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Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Verse 1
Come Thou fount of ev'ry blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
Verse 2
Here I raise mine Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I'm come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wand'ring from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
Verse 3
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit living Breath of God
Breathe new life into my willing soul
Let the presence of the risen Lord
Come renew my heart and make me whole
Cause Your word to come alive in me
Give me faith for what I cannot see
Give me passion for Your purity
Holy Spirit breathe new life in me
Holy Spirit come abide within
May Your joy be seen in all I do
Love enough to cover ev'ry sin
In each thought and deed and attitude
Kindness to the greatest and the least
Gentleness that sows the path of peace
Turn my strivings into works of grace
Breath of God show Christ in all I do
Holy Spirit from creation's birth
Giving life to all that God has made
Show Your power once again on earth
Cause Your church to hunger for Your ways
Let the fragrance of our pray'rs arise
Lead us on the road of sacrifice
That in unity the face of Christ
May be clear for all the world to see
Lord I Need You
Verse 1
Lord I come I confess
Bowing here I find my rest
And without You I fall apart
You're the one that guides my heart
Chorus 1
Lord I need You oh I need You
Ev'ry hour I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You
Verse 2
Where sin runs deep Your grace is more
Where grace is found is where You are
And where You are Lord I am free
Holiness is Christ in me
Chorus
Lord I need You oh I need You
Ev'ry hour I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You
Bridge
So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus You're my hope and stay
And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus You're my hope and stay
Chorus
Lord I need You oh I need You
Ev'ry hour I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You
Blessed Assurance
Verse 1
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation purchase of God
Born of His Spirit washed in His blood
Chorus
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Verse 3
Perfect submission all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest
Watching and waiting looking above
Filled with His goodness lost in His love
Chorus
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Normal Christianity
Rev T Payton
Acts 1:1-8
Introduction: What does it mean to be a Christian?
· What does it mean to be a Christian? What comes to your mind when you think of what a Christian is?
o A Christian…
§ …is a follower of Jesus Christ who has put their faith in him.
§ …believes the Bible is God’s word.
§ …believes that Jesus was born as a baby, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, will return again later.
§ …worships God with other believers, sings to God, perhaps listens to sermons or finds some other way to grow in knowledge of the word.
§ …prays, reads the Bible.
§ …seeks to love the Lord above all and to love other people as himself.
o What else would you add to the list? Certainly there is more to add.
§ à When you think of what a Christian is, do you think of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit?
· If you didn’t, then this morning I want to encourage you to adjust your thinking—and your expectations—about what it means to be a Christian.
· And I do expect that for many of us, this will require at least a little bit of an adjustment, because we don’t normally think of the power of the Holy Spirit in a normal Christian’s life, beyond the work of justification and sanctification.
o That is, the Holy Spirit brings us to the point where we believe in Jesus Christ and trust in him alone for our salvation.
o And then, once we believe in Jesus, we know that from then onward the Holy Spirit works in our heart to transform us and make us holy, so that we become increasingly like Jesus.
· Those things are essential and beautiful! However, today I’m going to show you that when Jesus also had something more in mind about the Holy Spirit when he ascended into heaven after giving the Great Commission.
o I think it’s pretty accurate to say that Jesus is the one whose opinion we should seek when we’re trying to figure out what a Christian is.
[Read Acts 1:1-8]
1. 1:1-3 Acts: What Jesus Continued to Do and Teach
· Luke was the person who wrote both the Gospel of Luke and also the book of Acts. It’s clear that Luke intended them to go together.
o He addresses his first book to a person called Theophilus (Luke 1:3), and the first thing he does here in the book of Acts is to tie it back in with the gospel he wrote:
· 1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach
· 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
· 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
· It’s interesting that Luke says that his gospel was about what Jesus “began to do and teach.”
o If the gospel of Luke described what Jesus began to do and teach, then the book of Acts describes…what Jesus continued to do and teach.
§ The book of Acts is often called the Acts of the Apostles,
§ It is also called the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
§ It could also be called the Continuing Acts of Jesus Christ.
· The point is that this book (the book of Acts) describes how Jesus continued to work, through the Holy Spirit-empowered apostles.
