The Person & Power of the Holy Spirit | Acts 1-2 | Austin Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's great to be in the house of the lord with you my name is austin i oversee our young adults ministry um pastor gary's son i'm his middle child and uh some of us younger guys we have the opportunity to fill for dad when dad is away so man i love you guys and i'm excited to study god's word with you are you ready and willing to read and study god's word this morning so as my dad man someone was excited over there baby come on now we're about to study god's word so as dad mentioned some of us younger guys here on staff are going to have the opportunity to fill for him so i am very grateful for the opportunity it's always an honor and a privilege to study god's word with god's people and i'm sure that pastor jimmy and pastor barrett and pastor tyler feel the exact same way uh many of you know actually that pastor tyler and myself were brothers we're both gary's kids and uh a lot of a lot of you confuse us actually you you think i'm tyler and and he is austin which i you know makes sense we don't really look alike that much but we're both gary's kids we we're both here on staff i teach young adults tyler teaches high school but i just want you to know if today's message goes well and you enjoy it when my dad gets back be sure to tell him austin did a fine job okay now on the other hand if i say something heretical or i just totally bomb this message then remember my name is tyler okay i'm sure i'm going to get some jabs from tyler when it's his opportunity it's all in brotherly love but i am excited to study god's word with you we uh us teaching pastors we got together put our heads together and felt the lord and press upon our hearts to go through the book of acts so i'm going to invite you to turn with me in your bibles to the book of acts acts chapter 1. acts chapter 1 as we put our series on pause in the sermon on the mount going through the gospels we felt it was a really cool opportunity to take us through the book of acts and i'm always honored and privileged as i mentioned to study god's word with god's people and super excited to dive into this book today with you now let me set the book up a little bit give it uh put it in its proper context the book of acts was written by a man named luke now most bible scholars think that luke was a gentile and if that's the case luke is the only gentile author of scripture luke the bible tells us in colossians he was a doctor he also was in colossians chapter 4 it tells us that luke was paul's traveling companion maybe that's paul right now and luke was a doctor paul's traveling companion and the bible also tells us that this same luke who's writing the book of acts is the same luke who writes the gospel of luke okay so same man and what's interesting to note is that this luke writes and addresses both the book of acts and the gospel of luke to the same person the same recipient if you notice if you want to take a glance at verse 1 it says the former account which is the gospel of luke the former account i made oh theophilus so who or what exactly is theophilus theophilus in the greek means lover of god there's been some debate as to who or what theophil theophilus actually is but most likely the ancient jewish historian josephus actually tells us that theophilus was the high priest in jerusalem between the years a.d 37 to ad41 which would have been right after the time jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead and ascended back into heaven and i love it when archaeology catches up with the bible because within the past decade archaeologists have discovered an ossuary now an ossuary is just a bone box it's where human skeletal remains are put and this bone box this ossuary had the inscription on it johanna the granddaughter of theophilus the high priest and it was dated to the time of christ so i love it when archaeology catches up to the bible here so luke writes this letter writes this book of acts to this man named theophilus all about what jesus christ has done and now about here's the theme about the beginnings of the church and about the power of the holy spirit so this is what we're going to look at today the beginnings of the church and the power of the holy spirit this is luke's overarching theme and overarching message within this book now it's interesting to know that the word love appears and is emphasized all throughout the gospels but then when you get to the book of acts the word love is not mentioned even one single time the operative word used here in the book of acts is power power and connection to the work of the holy spirit you know the lengthier title of this book is called the acts of the apostles but the book could really be called the acts of the holy spirit through the apostles because luke loves to talk about the holy spirit he mentions them 57 times in this book 57 times and he uses the word power often we're going to see it we're going to read it in just a moment he uses this word power it's the greek word dunamis it's where we get our english word dynamite listen church god wants you as believers to live a powerful filled life with the power of the holy spirit the lord when jesus ascended back into heaven he promised to send this holy spirit to fill up his followers so that they would not walk around alone in this lifetime listen to me this morning