42:26 is that which qualifies us for service." 42:29 Isn't it? Without it, it's nothing. 42:31 Well, I have this and I have that, 42:33 well, all right, you have that. 42:36 But what qualifies you to work for the master 42:38 is the grace of God, right? 42:40 The grace and the power of God. 42:42 It comes from above. It's a fruit. 42:44 You've talked about fruit of grace 42:46 appeared to all they said and all that they did. 42:51 That is such a good thought. 42:52 Everything that they said, everything that they did, 42:56 was seasoned with grace. 42:58 It was seeds that were more planted, 43:02 people made decisions for Christ. 43:03 They were filled with the Holy Spirit 43:05 and the power of God. 43:07 They even loosed, 43:10 they even loosed the pocketbook, 43:12 you know of the stingy, 43:14 even the checkbook 43:16 you know that before when they had 43:18 the checkbook out. 43:20 Okay, stay with me. 43:21 There was just zero maybe there now 43:23 when the power of the Holy Spirit comes, 43:24 you start adding a couple of more zeros. 43:26 Some of you can do that right now at 3ABN 43:28 because, you know, we need to get this gospel 43:30 preach it all the world, right? 43:31 And just put it one to zero 43:33 just start putting a bunch of zeros, 43:34 it all be good. 43:36 That's what the Spirit of the Living God did 43:38 when it come into the hearts and the life 43:40 whatever they had was really of no value. 43:43 And they begin to realize that what they have... 43:45 One man said it something, he says so beautiful was this, 43:48 you know, whatever we have in this life, 43:50 you know, it's just a, 43:51 well really what seemed like he said 43:53 it belongs more to God than it does to us. 43:57 We know that's a fact but he's like, 43:58 he's trying to sort it out. 44:00 It really, really belongs to Him 44:01 more than it does to us. 44:03 Absolutely, it does. 44:04 Pocketbooks were leaking, loosen, you know. 44:07 These believers were so excited, 44:11 you know with the hope of another world 44:13 that again everything they had was just, 44:15 I like it simply nothing. 44:17 No man the Bible said in Acts 4:32. 44:20 Notice, no man said that 44:21 all of the things which he possessed was his. 44:25 That was his own, everything was in common. 44:28 I mean, how can we do that? 44:29 We can't go through any kind of a disaster 44:31 or something or somebody says a disaster is coming, 44:34 we go clean the shelves. 44:36 We don't care if somebody has something else 44:38 on there some time, 44:39 you know what I'm talking about. 44:40 We just want to get for me, 44:42 mine and I but here this situation, 44:43 it wasn't about self anymore. 44:45 When the Spirit of the Living God 44:46 really comes in, we go on, 44:48 we put self you know, on the back burner, 44:50 and we begin to look to others. 44:51 Praise God. 44:52 They no longer called it their own, 44:54 what they had forsaken. 44:56 They've had forsaken all for the cause of Christ. 44:58 Man, what a church? 45:00 What a people of God? 45:02 If we would simply follow what the Word of God says 45:04 like Mark 38:34, 45:07 he simply says Jesus said, deny what? 45:10 Deny self and take up the cross and follow me. 45:14 The biggest enemy we all have, we realize this self, 45:17 we can say it over and over and over, 45:18 but it really is, 45:19 no one's going to take up the cross. 45:21 No one's going to follow, as long as self is in the way, 45:26 you know, as women give, the man said, 45:28 and I think so here's I was quoting 45:29 while ago trying to, 45:30 I believe that what we have is more God's than ours. 45:33 That's good. 45:34 What we have is from God and what God loans us, 45:37 we are certainly to give to the cause of Christ. 45:40 They learn from the Word of God, 45:43 they were empowered 45:44 by the Holy Spirit of the Living God, to what? 45:48 To witness for Him for others. 45:51 And certainly, when you read about this, 45:53 you just get excited 45:54 and you want to just put everything aside right quick 45:56 and start running out trying to get somebody. 45:58 Will anybody listen, you know, when somebody's listening, 46:02 we're excited. 46:03 If you went out with that kind of enthusiasm 46:04 and the power of the Holy Spirit, 46:06 there would be people out there that would listen. 