Voice of the Nazarene 7-21-24

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week, venture into the Word of God, sponsored by the Bucha Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

I think God's word still works. I think it's immutable and indestructible and inerrant, unchanging. So I want to talk to you about a birth. I was thinking recently about the story that there had been a power outage and a lady was about to deliver a child, and the only one that showed up was one paramedic, and he was trying to deliver the child, no light, and a little three year old girl named Caitlin. He asked her, would you hold the flesh light while I deliver this baby? And he delivered the baby, and then turned it upside down and give it a spanking. And it began to wail and cry. And he looked over at that little three year old, Caitlin, and he said, What do you think of your new brother, Connor? And her eyes got great big, and she said, Well, he shouldn't have crawled up in there in the first place. Spank him again. Spank him again. I don't remember my spanking, but Mama said I got one from old Dr Baker, and so one day I'll meet up with that guy. Well, anyway, I'm not talking about the birth of an individual. I'm talking about the birth of the church that's not talking about the Baptist it's not talking about Nazarenes, not talking about Methodists or Episcopalians or Lutherans. The church is those who have put their faith, their trust in Jesus Christ. He's their propitiation for their sin, they put their faith in his full atonement. The church. Do you know it matters not whether the church is educated or uneducated, whether it's English speaking or Spanish speaking, whether it's affluent or whether it's Appalachian, whether it's black or whether it's white. The church is a group of people who become brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus, and you know, sometimes we don't treat each other, right. I'm talking about brothers and sisters around the church. I think when you get married, it's good to have an agreement together, that if you don't say anything about my family, I won't say anything about your family, you get along better. And I found that when she talks about her family and I don't say anything, I stay out of trouble, because it's her family and don't agree or disagree just let her talk. And sometimes around the church, if we can get that concept over into the church and realize that we're brothers and sisters, and if somebody's talking about another member of the church, I think we ought to say, wait a minute, that's my family you're talking about. It's our church it's our brothers and our sisters the church. So I want us to look at the birth, the birth of the church. See several things from Acts, race your way back to Acts, chapter well one, and then we'll get to chapter two. I want to see some things.

I think they're important. And first of all, the command you have to understand something, folks, Jesus died on a cross.

They buried Christ's body, and yet, on the third day, he rose again, and for 40 days, was seen of more than 517 people as he walked around making appearances, then we know that he ascended back to heaven. You know that, I know that. But before He ascended Acts, chapter one, verse four, it said, and being assembled together with him, commanded them, there's your command. Commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he have heard of me. And again, do you know what he's saying to the church? You're not to do any working without the Holy Spirit. Don't go out there and be witnessing without the Holy Spirit. Don't do anything without the Holy Spirit. Told them not to teach, not to sing, don't do anything. And if they were not to go out and sing or preach or minister, then why in the world do we think we ought to be out doing things when we're not anointed of the Holy Spirit? He said, No, I want you to wait. You know what I've learned in my life when you don't really have a definite word from God, it pays to wait.

When you don't have a beyond a doubt of what you're to do, it just pays to wait on God. I found in my life, anytime that I get ahead of God, anytime that I'm out there trying to make things work, and I'm pushing hard, sometimes I get into trouble, kind of like Abraham, God promised him a seed, and when he and Sarah didn't have that seed, he got involved with another lady, and boy, that didn't work out too well, Did it? That offspring created problems, and it's still a problem. Never get ahead of God, wait, that's what he's saying.

Wait, if you don't, you'll get into trouble. And some of the people that I know that's got that A type personality, boy, it's hard for them to wait on God. Kind of like that guy that raced into the drug store and he said at the pharmacist quickly, do you have anything for hiccups? And he just reached across the counter and slapped him. Caught the guy off guard.

He dropped down to one knee and came up holding his jaw and said, Why did you do that? He said, Well, you don't have the hiccups, now do you? He said, No, I don't. I didn't have them before. It's my wife out in the car that's got the hiccups. And I think sometime we're quick on the draw and we try to move along in life, and if we just wait, it'd keep us out of a lot of mistakes, from a lot of trouble. The command. And then it speaks here of cloven tongues of fire. Look at verse one. Now I'll just start with that. And when the day of Pentecost chapter two, and when the day of Pentecost. Now, as a young person around the church, whenever I heard that word Pentecost, I started to say plenty cross. I always thought of a group that have taken the name of Pentecostal. That's what I often thought. And let me tell you something, the New Testament was written in Greek. Pentecost is a word that is a Greek word, and you need to get prepared for this folk. I mean, it's going to get spooky, going to get real spiritual, going to get real mystical. I mean, we say Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost and I want to talk to you just for a moment about that word, Pentecost. I'm going to get real honest with you, and only you deep people are going to understand this.

