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6/1/2025 

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”  Acts 19:1-7

This chapter will tell if you want to be a part of a New Testament church or not, or be a N.T. believer. First, let’s be clear on this – according to John 3:16 and many other Scriptures, all it takes to be saved (be forgiven and have eternal life) is to believe in Christ. Salvation is by faith alone (Eph.2:8-9). Faith in the death and resurrection of Christ will make you right with God. From the Bible, there’s no doubt about that.  But there is more to believe in order to experience the full benefits of our salvation. Since Pentecost it is possible to have the Spirit in you but not have the Spirit upon you. In and upon are two different things.

There’s nothing wrong with being incomplete, unless it is a willful incompleteness. It is better to be complete. Imagine having a bicycle that has no brakes. It will get you down the road, but it is dangerous without brakes. Every bike needs brakes to be complete. Imagine having a house without a roof. That house is not bad, just incomplete. Every house needs a roof to be a complete house to live in.

You don’t want your body to be incomplete. Nothing sinful to have lost an arm or leg or an eye. It’s just better to have two arms, two legs and two eyes, to be complete. Wouldn’t you like to be complete? If you’re not, you are not at full strength. No wonder you’re always struggling if you’re incomplete spiritually; you lack the power Pentecost provides. If you’re saved but not full of the Spirit you are an incomplete believer, much like the believers at Ephesus in our text.

I. All Old Testament believers were incomplete.  Before Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4 every believer, though saved, was incomplete. At Pentecost the full blessings of the death and resurrection of Christ was fully realized. Some of those blessings we have gone over in all the chapters we’ve covered leading up to this one. They include:

1.     The Church was born on this day. This is Christ’s heavenly people, distinguished from Israel. God gave two visions to Abraham to say he would have numberless descendants: stars and sand. The stars represent his heavenly descendants and the sand represents his earthly children. His heavenly people are the church who will live with Him forever in the New Jerusalem. Abraham’s earthly people were incomplete without the church, and their experience was incomplete. This all changed when the Day of Pentecost had fully come.” Full salvation would be for Jews and Gentiles. Every Pentecost Sunday is a birthday celebration for the church.

2.     Believers began to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Jn.14:17). Jesus said, The Holy Spirit was with them and would be in them. On this day believers became “in Christ” and Christ came into us. Remember earlier in this book I talked about the sponge being put into the bowl of water and when that happened the water came into the sponge? The water was in the sponge and the sponge was in the water. So, the Spirit came into us and upon us. This began to happen when the Day of Pentecost had fully come.

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Wednesday Evening, Rick Griffith brings an object lesson with the posed question of "How will you answer these three questions?"

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Selected Profound Sayings of Jesus from John 8:12-30

We have read through this section with the emphasis on Jesus confusing a lot of people. Let’s look specifically at some things He said, some of the most profound things ever uttered by Him or any other human.

1. v. 12    “I am the light of the world…” The whole world sat in darkness until Jesus came. Yes I know there was the genius of Alexander, Plato, Agustus, and even Moses and Isaiah, but they were not the light of the world, didn’t ever claim to be. But here comes this carpenter from Nazareth claiming to not only give light to the world, but to BE the light of the world! And if you don’t follow Him you walk and live in darkness! You know nothing… nothing of eternal significance. The purpose of light is to make manifest and Jesus claimed to make manifest God Himself and all eternal realities. He was the perfect man in the likeness of God.

“We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are seen are eternal.” (2Cor.4:18) Jesus makes eternal things manifest. He alone has the words of eternal life. He alone could say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Don’t get upset at those who cannot see. They can’t know because they can’t see. According to John 3 without being born again, given a new set of eyes, they cannot see and thus enter the kingdom of God. In saving a soul, God must emancipate us and enlighten us.

Even to this day, most people think Jesus worked His works and said His sayings as the divine Son of God; that is – as God. But that is not so. Jesus did everything He did and said everything He said according to what the Father told Him to do and told Him to say. Acts 10:38 tells us that in no uncertain terms. Jesus of Nazareth (a man) was anointed by the Holy Spirit and went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with Him.” Not because He was God!