this afternoon if you feel alone in your current challenging season like you're the only one going through this particular struggle or this particular challenge or maybe you just are literally alone because quarantine has kind of isolated us you are not alone god wants to fill you and empower you with his holy spirit so this is going to be the top topic of our conversation this afternoon we're going to talk about the person and the power of the holy spirit that each and every believer can experience in their lives there's no way we can read the book of acts without addressing the person and the power of the holy spirit so that's what we're going to talk about this afternoon let's dive into our text acts chapter 1 starting in verse 1. luke writes the former account i made o theophilus of all that jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after he through the holy spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god and being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which jesus said you have heard from me for john truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now therefore when they had come together they asked him saying lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel and he said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons which the father has put in his own authority but you shall receive power there's our word power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and to the end of the earth jump to chapter 2. chapter 2 verse 1 so when the day of pentecost had fully come they were all there with one accord and in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting and then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the holy spirit and began to speak with other tongues and the spirit gave them utterance let's pause there and pray lord before we dive in we do ask that you would be present with us we commit our bible study to you now and we ask that you would individually speak to us all lord this is why we're here we're here to hear from you we thank you for the privilege that we have to study your word together and so i pray now as we study your word and as i teach the word lord that you would fill this room lord with your presence and that you would teach us today lord be our teacher convict us where we need conviction but encourage us where we need encouragement comfort us lord where we need to be comforted we thank you for this time lord we we do pray for mom and dad and pastor gary and terry we ask that you would be with them that you would encourage them as they're spending some time away together fill them a fresh lord we love you we praise you it's in jesus name we pray and all god's people said together amen so what did we just read here the first eight verses in a nutshell jesus he dies on the cross for the sins of humanity rises from the dead and then after his arrest his resurrection the bible says that he appears to his followers for a period of 40 days proving that he is the messiah that he is the christ that he is god's son who actually rose from the dead appears to them for 40 days and then before he ascends back into heaven he tells his disciples now i want you to go and wait in the city of jerusalem and wait for the promise that my father wants to give you and then our key verse verse 8 it says jesus told them but you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses to me in jerusalem in judea and samaria and to the end of the earth this is our key verse now when people hear you talk about god they usually just think well you must be a good person okay after maybe a super bowl victory one of the players says hey i just want to thank the big man upstairs you know that kind of a thing you talk about god around family around work you know usually it's not too controversial they just think well you're just a good american when you talk about jesus that ratchet up a notch when you talk about jesus they think you're religious but when you talk about the holy spirit people think you must have been knocked up outside the head they think you're a freak and even within the walls of the church at large the holy spirit can be seldom talked about because we're not exactly who or what the holy spirit is you know we feel a little bit uncomfortable talking about the holy spirit the gifts of the spirit kind of freak us out a little bit they're kind of weird not exactly sure what those all are all about so we stay away and avoid the holy spirit maybe that was your church background on the other unhealthy extreme we have other churches who put in some spirits of the church put too much of an emphasis on the holy spirit it seems that the apex of their christianity is all about the holy spirit they're all about the gifts of the spirit if you don't speak in tongues you're not truly saved it's all about the gifts and there seems to be an unhealthy attraction to the spiritual realm okay so as the church and maybe that was your church background as well as the church we do need to find a healthy biblical balance concerning the person of the holy spirit now all that being said here in church and here especially at cornerstone chapel we should not be afraid to talk about the holy spirit to teach about the holy spirit and to invite the holy spirit into our lives why because the bible has an awful lot to say about the holy spirit in the book of romans in romans chapter 