But the word Pentecost means 50, 50.

You see, there was a Jewish feast, and it was Passover, and 50 days after Passover, Pentecost and it was a feast, and they would bring two barley loaves, and they would bring them in and by doing so, they were acknowledging to God, you blessed us in the spring with this crop. And we're believing you for a great summer crop. It meant 50. And so they would come to the temple, they'd bring those two barley loaves as an acknowledgement. And that's all that Pentecost meant. And so when the Bible says the day of Pentecost was fully come. Now everybody was coming. It was a big day, and from all over the Roman Empire, 17 different nations, they were coming, streaming into the city of Jerusalem, bringing their barley loaves. And if we were to Americanize it, would be probably much like our Thanksgiving Day, where we're just thankful for the goodness of God and the blessings of God.

And four things just real quick, like, look at the sounds here in Acts two, two, suddenly there came a sound from heaven. I don't know where I'd rather hear a sound from than heaven, do you? I mean, everybody's screaming, everybody's voice is ringing in my ear. Everybody's hollering, Democrats are hollering, republics are hollering, everybody's hollering. I just hear but a sound came from heaven. Boy, we need to get tuned in as of a rushing, mighty wind. Here's what I believe. Folk. I believe that God was saying, I promised you the Holy Spirit was coming.

I'm trying to get your attention. And he let a he let a great, mighty wind whip its way through that building. Now, the spirits mentioned at least 800 times in the Bible, 50 times, just right here in the book of Acts alone. And he said, the one that I'm talking about, he said he's coming. And here's what I want you to understand. He's a person. And the best translation that we have of the Holy Spirit is like a wind or a breath. I want to tell you something. When the Spirit of God shows up, he breathes life into you, and he breathes life into the church.

Look at what it says in John

8, the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst tell whence it cometh, and whither it

so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Now you can feel when the wind's blowing, and you know it's blowing, but you can't control it, and you can't control the Holy Spirit.

You can't work him up, you can't work him down. You can't impress him much. But I'll tell you one thing, when we open our minds and our hearts and we come without any agendas, and we just say, feel free to move in our services. Manifest your presence, if you'd like. You say, Well, how can you know whether it's the spirit? Well, John 16:14, He shall glorify me: for he shall receive a mine, and shall shew it unto you. Jesus said, If the Holy Spirit shows up, he's going to glorify me. He doesn't bring attention to you.

John 16:14

He doesn't bring attention to me. And I've seen a lot of things around the church that just drew attention totally away from God and every just stupid stuff, crazy stuff. And he said, If you want to really hear the sound from heaven and that rushing mighty wind and that breath there's going to be the sound that glorifies Jesus Christ. And then he talks about the sights, and you say, Pastor, why? Why the wind and the fire?

Well, if you want to process it, if you go back to Exodus 19, when God gave the 10 Commandments, he confirmed it with wind and with fire. And any time that God has shown up across the centuries of time, he always showed up in fire, a blaze of fire. I noticed the speeches here's 120 Jews here, uneducated people. Jesus had poured his ministry into this 120 he had given his life to this 120 and then, in addition to that, here we have people from all over the Roman Empire, better than 17 nations. And the Bible said, those people heard the gospel in their own language. 3000 of them accepted Christ, Jesus, and what's so amazing is the difference that the Holy Spirit makes. Bible said they were just sitting there. They weren't working up anything. The precious Holy Spirit came down, and then the sermon, verse 14, but Peter standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice. Now I hope that you've read this chapter a little bit as we started in on it in the last few Sundays. The most unlikely preacher to show up at Pentecost would have been Simon Peter. He had flunked, he had failed, he had floundered, and yet God used him. He didn't get time to get rehabbed by the denomination. He didn't even get his credentials back. He just jumped up with just a few days under his belt. God had forgiven him, and he began to preach, and not only him, but the 11, all of them, stood up together and lifted up their voices. And I'm amazed every time I read this, how can they hear without a

14, do you know that God calls preachers?

Preachers can't call themselves.

There's some that are doing it, but it doesn't mean they're really preachers. The Holy Ghost calls, and if you haven't heard that call, you have no business in a pulpit. How can they hear without a preacher? And here, on the greatest day that ever dawned in the history of the church, it included a preacher with a message, and that crowd was saved and added to the church. They needed a preacher.