Jesus is our model in ministry, whether it be speaking the word of God or doing the works of God. He was and is truly man, doing what man was created to do, bearing the likeness of God and reigning over the earth (Gen.1:26-28). To see this man was to see God. And He did this perfectly, the only one who ever has. That’s because He always did those things that pleased Him. 

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May 18, 2025 Sunday Morning Sermon

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My little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.  (Galatians 4:19)

In my 55 years of studying and preaching the Bible, this is the most unusual and unique verse I have ever come across. The text was written by a man… a man who was in labor to give birth! Like any mother he is in labor to give birth. Only he’s a man! Men don’t give birth, women do. Women travail; men watch. Paul was WOKE two thousand years ago! He said that he, as a man, was pregnant! Actually in labor pains. He went even further than that – he was having labor pains for his grandchildren!

The title question is not “Who is Your Mother?” but “Whose Mother Are You?” Try not to be like Nicodemus who was totally confused when Jesus spoke to him about being born again in John 3:1-8. He asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus was speaking of a spiritual birth, not a physical birth. Same with Paul here. He’s talking about travailing and laboring spiritually, in his heart and soul. Here’s just an interesting thought: We call the birth a “delivery,” but it could just as well be called “takeout.” It depends on one's viewpoint. If you’re the mom it’s a delivery, if it’s the doctor it’s called a takeout.

Another strange thing about this is he is laboring for his “little children” to become pregnant! “I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you!” He is laboring to have grandchildren! And Christ is the grandchild he is laboring for, meaning Christ in another person. Is this not a strange text? He’s writing to his little children for whom he had labored to give birth that they might give birth to their own child which is Christ. Again, all of this is spiritual of course.

They call the travail of a woman about to have her baby labor pains. But that is only the beginning of her labors of love. Any woman can give birth to a baby, but only a mother can raise that baby and care and love it for the rest of her life. All of these are labors of love and it makes all the pain and trouble worth it. Paul was that kind of mother. God wants us to be that way when it comes to our children.

From this I want us to see that all Christians should be mothers! That is, every Christian should be in labor to give birth to children in the faith and then travail for them as Christ is formed in them. This is done through the sharing of the gospel with people and discipling them. All disciples should be making disciples. All believers should be sharing their faith so that others could be born again. In caring for our children, (both physical and spiritual) we should be teaching them the word and praying earnestly for them. This is a high calling and it is not easy.

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Wednesday Night message by Russell Bailey

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If you don’t know why you are here then you are lost. I mean God’s purpose for creating you, not your girlfriend’s answer: “You are made for me to love!” Yeah… she will probably have a new boyfriend in a month. If you don’t know why you’re here, then you can’t know who you are or what you are, where you are going, what you should be doing in your life and with your life. This is that important, so read up.

It is important to know the purpose of everything, especially man. Purpose is important to all of us and it is to God as well. He does all things with a purpose in mind. He created you with a purpose in mind. He had something for you to be and do long before you were ever born. Discovering your purpose is the most important revelation of your life, the most important discovery in your life. That’s what this lesson is all about – discovering your God-given purpose.

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Jesus Confused Many People    (John 8:12-30)

I know… I know… People often quote 1Cor.14:33 which says that God is not the author of confusion. That does not mean that He will never say anything that will confuse you. God has always said things that left people scratching their heads and saying, “Huh…” Paul in 1Cor.14 was talking about confusion and controversy in the congregation over the practice of the gifts of the Spirit. (There is still confusion and controversy over these very things.) There was confusion in the way the meetings were being conducted: people speaking out of turn, interrupting one another, and other such things. But differences don’t have to lead to division. If a congregation or a person is confused in what is happening, you should pursue peace and not create disorder. That was happening at Corinth. Paul was not talking about confusion that comes naturally with learning, but confusion in the gatherings themselves. Read the chapter and you will see that is exactly what was happening.

If God says something you don’t understand and your mind is confused, pursue the truth until you are at peace with that. I think I can truthfully say that if you’re never confused about anything in the Bible, you’re probably not learning anything.

If you are not confused right now, maybe in this lesson you can learn how to help someone else who might be confused. Many people do get confused when trying to understand the Bible and they just give up and settle for ignorance. We know that is a horrible decision and maybe you can help them not do that.

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