The Coming Of The Holy Spirit

Luke 11.9-13 The Coming of the Holy Spirit John 16.7-15 Associate of Dwight L. Moody, R.A. Torrey’s testimony: I shall never forget the eighth of July, 1894, to my dying day. It was the closing day of the Northfield Students’ Conference — the gathering of the students from the eastern colleges.(Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and others) Mr. Moody had asked me to preach on Saturday night and Sunday morning on the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. On Saturday night I had spoken about, "The Baptism With the Holy Ghost: What It Is; What It Does; the Need of It and the Possibility of It." On Sunday morning I spoke on "The Baptism With the Holy Spirit: How to Get It." It was just exactly twelve o’clock when I finished my morning sermon, and I took out my watch and said: "Mr. Moody has invited us all to go up to the mountain at three o’clock this afternoon to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. It is three hours to three o’clock. Some of you cannot wait three hours. You do not need to wait. Go to your rooms; go out into the woods; go to your tent; go anywhere where you can get alone with God and have this matter out with Him." At three o’clock, we all gathered in front of Mr. Moody’s mother’s house (she was then still living), and then began to pass down the lane, through the gate, up on the mountainside. There were four hundred and fifty-six of us in all; I know the number because Paul Moody counted us as we passed through the gate.
After a while Mr. Moody said: "I don’t think we need to go any further; let us sit down here." We sat down on stumps and logs and on the ground. Mr. Moody said: "Have any of you students anything to say?" I think about seventy-five of them arose, one after the other, and said: "Mr. Moody, I could not wait till three o’clock; I have been alone with God since the morning service, and I believe I have a right to say that I have been baptized with the Holy Spirit." When these testimonies were over, Mr. Moody said: "Young men, I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t kneel down here right now and ask God that the Holy Ghost may fall upon us just as definitely as He fell upon the apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Let us pray." And we did pray, there on the mountainside. As we had gone up the mountainside heavy clouds had been gathering, and just as we began to pray, those clouds broke and the raindrops began to fall through the overhanging pines. But there was another cloud that had been gathering over Northfield for ten days, a cloud big with the mercy and grace and power of God; and as we began to pray, our prayers seemed to pierce that cloud and the Holy Ghost fell upon us. Men and women, that is what we all need: the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. Note the date! It was a year before Phineas Bresee was “thrown out” of the Methodist Church and began the Church of the Nazarene, eventually housed in what became known as the Glory Barn. They moved to that location because Redmond’s Hall owners asked them politely to leave due to “excessive noise”. Just a few years earlier A.B. Simpson founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance (1887) emphasizing Jesus as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King. The Assembly of God was founded in 1914, in Hot Springs, Arkansas The Assemblies of God has a very large global membership, with estimates ranging from 67 million to 86 million members and adherents worldwide. Like the Nazarene Church, at the present time, our growth is seen mainly in world areas, outside the USA. The Free Methodist Church was birthed in 1860 when Benjamin Titus Roberts, a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church, could no longer serve in harmony with their practices. He could not see how a church could support slaveholding, rented seats in the church, withholding women from full-time service in the church, and quench the movement of the Holy Spirit in public worship. In 1858 he was finally stripped of his ordination credentials in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In upstate New York he met in 1860 with 15 pastors and 45 lay persons and was elected the bishop of the free Methodist Church. Some Free Methodist ladies had an influence on Charles Finney in his ministry in upstate New York. You can read about that in Power From On High Finney: To the honor of God alone I will tell a little of my experience in this matter. I was powerfully converted on the morning of the 10th of October. In the evening of the same day and on the morning of the following day, I received overwhelming baptisms of the Holy Ghost that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and soul. I immediately found myself endued with such power from on high, that a few words dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their immediate conversion. My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men. They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can attest to this. Oftentimes a word dropped without my remembering it, would fasten conviction, and often result in almost immediate conversion. I want you to see that God was at work from 1860 until 1914 establishing new works out of a Move of His Spirit. Some were simultaneous. All of it by the LORD. HE is doing a similar thing in our day. We don’t