The Day That Changed Our World | Benny Ho

i'm going to invite you now to go with me to the book of acts chapter 2. today we come to the day where the world was changed i call this the day that changed the world because this was the day when the holy spirit came in power and i want to invite you now to go with me to acts chapter 2. i read for you from verse 1 all the way to 21. so if you have your bibles follow along with me and it's always good brothers and sisters in when we preach expositorily keep a bible with you and then follow me as i unpack the word for you okay so we go to acts chapter two reading from verse one when the day of pentecost came they were all together in one place and then suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven filled the whole house where they were sitting and then they saw what seems to be tongues of fire that separated and then came to rest on each of them all of them were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them now they were staying in jerusalem god fearing jews from every nation under heaven and when they heard this sound a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken and utterly amazed they asked aren't all these who are speaking galileans then how is it that each of us hear them in our native language passions meats and elements residents a message to mesopotamia judea carpadocia pontus and asia fry gear and femphilia egypt and parts of libya near cerrini visitors from rome both jews and converse judaism cretans and arabs imagine the amount of languages that are there right and and we heard them declaring the wonders of god in our own tongues amazed and perplexed they asked one another what does this mean some however make fun of them and say they have too much wine in other words they must have been babbling and they were thinking ah these guys are all drunk and then peter stood up with the 11 raised his voice and addressed the crowd for fellow jews and all of you who live in jerusalem let me explain this to you listen carefully to what i say these people are not drunk as you suppose it's only nine o'clock in the morning see the pups are not even open yet okay no this is what was spoken by the prophet joel in the last days god says i will pour out my spirit on all peoples and your sons and daughters will prophesy your young men will see visions o men will dream dreams even on my servants with men and women i will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy i will show wonders in the heavens above signs on the earth below blood and fire and billows of smoke the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the lord and everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved lord thank you so much for your precious word and i pray that as the word is being unpacked lord you will speak to us personally lord we will come to this place where we recognize that we really need the power of the holy spirit in our life so we commit this time of sharing now to you in jesus name we pray amen amen i love telling this story about a church you know that was that caught fire because of the electrical fort in the building and the church was burning down the first person on the scene the moment news got out that the church is burning down was the pastor of course he stood there watching helplessly as his church was being burned and it was falling apart right the next person that came on the scene was actually an old man who lived next to the church now interestingly even though this old man lived next to the church over the years he has never come to church before so this pastor was standing there with this old man looking at the church burning down the pastor still had a sense of humor so he turned to this old man and he said you know isn't it strange that all this time you live next to the church you never came but tonight the church is burning down and you came then the old man turned to the pastor and said well this is the first time i see this church on fire this is the first time i see this church on fire ladies and gentlemen i tell you this when the church comes on fire the world will be drawn to it you know child i think it was john wesley who once tell all of his preachers you know this was his final statement to them before they sent them out to preach he said set yourself on fire and the world will come and see you burn and every preacher that is set on fire by the holy spirit the world will come and see us burn and this morning we are going back to the day when the fire started it was a day that changed the world i call it and we all call it now the day of pentecost okay and this was all recorded for us in acts chapter two and i want you to know brothers and sisters the day of pentecost was a crucial day in the history of the church you can say that it was the day the church blast off the day of pentecost was the day when the engine for the church came on the day when the missile was fired the day when the church was sent the new body of christ if you remember from last week the new body of christ was about to be anointed with power and the day that jesus was anointed remember the river jordan the day when jesus was anointed the supernatural sign was a dove right that descended from heaven a dove that came upon jesus but the day that the church was anointed we also see supernatural signs of tongues of fire descending on each of them there were 120 of them there were 120 flames that separated and came to rest one on each of the disciples that were there it was a day of pentecost the word pentecost means 50th right penta pentagram five-sided it means fifth five right it was pentecost means 50th in other words it was exactly 50 days after the visa passover between passover and pentecost 50 days was in between it has okay the day of pentecost is also a harvest festival in other words it was a day when the people of israel will be bringing in the fruits the first fruits of the harvest okay it was a harvest festival the feast of pentecost now it's interesting also when you read your bible you discover that the ten commandments the law was also given on the day of pentecost it was given during the feast of pentecost many years earlier the difference is this when the law was given the day when moses brought the law down three thousand people died remember okay but when the spirit was given three 000 people were safe and it tells us one thing it is not the commandments it's not the law that brings life it's a