The Power Of A Purpose-Driven Church

THE POWER OF A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH

Acts 1:6-8

6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Acts 2:1-4

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.

INTRODUCTION

If I had had the opportunity to serve on the executive search committee, charged with the responsibility of selecting disciples for Jesus, there is no way in the world I would have chosen the disciples Jesus chose. I mean, if it were me, I would have searched far and wide for some devout priest and rabbis, I would have sought out some intellectual scholars of the mosaic law, I would have searched for some famous and talented orators who had the power to move large crowds with the power and profundity of their words. But as you look out over the crowd of the men and women who followed Jesus, we don’t see rabbis, scholars or orators, but we see fishermen, we see former tax collectors who were despised by there own people, we see a man who was a former member of a political group known as the zealots, who were known for there violent and radical practices. We see the disciples of Jesus who, after 3 ½ years of personally walking with Jesus, seeing His miracles and hearing His teaching, abandoned Him when He was arrested. And one of his disciples, Peter even went so far as to even deny that He knew Jesus. You do remember that Peter denied the LOrd three times, and the Bible says that on the third time that he even used profanity when he denied the Lord, Peter cussed the person out who asked Him about Jesus, PETER WAS A KNIFE CARRYING, PROFANITY USING PREACHER! (that’s why I love the Bible, it always tells the truth about people – so the NEXT TIME YOU HEAR A PREACHER CUSS, REALIZE HE’S IN GOOD COMPANY!)

we see ordinary men & women huddled together in this upper room on the east side of Jeruselem waitng for the fulfillment of a promise given to them by their leader and founder, Jesus Christ. And what was that promise? Jesus had instructed them in Acts 1 to go back to Jeruselem and wait together to receive a very special power from on high.

I can imagine in my mind’s eye that as they sat there in that upper room waiting for the fulfillment of that promise, their minds began to reflect upon all the experiences they had had with Jesus. They remembered how Jesus spoke a word and stilled the storm-tossed sea, they remembered how Jesus spoke a word and raised Lazerus from the dead. They remembered how Jesus took the lunch of a little boy, 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes and fed 5000 folks, not counting the women and the children…but all of that was behind them, for now they sat in this upper room, in the midst of a city that cried for the crucifiction of their savior, in the midst of a roman government that wanted them dead. Many of them must have been tempted with the possibility to just turn their backs on Jesus and walk away…

But something happened to this band of belivers in Acts 2 that turned them from being a powerless group of scared believers to a bold and dynamic force for God

When we come to Acts 2, we notice a new thing in the plan and purpose of God…THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH

ACTS 1 ACTS 2

They wait for the power they receive the power

The disciples were equipped The disciples are empowered

The disciples are held back the disciples are sent forth

the promise of the holy spirit the fulfillment of the promise

is given is recieved

Jesus ascends to heaven Holy Spirit descends from

I want you to see…

the supernatural origination of the Power

The Symbolic representation of the power

The Special manifestation of the power

THE SUPERNATURAL ORIGINATION OF THE POWER: (v.1-2)

And I know that there is a supernatural origination of the power because the text says in verses 1 & 2:

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.