2. 1:4a Wait?
· What was Jesus’ last command while he was on earth?
o Most people would say that it was to give us the Great Commission (it’s recorded slightly differently in each of the 4 gospels, btw).
§ But actually, that isn’t completely accurate. Look at verse 4:
· 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait….”
· What was Jesus’ last command to his disciples while he was on earth?
o “Wait.”
§ Why would he give them something as urgent as the Great Commission…and then tell them to wait?
· Because the Great Commission was too much for them. They needed help. Lots of help. Look at verse 5:
· 4 “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
· 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
· Yes, the Great Commission is essential for the life and mission of the Church.
o You show me a local church that is on fire for the Great Commission, and I’ll show you a living church!
· But we cannot fulfill that mission in our own strength!
o Why did the disciples have to wait before stepping out into the Great Commission?
§ Precisely because they needed the power of the Holy Spirit if they were going to be effective!
o Jesus teaches that the gospel “will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47)…and the he continues: “but wait in Jerusalem, because you can’t do this without the help of the Holy Spirit.”
3. 1:4b-5 Jesus had spoken about the gift the Father promised
· Look at the end of verse 4:
· 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
· 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
· Where in the Bible to we find the things that Jesus directly spoke about?
o Yes, in the gospels!
· So now, let’s take a very quick tour through the gospels to remind ourselves of what Jesus spoke about with regard to the Holy Spirit:
· We’ll start with Matthew, Mark, and Luke—called the “synoptic gospels”—because they share so many similar phrases and statements:
o Matthew 3:11 (Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16) John the Baptist says, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
o Matthew 3:16 (Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22) The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus.
§ After we’re done today, go ahead and look in each of the gospels to count how many miracles Jesus does before the Holy Spirit comes upon him at his baptism. Do this in each gospel. Then try to count how many miracles Jesus does after the Holy Spirit comes upon him, in each gospel.
o Matthew 10:19-20 (Mark 13:11, Luke 12:12) “When they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
o Matthew 12:28 Jesus declares that “it is by the Spirit of God” that he drives out demons.
o Luke 4:18 In his first sermon, Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 and applies it to himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news….”
o Luke 11:13 Jesus tells us that, if even sinful fathers know how to gives good gifts to their children, then “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
o And very specifically, let’s slow down and look at the last chapter of Luke, which happens chronologically right before Acts 1:
§ Luke 24:28-29 Jesus summarizes the gospel message for them and opens their minds so that they can understand the Scriptures. Then he says, “You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
· And now let’s look at some of what Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit, as recorded in the gospel of John:
o John 3:5,8 “No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”
o John 3:34 “God gives the Spirit without limit.”
o John 4:24 How should we worship? “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in Spirit and in truth.”
o John 7:37-39 I just preached on this passage a few weeks ago: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me. And let him drink, whoever believes in me. As the Scripture has said, ‘streams of living water will flow from within him.’” By this he meant the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
§ In Acts 2 on Pentecost, this very thing happens: the Spirit is given, precisely as Jesus has said. More on that in a moment.
o In John 14-16, Jesus goes into a lot of detail about the Holy Spirit, and we don’t have time to do it justice here. But for now, here are just a few of Jesus statements about the Holy Spirit, which his disciples had heard him speak about:
§ John 14:16 the Father “will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth….He lives in you and will be in you.”
§ John 14:26 “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
§ John 15:26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.”
§ John 16:7-8 “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guild in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment….”
§ John 16:13 “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
§ And finally, in the culmination of Jesus’ teaching about the Holy Spirit in the gospel of John, we get to John 20:21-22: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. [There’s the Great Commission. And notice how John can’t give the Great Commission without also giving the empowerment for it:] With that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
· So, these things are what Jesus had talked about with regard to the Holy Spirit. Certainly, there was more that Jesus had said over the course of his 3 years with them, but we know that he at least said these things.
· I want to mention one last thing from the gospels, for now, about what Jesus said with regard to the Holy Spirit. And I think this is a key reason for why Jesus told the disciples to “wait.”
o We’ve just heard how the coming of the Holy Spirit is connected with Jesus returning to the Father (John 16:7-8).
