Adriene Rogers was a motivator, an encourager, and a leader of the faith. He was also passionate about presenting scriptural application to everyday life circumstances, and you'll hear that in today's message.
Now, let's join Adriene Rogers. Be finding the book of Acts. That's right after the Gospels, and we're in Acts Chapter 2. A woman had taken a course in first aid. She was so thrilled that she had taken this first aid course because when she went back to her study group, they were having testimonials. She said, let me tell you what happened to me. Out in front of my very own home, there was a horrible automobile accident. An elderly man driving an automobile lost control, went over the curbing, hid head on to an oak tree. He was thrown out of the automobile onto the ground. His head was crushed like an eggshell. He was pumping out his life's blood on the asphalt.
It was terrible, horrible, but she said, I was the first one on the scene. I remembered my first aid. I remembered if I would put my head between my knees, I would not faint. That's the way the church is today. In a world of sorrow and pain and anguish and trouble, going around with his head between its knees saying, I'm so glad I'm a Christian.
It makes me feel so good, so wonderful in this day and in this age. Friend, listen, God has anointed us and God has empowered us to rescue the perishing and care for the dying, to lift up the fallen one, the weak or the erring one, to tell them of Jesus who is mighty to save. We don't need to be going around moaning and groaning and talking about living in the last days as if God were dead. Now, God has a purpose and a power for his church in these days. The Lord Jesus said, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. There has never been a greater day, a greater age to preach the glorious gospel of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ than this day and this age.
And let me tell you why. First of all, our mandate has not changed. The Lord Jesus has never withdrawn the great commission. It is just as powerful, just as real today as it ever has been. Not only is our mandate not changed, our master has not changed. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
And friend, he is not getting old and he's not sick. He has as much power in the 21st century as he had in the first century. Do you agree with that? Now listen, the mandate has not changed. The master has not changed. The message has not changed. We don't need a new and a modern gospel for a new and a modern age. Friend, if it's new, it's not true.
The Bible says we are to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And I want to say again that our methods have not changed. Now, the means have changed. The apostle Paul didn't have a microphone. He didn't have electric lights.
He didn't have automobiles. Those are the means. But the methods have not changed.
Prayer, truth, Holy Spirit anointing, sharing, witnessing, soul winning, giving, loving, sharing, those are Bible methods. They're just as fresh today as they were 2,000 years ago. You say, yes, pastor, that's true. Our methods haven't changed.
Our message hasn't changed. But pastor, let me tell you what has changed. Mankind has changed. Men are so hard today. Men are so wicked today. People are so sinful today.
Folks, I want to tell you something. Adam was totally depraved and you can't get worse than that. God has never had anything but sinners to work with.
Understand that? It is an insult to God, an insult to God to say we cannot have revival. Listen, the Bible says where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. The Bible says concerning all of the wickedness that's on the outside, greater is he that is in you, that is the Holy Spirit, than he that is in the world. That's the devil.
Now, what I want to talk to you today about is the principles of power. When Acts chapter 2, and I want you to begin reading with me, verse 1, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. And it set upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, remember last, we talked about the fact that Jesus had promised, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you should be witnesses unto me. They were to tarry in Jerusalem. They were to wait for the fulfillment of the promise, the coming of the power.
And this is when it happened. This is the day of Pentecost. It was a special feast day in the life of Israel. They had been keeping this feast for 1500 years, but this one was special.
No other Pentecost like this Pentecost. It was a feast. You know, the Bible is full of feasts and they all typify the Lord Jesus. And when I invite you to Jesus, I'm not inviting you to a funeral. I'm inviting you to a feast.
I hope you understand that. This was a feast day and there were many things that happened that day, but one thing they would do would be to take some grain, crush it, grind it, sift it, purify it. And then they baked two loaves of bread and they poured into this bread oil and they baked these loaves and now these individual grains are no longer individual grains.
They have been blended, baked together. Then they took seven animals, seven perfect lands, and they offered a blood sacrifice with those. And then one bull and two young calves, 10 altogether, speaking of the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the total completeness of Calvary. Those individual grains represent the church, no longer individual members.