46:08 This is the hour. This is the day. 46:10 If it's not now, when is it going to be? 46:12 When is it really going to be. 46:14 Now witness for Jesus, He's coming soon. 46:16 We need to be ready for that wonderful, 46:17 beautiful day. 46:18 Amen. 46:20 Thank you so much, Pastor Kenny. 46:21 What an incredible study each one of you. 46:23 I love the Book of Acts as you open it up 46:26 and you read and you see the growth of the church 46:28 and the power of the Holy Spirit 46:31 on ordinary men and women. 46:33 As you mentioned, 46:34 what an incredible difference the Holy Spirit makes 46:38 in the life of the Christian. 46:40 On Thursday, we look at the life transforming power 46:44 of the Holy Spirit. 46:45 This is really the role 46:47 the Holy Spirit plays in conversion 46:49 in changing people's lives. 46:50 And the lesson brings out four specific examples 46:53 from the Book of Acts, 46:55 and we see the role that the Holy Spirit played 46:57 in each one of their conversion. 47:00 Lord willing, we will get 47:01 through all four of these examples. 47:03 So example number one is Lydia seller of purple. 47:08 Okay. 47:09 So all four of these examples 47:10 are actually Paul encountered them 47:12 on his second missionary journey. 47:16 We know that he visited many places, he met Timothy, 47:19 of course, in Lystra 47:20 and then he traveled through many different places, 47:23 modern day Turkey, 47:24 then received the call 47:25 to come over to Macedonia and help us. 47:28 He went to modern day Greece 47:29 and we know that he went to Philippi. 47:31 That's where he encountered Lydia 47:33 and we'll discuss her story. 47:35 She's the first one then Paul and Silas, 47:37 and the Philippian jailer, 47:39 we'll discuss his story and his conversion. 47:41 Then, of course, 47:42 they went to Thessalonica and Berea, 47:45 Athens, 47:46 that's where they encountered dio... 47:51 Dionysus. 47:52 Thank you, Dionysus. 47:54 I knew I was going to mess up that word. 47:55 And then we'll discuss his story. 47:57 And then in Corinth, we see Crispus 47:59 who was the ruler of the synagogue. 48:02 So let's take a look at Lydia. 48:03 We're in Acts Chapter 16. 48:05 Turn to Acts Chapter 16. 48:07 And I see two different things taking place here. 48:09 First we're going to look at the Holy Spirit 48:11 prepared the apostles, 48:14 then we look at the Holy Spirit prepared Lydia. 48:18 So let's look at the preparation 48:19 the Holy Spirit did for the apostles. 48:21 And Ryan already referenced this. 48:24 This is in Act 16:6, 7, 8, 9. 48:27 First of all, the Holy Spirit said, don't go. 48:30 They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit 48:32 to preach the word in Asia, 48:34 that's Acts 16:6, 48:35 and then they wanted to go to a different place 48:37 and the Holy Spirit did not permit them. 48:40 Instead, the Holy Spirit said, "Here is where you need to go." 48:44 And Paul had this vision and in the night, 48:47 and he needed to go 48:49 over to Macedonia and to help them. 48:51 So the first thing the Holy Spirit did is he said, 48:53 don't go here. 48:55 Go over here. 48:56 So the Holy Spirit directed 48:58 the evangelistic efforts of Paul 49:01 and the rest of the disciples. 49:03 Then we see the apostle's response 49:04 in verse 10. 49:06 We're in Acts 16:10. 49:07 "Now after he," that's Paul, "had seen the vision 49:10 immediately, we sought to go to Macedonia, 49:13 concluding that the Lord had called us 49:16 to preach the gospel to them." 49:18 So when God calls you, 49:19 when the Holy Spirit prompts your heart 49:21 to do something, you need to walk in obedience. 49:25 Then we see in verses 12 and 13, 49:27 they encounter Lydia. 49:30 "From there, they went to Philippi, 49:31 which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, 49:34 a colony, 49:35 and we were staying in that city for some days. 49:37 And on the Sabbath day, 49:38 we went out of the city to the Riverside, 49:40 where prayer was customarily made, 49:43 and we sat down and spoke to the woman there." 49:46 So first of all, you might be saying, 49:48 why is he sitting down 49:49 and speaking to the woman there? 49:50 Well, first of all, 49:52 we know that Philippi 49:53 was a very influential city there 49:55 when Paul went to visit it 49:56 probably between 200 and 500,000 residents. 50:00 It was 10 miles from the coast. 