Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody!

John 16:7 says, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.". This is Jesus talking to his disciples and preparing them for his ascension to heaven. If I had been there when Jesus said that it was to our "advantage" if he left us I'd be confused. Earlier in John 14:16-19 Jesus told them, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live." This would be my thoughts if I were a Jesus' disciple, "The world won't see you, but I will be able to? What does that mean?" It was almost as if Jesus was speaking in riddles. However the disciples had seen Jesus' faithfulness in keeping promises, so hopefully they would have been encouraged when they heard that the Father was going to give them a Helper, forever and that Jesus would not leave them as orphans. 

These conversations happen prior to Jesus' death and resurrection and the disciples don't receive the Holy Spirit until after Jesus' resurrection on the day of Pentecost. Have you ever been to a amusement park or eaten a delicious new food? Then you are in conversation with someone who has never been to that park or has never tried that food. You share details of how fast the ride went and how sharp the turns were or how the food tasted like peaches mixed with cotton candy, but the truth is they won't really know what the ride is like or how the food tastes until the experience it for themselves. I feel it is the same way for the Holy Spirit. The disciples didn't seem to understand that Jesus was going to raise from the dead. (Ever heard of doubting Thomas? "Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!' But he said to them, 'Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.'" John 20:24) So its not unbelievable that they didn't grasp the idea of the Holy Spirit. 

Acts 2 is where we see the disciples receive the Holy Spirit. "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" Acts 2:1-4. Then the disciples began declaring the Gospel in many different languages and the people around them thought they were drunk. However they immediately realized that they had Christ living inside them. Here are some other instances we see the Holy Spirit in Scripture.

"But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?'" Acts 5:3. In this story a husband and wife lie to the Holy Spirit and they are immediately struck dead. Remember the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (John 15:26).

And in 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;". We should be every thankful that when our words fail,  Christ is faithful.

So the Holy Spirit is very important in our lives. In John 14 it describes that the world will not see him, but believers will. So having the Holy Spirit is a mark of being a believer. And you receive the Holy Spirit the moment you turn your life over to Christ and believe in him (John 3:3-6, Romans 8:9-14). It is also important because it leads and guides us. It is amazing that Christ is with us and in us at all times. I forget this all to often. When we listen to the Spirit we will be transformed to be more like Christ. The Spirit desires us to live life to the fullest and find freedom and he knows exactly how to do that. And if you are not a believer the Holy Spirit still plays a role in your life. "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me" John 16:8-9.

Lights, Camera, ACTS!

        Hello readers! We are back in full swing at the Institute. We dove into the New Testament book of Acts this week with Mitch Maher guiding us through it. We spent three day looking at the history, people, and stories in Acts.

        Luke is the author of Acts and is credited with recording the birth of the church. Acts opens up with Jesus already having been resurrected and he is visiting the disciples. Now I don’t know if I would ever get used to hanging out with someone who was raised from the dead. Jesus was dead for three days. Modern technology today can help revive a heartbeat, but we aren’t digging people out of graves to restart their heart. All this to say, I can imagine the disciples were experiencing feelings of shock, confusion, amazement, disbelief, and excitement all at the same time. Back to Acts, Jesus has told them that he must leave to go be with the Father and that he is sending them the Holy Spirit to be their helper.

        In Acts 2 we see the Holy Spirit fill the disciples and they begin to proclaim mighty works of God in many different languages that they had not spoken before. The crowd around them thinks the disciples are drunk. Now that the disciples are baptized with the Holy Spirit, it’s GO TIME! Peter stands up to declare that this is a sign from God and Jesus has been resurrected to the right hand of God. Peter says to repent and be baptized and three thousand people become believers that day. And so begins the church.

Jesus leaves the earth, but sends the Holy Spirit to empower the disciples and spur them to proclaim the message of salvation. The Holy Spirit does the same for believers today. The disciples are also performing signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit. These disciples have found the truth and are now spreading it. Shortly after the verse about the three thousand being saved it says in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The disciples are in Jerusalem when this occurs. In the next chapters, up until Acts 8, Luke describes how the gospel spreads through Jerusalem.

Acts 8-12 discusses the extension of the church to Judea and Samaria. Acts 13-28 discusses the extension of the church to the remote parts of the earth (Asia Minor, Aegean area, Rome, etc.).

        What we can learn from the church in Acts is that there is transforming power in the Gospel message and in a personal testimony of someone who is devoted to the Lord. The disciples proclaimed it and lived it. Today we have technology, tracts, conferences, camps, and etc. to help spread the message of Jesus Christ. These are wonderful things, I’m simply pointing out that the Gospel is powerful on its own without bells and whistles. However I believe that we as a culture desire to be entertained and so we have come up with creative ways to spread the Gospel and that get our attention. A life transformed by Christ, someone who has done a 180°, is a great tool for spreading the Good News.

        Acts happens to have a very detailed account about someone who did a 180° for Christ. His name is Paul, originally Saul. Acts 9 tells of his conversion and if you haven’t read it, stop reading this and go pick up a Bible. He goes from killing people who followed Jesus to devoting his entire life to following Jesus and telling everyone about it. He killed people because of Jesus and then was willing to be killed for Jesus. He is the man who went to the remote parts to spread the Gospel. He takes three missionary journeys.

On his first journey he is accompanied by Barnabus. They start in Syrian Antioch, then go to Cyprus and visit Salomis and Paphos, both cities in Cyprus. From there they set sail to Psidian Antioch, then to Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

        Paul starts his second journey by saying, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” (Acts 15:36) He and Barnabas end up splitting ways before the journey begins. Paul on this journey meets Timothy around the area of Lystra and wants Timothy to accompany him. Paul and Timothy end up visiting Macedonia because Paul has a vision to bring the Gospel there. He also visits Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus on this visit.

Then on his third journey he goes to the Galatian region and Phrygia. He revisits most of the cities he went to on his second missionary journey.

        Paul wrote thirteen out of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. These are the letters he wrote during his three journeys.

1^st Journey: Galatians

2^nd Journey: 1&2 Thessalonians

3^rd Journey: 1&2 Corinthians, and Romans

The rest of his books were written when he was a prisoner in Rome or after his release from prison. And that is just a taste of the book of Acts.