Now they are blended, baked, melded, molded together. The oil in that bread represents the Holy Spirit of God. This was the birthday of the church. The Holy Spirit had come and God had promised power. Now he's going to demonstrate that power. Now he's going to symbolize it.
He wants us to understand what it's all about. And so you're going to see this power symbolized. And it was symbolized by two things, by fire and by wind. There was a sound and there was a sight. Look at it again, if you will, in the second chapter of Acts, verse two, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. Have you ever heard a tornado? Everybody says it sounds like what? Freight train. That's true.
That's true. I heard it one time, twice. I have been in enough approximation to a tornado to hear the noise and it is an awesome sound. Now, if you think a tornado sounds awesome outside, what would you think about an indoor one?
This one was inside the house where they were sitting and there was the symbolism of the sound. Now we said that oil is an emblem of the Holy Spirit that was upon that bread, but wind is also an emblem of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches this. You see, as the wind comes from heaven, the Holy Spirit comes from heaven. As the wind moves at will, commanded by nobody, so the Holy Spirit of God is sovereign and moves at will. As the wind is mysterious, we can't tell where it comes from or where it's going, so is the Holy Spirit. And yet as the wind operates according to fixed laws, so does God's blessed, precious Holy Spirit of God. And the wind is invisible, but powerful.
And there is an invisible, powerful force and that is the Holy Spirit of God. So it was symbolized, first of all, by wind, but then again by fire. Look, if you will, again in verse three, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and it set upon each of them.
They looked like human candles, 120 candles, the flame flickering over their heads. And what about fire? We know what wind does. What about fire? Fire spreads, fire consumes, fire warms, fire purges, fire illumines, fire energizes, fire purifies. Now, wind and fire, what a combination.
What an illustration. What a symbolism of the Holy Spirit of God, wind and fire. This power was symbolized and then this power was vocalized. Go on and look, if you will, in verse four, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Here are 120 people now beginning to speak in foreign languages, known languages. The people who were there said, how can we understand this? They're speaking every man in his own language.
Where any was born, they all are hearing these Galileans who didn't have a PhD. They were not bilingual, trilingual, multilingual. Here they are praising God with languages they've never heard. This power, this power symbolized, this power now is vocalized.
Now, what was this? This was a sign to unbelieving Jews. As a matter of fact, you can go to 1 Corinthians 14 verses 21 and verse 22 and it says this, in the Lord is written with men of other tongues, that is other languages and other lips will I speak unto this people. Yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe.
Listen, come up close, let me tell you something. Tongues are not a sign to God's people about anything. Tongues are a sign not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Tongues were a sign to the Jews. Three times in the book of Acts, you'll find believers there speaking in tongues. Every time there were Jews who were doing this and Jews were present and unbelieving Jews are in the background.
Now, it is true that Gentiles did this, but it is a sign to the Jews. By the way, the mark that you feel the Holy Spirit is you control the one tongue you do have. This power was symbolized. This power was vocalized, but now here's the key.
This power was actualized. The Bible says, look, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. That's the abiding principle is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The abiding miracle of Pentecost is that men, women, boys and girls were filled with the Holy Ghost. We're not trying to repeat Pentecost. Every now and then somebody says, we need another Pentecost.
Well, if you have another Pentecost, you have to have more fire and another cyclone. You see all of this was to symbolize, to teach us something. Now this is the day of Pentecost and the promise of the father came with this wonderful power, power that was symbolized, power that was vocalized, power that was actualized as they were actually human beings now become inhabited by the Holy Spirit of God as he comes into them. Having said all of that, I want to give you three principles of power.
Okay. Three principles of power. And I pray God that he'll write these upon your heart. We're talking now about the dear precious Holy Spirit of God. Number one, the Holy Spirit is a promise to be received.
Have you got that? He is a promise to be received. Now in this same chapter, let's go over about to verse 37. Peter preached a sermon, a wonderful anointed Christ filled sermon and there was conviction there. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. Now that's Holy Spirit conviction that does that and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what must we do?
Now they're unsaved. Men and brethren, what shall we do? I hope you'll be asking that question if you've not been saved.
