HopeLives365

Guest (Male): God promises special power to proclaim the message to complete his mission. Look, it's amazing to me how today there is a revival of lay witness around the world. God's spirit is coming on lay people today.

Guest (Female): This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: A Fulfilled Christian Life Through The Holy Spirit, Part Six. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: In this presentation, we're going to talk about evangelism, mission, revival, and the Holy Spirit. As you go back to the book of the first century, the Book of Acts, and our pastor's taking us through a series on the Book of Acts. You know, it's interesting how God puts things together. We didn't talk, Pastor Michael, about that series, but yet, that series really is integrated into our series on the Holy Spirit.

As you look at the Book of Acts, the Day of Pentecost came. The disciples had met and prayed. Jesus had told them in Mark 16, verse 15, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." That must have been impossible to Matthew, the tax collector, or Peter, the fisherman. It must have seemed impossible to Thomas, the doubter, to these disciples that were brought together with no unusual gifts or talents, but motivated by the spirit, depending on the spirit's power. They accepted the words of Christ: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

You know, the great commission is accompanied by the great promise. It's not simply the great commission, "Go into all the world," but it's the great promise of what God is going to do. The scripture says in Acts 1, verses 4 and 8: "Being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise." So Matthew, chapter 28, verse 19 and 20, you have the great commission.

Here you have the great promise of the Father, which he said, "You've heard of me. But you shall receive power. Not you might receive power, not maybe you'll receive power, but the promise of the Word of God: But you shall receive power. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." God gave that promise to those disciples.

Believing His word, they waited and they prayed. As they did, they confessed their sins. They prayed, they believed, and heaven mightily answered. The Holy Spirit was poured out in abundant measure on the Day of Pentecost. When you look at the Book of Acts and see the growth of the church, it is remarkable.

In Acts 2, verse 32 and 33, it says, "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father..." Now, I want to pause there. The disciples looked to the sanctuary above for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It was not merely that they prayed, as important as that was, but there was a historical moment of time when Christ had ascended to heaven.

His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. Peter says, "This Jesus, God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear." So, Christ's enthronement in heaven after his sacrifice on the cross was the gift of that enthronement to the early church from the sanctuary above, which was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In the first century, the disciples looked to the unique ministry of Christ in the sanctuary. So God has raised up an end-time movement with a sanctuary message to the world, and we look again to Christ's ministry in the sanctuary, and there we see again the promise of the outpouring of the spirit in abundant measure to an end-time church to accomplish its mission. When Jesus' enthronement took place in heaven and was welcomed back by the Father into heaven after his sacrifice on the cross and the disciples prayed, the time was right. Once again, we live in a critical time of Earth's history. Once again, the time is right.

Now, 120 disciples met in the upper room. Some authors say there were 180 million people living in the Roman Empire. That is way too many. As I mentioned last evening, it was probably 60 million. If you look at 100 million, it would be one Christian—and I realize there were more than 120 Christians, but I use that—to 1.4 million people. But again, I want to emphasize, if you have 60 million in the Roman Empire, probably a million people living in Rome, it's one to 500,000.

Now, that's staggering because today there's one Seventh-Day Adventist to about every 324 people in the world. So, I want you to just get the numbers here. In the first century of the Christian church, you have about one Christian to every 500,000 people. The task seemed incredibly impossible. It seemed like you could never accomplish that task.

But yet, God made a promise. You see this explosive growth in the Book of Acts. A praying church, a united church, a church focused on mission. God did something amazing. Acts 2, verse 41: "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them." About 3,000 baptized on the Day of Pentecost.

But you go to Acts 4, verse 4: "However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of men came to be about 5,000." So, if you add women and children, in just a few short weeks, where you had a few believers, you have now at least 15,000. You come to Acts 6, verse 7: "The word of God spread. The number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. A great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." So now you have religious leaders, some who had cried to crucify Jesus, now obedient to the faith. Something is happening in the Book of Acts. There's the mighty power of the spirit.

If God did it then, he can do it now. Is God's power any less limited in the 21st century than it was in the 1st century? You can have skeptics and doubters that say the work of God on earth is never going to be finished. Look at the large population of this world, 8 billion people. But I say to you, God never does anything great through skeptics or doubters. Those who reach out by faith, who open their hearts to receive the ministry of the spirit, who sense that Jesus is doing his closing work in a final generation, God does something great with them.

You know, one Roman writer wrote of the Christian church: "You are everywhere. You're in our armies, you're in our navies, you're in our Senate, and you're in our marketplaces." Pliny the Younger was the governor of Bithynia, and he wrote in an epistle, chapter 10, 96: "For many of every age..." Now, of course, he's the Roman governor, he's not a Christian. "For many of every age, of every social class, even of both sexes, are being called to trial and will be called. Nor cities alone, but villages and even rural areas have been invaded by the infection of this superstition, namely Christianity."