5 paul said in romans 5 5 now hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out into our hearts by the holy spirit you want to supernaturally love those people who aren't so lovely that comes through the holy spirit romans 15 13 now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy spirit first corinthians 6 19 paul said do you not know that your body is the temple of the holy spirit who god has given to you you are not your own in galatians galatians chapter 5 paul commands us god commands us through paul to walk in the spirit 5 16 and verse 25 he says to live by the spirit and also in verse 25 he tells us to keep in step with the spirit now how are we as believers going to walk in the spirit going to live by the spirit and going to keep in step with the spirit if we have no clue who the holy spirit is or what his purpose is in our lives so we as the church need to be extremely clear on who is the holy spirit what is his role in the life of a believer and how can i be empowered by the holy spirit i believe there are a lot of christians walking around with the holy spirit inside of them but still they feel powerless in certain areas of their life certain areas of their life regarding temptation or allowing the flesh to continually dominate so the key question i want to get to eventually in our bible study is how can i be empowered and baptized by the holy spirit but before we answer that question we have to answer these two questions first who exactly is the holy spirit and what is his purpose who is the holy spirit and what is his purpose so the very first question let's look at together who is the holy spirit now i know many of you would probably say pastor austin pastor also i i know exactly who the holy spirit is okay i wake up to them i wake up next to them every single morning and they let me know of what i'm doing wrong all the time it's called my spouse okay the holy spirit is not your husband the holy spirit is not your wife okay there's a lot of confusion about exactly who the holy spirit is i have a confession to make not too long ago a couple of months ago i was watching oprah okay this is what quarantine has done to me folks okay now i never watch oprah i never usually watch oprah okay um but i tuned into this specific episode because the episode intrigued me because oprah was actually interviewing a pastor and what do you know they were talking about the holy spirit so i was like okay this is cool so i tuned in and i was so discouraged and disappointed when i heard oprah and this pastor in agreement and describing the holy spirit as some kind of mystical force or mystical energy that comes upon people and according to a barna research study the barna research group they say that this is actually what most christians think of when they think about the holy spirit that it's some kind of just mystical force or energy according to this research by the barnard research group they said that 58 58 of self-described christians when they think of the holy spirit they think that the holy spirit is merely a symbol of god's presence or power but not a living entity a.w toaster the great theologian he was right when he said this the idea of the holy spirit held by the average church member is so vague that it's nearly non-existent when he thinks of the matter at all he's very likely to try to imagine a nebulous substance like a wisp of invisible smoke which is said to be present in churches and to hover over good people when they die in other words what tozer is saying is that the average church member thinks of the holy spirit of some kind of mystical energy or force that comes upon people but we get so uncomfortable with that idea that we never even talk about it within the church and so we're not exactly sure who the holy spirit is so who is the holy spirit point number one the holy spirit is a real being if you're taking notes the holy spirit is a real being and jesus we see this in scripture jesus when he describes the holy spirit to his disciples he uses personal pronouns i'm going to read from john 14 16-17 jesus said about the holy spirit he said i'm going to pray to the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive but it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you okay the holy spirit is not in it okay the holy spirit's not in it a lot of false religions fall under this camp jehovah's witnesses fall into this camp the new age movement and philosophy sees the holy spirit again as this mystical energy okay the holy spirit is not this mystical energy the holy spirit is a real being we also see in scripture that he has all of the qualities and attributes of personality okay we see uh in first corinthians 2 11 if you're jotting notes first corinthians 2 11 the holy spirit has a mind it says for who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them in the same way no one knows the thoughts of god except the spirit of god well the spirit of god must have a mind if he knows the thoughts of god the holy spirit also has a will in first corinthians 12 11. paul says all these are the work of one and the same spirit and he distributes them to each one just as he wills so the bible says that there are spiritual gifts and the holy spirit chooses which gifts to give people based on his will the holy spirit has emotion in ephesians 4 30 it says do not grieve the holy spirit it is possible to grieve the