spirit that brings life the law brings death but it's a spirit that brings life so now let's get into the passage itself and then we examine what actually happened on the day of blastoff okay and perhaps it's a good way good opportunity for all of us to now take a good look what actually happened and i want to point out three things that happened that day number one notice what they heard what the disciples heard audibly they heard something audibly and you find this in acts chapter two verse two listen to this suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven filled the whole house where they were sitting okay they heard a sound what is that sound it's the sound of a violent wind there were 120 people waiting in the upper room their minds were in the word of god they were they heard what jesus said to them and their minds were meditating on what jesus said to them their minds were in the word but their hearts were in prayer all 120 of them was doing that meditating on the word praying in their hearts waiting for the gift for the father to come and then something for and here's the point for anything powerful to happen in the church this must be the posture of the church our hearts must be in prayer our minds must be in the word how many of you agree how many of you want to see revival you want to see revival that's the posture we need to have our minds need to be in the word and our hearts need to be in prayer and that was the posture of the church and then it happened and mind you it did not happen on some dark spooky night but it happened at 9am in the morning within the building in broad daylight they heard a gale uh the the greek word that was used there is p-n-o-e and na uh which actually means uh it's actually the this was the sound of a mighty rushing wind okay it was a blowing of a violent wind in some translation you would say so here's the point it was not some nice soft gentle breeze that they heard it was actually a mighty invisible power they heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind it was a gale and that you got to capture that picture it wasn't something nice gentle you know but it was something powerful it reminds me of the trees that are next to the ocean wreath and then you ever take a drive up north during when the wind started blowing in from the ocean you go you drive past all the trees are leaning to one side all the trees grow up leaning to one side why it is testimony of the power of the wind that when the wind comes and it blows constantly every tree grew up sideways you drive along the ocean road and you will see that it's a mighty testimony of the power and the wind and it was powerful enough loud enough to be heard and felt by all 120 of them and i think this is consistent with the hebrew understanding of wind you see the hebrew equivalent of this greek word used here would be for wind for bread for spirit is the word ruach that's the hebrew word uh equivalent of a ruach and when you when you say the word rulak you must have air coming out of your mouth okay it's one of those words where it sounds exactly like uh it is exactly what it sounds okay so you got to get the air come out so it's almost the same feeling ruach that's that's how you should pronounce it right ruach and and it's it tells you this it is moving air something that moves something that's powerful something that has force you see in the hebrew there are there are two words that can be translated as breath one is gentle self breathing like all of you are doing now how many of you know you are breathing you may not feel it right but you are breathing okay it's just soft gentle brain but there's another word and that's the word ruach and that's where it's it's the kind of breathing you do after you just spring 100 meters after you run 100 meters how do you breathe it's not like what you're doing now you'll be there's ruach moving air okay and and that's the word used for spirit in the bible the ruler of god it's like a howling girl that propels us into action it can be seen it can be heard it can be tangibly felt remember what happened to nicodemus in the gospel of john chapter 3 nicodemus came to jesus one night and then he asked jesus how can a man be born again and they were on top of a roof remember and with the strong jerusalem wind blowing in their face jesus replied in john 3 8 he says the wind blows wherever it pleases you hear his sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going so it is with everyone born of the spirit now let me ask you can you see the wind no you can't but can you feel its effects definitely right when the wind blows we cannot see it but we can feel its effects you can see the trees bending you can see the leaves rustling you can hear it you can see the dust you know flying because why god is moving the wind is moving see and that is the way it is with the holy spirit we cannot see the holy spirit but we can feel his power working in us and when the ruach of god blows into our life we cannot missed it you know that you know the holy spirit have touched you and that is why we can sometimes forget you know when do we eat that when did we actually say the sinner's prayer you can forget that but you will never forget the day when the holy spirit empowered you and feel you you never forget the day when the holy spirit touch you powerfully and the question i have for all of us have you experienced the mighty power of the ruach of god do you know the transforming effects of the holy spirit in your daily life you know are you working out your spiritual life in your own strength or are you you know working it out in the power of the spirit on that day in acts chapter 2 they heard all the belief the sound of a mighty rushing wind here's the second thing it's what they saw visibly go to the next verse then they saw what seems to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them when the spirit descended on the day of pentecost they saw fire flames of fire and this is again consistent with the scriptures because all through the old testament we actually see god manifesting himself right in the form of fire moses saw the fire of god in the burning bush right that did not consume the bush remember that that's the that's the presence of god the israelites were led by a pillar of fire in the wilderness by night that again a manifestation of god elijah saw the fire of god descend to consume the sacrifices of malcolm so they recognize well that's