And the message was, repent.

It's always been, Repent.

Repent. Better get your minds changed. And then I I want you to notice not only the command the clove and tongue, but look at the crowd. Every nation from the Roman Empire, they came from everywhere with their barley loaves. Everybody brought two.

I've wondered why. I do not know why. I don't claim to know why, but I wondered if maybe one represented the Jews and the other represented the Gentiles.

I don't know. I just know that the Holy Spirit is for all of us, not just to a select group.

It's to everyone, not just the Baptist the Pentecostal and the Methodists, the Nazarenes. Hey, no denomination can put a corner on him. He belongs to all of us.

And then the confusion was started here in verse 13, others walking said these men must be full of new wine. And verse six says they were confounded. Now, if you remember reading back in Genesis chapter 10, man was building a tower that reached into heaven, and they were going to become God, and they're going to connect up to God and they're building this tower. And God, the Bible said, confounded their language till nobody understood the other. But a marvelous thing happens at Pentecost. God shows up, and he allows everybody to hear in their own language.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

Suddenly they understood it was the message. Now, if you've been around the church for a short time, or been around the church for a long time, you've heard tons of sermons about God the Father, right? You've heard tons of sermons about Jesus, the Son of God, but yet we don't hear very many messages about the Holy Spirit. And may I just say to you, and I say it in a humble way, he's as much God as God is God, and the Holy Spirit is as much the Son of God, as the Son of God was the Son of God. He's a part of the Trinity. Somebody said, You better be careful when you're talking about the Holy Spirit. A spirit, a ghost he's strange, that's that's kind of weird. No, I don't think so.

But, you know, I've seen a lot of things done in the name of the Holy Spirit that was pretty weird and pretty crazy. I don't even think I'd want to mention it here, but I don't want anybody to get any crazy ideas.

But I've seen it all growing up.

Don't you think I haven't around the church? I heard the story about the one preacher was preaching about he was going to preach on the Holy Spirit, and he wanted to have an object lesson. And his message was the Holy Spirit as a dove descending. It was the church that had a lot of rafters. This doesn't so I can preach on this.

And so he had a boy hide up in those rafters with a dove, and he said, Now, son, when I say, come forth, Holy Spirit, you let that dove drop down into the service. And somewhere in his message, he said, Come forth, Holy Spirit. And nothing, absolutely nothing. So he said it the second time. I'm saying again, come forth Holy Spirit.

And the boy failed him. He said, I'm serious this time, come forth Holy Spirit. And the little boy up in the rafters, he said, a yellow cat ate the Holy Spirit. You want me to throw the cat down?

Well, all I can say is, I think we've had a lot of cats, and we've tried to work up the Holy Spirit, and we've tried to replicate the Holy Spirit, and on and on. A lot of confusion along those lines. I'm saying, You say, Well, Pastor, will there ever be another Pentecost?

I think not. It was the birth of a church, and it ushered in the age of the Holy Spirit. Now I know many churches are trying to duplicate Pentecost, and they're emphasizing and I remind you that was the birth of the church. It's when the Holy Spirit age begun. They're trying to work up wonders and blunders and signs and all kinds of things. And you know what the Bible said the church is to do after its birth. Read it again.

It's right there. I'm not making all this up. Acts two, verse 42 it said they continued steadfastly. That's what we're to do. They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and a fellowship. We need to keep straight in our doctrine. We need to continue in fellowship. It talked about the breaking of bread, that they had meals together. And in prayer, we need to keep up our prayer life. Verse 46 and they continuing daily with one accord. We need to get along.

That's the prayer of Jesus in John 17, that you all might be one. He wants us to be one in unity. And in verse 47 praising God. That's what we're to do.

We're to continue praising God.

And what happens? The Lord adds to the church daily such as should be saved. Now he dealt with the confusion. Look at the clarification. Notice what the

15 they said, for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

That's nine o'clock in the morning they hadn't started drinking yet. Okay. Now, if you go on in the book of Acts, He said, Let us explain what it is.

And in verse 17, it shall come to pass in the last day, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. God wants to pour His spirit out. We need to invite the spirit. And he said, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. It means preach.

And your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. I'm still having visions. There's not many amens out of this crowd. And all my servants and my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy.

I believe that God uses men and women. Now I've tried to get off of this quest of realizing how much we need the Holy Spirit.

It's been on my mind for weeks now, and it's weighed me down.

