Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Kerma Chaj Podcast.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Find the book of Acts. We're going to jump straight into the Bible. So if you've got Acts, chapter 18, and we'll go from verse 24. Have you got it? Are we ready?
Half of you. Good, you're ready now. A certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. We're going to keep going into chapter 19.
And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, we have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, into what were you baptized? And they said into John's baptism. Then Paul said, john indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. And they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about 12 in all. Amen. Take a seat.
You open this.
I'm out of order. Right.
So what I'd love to do, we've been going through the Book of Acts. I want to introduce another character this morning, and his name is Apollos.
He's a teacher with a great natural eloquence and a profound understanding of the Old Testament. In fact, some believe that he was the writer of the Book of Hebrews.
Me, I personally like to think it was Priscilla, but just to upset everyone that there was a woman author. But. But many of the scholars believe that Hebrews could have been written by Apollos, but he had a gap in his experience of Jesus, and the gap was the Holy Spirit. He hadn't received the Holy Spirit. So while he's at Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila, and we talked about them two weeks ago, welcome him into their home, and they explained to him the ways of the Spirit.
Now, if you've hung around here for any time, you'll have heard me say this. If all you have is the Bible, you tend to dry up. If all you have is the Spirit, you tend to blow up. If you have the Bible and the Spirit, you grow up. And what we want to see here is a people that have the Word and the Spirit, because when the Word and the Spirit come together, the world is transformed. And I want to say this not as a criticism, but as an observation.
Much of the church in the UK today has boxed the Holy Spirit. They put him in a neat little box. Whether you're a conservative or a charismatic. The conservatives have contained him to the Word and good teaching, and the charismatics have contained him to worship and experience.
You know, seven years ago, I resigned as senior pastor from this church.
The Holy Spirit is now senior pastor. This is his church. He leads this church.
I grew up in a movement where I was taught that God wanted his church back. And for a moment, he got it.
But then we kind of went back to doing what we used to do. Just like the disciples went back to fishing. We went back to our old ways, which is why I resigned. And I want to say to you, if the church is not led by the Holy Spirit, what are we doing?
Don't we want Jesus Christ at the head and His Spirit breathing life into his church?
So we've been gathering around his presence, just like we did, just like the Israelites did in the wilderness. It was his presence, this Holy Spirit, who led them. This last week we've been. Juliet and I went to a vivimiento. It was their Holy spirit weekend. And 32 years ago, the Holy Spirit fell on the church. And every year, they celebrate the falling of the Holy Spirit. And this was the 32nd year, and I've had the privilege the last seven years of going out to that celebration. I love it. And the church there has become a home and a learning place for me. And this time I got to take Juliet, which was fun. And the reason she doesn't come all the time is she really doesn't like traveling, because whenever we travel, there's a disaster, you know, And I mean real disasters. It's not like she's making it up. We've had emergency landings. We've braced. Brace. Brace. We were coming in once to Miami, and we were on a 747. And as we came in, the plane turned on its side, literally that way. Everyone shouts, everything goes flying. And the captain came on as calmly as anything. Oh, I'm so sorry about that. They brought us in a bit close to another aircraft. What.
So you'll be pleased to know this time was no exception.
So we're heading off. It was last Wednesday and it was a night flight. We're at Heathrow, we get on the plane and over. The captain says, oh, we've got a bit of a delay, we've got a fault on the plane. Why do they tell you that? I mean, what do they think that's going to accomplish? I mean, lie to us, okay? She said, are we going to take off with a plane with a fault on anyway? And on and on. We were sitting on the Runway for about an hour and it was getting.
I used to live in London so I know that planes don't fly after 11 o'clock over London because it's a no fly place. So we get, sure enough, five past 11, everyone off the plane. So we get, by the time we get off the plane, he throws shut. So the terminal's completely deserted and we have to try and find a hotel in London along with 400 other people. And anyway, we found a hotel and we got an email saying the flight was rescheduled for 4:30 the next afternoon. So we were going to be a whole, whole day late. So anyway, we, we get on our journey and you know, we made it in one piece as you can see. And we arrive in Bogota and there's some girl singing there. Who was it?
Ash? Shakira. Shakira. Do you know who she is?
I've never heard of her, she's never sung here, so I wouldn't know.
Anyway, she's singing there, she's a Colombian girl as well, I think. Anyway, she's there, every hotel is full and they, because we're a day late, they gave our booking away.
So it's now 1:00 in the morning, we're a day late, no hotel and Juliet's going, what else could go wrong? Anyway, they cleaned us, they got a room, they found us a room, a little room next to the lift which, which was a blessing and we slept and so we got up and we were a bit tired, went for a walk. Friday morning and I'm just calling a taxi on my phone and I get robbed.
A bike comes up on the path and grabs my phone out of my hand.
Juliet's going, well, that's it.
What are we gonna do?
I mean, I never have problems when I'm traveling. Just me. It's just plain sailing.