god that's the spirit in fire malachi talks about the refiners fire that will come the shekinah glory came in the form of a flame right of a cloud and which speaks of fire again see so when the fire came on the day of pentecost the disciples knew it was god because it was consistent wind fire inconsistent and what an awesome sight there must be now think about this virus and sisters don't miss this huh what an awesome sight it must be for them to see fire that actually burns downwards instead of upwards how many of you know hot air rises so in the natural the fire should go up not come down but this is supernatural fire and it descended on them to see a fire like this that burns downward instead of burning upwards hebrews 12 29 tell us this right our god is a consuming fire now we all know this because the bible tell us but the disciples saw it on the day of pentecost they saw it they heard audibly they saw visibly now here's the third thing is what they spoke verbally that's the third thing that happened they they heard they saw and then they spoke you look at the next verse now acts 2 4 all of them at that point were then filled with the holy spirit and they begin to speak in other tongues as the spirit and neighbor them see when the wind came he first filled the whole house on the outside and then he began to feel the disciples on the inside are you getting this the wind came through the whole house on the outside and then began to feel the disciples on the inside and then here's the amazing thing they were literally in the spirit and the spirit is now literally in them and then something amazing happened their hearts were so full of the spirit that they literally overflowed okay overflowed out of them and where is the overflow pipe huh are you with me where's the overflow pipe it's the mouth right feel you feel you feel you until you're so full and then you overflow overflow through the mouth it came out you see and i think this is again consistent with the new testament because matthew chapter 12 verse 34 jesus said out of the overflow of the heart what will happen the mouth will speak something is true whatever is inside of us it comes out often to the mouth and we see this again consistently in the new testament the mark of the holy spirit's feeling and next week i'll take you through that the mark of the holy spirit's feeling is always through the mouth it's either through tongues prophecies or spontaneous praise look through the entire book of acts you see the same thing every time it overflows it's either tongues prophecies or spontaneous praise that comes out of the mouth in the new testament paul tell us in ephesians 5 18 listen to this paul says don't be drunk with wine but be filled with the spirit and then what will happen you will speak to one another in psalms hymns and spiritual songs singing making melody in your heart to the lord see be once you are filled with the spirit what's inside will come out when you feel the spirit what will come out you speak to one another now in psalms hymns spiritual songs and all the people around them heard the disciples speaking in languages that they have never learned then you look at acts 2 6 when they heard this sound okay when they all started speaking as a spirit give them utterance the people all around heard this sound a crowd came together in bewilderment why because each of us heard their own language being spoken so what's happening here god was literally bypassing their minds and then using their mouth and they were speaking in languages they have never learned now i've actually come across documented cases of people who under the power the holy spirit started speaking known languages like they've never learned japanese but what came out was japanese and they they never learned it and i think that is entirely possible however i think it is needful for me just to point out that in acts chapter 2 it did not really describe what languages they were speaking it didn't actually describe what languages they were speaking it only recorded this that each one listen to me each one heard their own language being spoken thus brothers and sisters i think it is entirely possible that the miracle was not just in their speaking as the spirit gave them utterance but the miracle could also be in their hearing they heard somehow in the midst of 120 people all going loud and all that they could actually hear each one in his own language i think that's a miracle in itself you see there's something powerful about that and you notice also that the language of the words that they were speaking was not directed to man it was directed to god how many of you know this they were not praying for one another to agree with but they were literally praising god in tongues everything they say was directed to god not to men see and what does why would god want to do that why would god want to do that i think sometimes i think it's because our minds need to be subjected to the spirit god just bypassed their mind went straight to the spirit and actually allowed the words to come out and we know one of the hindrance to our spiritual work is the unrenewed mind listen carefully to me one of the biggest hindrance to our spiritual work is an unrenewed mind now please understand that i believe that our minds and our intellect there are gifts from god and our minds and our intellect can be used to love god to think thoughts after him no doubt about that but i also need you to understand that our minds have this limitation isaiah 55 verse 8 and 9 the prophet said this my thoughts are not your thoughts talking about god my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the lord as the high heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways my thoughts higher than your thoughts how many of you agree the thoughts of god are way beyond our human intellect and our understanding but when our minds are renewed by the word illuminated by the holy spirit it can become a powerful tool to think thoughts after god what we need is a renewed mind and how does this renew my come about firstly it's the word of god it's the word of god renews our mind romans 12 right verse one to three don't be conformed to this world but be transformed how by the renewing of your mind the second is this it's the illumination of the holy spirit we need the illumination of the spirit first corinthians 2 verse 10 to 12 the spirit is the one that searches all things even the deep things of god