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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Thanksgiving |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Bible - Acts 2:1-4 |
Date |
2011-06-12 |
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[Passage]
Acts 2:1-4
"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance."
Introduction
The resurrected Lord told His disciples in detail what they had to do before He ascended into Heaven.
He said in Acts 1:4-5, "Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, 'Which,' He said, 'you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'"
When the parents go to a distant place leaving their little children at home, they would tell the children, "The nanny will be here soon, so don't go anywhere and wait for her."
Likewise, the Lord advised the disciples as above so that they could prepare themselves to receive the Holy Spirit.
So the disciples and the believers concentrated on prayers with one heart in the upper room of Mark in Jerusalem.
And finally the Holy Spirit came upon them.
Acts 2:1-4 records the historical moment as follows:
It says, "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance."
In the Old Testament, God the Father directly took care of His people and guided them.
In the time of our Lord, the Lord took care of His people.
After the Lord had ascended into Heaven, the Holy Spirit came to this earth.
The Holy Spirit has been with us on this earth since He came to the upper room of Mark, and He will be with us until the Lord comes back.
And when the Lord takes all the believers into the 7-Year Wedding Banquet, the Holy Spirit will also leave this earth.
Have you ever imagined what this earth would be like without the presence of the Holy Spirit?
How thankful have you been for the Holy Spirit who has come to us?
We should not help but be filled with thanks today when we realize what kind of grace the Holy Spirit is giving to us.
Let us delve into who the Holy Spirit is and what kind of grace He is giving to us in three aspects.
From today, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will offer up to God greater aroma of thanks to God the Father who has given us the Holy Spirit, the Lord who opened the way for the Holy Spirit to come to us, and the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us.
Main
Brothers and sisters,
The Holy Spirit, first of all, pours down grace like a waterfall.
Through this grace the believers can lead a life in faith happily longing for God the Father and Heaven.
The Holy Spirit gives us faith, knowledge, and understanding of God who is spirit, and the spiritual realm where God dwells, while we live in this physical world in physical body.
With this grace we can believe in and feel God who is spirit.
Galatians 4:6 says, "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son (namely Holy Spirit) into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'"
Also, we can believe that Jesus, who was born in Israel 2,000 years ago, is our personal Savior through the grace given by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:3 says, "...and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit."
Moreover, through the Holy Spirit we can believe in and yearn for the spiritual realm where God dwells.
Many people in this world do not believe in the existence of the spiritual realm including Heaven and Hell.
They cannot believe it because they think only within their worldly knowledge and fleshly thoughts.
But with the grace of the Holy Spirit, we can not only believe in Heaven and Hell but also feel how happy a place Heaven is.
For example, the Holy Spirit gives us various gifts.
One of them is speaking in tongues.
Those of you who have prayed in tongues must have felt both the spiritual fullness and joy.
Through this feeling, we can also sense the happiness that we will experience in Heaven, which is a spiritual space.
Those believers of the early church in today's reading passage also experienced this.
They experienced the violent and rushing wind, the fiery works of the Holy Spirit, and received the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
With this fullness of Spirit, they preached the gospel of the Lord throughout their whole lives with hope for Heaven, despite many persecutions.
We are filled with God-given joy not only when we experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but also when we praise God and pray to Him and work for Him in the fullness of the Spirit.
Furthermore, at times you may see Heaven or spiritual beings, like angels, with your spiritual eyes by the works of the Holy Spirit.
When you are filled with the Spirit, you may sometimes see these things although your spiritual eyes are not yet opened.
Also, through the powerful works of the Holy Spirit, you see, hear, and experience the things that are possible only in spiritual realm.
You can feel the spiritual world, which has no impossibilities and which is mysterious and wondrous.
You are also able to believe the absolute truth of the Word of God
So, you don't cling to the perishing physical world, but you live a happy life having your hope only in Heaven.
In addition, the Holy Spirit lets us realize the spiritual message that we could never understand by ourselves.
The Holy Spirit searches even the deep things of God.
He lets us know the hidden things of God and allows for us to understand the heart and will of God contained in the Word.
Through His help, we can understand how great God's love is and how deep God's goodness is.
Furthermore, we long for that love and goodness and cultivate them in our hearts as well.
To the extent that we do that, true peace and joy comes upon us.
The Holy Spirit lets us realize not only God's love but also His justice, which is the law of the spiritual realm.
He lets us know how we can live a blessed life, without getting involved in disasters in this rough world.
He guides us in a way that we can concentrate on the works of the Lord with the fullness of Spirit until we reach heavenly kingdom.
Brothers and sisters, when the dry season comes in a desert, beginning with the smallest ponds, water will dry up completely.
Then, all things from little grass to big animals desperately wait for rain.
It's because water is life.
Today, we are living in a world that is like a dry desert, where God's word and fullness of Spirit have disappeared.
Without the grace that the Holy Spirit is giving to us, our spiritual life would cease to exist.
In this generation, through the Holy Spirit, God is pouring down grace which is not like just rain, but like a waterfall.
I hope you will be thankful that this Holy Spirit dwelling in us is giving us abundant grace that is priceless.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will now go to the souls who are dying of thirst and share the priceless grace that you have received.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Holy Spirit, secondly, intercedes and groans for us.
It is just as Romans 8:26 says, "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words"
As 1 John 5:7 latter part says the Holy Spirit is the truth.
When God's children follow the truth, the Holy Spirit rejoices greatly.