I don't know what's going on, and I don't know if you were here. A few weeks ago, I was saying, you know, when the going gets tough, the tough press in, all right? I hate it when I have to listen to my own words.
It's so irritating.
But I do know that where there's a storm brewing, the miracle is just out of sight. Okay? When all of this is happening around, you see, often the devil knows more than we do. All right? So all this is happening, so the miracle isn't far away. And anyway, Juliet, we were tired, and she said, you know, look, if I don't feel well enough, I'm not going to come Friday evening. I'll just come to church on Sunday, because Friday evening, their miracle service.
But she was okay, thankfully, and she was all good. So we had an amazing evening, as always, there. And then Pastor Ricardo got up and he said, I'm going to do something a little different. I don't know if I've done this before, but he said, I'm going to invite you into my time with the Holy Spirit.
Oh, wow. Cool. This is going to be good.
And he says, just make yourself comfortable if you want to stand, if you want to kneel, whatever you want to do. And he just knelt, and he had this cushion, and he just knelt on the cushion and just started praying and worshiping. And for 15 minutes, we just prayed and worshipped and invaded his time with the Holy Spirit.
But what we didn't know was as we were praying and worshipping, the glory of the Lord came in the room, and a cloud came into the auditorium. Now, this video doesn't do it credit, okay, because you can't see the angle. But let me show you what started to happen.
How cool is that? I've never seen that before. And I don't know what the Lord did, whether he gathered up the haze in the room or whether he manifested himself. But this cloud, it wasn't over the whole room. It was just over one part of the room and was just clearly defined as it just moved across the room and the light shone on it.
And why would God do that?
Well, it's a sign of his presence.
You know, we talk about signs and wonders, but many of us have never seen signs or wonders. Signs are things like the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites. You know, sometimes we think signs and wonders as healing or prophetic words. But when. When when the presence of God starts to invade, there are signs and there are wonders. When water separates, that's a wonder.
When, when the, the Lord starts to move, you see, it's a sign of his presence. He loves us, he is with us. It's the cloud of his presence that Paul talks about in the book of Corinthians.
This should be a normal thing that happens when the body of Christ gathers to worship. They said they'd never seen that in 32 years. They've seen many, many things, but they've never seen the cloud of his presence come. And you know, it's really interesting. When Priscilla and Aquila meet Apollos, what is their concern?
Was it how? Well, Apollos preached? No, it's. He doesn't have the Holy Spirit. That's what their concern is. And so what they do is they bring him back to the house, they lay their hands on him, so he receives the Holy Spirit. What's the outcome? Well, he goes to Corinth and I love this because the eloquent teacher who doesn't have the Spirit ends up going to Corinth where the Spirit is almost in excess. So the man that does have the Spirit has the right to the man who didn't have the Spirit and go, cool it. You want to cool it. Because that's what happens when Bible teachers get the Spirit. Because when you have the Word and you have the Spirit, nothing can stop you. And that's why we get the church at Corinth that excelled in every spiritual gift. You know, I mean, what would. I mean, wouldn't it be great? Just supposing, I mean, I don't know if this could ever happen in England. Okay, but just supposing the Cromer Church got a note from Bill Johnson saying, guys, can you just call it in the Spirit? You're going in a bit crazy. It's not good for English people to get over excited. You know, you have heart problems and all sorts.
Wouldn't it be fun? What if in England a church could fully embrace the Holy Spirit? What would happen when Paul goes to Ephesus? What is his concern?
That they understood the Gospel and they had all their ducks in a row? No, he says, have you received the Holy Spirit?
And they go, no, we don't even know there is a Holy Spirit. In fact, this is what Paul says. We read it. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Now that's good. You need to turn from your sin. It's really important that we're delivered from our sin.
He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is in Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Paul placed his hands on them. The Holy Spirit came on them. And they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about 12 men in all. So this isn't a big group. This is just a little group. And again, what I want to say, because the church at Ephesus becomes a model of church life. When Paul writes the book of Ephesians, he's writing about the church, what the church should look like. The Church of Corinth.
There's not one spiritual gift that's missing. And the church at Ephesus is a model for church life. It only takes 12 men or women full of the Holy Spirit to turn a city right side up.
And I just ask this question.
Are there people here this morning who want to be filled with the Spirit so they can turn the city right side up?
Yeah. Well, stand up then, if that's you. Stand up. You want to be filled with the Spirit? You see, there's a lot more than 12.
Just imagine what we could do.
But it's not a program.
It's not a model. It's the Spirit.
That's what Priscilla and Aquila said to Apollo. You need the Spirit.
That's what Paul says to these 12 men. You must have the Spirit.
Lord, I just pray. Hold your hands out. Lord, I just pray that we would get serious about your Holy Spirit.
