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Showing posts with label Holiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holiness. Show all posts

October 1, 2012

Be Baptized in the Holy Spirit

By Tony V. Hammack

Abundant Life Today Media
Abundant Life Today Podcast

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These notes are best when used in conjunction with the audio or video.
With things being the way they are and fewer and fewer American citizens believing biblically sound doctrinal truth, I’m convinced that sweeping revival/awakening/renewal is coming to our shores. I believe this revival will be recognized because signs wonders and miracles will return to the Church in the USA.

John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The U.S. Citizenry needs to have internal controls or external controls will be applied causing our nation to spiral out of control into despotism. We need a spiritual awakening again in the U.S.A. and it starts right here, right now.

We need heart knowledge and we need to be ready with our spiritual surf boards when this wave hits. We can miss it…

Luke 19:41,42,44
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Thesis:
We need to power of the Holy Spirit like never before and we should be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues. With the baptism comes power, boldness to witness, and holiness.

Power

Jesus is the Fire Baptizer

Matthew 3:11
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

The Baptism = Power

Luke 24:49
49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Baptism is a Gift

Acts 1:4
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

Boldness to Witness

Power to Witness in Concentric Circles of Influence

Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth.

Baptism Illustration

Acts 10:44-46
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Acts 11:15-16
15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

Sometimes people like to make Acts Chapter 2 a unique experience only for the 120 in the upper room, but here we see “the Holy Spirit came on them as He had come on us at the beginning. ”

How are we filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit today? We ask, believing we have received, and we can also have people lay hands on us.

Luke 11:9-13
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 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!”

Acts 19:6
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Refill People

Ephesians 5:18b
be filled with the Spirit.

“be being filled” or “keep on being filled.” (present tense)
“be continually filled by the Spirit.” (passive voice)
 
 

Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) and Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) If you can't be with us in person please visit via internet video on Jubilee T.V.

 If you live in Batesville please tune into KBAP 88.1 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.

Jubilee Family Church45 Thunderbird Dr. Batesville, AR 72501 (870) 793-9124
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February 18, 2011

The Importance of Bearing Fruit (Part 2)

By Tony V. Hammack

These notes are best when used in conjunction with the audio or video. To listen to the audio (podcast), click here. To watch the video, click here.




Introduction
Fruit is the part of a plant that produces food and seed.
     1. Food symbolizing the sweet flavor of a changed personality, conformed into Christ’s image. (Galatians 5:22,23)
     2. Seed symbolizing an effort to share God’s message and life to a lost and hopeless world. (Matthew 13:1-23)

Food
The Fruits of the Spirit, which show a changed personality are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
These fruits, when being expressed in the life of a believer, give us what we need to be able to scatter seed. It also makes us resemble Christ’s character and is good for us and others.

Seed
Matthew 13:1-23
The success of the sower in this parable is based completely on the condition of the hearer’s heart.
Path – Lack Understanding
Rocky Soil – People receive the Word with joy but when testing comes they fall away.
Thorns – Worries and anxieties of life, deceitfulness of wealth, choke out the Word
Good Soil – This person hears and understands producing a crop 30 60 or 100 x’s what was sown.
Here success is attributed to the wise

Proverbs 11:30 (Amplified)
The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives [for God, as a fisher of men--he gathers and receives them for eternity].

Outline
I.     Fruit production is very important to God
II.    Fruit production for the believer begins with personal holiness.
III.  Abiding in Christ is a key to fruit production
IV.  Two ways you’ll know you are fruitful


II.   Fruit Production for the believer begins with personal holiness.
   A.  What is holiness?
   B.  Holiness, the fruit of the faith walk
   C.  Self righteousness = No grace
   D.  Grace is for the humble
   E.  Repentance is the foundation for the Kingdom to be fruitful.
         1.  Godly Sorrow
   F.  Instruments for special purposes
   G.  Walk in the Spirit


A. What is Holiness?
Holiness- Being set apart from the World, The Enemy, and the Flesh and being set apart to the Lord.

So when we’re talking about holiness we’re talking about being set apart from something and then being set toward something else.

B. Holiness, the Fruit of the Faith Walk
I believe it’s impossible for a Christian person to be set apart from sin w/o being set in faith to the Lord.

The Lord has available for the believer the grace and power to overcome the sinful nature.
Discipline can’t do it alone, determination can’t do it alone, devotion can’t do it alone. (Colossians 2:23) It requires surrender (humility) to the Lord allowing his grace to flow.

C. Self righteousness = No Grace
Amazing as it may sound sometimes our effort to be holy can frustrate God’s grace.
Galatians 2:21
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (NIV)
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (KJV)

Mercy forgives after the infraction and places the person back on track.
Grace empowers the believer to not sin in the first place keeping them on the right track.

Colossians 2:6
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,

The same faith that saves you is the same faith that sanctifies you.
We get into trouble as Christians when we in our hearts tell God, “I’ll take it from here.” the clock starts ticking on a moral failure when we take over our own sanctification. The decision to do this is rooted in pride.

D. Grace is for the Humble
James 4:6b-7
“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”(Pr. 3:34)7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Titus 2:11,12
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,

E. Repentance is the foundation for the Kingdom to be fruitful.
Matthew 3:1-3
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:   “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord,    make straight paths for him.’”

What prepares the way for the Lord is a repentant heart. A holy heart can receive the kingdom. This kingdom get’s established in the hearts of men. A heart filled with corruption will fight against the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
  • 1. Godly Sorrow - The first step to receiving the kingdom of heaven is feeling sorry for sin. This Godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:10) leads to repentance which ultimately provides a fertile place for the seed of God’s word to grow and develop in the heart of a Christian.
When we come to God we must not be confident in our own righteousness but admit that we are lost without his mercy and grace. (Luke 18:9-14) For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

F. Instruments for special purposes.
2 Timothy 2:20-21  In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

The large house symbolizes the size of the human soul. Large with many compartments and rooms. The soulish realm of a human consists of his/her
  • Mind
  • Will
  • Emotions

The articles in the house have two different purposes.
  1. Special Purposes
  2. Common Use
This passage reminds me of my mother breaking out the sterling silver and the china for special occasions.

The passage says that if a man will cleanse himself of the latter. Meaning if a man will remove from his/her soulish realm the things that are common, earthly, and sinful, he’ll be ready for special purposes, special missions and special works.

This cleansing of the latter things, (wood and clay) will make a believer an instrument for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

You can’t read your Bible enough, pray enough or do enough good works to “stay holy”. These disciplines are great if there’s a flow of God in them. However if you are doing them under the law their will be little if any flow of God empowering you to live according to God's moral law.

G. Walk in the Spirit
Galatians 5:16-18
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

When we walk in the spirit, we’re walking in faith receiving a flow of power from heaven to think differently, have a heavenly attitude and behave differently. We must humbly receive God’s grace if we’re to walk in true holiness. Obeying God’s moral law but not coming under the yolk of trying to obey His law by the law. We obey by the spirit.

Conclusion:

Philippians 3:16
16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

If you'd like to learn more about becoming a Christian please click here and watch all four videos on the page.

Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or via internet video on Jubilee T.V.

Please tune into KCCJ - 106.9 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.  Jubilee Family Church's FM radio station.


Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501


(870) 793-9124


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