When the Holy Spirit rejoices in us, our heart is also filled with joy.
We follow the truth even more closely with this joy.
On the contrary, the Holy Spirit groans in us if we follow the untruth.
When the Holy Spirit groans, our heart also feels troubled.
At this point, if we turn about and then follow the truth, those troubled feelings go away and peace and joy come upon our hearts.
As explained, the Holy Spirit signals us in our hearts from moment to moment.
He guides us in such a way that we will not follow the untruth, but only the truth.
As long as we listen to His voice, the Holy Spirit does not leave our hearts and He continues to give us the signals.
Even though we might commit a grave sin due to our weakness, He intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.
He prays to God that God will forgive us and give us the strength to turn back from sins.
Even if there is a person who closes the ear of his heart and does not try to listen to His voice, the Holy Spirit always knocks on the door of that person's heart so he can again open his heart and listen to His voice.
Let me explain with an allegory so you could feel this love.
Suppose a young man committed a felony, was jailed, and then released.
A certain married couple wanted to give him a new life and adopted him as their son.
At first, this young man was thankful, but soon he forgot this grace and began to commit crimes again.
He wouldn't listen to his parents, and he even hurt his parents who were trying to stop him from committing sins.
Every time, the parents' hearts had greater wounds than their physical wounds.
Moreover, while cleaning up the mess that their son created, their own lives were beginning to be messed up.
But they would not give up on him.
It was so obvious that, if they did, this son would keep on committing crimes and receive a life sentence of a death sentence, ending his life in tragedy.
The parents would not give up on him because they loved him.
They did not have any choice but to live each day of their lives waiting for their son to come out of the mire of evil.
Our God paid the price with the life of His only begotten Son to save us from the devil. He adopted us.
Nevertheless, some believers do the things of the devil again and again because their faith is weak.
So the Holy Spirit is interceding for these souls before God again and again.
Although they commit sins repeatedly even after they hear the groaning of the Holy Spirit, He speaks to them and intercedes before God again.
He knows very well what would happen to them if He gives up on them, so He can never give up.
The Holy Spirit is in-dwelling in the hearts of people, and thus He knows how sin-filled this generation and the hearts of people are in this end time.
For this reason, He is continually asking for our forgiveness and praying to earn more chances for us.
This love is given to all of you.
The Holy Spirit does not give up on even those souls who want to give up on themselves.
He groans for them, intercedes for them, and guides them to the right way which God the Father wants.
Even if you are so weak you want to give up and even though you have many shortcomings, I hope you will be deeply thankful for the love of the Holy Spirit who still wants to lead you to New Jerusalem in Heaven.
Is there anybody who is still breaking the heart of the Holy Spirit?
If so, I urge you now, in the name of the Lord, to turn from your ways, to comfort the heart of the Holy Spirit, and to give Him only joy.
Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit, thirdly, always knows our heart and helps us every hour and every place.
The Holy Spirit can make us feel troubled by His groaning, but at the same time He comforts us, encourages us, and helps us.
Romans 5:5 says, "And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." As written, the Holy Spirit works in our lives in various ways so that we can feel the love of God.
I believe you have experienced these works of the Holy Spirit in your lives, too.
If you are in trials or afflictions you might think nobody could possibly understand your heart.
But sometimes the Holy Spirit shows you that He knows your heart.
For example, you were walking just looking at the ground, but when you looked up in the sky, there is a beautiful rainbow.
Among the many commuters on the street, it is you alone who is looking at this rainbow.
In a time like this, you can feel comfort in believing that God has made the rainbow just for you.
Sometimes, He comforts or encourages us through people around us.
Many of you believers here give offerings to God for every devotional service with your best effort by saving on your personal expenses.
Then at times you might get some gifts from other people.
When you open the package, you find a certain thing that you wished that you could have had.
Or, you might receive some extra income, which is the exact amount you need urgently.
Then, tears might well up, being touched by the delicacy and kindness of God who knows all your situations.
I believe your heart was touched in the worship services many times.
You sometimes feel that a certain content of the message is spoken exclusively for you.
When you sing praises, certain lyrics touch your heart very deeply.
In your prayers, you might pray for the necessary things as if Holy Spirit has put those words on your lips.
When some leaders or pastors who are full of the Spirit help you with your prayers, they read your mind as if they have been inside your heart.
Then, you can feel the deep love thinking, "God the Father knows all my heart. He is encouraging me that I can do it, and He is beckoning me to come into New Jerusalem."
All these things are the hands of the Holy Spirit who helps us understanding our hearts.
Psalm 139:1-4 says, "O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all."
As you acknowledge and rely on this Holy Spirit, He comforts you, encourages you, and helps you through each moment.
He knows what is needed at each moment and fulfills it for you.
I hope you will offer up to the goodness of the Holy Spirit the prayers of thanks and praise in every moment.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Have you felt that you wanted to see God the Father and that you want to be at the bosom of the Lord?
You don't have to seek God in some distant place.
Just remember that there is somebody who is looking at you with the eyes of God the Father and who will hold you at His bosom with the heart of the Father God, and He is always with you.
He is the Holy Spirit.
Your angels are beside you, but the Holy Spirit is even closer; He is in your heart.
As you acknowledge this Holy Spirit and rely on Him, He will pour down grace like a waterfall.
He will pray that you will follow only the truth, He will help you at any time and any place.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always stay with this precious Holy Spirit until the Lord comes back. |
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