for who knows the person's thoughts except their own spirit within them right only you know what you're thinking inside but in the same way no one knows the thoughts of god except the spirit of god and what we have received is not the spirit of this world it's a spirit who is from god so that we may understand what god has freely given to us hallelujah we need the word of god to renew our minds we need the illumination of the spirit to bring that revelation to us because spiritual things need to be spiritually discerned the holy spirit was given so that he may reveal god's word and unveil god's thoughts to us spiritual things must be spiritually discerned you cannot just use our intellect to try and understand the things of god for example sometimes we want to pray but we don't even know how to pray so what did god do he gave us a prayer language that you can go direct to god's spirit to spirit romans 8 right 26 and 27 in the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness it's the holy spirit that enable us to pray and to actually connect with god spirit to spirit right and and we do not know what we ought to pray for but the spirit himself intercedes for us through worthless groans and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for god's people in accordance with the will of god hallelujah come back to the text now you notice that in chapter one the disciples were praying right they were all their minds were in the word their hearts were in prayer but in chapter two they were praising god now from prayer they move to praise i think one of the monks of a spirit-filled man is joy what do you think one of the marks of a spirit-filled man is joy and then the joy of the lord becomes our strength you see anybody can pray even the pre-believer prays when they get in trouble even a non-christian praise and they get in trouble right but a spirit-filled man can praise god with abandonment suddenly you forget about the person next to you you know one of the marks over of how people are often times when i'm if i really need to look for a leader one of the things i look for is how do the guy worship with his worship i love to see them abandon i know something's there when the spirit of god comes upon you in power you'll be healed of what i would call spiritual locked jaw suddenly your mouth will be opened to praise god without constrain without restraint before i was filled with the spirit you know i find it so hard to pray especially in public i find so scary to pray in public you know i could not even say praise the lord or mention jesus without getting goosebumps but when i was filled with the holy spirit it was totally different i can't wait to tell people about jesus and praise god you know the empowering of the holy spirit set us free to really worship him in spirit and in truth and on the day of pentecost the spirit filled the house and then the spirit filled their hearts their mouths were open and praises begin to flow in a heavenly language and 120 were just praising god out loud they were so in abandonment they were praising god so loud so spontaneously that at least 3 000 people came to see what came over them how many of you agree must be loud it has to be loud for 3 000 people to come and see hey what's going on here and they were so loud that's so abandoned that somebody actually suggested i think they are drunk isn't it and i think it's quite true that when people are drunk when they open up they talk a lot sometimes i see people drunk they talk a lot peter turned to them and almost said it's acoustically it's only nine in the morning the pubs are not even open yet yes we are drunk but not with alcoholic spirit we are drunk with the holy spirit and that was what's happening and do you know what's so amazing about this event what is the key truth in this whole incident for the first time in history brothers and sisters god is now in his people and has total control of them wow the real meaning to me of pentecost is that they have met the third person of the godhead personally and what jesus said to them in john chapter 14 verse 17 has now come to pass the spirit of truth the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him and he lives with you in john he said in john 14 but he will be in you and this was the day the spirit came in in the old testament the holy spirit only comes temporarily upon selected people to carry out a task or to fulfill an assignment but now he come to live in all of us hallelujah joe chapter 2 was the promise acts chapter 2 is the fulfillment john 14 23 go on to say this if anyone loves me jesus said he will obey my teaching my father will love him we will come to him and make our home with him so it's not just the holy spirit that came to live in us now the entire godhead is now dwelling in us brothers and sisters are you excited about this i hope you are imagine the god of the universe choosing to make his home in us that's the mystery of the ages the apostle paul talks about it colossians 1 26 right the mystery that's been kept hidden for ages and generation but is now disclosed to the saints to them god has chosen to make known amongst the gentiles that's all of us right the glorious reaches of this mystery which is what christ in you the hope of glory hallelujah god is now living in me wow and for the first time god has come to live in man i think this is one of the most powerful truths of pentecost the key truth of christmas is emmanuel god is with us but the key truth of pentecost is this god is now in us not visible but invisible not tangible but intangible not outside but inside and i think this is what the disciples needed to fulfill their tasks it's also what we need to fulfill our tasks the great commission needs the great compulsion of the holy spirit at the point of our conversion we all have the holy spirit but at the point of our empowering the holy spirit is going to have us i am saying god have me now spirit of god take over i cannot do it in my own strength and this morning i ask you this question are you ready to be empowered by the holy spirit before we pray before i want to just quickly show you a video of testimony and during this season god is touching people in their own in his own special way and sometimes you don't get to hear them so i want to share with you the story of a couple uh they come their husband is japanese mother and wife is chinese they all come from brazil they grew up in brazil and god has really