Participants: Mike Leno
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000038
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00:30 The launch of the space shuttle is always exciting.
00:32 You've probably seen it on television. 00:34 They start with T minus 20 minutes 00:37 and then it comes down 00:39 and pretty soon its T Minus 10 minutes, 00:41 and T Minus 5 minutes and finally 00:43 those last 10 seconds and they count down. 00:47 Finally it's just five, four, three, two, 00:52 and then pretty soon you hear the rumble of the engines 00:54 and you hear the announcer say we have ignition. 01:00 At launch the space shuttle's two solid rockets consume 01:04 more then ten tones of fuel each second. 01:07 And produce 44 million horse power 01:11 equal to 14,700 locomotives 01:16 All that power, just waiting to be ignited 01:21 And when we have ignition, 01:23 it carries its pay load toward heaven. 01:28 You know my friends God has given us a power 01:32 infinitely greater than that of a rocket. 01:36 But I ask you today 01:38 what will ignite our souls for God 01:40 so that He can give us this power. 01:46 There is a crisis in our church today 01:50 and I believe in part at least, it's a crisis of power. 01:55 The church is not as powerful as it should be, 01:58 if you read the account of the early church 02:00 in the book of the Acts. 02:02 You see magnificent things happening, 02:05 you know, the Holy Spirit was moving. 02:08 And yet today many of our churches, 02:12 do not have the power that they should, 02:15 many of our individuals, many of our families, 02:18 do not have the power that they could. 02:24 The power I'm talking about 02:26 is not political, its spiritual power. 02:31 You see things have not changed, 02:34 the way they should have, we're still here. 02:38 People do not know the Gospel. 02:41 Oh yes, we are better organized, 02:44 we are better at technology, 02:47 we have better research on church growth. 02:49 We even know more better about the Bible 02:51 than probably ever had in any other time of history. 02:57 So what else do we want? What else do we need? 03:01 May be we're okay. Maybe-- 03:03 Maybe this is the way it's supposed to be. 03:07 But if you go to the Bible with me, 03:08 I think you'll discover 03:10 that God really wants a whole lot more for us. 03:13 We go first to John 14:11 and 12, 03:19 Jesus is talking here. 03:21 "Believe me when I say 03:22 that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. 03:25 or at least believe on the evidence 03:27 of the miracles themselves. 03:28 I tell you the truth, 03:30 anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. 03:34 He will do even greater things than these, 03:37 because I am going to the Father. 03:42 Greater things than Jesus Christ even? 03:45 Can you imagine what was Jesus trying to say? 03:48 He healed the sick, He cleansed the lepers, 03:51 He forgave sinners. 03:56 And yet He says here in the Bible 03:59 that those who believe in Him 04:02 will do even greater things than He did. 04:08 Now we know that Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit, 04:13 And we know that the Holy Spirit was a source of power. 04:16 But exactly what does that mean, 04:18 let's go to John 3 verses 7 and 8. 04:25 John 3 verses 7 and 8. 04:29 Nicodemus came and talked to Jesus at night 04:33 and in the course of the conversation 04:34 Jesus said to Nicodemus, 04:36 "You should not be surprised at my saying, 04:38 'You must be born again.' 04:40 The wind blows wherever it pleases. 04:42 You hear its sound but you cannot tell 04:44 where it comes from or where it is going. 04:46 So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 04:52 Sometimes we want power, 04:56 but we want power in the way that we want power. 04:59 And we want the kind power that enables us to show off 05:04 and the kind of power that enables us to look strong. 05:09 In this conversation with Nicodemus, 05:11 we get the impression that perhaps 05:13 the power of the Spirit is a little different than that. 05:16 The wind blows where it wants to 05:18 but you can see the results of the wind. 05:20 It's like that with the work of the spirit, 05:21 you may not be able to see the Spirit directly, 05:24 but you can see its results. 05:27 What kind of result are we looking for? 05:30 Let's go to Acts 1:7 and 8. 05:37 In Acts 1, Jesus is again talking to His disciples. 05:43 And he says in Acts 1:7 and 8 05:48 "He said unto them, 05:49 It is not for you to know the times or dates 05:52 the Father has set by His own authority. 