holy spirit the holy spirit has emotion he has will and intelligence and feeling he's able to see and think and hear and speak just as any person would the holy spirit secondly the holy spirit is god he's the third person of the trinity jesus said in the gospel of matthew he sends out his disciples and he says go and baptize them in the name of the father son and holy spirit the bible says that the holy spirit was there at creation in genesis 1 2. the bible says he's omnipresent david said in psalm 139 where can i go from your spirit or where can i flee from your presence if i go up to the heavens you're there if i make my bed in the depths you're there okay the holy spirit's omnipresent in the book of hebrews hebrews calls him the eternal spirit the holy spirit is eternal he's the eternal spirit he's a real being he's not this mystical force so the second question we want to answer is well then what is his purpose all right pastor austin i know the holy spirit's a real being but what really is his purpose well the overall purpose of the holy spirit is to testify to the truth of who jesus christ is but jesus in john chapter 14 one of my favorite passages in all the bible he goes a little bit deeper in describing the role of the holy spirit in the life of a believer and in john 14 we read it a moment ago john 14 16 jesus before he goes to the cross which i love this before he goes to the cross and experience an excruciating death jesus is more concerned about his disciples than he is about himself because he tells them in john 14 6 jesus said i will pray to the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever help her a couple chapters later in john 16 7 jesus said it is to your advantage that i go away for if i don't go away the helper will not come to you helper both those times jesus uses the word helper it's the greek word paracletos and it actually means to come alongside or to comfort or to counsel in secular greek para a paracletos was a legal assistant the holy the parakletos was an advocate so you get this picture church that when jesus is about to go to the cross he says i'm not going to leave you but i'm actually going to give you this holy spirit this helper someone to comfort you and someone to counsel you someone to be there for you someone to be there for your defense church the holy spirit he wants to do a unique work in your life but listen if you feel alone this afternoon jesus specifically tells us that he sends to us the helper the comforter the counselor what is the purpose of the holy spirit in scripture i'm going to give you 10 things and roll them off the purpose of the holy spirit john 14 tells us he helps us in trouble are you in trouble ask the holy spirit in john 14 it says he teaches us the word do you have trouble discerning scripture the holy spirit helps us to discern the word in john 16 it says he convicts us of sin in romans 8 it says he leads us to god in first corinthians 2 it says he gives us wisdom church do you need wisdom ask the holy spirit in john 16 it says he guides us toward truth in romans 8 it says he intercedes for us in john 7 it says that he satisfies our soul like living water in john 20 it says he dwells within us and then in acts 1 it says that he comes upon us in power church you're hearing me this morning this afternoon god wants to empower you with his holy spirit and leave you not as orphans leave you not feeling alone leave you not feeling stressed stressed out about the current pandemic or the current challenge that you might face but he gives you someone to help you someone to teach you someone to guide you someone to fill you someone to empower you i want to focus on those last two things real quickly he dwells within us and he comes upon us in power the filling of the spirit is different than the empowering work of the spirit the filling of the holy spirit is different than the empowering work of the holy spirit what do i mean i'm not going to spend too much time on this because pastor gary actually mentioned it a couple weeks ago in matthew chapter 3 when he talked about baptism but in john chapter 20 jesus after he dies on the cross and he rises from the dead he meets with his disciples and there they see for the first time they see the risen lord and there in john chapter 20 verse 22 it says jesus comes to his disciples and he breathes on them and he says receive the holy spirit at that moment the disciples get saved they place their faith and trust in jesus they are filled with the holy spirit they receive the holy spirit but then in acts chapter one a little bit later jesus says but now go and wait in jerusalem and wait for the promise my father wants to give you and there he will empower you and baptize you with the holy spirit so when we get saved the holy spirit dwells within us and then we are empowered by the holy spirit when we get baptized by him and i believe that there are a lot of christians walking around in life with the holy spirit dwelling inside them living in them they're saved they're going to heaven the holy spirit dwells in them but they have not experienced the baptism and empowering work of the holy spirit in other words there are a lot of people or there are a lot of homes with power in them but they're choosing to live with the lights off and this afternoon if you would say you know this makes sense as to the different questions i have why do i feel