Receiving the Power of the Holy Spirit

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Receiving the Power of the Holy Spirit

• St. Croix Vineyard
• Sunday, October 16, 2005

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Vineyard Perspectives

• Intentional blend between Evangelical and
  Charismatic Christianity
• Evangelical Bible-centered
• Charismatic Spirit-focused

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Evangelical

• Evangel Gospel Good News
• Evangelists share the Good News
• Evangelicals are Christians whose faith is based
  on the Good News
• Often focus on Bible, teaching, character
  development, fruit of the Spirit, missions

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Charismatic

• Charis grace
• Charismatics are Christians whose faith is
  connected to the gifts of grace i.e. the gifts
  of the Spirit
• Often focus on worship, experiences with God, the
  gifts of the Spirit, missions

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Potential Evangelical Weaknesses

• Pride about Bible knowledge (Pharisaism)
• Can be judgmental at times
• Unaware of Gods power for healing and
  deliverance
• Unaware of prophetic gifts

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Potential Charismatic Weaknesses

• Being guided by experience rather than the Word
  of God
• Health and Wealth extremes
• Seeing faith as a gumball dispenser
• Crashing when things dont work out as planned
• At worst, tends toward hypocrisy because people
  dont do well during dry times

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What Happened to John Wimber?

• An Evangelical begins to have Charismatic
  experience
• Is he an Evangelical or a Charismatic?

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Theology Experience

• Evangelicals Strong Weak
• Charismatics Weak Strong

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What Teaching Does This Affect?

• Baptism of the Spirit
• Healingis it in the Atonement in the same way
  that salvation is?

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Baptism of the Spirit

• Early Pentecostal view
• Later Charismatic view
• Evangelical view (phrase used 6 times)
• 5 times the phrase is used in contrast to Johns
  baptism
• Other time is 1 Cor. 1213
• For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one
  body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or
  free, and we were all made to drink of one
  Spirit.

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Problems

• Pentecostal or Charismatic viewwaiting to be
  judged worthy, encourages performance thinking
• Evangelical viewoften ignores power of Spirit
  for Christian life and witness

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Answer

• Evangelical view has this going for it
• clearest sense from Scripturewe have all been
  baptized in the Spirit if we have asked Jesus
  into our heart
• Charismatic view has this going for it
• there is more to experience from God!

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Partly a Matter of Perspective

• Paul emphasizes idea of initiation
• Luke emphasizes idea of empowering

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What Acts Has to Offer (Luke)

• 14 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
• 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be
  baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from
  now."

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Acts 2 The Initial Outpouring

• 1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were
  all together in one place.
• 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise
  like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the
  whole house where they were sitting.
• 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire
  distributing themselves, and they rested on each
  one of them.
• 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
  and began to speak with other tongues, as the
  Spirit was giving them utterance.

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Acts 2 Everybody Else

• 37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to
  the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the
  apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"
• 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you
  be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
  forgiveness of your sins and you will receive
  the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• 39 "For the promise is for you and your children
  and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord
  our God will call to Himself."

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Acts 3 To Those Surprised by the Healing of the
Man at the Temple Gate

• 18 "But the things which God announced beforehand
  by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ
  would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
• 19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your
  sins may be wiped away, in order that times of
  refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

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Acts 8 Philip Leads Apostles Follow

• 14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that
  Samaria had received the word of God, they sent
  them Peter and John,
• 15 who came down and prayed for them that they
  might receive the Holy Spirit.
• 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them
  they had simply been baptized in the name of the
  Lord Jesus.
• 17 Then they began laying their hands on them,
  and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

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Acts 19 Paul at Ephesus

• 2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy
  Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him,
  "No, we have not even heard whether there is a
  Holy Spirit."
• 3 And he said, "Into what then were you
  baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism."
• 4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of
  repentance, telling the people to believe in Him
  who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus."
• 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in
  the name of the Lord Jesus.
• 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,
  the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began
  speaking with tongues and prophesying.

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Take note

• Johns baptism (trying to live right)
• Jesus baptism (receiving Gods gift of
  forgiveness)
• Empowering release of the Spirit in the life
  (receiving the gift of Gods
• Power in your life)

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Best Way to Understand it All

• If you have asked Jesus into your heart, you have
  been baptized by the Holy Spirit (youre in!)
• There are many more experiences of refreshing and
  empowering available to you
• The laying on of hands from those in authority
  can be an important part of this

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My Story

• An excerpt from Chapter 2 of
• Welcoming God into Community