And he says that in AD 110. So the Christian gospel is spreading, it's touching the world. In another ancient Roman writer put it this way: "Nearly all the citizens of all the cities are Christians." How did that happen? The disciples on their knees seeking God. The disciples believing the Word of God. The disciples sensed that God wanted to do something incredibly amazing, and he did.

In Acts chapter 9, in verse 31, you read: "Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied." So here you have a church-planting movement, so churches are being multiplied. You look at Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Colossae, Rome. God is on the move in the Mediterranean world.

What he did then, he plans to do now. What he did there, he plans to do here. What he did in Jerusalem, he plans to do through a spiritual church in Centerville. A church that's praying, a church that's studying God's word, a church that has a vision for its community, a church that's touching people with every member. Just as in Acts 12:24 it says, "But the word of God grew and multiplied."

Do you believe that God can do it here? Do you believe that? Did God do it in the first century? Is he going to do it again in the 21st century? There is no genuine revival without a corresponding evangelistic outreach. You know, one of the reasons God leads us to look beyond ourselves is because selfishness strangles the spirit of God in us.

When we reach out to touch others for Christ, God does something in our own lives in drawing us closer to him. So, by reaching out to others as we pray, God leads us closer to him. And the closer we get to him and the more we love him, the more we want to share his grace and love with others. Witnessing leads to revival, and revival leads to witnessing.

In Colossians chapter 1, in verse 23, the Apostle Paul makes this astounding statement: "The gospel which you heard was preached to every creature under heaven." Now, you think about that. Here you have a small group of disciples who are praying, who are focused beyond themselves on mission.

You know, Pierre Berton was a skeptic and atheist, and he wrote a book called *The Comfortable Pew*. And he's an English author, and the English love pubs, and they love to go out on Saturday nights and have a few too many beers—even one is too many. But in Pierre Berton's book, *The Comfortable Pew*, he said the best place to overcome a hangover is to go to church on Sunday morning in the pew, because the pews are so comfortable and not much is happening there anyway.

God is leading us out of our churches, filled and armed with his spirit to make contacts with people through the week. The church is the body of Christ sharing the love of Jesus throughout our communities everywhere. The more we pray, the more we're impressed that God has a plan for our lives to touch others with his grace, with his goodness. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Colossians 1, verse 28 and 29: "Him we preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

Recently, I've done more work in China, and I have a 10-year visa to go in and out of China. I was talking to my friend Daniel Jiao. Daniel is the president of our work in China. There are 130 cities in China that have 1 million people or more in them. And Daniel began to pray because in many of those cities—70, 80 of them where there were a million people or more—we have no Seventh-Day Adventists.

So, Pastor Jiao began to pray and he said, "Lord, help us to know some way to plant churches in these cities where we have no cities." And he had a large lay congress, and he challenged Chinese lay people to go to cities where we have a million or more people and no Adventists. One man, a physical therapist, talked to Pastor Jiao.

And he said, "Pastor Jiao, I'm a physical therapist, my specialty, though, is massage. And I'm single. I will plan to go to this one city (and it will remain unnamed here, for you'll understand why), and I will share the gospel there. I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know how I'm going to do it, but God is laying a burden on my heart." You know, the Apostle Paul said, "Him we preach warning every man, teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." And this young massage therapist said, "I will go." So he went to this city.

He prayed as he walked the streets of the city. It was a great Chinese city. And the Lord gave him this idea: Set up your massage table in the town square and put up a big sign that says "Free Massages". Who's not going to stop there? And so, he did. He began giving people massages.

As he did that for a couple of days, he noticed a man walking up the street. And the man was kind of dragging his leg, the man was limping. And this man had some form of paralysis. And the young masseuse said, "Sir, I think I can help you. I think I can relieve some of that pain. If you want to lie on the table here, I'll give you a massage."

He began massaging the man. And as he did, the Holy Spirit impressed him: Pray for this man. And he said, "But we'll pray silently for them because I'm going to work a miracle in his life." Now, God does not always work the dramatic miracles that I'm going to tell you about right now. But when there is a need that is so overwhelming that it needs a miracle, often God will use supernatural power.

So as he's massaging this man, the man who had been crippled for a number of years, the Lord impressed him: Tell this man, "Get up off your bed and walk and run down that street." And he said, "I can't do it. Can't do it." But the Lord kept impressing him. Now remember, no Adventists in that city, almost no Christians in that city, a city of a million. And he said to that man, "In the name of Jesus Christ, get up off this bed now, because I believe the power of Christ is coming into your leg. Get up."

The man looked up. He sat up, got off the bed, began to walk a little bit down the street, ran down the street, he ran back to him and he said, "I don't understand this, but I have no pain in my leg any longer. You've got to come and tell my wife about this." Good news is to tell your wife about it. And so he's—"You've got to tell my wife about this."