ministered to them during this season so i want to invite you to take a look at this testimony then i'll come back and we'll we'll pray my name is nelson margaret uh we've been attending fcc for three months since october to 2020. and then i saw on the screen they have the webinar about holy spirit i say hope and then because i grew up in a presbyterian church and i was thinking maybe it's not for me i believe in jesus that's my point i believe in god he is my father and i know i have all the holy spirits to guide me help me to pray and that's it and that's good enough yeah on top of that maybe again touching in the prejudice we had she had a lot of experience with signs and miracles but actually scared her scared me as though a bit but at the same time now on hindsight we can see that i struggle during my christian life this decades i'm christian ups and downs and struggle i try to do a lot of stuff with only my strength in the flesh and now i understand that we don't need that we the world clearly says that jesus left a helper and to help us to to live a christian life empowered is not something that we need to seek and earn and rank how is spiritual or not it's not like that is it's a gift from from jesus that he'll have to help us [Music] i saw in the webinar the first week who is the holy spirit and then the controversy is about holy spirit how the holy spirit works somehow it's like open a new realm for me a new dimension and then the thirst i have it i say i want them more i want to be empowered by the holy spirit and then i said i'm but i'm not good enough for this i think this is only for prophets for pastors for people who are missionaries and going out i don't think this is for me and i closed my mind about this i said but i'm not good enough that's my my thing are not deserved i'm seen every day and then you said but if you have the holy spirit doesn't mean you stop sinning he will guide you he will enlighten you he will make you more stronger he will change you he will challenge you and on christmas day this is all my gift i was empowered by the holy spirit now since the christmas i couldn't stop praising him i couldn't stop worshiping every time i i gave him deliverance from i feel free i feel much more free now i understand what's made me fulfilled being empowered by the holy spirit for me the main change that i can tell i experience every day since i come to the holy spirit is confidence and this feeling that i can do everything now not for me but to help the church and for good um that's the main thing that i have been experiencing now i know that i could do so much more if i could just let and use what god has planned to to use the help of the holy spirit and when you have it it's another realm it's another dimension you become more bold you become more empowered you feel the anointing of jesus the light of the father saying you are my daughter i love you and now when you have this full fairness in you and i encourage you if you have some struggles some uncertainty in life if you want more and more ask because god will give to you he's a good father come on give god a good hand for what he's doing you know in this family's life now let me ask you how many of you can identify with what nelson and margaret went through how many could really identify with it you know i i could um black and that she does i was saved in the brethren church and where i was taught that you we already have the holy spirit when we come to christ which is true but they also told me that the gifts of the holy spirit have ceased which is not true they told me that you just need to study the word of god and apply it which is true but nothing much was said about the person and the power of the holy spirit and like nelson and margaret i tried to live right but i've struggled in my own strength the things that i know i should do according to the word i didn't have the strength to do it the things that i know i should not do because i know that it displeases to god i end up doing and i felt so powerless at times so helpless so defeated and i i know without doubt that the day when i come to christ i already have the holy spirit dwelling in me because if he has it not been for the holy spirit i cannot be saved i can't even call god father right but the thing is this even though i have the holy spirit the holy spirit did not have me until the day i read i realized i cannot go on struggling to live the christian life in my own strength but i really need i i need not go on in my own sense of powerlessness but god has given me god can give me an empowering that comes from above what i need to do is to surrender to him to recognize i cannot do it in my own strength and to be willing to actually admit that say god i'm helpless i don't have what it takes i need the empowering of your holy spirit to enable me to be who jesus is to do what jesus did and the christian life is not meant to be lived out of our own strength it is meant to be lived not by might not by power but by my spirit and then acts 1 8 can come to pass and you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and then you shall be my witnesses in jerusalem judea sumaria and up to the uttermost parts of the earth if you are sitting here this morning or in city campus and you could sense your own powerlessness sometimes and you're in dire need of a greater dimension of the holy spirit's power in your life i think you can come and as our sister margaret encourage us come and ask jesus the giver of the holy spirit and he will grant you the desires of your heart and i think this could be the day that will change your world and we need it so would you stand together with me this morning wherever you are in city campus please you are free to take over but let's all stand together and i want to invite us today don't rush talk but let's take a few moments this morning let's worship god and i want to give you an opportunity this morning just to come and seek god and say if you recognize that you really need that empowering that sometimes you really feel so helpless and so defeated in the things that you do i want to invite you just come and receive the power and receive and enabling and empowering from the lord let's worship him together and then i'm going to invite you to come thank you

Channel: Faith Community Church Perth

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Length: 39min 1sec (2341 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 28 2021