What should I do? Here's what God says to you. The same thing that Peter said to those people so long ago. Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now he didn't say you will receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost. He's not here talking about tongues or miracles or signs or visions, helps, governments. No, you will receive the Holy Ghost himself.
He is the gift. You will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now notice verse 39, for the promise is unto you and to your children, to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. The Holy Spirit is a promise to be received. The promise is to you, to your children, to those that are far off and as many as the Lord our God shall call. Friend, God has made a promise to you. God has promised. Are you listening? God has promised to you, the Holy Spirit.
You were not left out. The promise is unto you and to your children, to those who are far off and as many as the Lord our God shall call. While we're in the neighborhood right now, we have something I need to give attention to because there's some who tell you that you have to be baptized in order to be saved.
So I'm going to make a little detour here for just a moment when we're on verse 38. Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for, F-O-R, the remission of sins. Now somebody may ask you, were you baptized for the remission of sins? And you would say, no, I came to Jesus for the remission of my sins. Baptism didn't remit my sins.
And they said, well then why don't you believe the Bible? The Bible says you to be baptized for the remission of sins. Well, the problem here is this, not a problem, but the understanding is this little preposition F-O-R, three letters in the English language, three letters in the Greek language, epsilon, eo to sigma, ice, when you pronounce it like ice cube, ice. And this preposition repent and be baptized ice, the remission of sins, for the remission of sins.
Now the preposition for in our English language has a number of meanings. We could say, he wept for joy. Why did he weep? Because he was joyful. He went to the store for bread and milk.
Now he went to the store in order to get bread and milk. Two different sentences. The preposition is used two different ways. One means because of, the other means in order to. So how are you going to tell what you means? Just in a simple usage. Now it's the same way in the Greek preposition.
This Greek preposition for may mean in order to, or it may mean because of. Now, are you baptized in order to have your sins remitted? No, you're baptized because of the remission of sins. Let me give you another verse, put this in your margin. Luke 11 verse 32, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonas. That's the same Greek preposition. Now it's translated at they repented at the preaching of Jonas. It's the same word that's found in Acts 2 38.
Now think with me for a moment. They repented at the preaching of Jonah. Ice the preaching of Jonah. Did they repent in order that Jonah could preach?
No. They repented why? Because Jonah preached.
It's the exact same word. Now you say, well pastor, you spend too much time on this. I agree.
I'm going to move on. But all I want to say is this, that there is a promise that if you will repent of your sins, receive the Lord Jesus Christ, obey him, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a promise to be received. Now, Jesus told the disciples to tarry until they were endued with power from on high.
We don't need to tarry. The Holy Spirit has already come. He has come. We don't need to say, Oh God, send your spirit. He has sent his spirit.
That would be like praying, Oh God, send Jesus to die on the cross. No, he has died on the cross. Calvary is an accomplished fact.
Pentecost is an accomplished fact. What we need now to do is to receive the promise. Now, let me tell you something. If you are a Christian, if you are truly saved, you've already received that promise. You say, well, I don't feel it.
I'm going to tell you something. You can be a Baptist and be lost. You can attend these worship services and be lost, but you cannot be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit in you.
That's what makes you a Christian. When Peter said, repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus for the mission of sin and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He didn't say you might. He said you shall. And the very word shall here is a very positive word.
It literally means once and for all. If you repented of your sins, you did receive the Holy Spirit of God. Now, are you listening to me? If you repent of your sins, you did receive the Holy Spirit of God. As a matter of fact, the Bible says in Romans chapter eight and verse nine, listen to this. Jesus gave the Holy Spirit and the Bible says, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you don't belong to Jesus. That's what the word of God says.
Romans eight, verse nine. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Now, God's spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the child of God.
What is this witness? How do I know that I have the Holy Spirit of God? Well, I don't know that I have the Holy Spirit of God because of some emotional feeling. Emotions come and go. I've told you many times your emotions are the shallowest part of your nature. Salvation is the deepest work of God.
God doesn't do the deepest work in the shallowest part. The Holy Spirit is the one who communicates the things of God. Your human spirit is the instrument of spiritual knowledge and the Holy Spirit of God speaks to your human spirit that you belong to God.