05:54 But you will receive power 05:57 when the Holy Spirit comes on you, 06:00 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, 06:03 and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 06:10 Here we again have a little bit of the clue 06:12 as to what the results of the Spirits power 06:14 is supposed to be, they were to be His witnesses. 06:17 The reason the power of the Spirit 06:18 was given is because Christ Himself 06:20 in His bodily form was gonna be gone. 06:23 And therefore His representative, 06:25 His presence through the spirit needed to be there 06:27 why so that the witness of the Gospel would go on. 06:30 There would be no brake in continuity 06:32 between Jesus ministry and the ministry of His followers. 06:35 The same Spirit would operate in both, 06:37 the Spirit would enable them to be witnesses, 06:39 first in Jerusalem and then to the ends of the earth. 06:43 Now let's turn to the next chapter Acts 2. 06:47 Acts 2 is that famous passage 06:50 that talks about the day of Pentecost. 06:52 Acts 2:14 to 18, "Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, 06:59 raised his voice and addressed the crowd, 07:01 Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, 07:04 let me explain this to you, listen carefully to what I say. 07:08 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. 07:11 It's only nine in the morning. 07:12 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, 07:16 in the last days, God says, 07:18 I will pour out my Spirit on all people. 07:20 Your sons and daughters will prophesy, 07:23 your young men will see visions, 07:25 your old men will dream dreams. 07:27 Even on my servants, both men and women, 07:29 I will pour out my Spirit in those days, 07:31 and they will prophesy." 07:38 There is a lot of confusion in the church today 07:40 about what the power of the Spirit looks like. 07:43 In these texts that we have just read, 07:45 we got some clues. 07:47 We got some clues from Jesus, 07:49 who said that we could do even greater things than He. 07:54 We got some clues from his conversation with Nicodemus. 07:58 Which said the power of the Spirit 08:00 we may not be able to discern directly 08:02 but we will see its results. 08:04 We also got some clues from the first chapter of Acts. 08:08 When Jesus told His disciples that they would receive power 08:11 in order to be witnesses to the whole world. 08:14 And then in the Acts 2, 08:16 just after the upper room experience 08:18 where the tongues of fire had been poured out 08:20 on the disciples and they had spoken in different languages. 08:23 And everybody who was there in Jerusalem 08:25 heard the Gospel in their own language, 08:27 Peter stands up and addresses the crowd. 08:29 And interestingly enough he quotes 08:31 from the book of Joel Chapter 2 08:34 which is a prophecy about the end of time 08:37 and what Peter is basically saying there is, 08:40 the end of time is now. 08:42 You now see people prophesying, speaking in the Spirit, 08:48 and the Spirit is being poured out. 08:52 But today there is some confusion 08:56 over what the power of the Spirit should look like. 09:03 I-- I've been to a few Gospel's concerts, 09:09 at times, and I've seen a lot of excitement. 09:13 I went to a youth concert one time. 09:17 And they had a succession of bands come in and perform. 09:23 And there was one band there 09:26 that I don't remember their real name but, 09:30 my name for them was Decibels are us. 09:33 And I was standing there with the rest of the crowd 09:37 wondering what was happening, and it was kind of exciting, 09:43 and I looked couple of rows up ahead of me. 09:45 And there was a young man just really into the music. 09:49 And I looked a little bit closer at him. 09:50 I noticed he had ear protectors in, you know, 09:54 those foam ear plugs that you put into your ears. 09:56 So I'm afraid that sometimes our impression in the church 10:02 of what the Spirit is supposed to look like, 10:05 the power of the Spirit is supposed to look like 10:07 some out pouring of decibels 10:10 or at least some kind of excitement 10:12 where crowds get together and something happens 10:15 and everybody get excited, 10:18 is that really the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 10:21 is that the power that we are looking for? 10:26 If the power of the Holy Spirit just requires decibels, 10:29 then all we need is little more amperage. 10:33 I have a confession to make 10:37 here I am appearing on a religious television show 10:42 but I have to confess to you 10:43 that I don't watch a lot of religious television. 