And I just want to close out my message by sharing with you some of the reasons why I personally have needed the Holy Spirit and I think that we need the Holy Spirit. And kind of jot it down in your thinking. I believe we need the Holy Spirit for conviction, conviction. I started attending church with mom and dad. They had gotten saved, and they had moved to Indianapolis, and my brother and I and they started attending church a lot. And I was amazed in going to church. There were times I didn't feel very comfortable. I didn't know where we ever got the idea, anyhow, that we need to get comfortable in church. I think some of us are too comfortable, and I'm sent to afflict the comfortable and try to comfort the afflicted. But there were times when they would sing, and they would get through with a song, and I just something in the song condemned me. I realized I wasn't living what that song was all about. And the preacher would get up to preach, and I would be convicted. Sometimes I felt like I was in a phone booth with three Jehovah witnesses. I mean, I was pressed in on every side. I was convicted, convicted. But you know, the Holy Spirit is also for assurance. How do you know that you're saved? Well, Romans,

16, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. I think the trouble sometimes is we want a preacher that will come along and give us ammunition for what we believe, and the moment he says anything contrary to what grandmother said, we want to cut them off. And that's not so, and the Holy Spirit is the gift giver. Verse 11 of First Corinthians, chapter 12 tells us that he's the one that giveth gifts. He gives gifts. Some of you have gifts, and you need to learn to use your gift. Now, if God's called me to preach, then I need to take directions on what my preaching and where it's to be. If God has gifted me with singing, and that is my gift, then I ought to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me in my giftedness. Where can I plug in, in the local church with that gift, whether it's playing an instrument or whatever. If it's teaching then I need to allow God to open the door and guide me to what age level to be, teaching, what class. Does that make any sense? It does. Thank you. I'll shout for myself. What I need, the Holy Spirit, witnessing Acts, chapter one, verse eight, but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses of me, not prosecuting attorneys, but witnesses. Not trying to correct people, but connecting with people. I wonder why some folk want to correct everybody.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

I think it makes them think they're on a higher level. Makes them feel better about themselves when they can be judgmental. I don't know. Why do I need the Holy Spirit? I need him for my prayer life, in

26, Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our

for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. It's the spirit itself that maketh intercession for us.

I need the Holy Spirit to help me with my prayer life. I said the other day, I said, Lord, if you would wake me in the morning when you want me to be in prayer and I'll, I'll get up. I won't roll back over. I'll get up.

Help me to pray. Help me to pray in the Spirit. I need him for direction. And the Bible said in

14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. God's agent on Earth is the Holy Spirit.

Who's on Earth to help me? The Holy Spirit. Who's going to help me to pray? The Holy Spirit.

Who's going to guide me? The Holy Spirit. Who's going to convict me when my attitude isn't just right, or when I say things and I overstated things, or I was cutting in my remarks, who's going to convict me of that and correct me in that and help me to get straightened out in those areas of my attitude and my speech and in my thought life, and what I look at, who is it on earth is going to help me?

I'm not big enough to help myself. I need a power greater than me. I need something from above to connect with me below and have a spiritual hookup. And that's the Holy Spirit God has placed on Earth to be by my side, not only dwell with me, but he shall be in you. And the birth of the church is because of the Holy Spirit. You say, Pastor, I'm here this morning, and I listen to the message and there's things in the message that haven't made me feel comfortable. There's things that I get to thinking about dying, and I know I'm not right with God. What is that? It's the Holy Spirit reminding you that life is fickle. It's fragile, you'll not be here forever, and one day we'll leave this world, and we'll be in a world beyond and we're going to face our maker, and do I know him? And do I have a relationship with Him? And naturally, there comes that moment. I'm not comfortable, I'm convicted, and there's the Spirit of God trying to awaken in me that I need to get right with eternity. Someday soon, you see, eternity is too long to be wrong, and I want to get right.

And the Holy Spirit is here to help us, not to hinder us, but he's here to help us. One of the best things mama ever said to me after she was saved, and I had talked to her and I said, Mom, I'm kind of troubled. I'm worried, if something were to happen to me, what would happen?

Where would I go? And she whispered to me, son, it's the Spirit of God. Listen to his voice. And I'm saying to all of you, Mama's not here, but I'm saying for Mama to you, listen to his voice. Find out what mood the spirit is in, and find the mind of the Spirit and begin to find your way. He'll open up the Word of God and make it literally come alive. You'll be amazed how he can open your eyes of understanding.

thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene.

Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle.

For more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org.

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