“And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.” Acts 2:12-13
When the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit gave utterance to them all and they spoke in tongues. There were two responses from the people. The first responders asked, “What does this mean?” The second responders accused them of being drunk. The first responders wanted to know more, they were open to know what it was all about. The second responders were doubters and skeptics. What group do you the most identify with?
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 14:26
Everything that Jesus said that the father wants us to know, is recorded in the scriptures. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, will help you know the scriptures when you read them. He will help you make sense of them and understand them. Though you may not understand all you read (no one does), He will help you understand everything that God wants you to know in proportion to the light you walk in. Trust the Helper, He will help you.
“And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee; Exodus 31:6
The instructions were already given by God on how to make the ark, the tabernacle, the priestly garments and the artifacts for worship. Then God gave the ability to man to carry out the work to the finest detail. So too with the New Testament church, God spoke His will, go and make disciples, and then He gave the baptism of His Spirit to carry out His work.
“While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. 20Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. 21Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? 22And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. 23Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.” Acts 10:19-23
What we see in these verses is the Spirit of God at work. In a vision, an angel told Cornelius to go get Peter and The Spirit told Peter to go to Cornelius. What cooperation we see here. While one is called to go get, the other is called to go to. Saints of God, we need the Holy Spirit to move amongst us and make such divine appointments and give such clear orders.
“Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court.” Amos 7:12-13
King Amaziah represents self-serving ministers. Bethel means house of God. When ministers take possession of the church, instead of allow the Holy Spirit to be in charge, the last thing they ever want is some man or woman of God to come and prophesy. They say, just as Amaziah said to Amos, “Go somewhere else and do your prophesying, this is my church.”
“For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.” Jeremiah 20:4
If our present day ministers don’t knock it off with all their strategies, techniques and programs to build the church instead of depending on the leading and the power of the Holy Spirit, they will become “a terror to thyself.” They will see the church they have built and gloried in, fall apart right before their eyes. The only thing that will remain is that which was founded on the Rock.
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.” Isaiah 42:1-3
This prophecy is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and His bringing salvation to the Gentiles. Praise God, for I am a Gentile, a saved one. The Spirit of God plays the major part in salvation. Verse one says that the Spirit was upon God’s servant; again that servant is the One and only Jesus Christ. It was the power of the Spirit that brought forth salvation to the Gentiles. Verse three talks about a “smoking flax.” That is what happens when a fire is about to go out. It represents a life that is soon to be snuffed out. It represents Gentile’s desperate and holding out for truth, desiring salvation, but they have not much hope left. Church, there are millions of these smoking flax people all around us. We must not let the last flicker of hope go out. The answer again is found in verse one. It is a Spirit led, Spirit filled, Spirit powered believer who can cause the fire to burn. So much of what the church offers today is worldly and fleshy and void of the Spirit. No doubt many who use worldly means to reach the lost have sincere intentions. But we must understand that it is the world that smothers the fire, it is the absence of the Spirit that deprives fuel for the fire. “Quench not the Spirit.” (I Thessalonians 5:19). The Spirit does not need our help; we need the help of the Spirit. The Spirit of God just needs someone to perform through. If we quench the Spirit there is no other way for us to “bring forth judgment unto truth.” This generation like never before needs to be confronted by a Spirit filled people. You must be one.
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law†(Deuteronomy 29:29).
Some Christians are afraid of the word “revelation.†The devil is glad of that. The devil understands that we learn Christ through revelation not intellect. I understand why some wince a little when they hear the word “revelation.†We have had our share in the Christian community of those who declare to us that they received a new revelation from God. In the early 1800’s, Joseph Smith claimed to receive new revelation and today we have the Mormons. Whenever someone claims to receive a revelation, that is contrary to the word of God, you can be 100 percent certain that it is false and you must without hesitation run from it. However, just because there are those who claim they have new revelation, does not cancel out that Christians can receive revelation from God. Yes, even centuries after the books of the Bible were compiled, God still does reveal himself to mankind.
The word “revelation†is translated from a Greek word meaning “a disclosure.†It is like taking the cover off of something so you can see what it is. Whatever it is that is being revealed or disclosed, is there already, you just need to see it. It is the same with God and His word. God is, and He has never changed. His word is settled in heaven. Revelation from God gives man the ability to see this great God and to understand His word.
Millions of people who claim to be a Christian, think they are saved because they have an intellectual understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for them. They think they are saved, but have only come to believe with their natural understanding that Jesus died to save them from their sins. My whole life from about five or six years old, until I got saved at twenty seven years old, I believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He died on the cross to save me and take me to heaven. Yet I was as lost as the next guy. It wasn’t until the Father was revealed to me that I had the ability to believe Him with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Believing in God with just your mind is not good enough.
“All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him†(Luke 10:22).
When you read the gospels you read how the disciples, at different times, received revelation from God. In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, we read where Peter made His confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus responded by saying “…Flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but my Father, who is in heaven.†Up to this time Peter may have had a general understanding of this truth, but it wasn’t until the Father revealed it to Peter that he could make such a bold declaration. You could say in a sense, that this truth became his. Today, our Heavenly Father is still revealing things to us. Not new things, but eternal things that have been there from the foundations of the world. The Father wants to reveal things to you, dear saint of God. He wants, through the Holy Spirit, to reveal the word of God to you. The Bible says that the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit. It takes the Spirit of God to open one’s eyes to the truth of the word of God. Revelation comes by the Spirit of God. Without the Spirit, there is no revelation.
There is a work that the Holy Spirit constantly wants to do for each of you, if you will let Him. HE WANTS TO REVEAL CHRIST TO YOU. Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him†(Ephesians 1:17). Paul prayed this prayer for saved people. This makes it clear that God wants to continually reveal Himself to us.
Today, so many Christians are drawn to academia. They would rather hear nice outlined teachings than listen to a message that comes forth with conviction and power and speaks to the spirit of man. It seems more and more Christians consider a sermon delivered by Spirit filled preachers as legalism. People hate conviction, including some Christians. Some of our big name Bible teachers draw from their intellect, but carry no anointing. May I even dare to say, some of them may not even be saved. They have a head full of knowledge, but have never had the word of God laid open to them by the Spirit of God. It is the anointing that makes a minister effective.
It is the anointing that makes you effective. No doubt, God gives a higher intelligence to some people. If you are one of them, I challenge you to use it for the glory of God. Just remember, you need the Spirit of God working through you, if your words are going to go any further than just the minds of people. The word of God will never become life through understanding words alone. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power†(I Corinthians 4:20). Words are cheap. Men are liars. “Let God be true, but every man a liar.†Therefore, let GOD SPEAK.
“But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ†(Galatians 1:11-12).
The great Apostle Paul, who was an incredible intellect, declared that what he received didn’t come through men’s teaching, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Whether you realize it or not, anything you have learned of the word of God that got deep into your heart was through revelation and not by man.
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life†(II Corinthians 3:6).
One of the reasons we have a backslidden church here in America today is because many of those who minister to her, lack the Spirit and therefore can only preach and teach the letter of the law. Ministers kill the church preaching the letter without the Spirit. Without the Spirit revealing the word of God, the Bible just becomes a book of principles to live by, a mere instruction manual. Jesus said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life†(John 5:39-40). The religious leaders searched the scriptures, but never found eternal life because they refused the revelation from the Spirit. They wanted the written word of God, but not the living word of God. They accepted the scriptures, they thought, but refused Jesus, who is the Word.
Saint of God, seek out the Lord with all your heart and he will give you continued revelation of His word and His greatness.