So they go to his apartment as Daniel Jiao tells me the story, and he said they go to the apartment, and the wife comes in, and he said, "Honey, look at my leg, look at my leg! No pain, look! I'm walking!" And she said, "You've got to tell our relatives about this." They call the relatives, 15 people come in. "You've got to tell our neighbors about this."

Pretty soon, 60 people are all over that apartment. And he's telling the story. Our young masseuse is there with them and they say, "How did this happen?" And the masseuse says, "I prayed. I prayed." That began a series of Bible studies, and in that city today, we have a church of 60 or 70 people that are meeting. This is a story that has just happened. God is at work around the world for people who are seeking Him, people that are praying.

Look, as these messages of the cross talking about the first century went forth to proclaim the gospel, there was such a revelation of the glory of God as had never before been witnessed by mortal man. By the cooperation of the divine spirit, the disciples did a work that shook the world. God is going to do it again.

To every nation was the gospel carried in a single generation. The need was great, the time was right. They met the conditions and God fulfilled His promise. Would you agree with me right now that we are living at a crisis moment of Earth's history? And once again the need is great. Would you agree with that?

Would you agree with me that right now the time is right? Would you agree with me again that as we meet the conditions, seek God in prayer, come to Him with an undivided heart, have barriers broken down between us and others, and seek God? And as we go out in our limited sphere and share Jesus with others, He will do something amazing in our lives.

The disappointment of Calvary in 31 AD led to humility, confession, repentance, deep soul searching. The cross prepared them for Pentecost, trusting in the promise of their resurrected Lord. Did the disciples understand that Christ was going to be crucified? Were they anticipating the crucifixion? No, not at all. Were there prophecies in the Old Testament that pointed forward to Christ's crucifixion? Yes, multiple. You look at Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, multiple prophecies.

So, the disciples misunderstood prophecy. They were bitterly disappointed when Christ was crucified. After the crucifixion at Christ's resurrection and as He ascended to sanctuary above, the spirit was poured out to launch New Testament Christianity. Fast forward 2,000 years. A group of Advent believers once again are bitterly disappointed. October 22 comes. They have studied prophecy. Like those early disciples, they have misunderstood prophecy. They're bitterly disappointed.

But again, they look after that disappointment to their resurrected Lord in the sanctuary above. And once again, the promise of the spirit is here, once again to bless a worldwide church. In Daniel 8:14, it says, "Unto 2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." They thought it was the sanctuary, the earth was to be cleansed by fire. But yet, they looked to the heavenly sanctuary, and God raised up a divine movement of destiny that would circle the world.

A message that would be preached not merely by another denomination, not merely by another church, but Adventists have a unique identity. We believe that God has raised up the Advent movement to prepare a people for the coming of Jesus. Fear God, that is not shake and quake and be afraid, but it is reverence God, take God seriously.

Give Him glory in your lifestyle, for we're living in a unique time of Earth's history; the hour of God's judgment has come. Worship Him who made heaven, earth, sea, and the springs of waters—in other words, worship the Creator. We must be in much prayer if we'd make progress in the divine life.

When the message of truth—that is this message of Revelation 14—was first proclaimed, how much we prayed. How often was the voice of intercession heard in the chamber, in the barn, in the orchard, or in the grove. Frequently, we spent hours in earnest prayer, two or three together, claiming the promise. Often the sound of weeping was heard, and the voice of thanksgiving, the song of praise.

Now the day of God is nearer than we first believed, and we should be more earnest, more zealous, and fervent than in these early days. Our perils are greater now than then. They are. Souls are more hardened. They are. We need now to be imbued with the spirit of Christ, and we should not rest until we receive it. God is once again preparing to pour out His spirit. Once again, Pentecost will be repeated. God did the impossible in the first century, and He will do the impossible again.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message, and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: God wants to do more. At times we limit what God wants to do through us. The meaning, the purpose, the joy. We limit that by small vision. God wants to do what He did back then on the Day of Pentecost. He wants to use you as a student to touch that student who sits next to you in university. He wants to use you as a nurse to pray for that person that you are treating in the hospital.

To use you as a physician, to use you as a computer programmer, to use you as a mechanic, as a carpenter, to use you as a housewife, to use you as a retiree. Now look, if you're a little old and have gray hair or no hair, how old was Moses when he led the children of Israel? 80. How old was John when he wrote the Book of Revelation? In his 90s. God's not finished with you yet.

You've retired here, but God wants to do something special through your life, special through you. It says the work will be similar to that on the Day of Pentecost, as the former rain was given in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the opening of the gospel to cause the upspringing of the precious seed. So the latter rain will be given at the close for the ripening of the harvest.

The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. God is going to work powerfully in these days. Zechariah 10, verse 1: "Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds, He'll give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone."

We are living at a time when the gospel seed has been sown. We've been living at a time now where God is going to reap an amazing harvest in these final days of Earth's history.