10:48 The reason for that is that 10:50 there's a lot of religious television out there 10:52 that is rather confusing to me. 10:56 For example I tuned into the church service 11:01 of a very large church one time, 11:04 and I saw a lot of very excited people, 11:07 and I saw a pastor who was very, very, excited 11:10 about what he was preaching about 11:11 and I noticed that there were people 11:13 arranged in the background. 11:15 And I don't mean to be overly critical but it almost seemed 11:19 like they were people who were apparently hired to stand there 11:23 and be as excited as they could in order to make it look like 11:28 there was an outpouring of the Spirit, 11:31 Now, we can't judge each other 11:35 according to how the Spirit is working in our lives. 11:39 But I will have to admit to you, 11:40 I've been confused at times 11:42 about what the Spirit is actually supposed to do, 11:46 is it supposed to be a tangible presence 11:53 and make people excited, is that what the Spirit is? 11:57 Is it supposed to be loud enough, 12:00 so that I have to put in ear plugs? 12:02 Uh, is the power of Spirit supposed to be miraculous? 12:07 Now we know that there were miracles in the New Testament 12:11 but, uh, does that prove that the Spirit is operating, 12:16 if we see a miracle? What is the real thing? 12:21 How do you tell the true Spirit 12:24 from a false manifestation of the Spirit? 12:29 And I think if you look closely at the text that we just read. 12:34 If you look closely, 12:35 at the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus. 12:39 If you look at the conversation he had with disciples 12:43 about waiting for power to be his witnesses. 12:46 If you notice what Peter said 12:50 on that day of Pentecost, in Acts 2. 12:53 And you read all the way through the end 12:56 and you see what happened, 12:57 when Peter asked people to make a decision? 13:01 And 3,000 people all at once 13:04 made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. 13:08 And they were baptized. 13:11 I think I can tell you 13:12 what the power of the Spirit is supposed to look like. 13:15 Now, it may be quiet sometimes, it may be loud sometimes. 13:20 It may have people very, very, excited at times 13:23 or may not have people excited at times. 13:27 All that thing doesn't matter 13:28 but I'll tell you what does matter. 13:31 The indication of the power of the Spirit is a changed life. 13:39 That is what all of these texts are for. 13:42 That is what they all have in common 13:44 they all point to a power in the life that changes people 13:51 from being lost to being saved. 13:55 It changes people from going after their sinful, 13:58 selfish desires into wanting the things of Christ. 14:03 That is the true power of the Spirit. 14:11 How do you change a life? How does that happen? 14:17 I don't pretend to know how the Spirit works in all cases. 14:24 But I can tell you this, 14:27 a life has to be changed from the inside out. 14:32 You can't program it. You can't dictate it. 14:38 You can't force it to happen. That's why legalism is so wrong. 14:44 And so hopelessly inept, unbiblical and damnable heresy. 14:53 It's because legalism tries to change a life 14:55 by forcing it from the outside. 14:58 But the power of Spirit works from the inside. 15:03 Let me explain to you a little more what I mean. 15:06 Once in a while when I need some sermon illustrations, 15:10 I go to Wal-Mart or I go to Disney world 15:16 or just about any other public place. 15:19 Let me explain what I mean. 15:22 My family and I went to Disney world not long ago. 15:25 And I was sitting, you know, out in the public square 15:30 in one of the places we were just 15:32 kind of waiting to go somewhere else. 15:36 And as I was just sitting there resting. 15:41 I noticed a commotion not very far away. 15:44 And as I craned my head a little bit 15:47 I noticed that there was a women screaming. 15:50 Now, she was not hurt. She was not being attacked. 15:53 She was not in danger of any kind and she was not suffering 15:58 the results of a scary riot by any means. 16:01 She was screaming at her young child. 16:05 And she was berating him and she was scolding him and he-- 16:09 she was calling him every name she could think of. 16:12 And she was making him feel 16:14 just as bad about himself as he possibly could. 16:18 And he was standing there just kind of hanging his head 16:20 and he would make one small little gesture 16:24 and she would just start it again. 16:26 And it got so bad that I saw a security guard come over 16:29 and kind of ask, you know, what was going on. 16:33 Now, you know, Disney world is supposed to be 16:35 the happiest place on earth so if something unhappy comes 16:38 they like to take care of it rather quickly. 