The first thing I want you to see in this text is that this power was something from heaven, It was not of this world, it was not of human origin, but it was something that originated from the very throne room of God, this was not something that had been tainted and tarnished by the faults and frailties of human weakness, but this was something supernatural, it was something extraordinary, this was something out of the ordinary…the text says that suddenly from heaven this power came down…
In other words, something from heaven had invaded the earth, something from above had come to impact something below, something eternal had invaded something temporal, the infinite had invaded the finite, power had come to take over powerlessness, holiness had come to take over humanness, weakness was going to give way to strength…THIS POWER WAS SOMETHING FROM HEAVEN…
THAT IS THE DESPERATE NEED OF THE CHURCH TODAY, WE DON’T NEED MORE DOCTRINAL POSITIONS AND DENOMINATIONAL TRADITIONS, WHAT WE NEED IS A DYNAMIC EXPLOSION OF Holy Ghost power to ignite us and set our souls on fire! WE NEED SOMETHING FROM HEAVEN!
WHAT WE NEED TODAY IS SOMETHING FROM HEAVEN…TOO MUCH IN OUR CHURCHES TODAY CAN BE EXPLAINED BY STATISTICS, COMMITTEE REPORTS, PROGRAMS, AND NUMBERS…BUT WE NEED IS SOME SUPERNATURAL STUFF GOING ON IN THE CHURCH THAT CAN ONLY BE EXPLAINED BY THE FACT THAT God did it. (IF YOU CAN EXPLAIN EVERYTHING GOING ON IN THE CHURCH, THAT’S A GOOD INDICATION THAT NOTHING SUPERNATURAL IS GOING ON)
ONLY SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL FROM HEAVEN CAN TURN A DEAD, DRY CHURCH INTO A DYNAMIC AND DARING CHURCH,
ONLY SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL FROM HEAVEN CAN INFUSE HOPE AND LIFE INTO A DEAD SITUATION
WE WILL NOT WIN THE WORLD THROUGH BIG BUILDINGS, BAKE SALES, BARBEQUES, BANQUETS, OR BINGO, ONLY THE SUPERNATUAL POWER OF GOD CAN CHANGE AND TRANSFORM LIVES. - THE BIBLE SAYS, “NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY MY SPIRIT SAYS THE LORD!”
ONLY SOMETHING FROM HEAVEN CAN TURN A DRUNK INTO A DEACON…DRUG USER INTO A CHURCH USHER…A CRIMINAL INTO A CHRISTIAN…A BANK ROBBER INTO A BIBLE READER…
In the beginning of time, God came down from heaven & brought order and peace to a void and chaotic world
In the book of Genesis God came down from heaven and walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day…
When God’s people were in Egyptian bondage, God came down from heaven in the form of a burning bush And gave Moses a 4-word sermon to preach to pharaoh, “LET MY PEOPLE GO…”
When the world was drowning in a sea of sin, God came down from heaven, wrapped Himself in human flesh, lived a holy, sinless life, died on a cross, and rose from the dead to redeem his people from their sin.
When His people were powerless, God the Holy Spirit came down from heaven to empower his church to be his witnesses on the earth
SOMEBODY LOOKING AT ME RIGHT NOW, YOU’VE TRIED EVERYTHING THIS EARTH HAS TO OFFER…(PSYCHOLOGISTS, PSYCHICS, PSYCHIATRISTS, DOCTORS, LAWYERS, COUNSELORS, NEW AGE RELIGION, ASTORLOGY…) – YOUR SOLUTION IS NOT FROM THE EARTH, YOUR SOLUTION IS FROM HEAVEN.
THE GOOD NEWS IS “earth has no sorrow that heaven can not heal.” WHATEVER YOUR EARTHLY SORROW, THERE IS A HEAVENLY SOLUTION.

SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF THE POWER - V.2-3

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.

If you look closely at this text, you’ll discover that there are two Biblical symbols of the Holy Spirit that teach us something about the power of the church.
In verse 2 we discover the first biblical symbol, it says “And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”
If you study the Bible carefully, you’ll discover the “WIND” is one of the Biblical symbols of the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, in biblical Hebrew & Greek the words for “wind” & “spirit” the same.
THE WIND IS SOMETHING YOU CAN’T SEE, BUT YOU CAN SEE ITS EFFECTS EVERYWHERE. ITS SOMETHING YOU CAN’T SEE, BUT YOU CAN FEEL ITS EFFECTS ON YOUR SKIN AND IN YOUR LIFE…
AND IN THE SAME WAY, THE SPIRIT OF God is like wind in that you can’t see it, but you can feel His effects everywhere, we can’t see the Holy Spirit be we can see His effects on the church and in our lives.
In Ezekiel 37, the Lord brought the prophet Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones, it was a valley of dead, dry, delipitated bones, and in verse 9, the LOrd told the prophet to prophesy to the four winds that the spirit which had left these bones would rise up and return life to those dry bones. Ezekiel prophesied and the spirits of these bones came and brought life back to the dry bones…
And what we need is for a fresh wind of the spirit of God to blow over our lives and over our churches
We need a fresh blowing of the Spirit of God to blow away the deadness, the garbage, and the rubbish of sin in our lives so that we can stand holy and pure before Him
We need the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow, like a divine tornado, and carry away everthing in our lives and in our churches that’s not like Him, and we need Him to blow, like a cool, summer breeze and bring hope, healing, and a fresh anointing of power from on High

In verse 3 we discover the second biblical symbol for the Holy Spirit in this text, for it says: And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