so powerless over certain temptation in my life why don't i feel effective in sharing my faith why does anger still dominate my flesh why have i not experienced any joy in life the question comes have you experienced the empowering work of the holy spirit to our main question how then can i be baptized by the holy spirit pastor austin i want to experience the filling and the empowering work of the holy spirit how can i be baptized by the holy spirit point number one present your body to him i'm gonna roll through four quick points first is present your body to him god cannot fill that which he cannot have in romans chapter 12 verse 1 it says i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual act of worship present your body to him lord i give myself to you i'm done indulging in the flesh i present myself to you secondly it's as simple as asking him ask him in the gospel of luke in luke chapter 11 i love this story jesus comes to some of his disciples and he says hey you know how to give good gifts to your kids right you love your kids you're like yes we love our kids and he says well which of you if your son came to you and said can i have some bread which of you would give them a stone okay he's asking rhetorical questions and then he says which of you if your kid asked for us for a fish would you give them a snake or if they asked for an egg would you give them a scorpion okay no and then he says i love this if then though you are evil okay comparatively to the lord we're all evil people if then though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your kids how much more will your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask ask him thirdly obey him it's funny to me when we want the holy spirit's gifts but we don't want to walk in obedience to what the holy spirit says in acts chapter 5 32 luke writes and we are his witnesses to these things and so also is the holy spirit whom god gives to those who obey him now the beautiful part about this is that when we want to walk in obedience and god fills us with his holy spirit the holy spirit helps us to obey and then finally have faith present your body ask the lord obey the lord but then have faith that the lord is going to follow through with this promise in galatians 3 2 paul said this only do i want to learn from you he's asking another rhetorical question here did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith you receive the hear the spirit by the hearing of faith ask in faith and know that when you ask and when you surrender to the lord and you present your body to him and you walk in obedience the lord is going to follow through with that promise so ask in faith present your body ask obey and have faith you know what i love about this passage here in acts chapter 1. jesus comes to his disciples after he rises from the dead and he says go and wait in jerusalem because my father is going to empower you with the holy spirit the very next verse after jesus tells them that i'm going to fill you with the very spirit of god the disciples ask the question in verse 6 we will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel okay they totally miss it after after jesus literally tells them i'm gonna fill you with the holy spirit god's actual presence to empower you they're like god are you gonna set up your kingdom now or what and i love jesus's response in verse 7. jesus says it's not for you to know times or seasons which the father has put in his own authority but you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you jesus basically says listen don't worry about the when don't worry about the when of life you just focus on the how and the how is the holy spirit i think a lot of us aren't too unlike the disciples here we're always concerned about the when of life lord when are you going to bring along that perfect spouse that perfect husband i've been waiting for that that perfect wife i've been waiting for and praying for lord when are you going to bring about the perfect job lord when are you going to do this in my life when are you going to do that and i think jesus's response would be very similar to the response he gives his disciples listen i'm going to take care of the wind don't worry about the wind you just focus on the how and i have given you my holy spirit to help you walk through this life you know one of the most important reasons we as believers need to understand who the holy spirit is and how to be filled by the holy spirit is because we are living in a day and age now where it is becoming more and more difficult to discern truth and in john chapter 16 jesus actually refers to the holy spirit as the spirit of truth that the holy spirit actually helps us discern truth and boy i can't think of a more needed function of the holy spirit right now than to help us discern truth because there is so much falsehood and lie and propaganda out there concerning so many different things about our world and about our nation about certain hot button topics i don't even know what to believe about the coronavirus anymore there's so much stuff out there about the coronavirus what's funny is that the president he loves to refer to cnn as fake news which i mean can you can you really blame him but fake news was here long before cnn was here fake news the father of fake news his name is satan and in john chapter 8 jesus refers to satan as the father of lies