Bible Lesson: Miracles Of The Power Of The Holy Spirit: Enduement Of The Power.
Bible Location: Jerusalem, the upper room.
Servants used: One hundred and twenty followers of the Lord Jesus.
Bible Text: Acts 2:1-42 KJV
Acts 2:1-47 KJV
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing Mighty Wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day (9:00 A.M.).
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of 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:
18 And on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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 in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.
25 For David speaketh concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit thou on My right hand,
35Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 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.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
After our Lords resurrection, He was seen for forty days by hundreds of people, not the least of which were His own men.
Luke 24:49 KJV
And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Acts 1:1-5 KJV (Luke)
1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2 Until the day in which He was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen:
3 To whom also He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
At the end of ten days of waiting upon God, in the upper room, the disciples, Mary, and many others experienced the “Promise of the Father.”
Now it would be good at this juncture to point out something. For some fifty days, these dear saints were Christians! That is, they were followers of Christ and had a measure of the Holy Spirit within their lives, for “no man can say that "Jesus is Lord," and “not,” have the Spirit, within!
I Corinthians 12:3 KJV
Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
When we agree to this simple scriptural statement, we must prayerfully realize something. Jesus called His followers, on to another experience in the Holy Spirit, an experience, that He called an “enduement of power” Luke 24:49 KJV.
Why would anyone need this special endument of power from God the Holy Spirit?
After all didn't the disciples perform deliverance and miracles before Pentecost?
Answer: Yes.
See: Mark 6:7-13 (the 12)/ Luke 10:1-24 (the 70).
These disciples had already used two of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit as mentioned in
I Corinthians 12:8-10 KJV.
The two used of course were “gifts of healing,” and “working of miracles,” I Corinthians 12:9,10 KJV.
The disciples had a measure of God's Spirit, but not the full enduement, the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit, else why would our Lord, call upon a special day of waiting for it???
For this reason, Christ told His followers “...tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” Luke 24:49 KJV.
Our Lord, told that to Christian people, who already had a measure of the Holy Spirit within their lives.
More, there is something more that we need, we need the enduement of power that comes from the Holy Spirit. That is, if we wish to be an obedient witnessing servant of the Lord.
And so they prayerfully waited for the power, calling upon the name of the risen Lord.
Oh, how men have fought, over something so very simple and beautiful!
Homily:
As has been mentioned here in these postings, Christian foreigners visiting our country for the first time, often remark among themselves, why does this country have so many kinds of different churches?
Why, indeed.
All have learned men of highest degree, of which they would more than gladly boast, and yet, one group towards another are vehemently opposed.
The answer is not so hard. Men have dispositions.
And men steer their theology in the direction of their dispositions.
Disposition: One's customary frame of mind; one's nature or temperament. An inclination or tendency (i.e. a disposition to quarrel).
New World Dictionary
And what makes up a person's disposition? A life time of experiences, from youth up.
Yes, is it any wonder the boy has the disposition of the father?
God's people are admonished....
Proverbs 22:6 KJV
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Life itself is a powerful teacher. The hatred of the father, will the son see it and live it, yes.
Many churches, many different beliefs, all because of the dispositions of the fathers and their sons, through the years of time.
How dry, and hateful some, who want “none of it.”
That of course is their disposition.
Oh how well the beloved apostle put it.
II Corinthians 3:6 KJV
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Question: Were there some who knew of the calling of the disciples to the upper room, though they themselves also were Christians, yet they would never, go and spend ten days on their knees calling upon God for the power of the Holy Spirit, no matter what heavenly cause it might be?
Answer: The answer is a definite, yes!
Not all who were called Christian at the time of Christ, ascended the upper room! That was true then, and it is true, yet today, and that is their choice.
Revelation 22:11 KJV
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
The added Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus wanted His servants to wait for were gifts for evangelism.
I Corinthians 12:4-11 NLT
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.
5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.
6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.
9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.
10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.
11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Is this “enduement of power,” something Christian people should seek today?
Answer: Yes!
Who said so?
Peter....
Acts 2:39 KJV
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.
Is that you? Yes, if you are a Christian!
Some, by their disposition, are quite content. Content in their spirituality, to do nothing more than attend church and live their lives.
But our Lord, commanded in Mark 16:15 in The Great Commission, His people to be a confessing, evangelizing church!
Mark 16:15 NLT
15 And then He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.
16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.
18 ...They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
May a person, witness, teach, and preach with out this enduement?
Answer: Yes, but with out the “Power,” of God the Holy Spirit!
Read it again, and then once more.
Luke 24:49 KJV
And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Acts 11:16 (Peter)
Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Is this baptism of the Holy Spirit for you as a Christian, yes!
Our God only loves and cares for His people!
Luke 1:53 KJV
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.
Matthew 7:7,8,11 KJV
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?
Luke 11:13 KJV
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
(Yes this enduement of power, involves, ASKING! it is not, automatic, or assumed.)
I Corinthians 1:25-29 KJV
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in His presence.
Hebrews 11:6 KJV
But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
James 1:17 KJV
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Should you seek this baptism of God's Spirit?
The Apostle Paul, who wrote 14 out of 27 New Testament books, said the following.
I Corinthians 13:1 KJV
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels...”
I Corinthians 14:5,18,39 KJV
5 I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
The early Pentecostal Church, was a miraculous church, and no wonder that it's very first day, 3,000 souls were added to it (Acts 2:41).
Our world today, needs something, it needs a church that is on it's knees seeking the power of God.
Will you be part of the problem, or part of the promise, and power?