It is not an emotional feeling, it is an awareness. You say, pastor, I'm not sure of the difference. If you have it, you know the difference.
If you have it, you know the difference. If you don't have it, I don't know I could explain it to you. But when you get saved, the Holy Spirit of God comes into you. I mean, how else could Jesus come into you? Could he in his physical body come into you? How else could Jesus come into you apart from the Holy Spirit? You see Christ is in you. How is Christ in you?
Through the Holy Spirit. Now we're talking about three principles of power. Number one is the Holy Spirit is a promise to be received. The promise is unto you, to your children, those that are far off and as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Got it? Okay, now listen, here's the second principle. Not only is the Holy Spirit a promise to be received, but the Holy Spirit is a power to be released. Remember Acts chapter one verse eight, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Now what kind of power is this? Is this physical power? No. Economic power? No. Political power?
No. It is spiritual power. Now, actually it's the word we get our word dynamite from. You shall receive dunamis. A dynamic will be in you. I would be a fool, an absolute sheer fool to attempt to preach without the anointing the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God is power. As you open your Bible, you see the Spirit of God moving in power.
When there was a chaos back in Genesis chapter one, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep and that chaos became a cosmos. There was a little virgin girl whose name was Mary. The Spirit of God moved upon Mary and Mary becomes with child, the Christ child because of the power of the Spirit of God.
You read in the Bible about a grave where a man named Jesus is lying and the Spirit of God moves into that grave and Jesus is raised from the dead by the Spirit of God. And now you see Simon Peter. I want you to look, if you will, in verse 14. We're in chapter two. Look in verse 14. But Peter, standing up with the 11, lift up his voice and said unto them, ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken unto my words.
Wait a minute, just a minute. Is this the Peter who cowered in front of a little girl? Is this the same man?
Notice the transformation. He's not denying Jesus now. He's not swearing and saying, I never knew the man, but to the contrary, he stands up and says, listen to me, hearken unto me.
Look in verse 22, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him. There is a power that has moved upon this man. Now, God wants you to live with power. God doesn't want you just simply to have the Holy Spirit in you as some residing person. He wants that power to be released in your heart and in your life. That brings up an interesting question. For a long time in my early ministry, I was endeavoring to make myself somehow worthy to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I had the idea that if I could be good enough, if I could pray long enough, if I could make myself worthy enough, then perhaps God would fill me. Do you know I had it backward?
Completely totally backward. You know, sometimes if you go to the bank and you need a loan, the bankers start talking to you and make you fill out all these forms. And if you can prove that you don't need any money, then he'll loan you some.
Isn't that right? I mean, I used to think, God, if I could just prove to you, I don't need this power, maybe you give it to me. If I could live holy, if I could be pure, if I could win enough souls, then maybe you give it to me.
I wouldn't need it then. One of the greatest things I have ever learned in my life is this, that holiness is not the way to Christ, Christ is the way to holiness. Oh, if you could only understand this. That doesn't mean that you can come wanting to be filled with the Holy Spirit with your hands full of sin. No, Peter said, repent, but don't think that you can earn anything from God. This is a gift like your salvation.
Do you understand that? Quit trying to make yourself worthy. You're not worthy. You're not worthy of salvation. You're not worthy of anything.
What do you have that you've not received? That's what the apostle Paul says. The Holy Spirit of God is a promise to be received.
And he is a power to be released. Why are we so pathetic? Why are there so many of us in this building and we're doing so little?
I'll tell you why. We've not allowed the Holy Spirit of God to do what he wants to do in our hearts and in our lives. You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you should be witnesses unto me. On the day of Pentecost, 5,000 people got saved. 120 witnesses, 5,000 saved in one day. Today in modern church, 5,000 people can't win 120 in a year.
What's the difference? Well, the difference is we're trying to do it in our own rather than depending upon the Holy Spirit of God. All right. The Holy Spirit of God is a power to be released. Got it?