50:02 They had a school of medicine. 50:03 There it was very much a Roman city. 50:07 They did not have a synagogue, 50:09 because there were very few Jewish people 50:12 in that city. 50:13 It was required they had to have 10 Jewish men 50:17 in order to start a synagogue. 50:19 So this tells us 50:20 that probably they did not even have 50:22 10 Jewish men in that city. 50:24 Therefore, the woman just met together, 50:27 they had a women's prayer meeting 50:28 by the river. 50:29 And then we see the Holy Spirit preparing Lydia's heart. 50:34 Let's look at the next verse, verse 14. 50:36 "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us, 50:39 she was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, 50:43 who worshipped God." 50:44 Now this indicates 50:46 that she had already come to believe 50:49 in the God of the Jews, 50:50 and she had already begun to worship on the Sabbath 50:52 because it's the Sabbath day 50:54 and she is there worshiping by the river 50:57 having this women's prayer group. 50:59 We see the drawing power of the Holy Spirit 51:02 before Paul ever showed up. 51:03 We see that God was already working 51:06 and moving in her heart. 51:08 And then we see the convicting power 51:10 of the Holy Spirit take place when Paul begins to speak, 51:12 the second half of that verse. 51:14 It says, "The Lord opened her heart 51:17 to heed the things spoken by Paul." 51:20 Now that word opened in Greek means open up completely. 51:24 We see that Lydia had been drawn 51:28 by the Holy Spirit already 51:29 and have been led into some truth 51:31 and then Paul preached Jesus the Messiah, 51:34 and the Lord opened up her heart completely. 51:37 She responded to the convicting power 51:39 of the Holy Spirit. 51:41 And in her response, verse 15, 51:42 she and her household were baptized, 51:44 she begged us saying, 51:46 if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, 51:48 come to my house and stay. 51:51 So she persuaded us, 51:52 she responded to the Holy Spirit's appeal, 51:54 she witnessed to her family, 51:55 she immediately began to witness 51:58 and minister to others." 52:01 The second example is the Philippian jailer. 52:04 And the next story 52:06 which we don't have time to go into, 52:07 but Paul and Silas are intercepted 52:09 or interrupted by this fortuneteller, 52:11 the slave girl who practices divination, 52:14 and she cried for many days, 52:16 these men are servants of the Most High God. 52:19 And Paul became a bit annoyed, 52:21 and maybe because 52:22 she's interrupting the preaching of the gospel. 52:25 He cast out the demon. 52:27 The owners are upset because they lost some money. 52:31 So they dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates, 52:34 the authorities and they said 52:36 these men are bringing trouble to the city. 52:38 These men are teaching customs that are not lawful for Romans. 52:41 Well, they made up false charges is what they did. 52:45 And so then we pick up the story in verse 22, 52:47 we're in Acts 16:22, 52:49 "The multitude rose up together against them, 52:51 and the magistrates tore off their clothes 52:54 and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 52:56 And when they had laid many stripes on them, 52:58 they threw them into prison, 53:00 commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 53:03 Having received such a charge, 53:05 he put them into the inner prison 53:07 and fastened their feet in stocks." 53:09 Now, I don't know about you, but if that had happened to me, 53:11 I might have been a little discouraged, 53:13 God, I'm doing Your work. 53:15 I'm trying to witness and evangelize 53:17 and do what You have called me to do. 53:18 And I just got beat and I'm hurting 53:21 and I'm physically broken, right 53:23 and I'm lying here in prison, in stocks in jail. 53:27 God, where are You? 53:28 But that's not how they responded. 53:29 Let's look at what they did. Verse 25. 53:32 At midnight, in the darkest hour, 53:35 when life seems the most hopeless, 53:38 Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God 53:43 and the prisoners were listening to them. 53:46 When you're treated wrongly, turn to praise, 53:50 turn to joy first. 53:53 When you're treated wrongly, keep witnessing for Christ. 53:56 Joy brings deliverance and salvation for other people, 54:00 as we saw here, the prisoners listened. 