§ Now take a look at John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
· What kind of things did Jesus do?
o Teach with authority about God and the Kingdom of God.
o Heal. Cast out demons.
· How will we do what Jesus has been doing? By the Holy Spirit, who will come when Jesus has returned to the Father!
§ Ok, doing what Jesus has been doing…That’s a pretty big promise! Who is that limited to?
· Read the verse again: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me….” Anybody who is a follower of Jesus will do the works that Jesus has been doing.
· So then, in light of this verse, what does Jesus intend would be normal for his followers?
o I think it’s clear to say that Jesus intended that his followers would continue to do what he had been doing it, in the way that he had been doing it.
§ John 20:21-22 “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit.”
o Normal Christianity must involve normal followers of Jesus doing the things that Jesus has been doing…and doing them in the power of the Holy Spirit, who has been poured out on the Church because Jesus has returned to the Father.
§ Doesn’t that make the most sense of this verse? Am I twisting things or making them up here?
· What Jesus is describing here, and what I am calling us to recognize, is not one option (or one denomination) among many that his disciples may choose.
o No, he’s describing what he intends for all of his followers.
o To rely on the power of the Holy Spirit is not only for “charismatic” Christians…it is for all Christians. Can you see that?
§ For a Christian to actively and consciously depend on the power of the Holy Spirit for ministry…that is not charismatic…that is normal.
§ Yes, God certainly did miracles and moved in power during Jesus’ time…and he still does those things today.
· …through “normal” Christians like you and me.
o That’s because, yes, we’re normal Christians—normal Christians who are empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue the work of Jesus Christ so that we can carry out the Great Commission.
4. 1:6-8 The Holy Spirit Empowers Us For The Great Commission
· And now let’s look at the results of being empowered by the Holy Spirit.
· 6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
· 7 He said to them, “it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
· 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
· In Acts 2 we read the story of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit does come upon them. What follows? Well, let’s take a very quick tour through the next few chapters of the book of Acts, to see what happens when the Holy Spirit empowers a ragged band of normal people:
o Ch 2 Peter’s first sermon…3000 people saved.
o Ch 2 the believers form a thoroughly Spirit-filled community, which keeps growing every day.
o Ch 3 Peter and John went to pray, and healing happened, and so did witness and evangelism. And so did persecution.
o Ch 4 The believers pray again, and the Holy Spirit fills them again, so that they once again speak the word of God boldly.
o Ch 5 Peter sees through the lies of Ananias and Sapphira.
o Ch 5 The apostles heal many (even Peter’s shadow is enough!)
o Ch 5 The apostles are thrown in jail and persecuted and flogged (!!!) but they rejoice and keep preaching the word of God boldly.
o Ch 6-7 Stephen was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do miracles and to preach with great power and wisdom (which brought persecution again), and even to die as a martyr with forgiveness on his lips.
§ And those are just the first 7 chapters, out of 28 in the book!
· The Holy Spirit wants to empower all Christians to take part in the Great Commission.
Conclusion
· God turned the world upside down—or rather, right-side up again!—with a ragged band of 12 normal nobodies…uneducated fishermen and tax-collectors from a back-water province in a small corner of the Roman Empire.
§ What was their secret? How did they do it?
· à There is no hermeneutically- or exegetically-responsible answer to that question, other than this: through the power of the Holy Spirit.
· The Holy Spirit is not an optional add-on for some kinds of Christians to pay attention to, while “normal” Christians focus on building good ministries and programs or something like that.
o No, if we want to be normal Christians then we need to live out our faith in the way that Jesus intended…
§ à …in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in complete reliance on the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
o Here’s my main point: Normal, biblical Christianity, as God intends it, necessarily involves a conscious reliance upon the Holy Spirit for empowerment and effectiveness.
§ I think I’ve laid this out clearly from the Scriptures.
§ There is so much more to say (I’ll be teaching a class online about it), but for now I just want to encourage you to take seriously the teaching of Scripture on this.
o We need to learn to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit if we are going to be effective in advancing the Kingdom of God.
· Amen.
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