and then in john chapter 16 he refers to satan as the ruler of this world so if the if the ruler of this world is also called the father of lies then you better believe satan is going to try to perpetrate falsehood and lies into our media into the entertainment we consume into the minds of your kids church all the more reason we need to be filled with the holy spirit to help us discern truth because truth is desperately lacking in our nation right now ephesians 5 18 says do not be drunk on wine but be filled with the holy spirit you know i think we have far too many christians who are more concerned about the brand of alcohol they consume more than they're concerned about being consumed by the holy spirit and we need to be filled with the holy spirit and be sober minded in this day and age where the holy spirit is so desperately needed in our nation because we church need to experience a spiritual revival in our nation now more than ever praise the lord church don't you ever underestimate the spirit and power of god in your life you know i i brought this up if you were here wednesday night in the book of romans paul said i'm unashamed to preach the gospel because it's the power of god the same greek word power dunamis it's the power of god do not underestimate the power and the spirit of god in your life and don't bring up those excuses well i can't make a difference for the kingdom i'm an ordinary person with ordinary abilities no listen with us as believers empowered by the holy spirit god uses ordinary people to do extraordinary work and he can do it through you at your home at your job in your school if you would surrender to the lord turn and trust him and ask to be empowered and filled with his holy spirit who desires to teach us and to guide us because paul said in romans the same spirit that rose jesus from the dead lives within you believe it trust it know it and allow the holy spirit to fill you and empower you so that you can make a kingdom impact in your home and at your work and at your schools in our community in your neighborhood and in our nation that so desperately needs to experience the power of the holy spirit church and we as a church cornerstone chapel i hope that you would be able to say i am unashamed of the gospel for it's the power of god living inside of me it's not me it's not us church is the power of god it's the power of god living in you jesus loves you he wants to have and pursue that relationship with you and he wants to fill you with his spirit today and if you would tell me this morning this afternoon uh austin i don't know if i've ever actually experienced the power and the baptism of the holy spirit then as we go in a time of prayer i just want to give you that opportunity because it's as simple as just being an open willing vessel saying i present my body to you lord and i'm going to ask you because you will give generously to your kids and i'm going to have faith that you follow through with that promise because he desires to fill you and empower you with this holy spirit so let's do that let's pray lord we come before you today and we are so privileged lord to study your word this this afternoon we we thank you so much for being here with us and i just want to pause in this prayer now and i want to give you that opportunity if you would say pastor austin i i maybe maybe you're not saved and you've never come into a relationship with jesus christ this is for you to come into a relationship with jesus and to be filled with his holy spirit or maybe you would say i've been a christian but i've never exactly understood who the holy spirit is or what his role is in my life and so maybe with more clarity now you would just ask humbly for god to fill you with the power of his holy spirit and so right now if that's you if you want to be filled with the power of the holy spirit to help you in this life and to fill you with his power then just take this opportunity right now just to ask him and say lord fill me and baptize me in your holy spirit thank you god i pray that as a church as cornerstone chapel that you would fill us and empower us with your holy spirit god so that we could take the message of the gospel into our communities into our workplaces into our families where we have unsaved family members into our nation lord that so desperately needs to experience the power of your holy spirit thank you lord that when you ascended back into heaven you didn't leave us as orphans but you sent us your holy spirit to help us and to guide us and to teach us and to testify to the truth of who jesus is so we love you god and we praise you and we commit the rest of our week to you god i pray for my brothers and sisters who are going through difficulty be with them and encourage them in your word lord go before us now we love you it's in jesus name we pray and all god's people said together amen amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 6,712

Rating: 4.8321676 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, the person of the holy spirit bible study, what is the holy spirit and what does he do, what is the holy spirit in christianity, what power does the holy spirit have, does the holy spirit have power, do i need the holy spirit, who is the holy ghost, holy spirit sermon 2020, Austin Hamrick

Id: IyQqS6fPjRE

Length: 37min 5sec (2225 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 03 2020