Fire is another biblical symbol of the Holy Spirit. This symbol speaks of the Spirit’s purifying and refining work in the life of the beliver and the church. This also speaks of the Spirit’s power to ignite and empower the church to do accomplish its mission in the world…
A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH IS A CHURCH THAT IS SET ON FIRE WITH THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD
GOD WANT US ON FIRE WITH HIS LOVE, ON FIRE WITH HIS PURPOSE, ON FIRE WITH HIS HOLINESS…

The Special manifestation of the power – v.4

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

It is not my goal this morning to try to solve the long-standing debate in the Body of Christ about the issue of speaking in tongues (I will deal with that issue in another message). My point is this, verse 4 teaches us that when the Holy Spirit fell upon the early believers, it was a special manifestation of power because He enabled them to do something that was beyond their own abilities to do.

The Spirit of God filled them and empowered them to do things that were beyond their own natural abilities to do
V.4 says that the Spirit of God filled the room and they began to speak in other languages as the spirit gave them utterance…
They were not babbling or foaming at the mouth, they were speaking in human languages that they had not previously learned or studied (v.5-13)
When the Spirit of God fills the church, He will enable us to do things that are beyond our own natural abilities to do…The spirit of God took the tongues of these Galiliean Chrisitians and empowered them to praise his name in all of the languages known to man
the Holy Spirit specializes in taking that which is ordinary and making it extra-ordinary, He specializes in taking that which is natural and using it supernatural.ly. That’s why our abilities or inabilities are not prerequisites to being used by God. All God wants is our availiablity
That’s why I say along with the song writer of old…SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, FALL FRESH ON ME, SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, FALL FRESH ON ME. MELT ME, MOLD ME, FILL ME, USE ME, SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD, FALL FRESH ON ME!

CONCLUSION

I had the priveledge of serving for seven years as the children’s pastos of the Concord Church in Dallas, TX. One Sunday evening as I was with my kids, one of them came up to me and said “PASTOR BUXTON, WE ARE TRYING TO WATCH A VIDEO IN THE NURSURY BUT THE VCR WONT WORK!” AND SO I WENT TO THE NURSERY, PICKED UP THE VCR, AND STARTED EXAMINING THE VCR. I SHOOK THE VCR, I PUSH THE BUTTONS ON THE VCR, I LOOKED INSIDE THE LITTLE WINDOW ON THE VCR. BUT JUST THEN, ONE OF THE LITTLE KIDS FIGURED OUT WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS. SHE GOT UP OUT OF HER SEAT, GRABBED THE POWER CORD OF THE VCR AND PLUGGED THE CORD INTOP THE POWER. GUESS WHAT? AS SOON AS SHE PLUGGED THE VCR INTO THE POWER, THE VCR CAME ON! THE LORDSHOWE ME AN IMPORTANT LESSON THAT DAY, I WAS SO CONCERNED WITH THE BUTTONS, THE KNOBS, AND THE WINDOWS ON THE VCR THAT I NEGLECTED TO ASK THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION YOU CAN ASK WHEN YOU’RE DEALING WITH VCR’S – IS IT PLUGGED INTO THE POWER?

THE CHURCH OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ACTS THE SAME WAY, WE ARE SO CONCERNED WITH PROGRAMS, POSTURING, PROTOCOL, AND POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE THAT NOBODY HAS STOPPED TO ASK THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION…ARE WE PLUGGED INTO THE POWER! I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I NEED HIS POWER…

I NEED HIS POWER TO WALK RIGHT

I NEED HIS POWER TO TALK RIGHT

I NEED HIS POWER TO LOVE MY ENEMIES

I NEED HIS POWER TO TURN THE OTHER CHEEK

I NEED HIS POWER TO PRAY FOR THOSE WHO DESPITEFULLY USE ME

I NEED HIS POWER TO KEEP ME IN MY RIGHT MIND

I NEED HIS POWER TO HEAL ME WHEN I’M SICK

I NEED THE POWER!!!!!!

AND GUESS WHAT, WHETHER YOU REALIZE IT OR NOT, YOU NEED HIS POWER…

“BROTHER PASTOR, HOW CAN I GET THIS POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST?” WELL, YOU GET THIS POWER THE SAME WAY YOU GET EVERYTHING ELSE FROM THE LORD, YOU RECEIVE IT BY FAITH..