Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

A few weeks ago, I watched a video on children’s behavior.

The speaker in the video asked if every time a child misbehaved it was because the child was simply rebellious - that is to say they just didn’t want to behave - or if there were times where a child wanted to behave and obey but there was a reason why they could not.

For example, we may tell a child that they have to sit still and stop complaining, but if that child has to go to the bathroom, they will neither sit still nor stop complaining.

There is an obstacle in the way of their obedience.

Remove the obstacle - in this case, take the child to the rest room - and odds improve that they will behave.

The Holy Spirit is God’s People’s Power

How many of you would want to have the Holy Spirit come and dwell in your life, filling you with supernatural power?

Before you answer the question, let me share with you a story.

Francis Chan tells the story of a man who came to him and his elders to pray for healing and to anoint him with oil.

Chan asked the man, “Why do you want to be healed?

Why do you want to stay on this earth?”

The reason he asked is because of

I remember listening to this and instantly thinking of our Christian life.

Do most Christians disobey God’s commands to love their neighbor and be witnesses because they just are rebellious in life or are there obstacles to them fulfilling their commands?

I concluded that most church-going Christians want to obey the commands of God and reach their friends and neighbors.

The issue is that they just know that there are obstacles in the way and they don’t know how to overcome them.

The Holy Spirit is God’s Purpose

And I’ll never forget, he smiled, reached into his suit coat, pulled out a folded piece of paper and slid it across the table.

I opened it and it was a check for a large sum of money as a gift to help us out.

He said that he believed we are supposed to do this and because of this, he knew God wanted him to play a part in it.

Using his gifts, God used him to build me up and encourage me to run the course.

And, of course, I am so glad that we did.

So, if you answered yes to wanting a filling of the Holy Spirit in your life, let me ask you why?

Why do you want the Holy Spirit in your life?

Is it because you want some supernatu

But then I began to wonder, what are those obstacles?

Is it fear?

Ignorance?

A lack of confidence?

What is it that hinders Christians from doing what it is that they are supposed to do?

And after reading this week’s text, I am convinced that the reason so many of us struggle is because we fail to fill ourselves with the right fuel - to have the right source of power in our lives - or to try to do it while we run on empty.

The thing is that we far too often view a gift as something that is given to us for our use and our joy.

And

The apostles had a BIG job to do.

They knew they were tasked by Jesus to go and make disciples.

They knew that Jesus had just told them that they would be His witnesses to the end of the earth.

And, despite all the training and teaching that Jesus had done, now the teacher was gone and suddenly the class was left to figure it out all for themselves.

Would they find a way to do what they are called to do or would the church end within one generation of it’s birth.

Thankfully, God already had a plan.

God not only gave them a task to complete but He promised them that He would give them the power needed to complete this unfinished task.

Simply put, God gave the church the Holy Spirit to prove that he will keep his promise to provide them power to proclaim the positive message of propitiation through Jesus.

Simply put, the Holy Spirit came to empower and embolden the church to complete the unfinished task ahead.

As we look at the ways the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit Proves God’s Promises

In 2012, the world’s largest power outage to date occurred over three days in India.

From July 30th to August 1st, over 620 million people were at some point without power.

To put that number in perspective, that’s nearly 9% of the world’s population.

Two weeks ago, we looked at the Ascension of Christ.

Just prior to that, in , Jesus said this:

This was not the first time that Jesus promised this to his followers.

Consider

Two weeks ago, we looked at the Ascension of Christ.

Just prior to that, in , Jesus said this:

This Helper is the Holy Spirit, given to the early church in fulfilment of the promises of Jesus Christ.

This is so important for us to see.

The Holy Spirit proves God’s promises.

When He came in power on these believers, they had to know that this was a fulfillment of Christ’s promise given to them mere days before.

The simple truth is that God keeps His promises.