54:03 God showed up. 54:04 There's this incredible earthquake, 54:07 and the foundation of the prison is shaken, 54:10 all the doors are opened, everybody's chains fell off 54:12 and the jailer, he is getting upset, 54:14 "Oh, I'm going to lose my job. 54:16 All these people are going to escape." 54:18 And Paul says, "It's okay, we're here, 54:20 don't harm yourself." 54:23 And then verse 29, 54:24 that he called for a light 54:26 ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 54:29 And he said, "Sir, what must I do to be saved?" 54:34 You see, God turned the situation 54:35 that the apostles thought was for bad 54:37 and God turned it around for the salvation 54:39 of this man and his household 54:43 who were baptized that very night. 54:45 When it seems all is lost, that is when God shows up. 54:48 When it looks the darkest it has ever been, 54:51 that's when God brings hope. 54:53 When it appears there is no way out, 54:55 that's when God opens the door and takes off your chains. 54:59 When it is certain that defeat is going to take place, 55:02 that's when God brings deliverance. 55:04 You see, God can turn obstacles into opportunities. 55:07 God can turn fear into faith, 55:09 God can turn cowardice into conversion. 55:12 God can turn defeat into deliverance. 55:15 God can turn what Satan intended 55:17 for evil into good. 55:19 So let's look at the third example. 55:21 Dionysus, the... 55:25 Areopagite. 55:27 Thank you. 55:28 I'm having trouble with these words. 55:29 So remember, Paul went to Athens now 55:31 and he makes us address on Mars Hill. 55:34 And these are highly intellectual men. 55:38 And there's 30,000 gods is what they said, 55:41 30,000 idols in the city of Athens, 55:43 and there's only 10,000 people when Paul went. 55:46 There was the inscription to the unknown God 55:48 and he makes this incredible appeal 55:50 to these intellectuals 55:52 to reach them and witness to them 55:54 and call them to Christ, 55:56 and then in Acts 17:34, 55:59 "However, some men joined him and believed, 56:03 among them Dionysius the Areopagite, 56:06 a woman named Damaris, and others with them." 56:10 Now, Dionysus was probably 56:12 the superior judge of this court. 56:14 He's a prominent Gentile leader. 56:16 And yet the Holy Spirit worked in him 56:19 and brought him to a knowledge of truth. 56:22 We see the same thing with Crispus 56:24 being a leader of the synagogue in the next chapter. 56:27 He was also a leader of the people 56:29 and the Holy Spirit won him to the truth. 56:31 Amen. Wow. 56:33 That's right. 56:34 You know, when you get into the Holy Spirit's lessons, 56:36 you know, really the, the truth starts flowing 56:40 and because of that, we have to flow quickly. 56:42 Pastor Dinzey, 56:44 give me a summary of what is on your heart today? 56:47 Well, my day was about the church empowered. 56:53 And I'm going to read from Desire of Ages, page 250. 56:56 "There is no limit to the usefulness of one 57:00 who by putting self aside makes room 57:03 for the working of the Holy Spirit 57:04 upon his heart 57:06 and lives a life holy consecrated to God." 57:08 Amen. Amen. 57:10 You know, I just after hearing Jill 57:12 read the stories that I've read many times, 57:14 I want to be more like Paul and Silas. 57:16 You know, they followed the Holy Spirit, 57:18 they allowed the Holy Spirit to lead in, 57:19 in jail. 57:21 You know, they gave praise to God 57:22 and brought someone to Jesus and that's, I want that faith. 57:24 Amen. 57:26 I know we all want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. 57:28 Someone put it one time before, he said, 57:30 we must first toil a while endures a while, 57:33 pray a while and believe a while. 57:34 Amen, 57:36 and I just want to encourage you 57:37 that anyone can be changed 57:38 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 57:40 Wow. 57:41 I tell you, friends, you know, 57:43 the Lord makes it clear in His Word, 57:44 is not by might nor by power, 57:45 but by my spirit, saith the Lord. 57:47 if you want to have 57:48 the kind of life that is transformed, 57:50 not just informed, trust God's Spirit. 57:52 Join us next time 57:53 for the next lesson study entitled, 57:55 "Unlimited Possibilities." 57:57 Look forward to seeing you then. |
Revised 2020-07-30