understand it. Note that in several situations the founders of these groups when through some painful trials in the Methodist Church they had served in. Stripped of credentials, forced out by the powers that be. They did not grieve much because God had moved them into a new place, unbeknown to them at the time, but with His people and even more, led by His Spirit. Also great missionary moves were taking place. The China Inland Mission was being formed and flourishing! All across the nation, in individual congregations which would eventually become nationally known and band together with those of like precious faith, and around the world with the nations God was pouring out His Spirit. Habakkuk 3.2 LORD, I have heard of Your fame;     I stand in awe of Your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day,     in our time make them known;     in wrath remember mercy. We have been talking about the things Jesus said leading up to Pentecost. A time of new beginnings. Acts 1.1-8 He ascended back into Heaven They remained in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on High as per His command. 10 days later, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples in Jerusalem * Jesus’ Words to the Disciples About Leaving it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. The Coming of the Holy Spirit was in conjunction with Jesus leaving to go back to Heaven. The Comforter = called as one’s aide, to be besides one, an advocate, an intercessor, a helper The Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after His ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the Truth, and give them strength and power needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the Kingdom of God and to remain faithful. He continues His Work, the work of Jesus to this day. Acts 1.1-4 There were times of Revelation of the Persons of the Trinity * From Creation until the birth of Jesus was the time God revealed Himself primarily as the Father. * From the Birth of Jesus until His Ascension was the time God revealed Himself as the Son Hebrews 1.1-4 * From the Day of Pentecost until the Second Coming of Jesus is the Age of the Spirit, the Spirit doing the work of God, glorifying Jesus, the Son. Jesus introduced them to the Holy Spirit. We are now in the Age of the Spirit. He has been outpoured Acts 2.1-7 With this marvelous outpouring comes gifts and graces. He produces His fruit in us. He works in us to make us more like Jesus. We are baptized with the Spirit. Filled to overflowing. Then we grow in Christ. He gives wonder filled gifts to us. Matthew 7.11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! * The Spirit’s Work is To Bring Reality of Sin To The Souls of People -v.8-11 To Make us Holy by bringing us to Jesus. His Spirit speaks to our hearts about sin, judgment After a person has received Christ as his Savior, the Holy Spirit gives them the witness of the Spirit. It's a spiritual assurance that one is a child of God. This witness is not a singular event, but a continuing assurance that comes through the Holy Spirit's work in the believer's heart and life. Romans 8. 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. We pray that everyone will come to know the LORD. He is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance. He is at work. His work is in the hearts of people. We do not know what is going on inside of people. God has many Pentecosts in His Sky. -E. Stanley Jones This is where persistence in prayer comes in. The Fruit of the Spirit One wing of the Dove In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is described as descending upon Jesus in a bodily form like a dove during his baptism. This is depicted in Luke 3:22, where it says, "heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are my beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased.” * The Spirit Guides Us Into All Truth -v.13, 15 Jesus is the Truth. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. He takes the things of Christ and makes them known unto us. He works in us to refute false doctrine. We have discernment. 1 John 2:20 You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. He guides us in the deeper life. The Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. * The Spirit Will Tell of What Is To Come v.13 The gift of prophecy Like we shared last week. Revelation 19.10 The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul, John and Peter to write of the End of Time, the Day of the LORD. This is important, all important. The Spirit speaks through men and women to tell of us what is to come. My friend, Helen Wilk, was used in my life. Another meeting with the pastors in Bangladesh on Wednesday morning. Listen, be open. I have had false prophesies spoken. Things that never came to pass. The other wing of the Dove The Gifts Other gifts Romans 12. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. I Corinthians 12 .1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit,brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as hHe determines. * The Spirit Glorifies Christ vs.13-14 He will glorify Me. He will reveal Jesus to us. Reminding us of Jesus’ words Revealing the things of Christ to us. He will not speak of Himself. We all need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Open your heart to the gift of God. How much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?! The LORD’s Supper