16:40 So the security guard was very anxious 16:42 that whatever was going on in this little family 16:45 that it be taken care peacefully. 16:50 I was at Wal-Mart one day. 16:53 And I was minding my own business 16:55 and all of a sudden I heard some yelling. 16:58 And I looked down the aisle and there was a mother 17:05 yelling at her young child. 17:08 And right there in middle of the public place 17:11 she was calling him every name she possibly could 17:13 and she was telling him what she thought of him 17:16 and what do these experiences have in common? 17:22 There are times and believe me I am a parent 17:24 I know there are times when you just wish 17:26 you could just reach inside and change somebody. 17:31 I mean, somehow our human nature 17:34 is so frustrated with other people's human nature, 17:37 especially our kids. 17:39 That we wish we could just somehow 17:42 if not physically at least verbally 17:45 reach inside their little psyches' 17:47 and just shake 'em up. 17:49 And we want to do that so bad, why? 17:52 Because human nature is so hard to change. 17:55 In fact I submit 17:58 human nature is impossible to change from the outside. 18:02 Now, you can put in laws, and rules, and regulations, 18:08 and boundaries, and curfews, if you need to. 18:12 And you can do all kinds of things 18:14 to create the right environment for change 18:17 but you can't actually change that person. 18:21 And I'll tell you this is very frustrating for a parent. 18:23 How frustrating it must be for God 18:26 to want to change his children. 18:29 But even God doesn't want 18:32 to force change on His children. 18:36 He doesn't want to reach inside of us 18:39 and force us to change. 18:42 Now, he has the capability of doing that. 18:44 And some people actually think 18:46 that is the Holy Spirit's job is to actually change somebody. 18:50 In a sense that's true but its not true 18:53 if we think of it in terms of forcing something. 18:57 Notice what Galatians 5:22 and 23 says. 19:02 Here Paul is talking about the power of the Spirit. 19:06 And he says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, 19:10 joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 19:16 faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 19:20 Against such things there is no law." 19:24 So what kind of result are we looking for? 19:29 What is the result of that wind blowing? 19:32 What is the result of that power of the Spirit 19:35 being illustrated by the wind. 19:37 It is a changed life. 19:41 Now, there are lot of what I call ugly mothers 19:47 at Wal-Mart and Disney World and any other public place. 19:51 And has nothing to do with their physical attributes 19:53 they can be gorgeous looking human beings 19:56 but they treat their kids ugly, why? 19:59 Because they want to force change 20:02 or just because they got so frustrated 20:04 that they just plain lost. 20:05 Okay, we're all human we can understand that 20:08 we all do that at times. But, God never loses it. 20:12 God is always gracious, He's always kind 20:16 and He doesn't try to force change. 20:18 His Spirit is an influence, not a force. 20:22 The result of the Spirit's work is a changed life. 20:29 Jim Cymbala was pastor of a broken down 20:39 losing church in Brooklyn, New York. 20:47 And Jim himself was just about ready to give up. 20:51 He tells his story in the book 'Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.' 20:55 How when things got so bad that even 20:59 the pews where breaking down during their meetings. 21:02 How things where so bad that they depended 21:06 on every little offering to just keep the place open? 21:12 How things were so bad that even 21:15 Jim himself didn't want to go there? 21:18 He finally went off by himself. 21:23 And he said Lord, I don't know what I am supposed to do. 21:30 And Jim Cymbala came back from that experience 21:35 with what seemed like an impossible thing to do. 21:41 He told his congregation 21:44 that they were going to regard the prayer meeting 21:49 as the barometer of the spiritual condition 21:52 of their church. 21:54 And this is why he said that 21:55 as Jim looked around at the other churches. 21:58 He saw rich churches they could afford 22:00 to send out a fleet of buses 22:03 just to bring people in and pack the place. 22:05 He saw other churches who where wealthy enough 22:08 to bring him top named preachers that would pack the place. 22:13 He looked around and he saw all the other successful churches 22:17 and he thought to himself and he prayed. 