Okay. Now here's the third thing. The Holy Spirit, a promise to be received, a power to be released. Now the Holy Spirit is a person to be recognized, a person to be recognized. On the day of Pentecost, they saw all of this and they said, what does all this mean? Well, look, if you go now in verse 12, they were all amazed and were in doubt saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others mocking said, these men are full of new wine. But Peter standing up with the 11 lifted up his voice and said unto them, ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem be this known unto you and hearken to my words for these are not drunken as ye suppose seeing it is but the third hour of the day. How could they be drunk? It's only nine in the morning.
These are not drunken as ye suppose seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my handmaidens will I pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. Now, Peter, what is all of this? How is all this happening?
Well, I want to tell you how it happened. We all went to seminary. We were in seminary for three and a half years with the best teacher. And besides that, we are all holy men. And besides that, we've been praying for 10 days and a prayer meeting. That's why it's all happening.
No. Peter refused to take credit for what was happening. There was a person that was recognized there and that was the Holy Spirit of God. What does this mean?
Peter says, I'll tell you what it means. It means the Holy Spirit is working. Do you know one of the things that kills some churches? When God starts working, people start taking credit for it. We start taking credit for what God does.
Friend, it stops. What is there about this church or any church that you cannot explain apart from the Holy Spirit of God? Same thing in witnessing. I hear people say something.
It's kind of silly to me. They say, well, I know that I don't share Jesus, but I just want people to see my life. I just hope by my life they'll want to be saved.
Come up close and I'll tell you something. They're not saved by your life. They're saved by his death. And if you live the life without giving him the glory, you are taking praise under false pretenses. You ought to say the way that this can be explained is there is a person, his name is Jesus, who has changed my life. And the way that you can explain any church that is being moved and working is oh, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. It shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. The Holy Spirit of God is a person to be recognized. And God says, I'll not share my glory with another. We need to be constantly, constantly recognizing, giving God the praise and the glory for what he is doing. Now, when you have this kind of a service, there are three things that will happen.
I want to tell you what these three things are. Look in verse 12. There's some who will be amazed. There will be amazement. You know, I want this church to be an amazement to people.
I want my life to be an amazement to people. There will be amazement. God didn't call us to be amusing, but amazing. There will be amazement.
But there will be also amusement. Look in verse 13. Others, mocking, said these men are full of new wine. When's the last time anybody ever accused you of being drunk because of your faith? I mean, when's the last time that you were so different, somebody said, there's something possessing that person.
You know, a person filled with wine, his walk has changed, his talk has changed, his very demeanor has changed. But they mocked them. They laughed at them. When we began to amaze some, we're going to amuse others. They're going to look at us. They're going to call us all kinds of names, fools, freaks, fanatics and nuts.
We are nuts, but we're fastened to a good boat. There will be amazement. There will be amusement. But I'll tell you a third thing there will be. There will be acknowledgement. Look if you will in verse 41 of this same chapter. Then they, they gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls.
They're going to be those who are going to acknowledge Christ as Lord and savior. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? I'm asking you, are you consciously, conspicuously filled with the Spirit of God? If not, you're not just missing a blessing. You're guilty of rebellion and sin.
I'm not talking about wildfire. I'm talking about spiritual reality without which we will not reach this world. Aren't you tired of playing church? To those of you who are not certain of your salvation. Have you repented? Have you put your sins on Jesus or are you still carrying them?
Men and brethren, what must we do? Repent. When you repent, you turn from sin to Jesus.
I'm not asking you, you're a church member. Is Christ real to you? If you died right now, would you go to heaven?
Are you certain of it? I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And in this prayer, you can ask Jesus Christ to save you. Now it's the prayer I'm leading, but it won't do any good if it's my prayer. It has to be your prayer. Would you pray like this?
Dear God, should I just speak to him out of your heart? Dear God, I am a sinner and I'm lost and I need to be saved and I want to be saved. Jesus, you died to save me and you promised to save me.
If I would trust you, I do trust you. This moment now, right now, I receive you into my heart as my Lord and savior. Forgive my sin, cleanse me, save me, Lord Jesus. Pray it in faith.
Did you ask him? Then pray this way. Thank you for doing it, Jesus.
I receive it by faith and that settles it. You're now my Lord, my savior, my God, and my friend. Lord Jesus, I will not be ashamed of you. I will make it public if you just give me the strength and I'll do it today. In your name I pray. Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