22:19 He went to the Lord on his knees 22:20 and he came under the conviction 22:23 that just because you pack a house on the weekend 22:26 doesn't mean that you have the Spirit's power. 22:33 Pastor Cymbala said we'rerevising. 22:36 What a church is today? 22:38 We believe that if you can get people 22:40 into a service for an hour in the weekend 22:42 that's the church but that's not the church he says. 22:46 The church he says was not born during a sermon. 22:50 It was born during a prayer meeting. 22:53 Furthermore he notes that all the great revivals 22:56 down through history have taken place 22:59 in the context of prayer. 23:01 But he says when prayer ended 23:04 the Spirit of God lifted in the church 23:05 went through some tough times as a result. 23:09 You remember that upper room experience 23:12 on the day of Pentecost. 23:14 That was a prayer meeting they were having in that room. 23:16 When the Holy Spirit poured itself out visibly at that time 23:21 in order to give the people the assurance they needed. 23:25 As tongues of fire and the church was born 23:28 in that prayer meeting. 23:32 The result of the Spirit's power is changed lives 23:36 but God has given us a way to access that power. 23:40 How do you get that power? You pray for it. 23:43 Now, don't expect prayer to be some kinds of incantation, 23:48 don't expect prayer to be some kind of magic formula, 23:52 don't expect prayer to be like putting a coin 23:54 in a slot of a vending machine and getting something out. 23:58 Prayer is not like that 23:59 because prayer is part of a real relationship 24:01 a saving relationship with our Savior. 24:05 Prayer is a conversation. 24:06 Prayer doesn't change God, it changes us. 24:13 You see the work of the Spirit 24:16 is not to force people to change, 24:19 the work of the Spirit is the work of Christ 24:21 to win our allegiance. 24:24 And when Christ wins our allegiance, 24:26 we want to be with Him. And we pray with Him. 24:30 Reason I say with Him is because 24:32 prayer is a decision to be in the presence of Christ. 24:39 Prayer is a way of communicating with Christ. 24:43 It is by faith we know that He hears us 24:45 even in the most difficult circumstances-- 24:47 we know that Christ hears us. 24:52 I had a very good friend one time, 24:56 her name was Cindy. 24:59 It's not her real name but she had, 25:02 had a rough life and during her high school years, 25:07 she had made a conscious decision 25:11 to give her life over to the devil. 25:15 That's very unusual to find somebody who is actually 25:17 made that kind of conscious decision but she had. 25:21 She had decided that she would go ahead 25:26 and let the devil have his way with her life. 25:29 She would just follow him. And so she did. 25:35 And I found her at that time to be, 25:40 you know, how you can look in somebody's eyes, 25:43 and you wonder who's really there. 25:45 I am not talking about anything spooky 25:48 or hocus pocus or anything like that. 25:49 I am just-- I am talking about a person 25:51 who's living without living. 25:54 I am talking about a person who may be walking 25:59 but they're not going anywhere. Cindy was like that. 26:03 I lost track of Cindy for a number of years. 26:07 And then one day I ran into her again. 26:10 And even before she said anything 26:14 I recognized the Spirit' s power. The power had been there. 26:19 No I didn't hear any loud noises. 26:22 I didn't see any tongues of fire. 26:24 I didn't sense any huge excitement 26:26 or anything like that but I saw a changed life. 26:30 Where once she looked hard as nails 26:32 now she was softer, accepting, non defensive. 26:38 She was just happy to be alive with the Lord. 26:46 I was really quite stunned. 26:49 And my human expectations 26:52 I really didn't expect that to happen. 26:55 I thought pessimistically 26:59 perhaps that once that happened to a person 27:03 they would probably always be there 27:04 but I was wrong because God's power 27:07 is infinitely stronger than any human power 27:11 even the power of a space shuttle, 27:13 pales in comparison. 27:17 And how do we access that power? 27:19 God has given us the privilege of prayer. 27:23 I'd like to invite you to attend not only the worship service 27:28 at your local church but the prayer meeting. 27:32 You see a praying church is a powerful church. 27:37 Will you commit to a new experience with the Holy Spirit. 27:41 Will you commit yourself to prayer both personally 27:46 and corporately with your house of worship? 27:51 If you do, you will find 27:54 the infinite power of heaven available to you. |
Revised 2014-12-17