That, Lord, we would understand that we are carriers of the most precious person in the world, the Spirit of God. And he is in us and on us and around us. And we carry him wherever we go. And, Lord, we pray that you would make us sensitive, that we would understand and that, Lord, that we would open up our lives to the direction of the Holy Spirit. And that, Lord, this city would be changed in the name of Jesus.
Take a seat. He saw you. He saw that you see, The Holy Spirit is a person in the Godhead. He's not an it.
He comes and makes his home in our lives.
He not only empowers you to live, but brings you into relationship with Jesus. That's why Jesus says this. He doesn't write. He says it to the disciples. In John 16, he says, unless I go away, the advocates will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. So Jesus said, the reason I'm going to leave you is because he is coming. The person of the Holy Spirit.
Not a power, not a force. A person is coming. Into your life. Look. John 16, verse 12. I went through and I just marked this out. Jesus says, I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears. And he will tell you what is yet to be. Come, he will glorify me, because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. This is a person.
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said, the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.
You see, Jesus is saying, you will know me in a way you never knew possible.
That's what he's saying.
What Joel was saying last week, we were watching a live stream, and as he was talking about worship and encountering and pressing in and becoming undignified, what he's saying is that when we gather, we encounter the living God. And it's in that presence of God that we are transformed. And corporately, where there's two or three gathered, Jesus says there are rmia in the midst, personally, in our own quiet times, listening for his voice, enjoying him. You know, it's the corporate and the personal.
The corporate is wonderful because the manifest presence of God comes and it's like we're topped up, but we're meant to live overflowing. You're not meant to need to be topped up because we're meant to live during the week in his presence. And that's why it's so important to start the day in his presence, so that when we go into the world, he is there with us, guiding, encouraging, strengthening, empowering, enabling us to live as Christ.
You see, we have become the temple.
Paul describes it. He says, you're like clay jars.
Every single one of you like a clay jar. And it might not look that impressive, but inside you carry a treasure, the treasure of the Holy Spirit. And that's why we have to be so careful, and that's why we have to be aware. And, you know, Paul talks about, you know, not quenching the Spirit or despising the Spirit. And there's lots of, you know, different things. It could be, you know, shutting him down or all those. Those kind of things. But, you know, I think at its most basic point, it's forgetting him.
It's just forgetting that we have a treasure inside. And, you know, when we're in the midst of the storm, feeling that we're on our own and we're not on Our own. We've got the treasure inside. And when the disciples were in the storm, in the boat, Jesus was there. They just forgotten he was there because he was asleep.
And this, this Holy Spirit within us, you see, is everything perfect around us?
No, Especially when I'm traveling with Juliet. But even in the storm, the glory is just ahead.
And so we push through with Jesus because that's the more than conqueror's bit.
So to be a conqueror, you have to have something to conquer, which means you're in a storm and you push through it. So storms are just a normal part of life. And so the treasuring of the Spirit within us enables us to conquer the storm. Because he is there, speaking calm, giving us instructions, leading us. This is the beauty of what Jesus did on the cross. You see, if we stop at just our sins have been forgiven, we've missed it.
Yes, your sins have been forgiven. It's wonderful news. But you now have a resurrection life. That's even better news. You don't have to go back. You can live a new life. And the Spirit comes in.
You see, when we step into the glory, all things become possible.
So you'll be pleased to know our trip did get better.
We had a few days in Cartagena and the sun shone on us. And then we got upgraded to business class. Coming home.
Now that's good and bad, because now Juliet said she's only flying business class.
But this was a lesson for us. You see, you go into the glory and the prosperity comes.
But you have to enter the glory, the storm you live. You can be in a storm. You push through the storm. We are more than conquerors. We walk into the glory of God. And then the prosperity comes, the breakthroughs come. And for us, it was business class. Yes, yes, it's great. You got a button, you press it turns into a bed. It's so good to look backwards at all those poor people.
I for years sat over there.
What am I saying?
Oh, Lord, forgive me.
I want to always be in business.
It's important to know about God and his story, how we fit into the plan. It's really important. I want everybody to know that. But it's more important to know the God of the story, to know his voice and experience his life.
Look, the Holy Spirit doesn't come to give you an experience. He comes to bring you into relationship worship.
It's not about shaking or falling. It's about knowing him, knowing the person of the Holy Spirit, knowing what he likes, knowing where he wants to go, knowing his favorite places. You know, when we started this worship journey, we felt the Lord say, write songs that the Holy Spirit likes.
It's not about songs that we like. What are the songs that the Holy Spirit likes? Let's write his songs.
Because the Bible is full of his songs. Men and women writing his songs. Oops.
They went way over time last week at a Vivian tour, and they have, you know, 20,000 people to get in the next service where they didn't seem to bother them.
What was I talking about? The Holy Spirit.
Not for an experience who comes so you'll know him. He will guide you into all truth. He will tell you what is yet to come. That's the prophecy. And we will know Jesus and the Father. We will know them ourselves. You see, when you are a friend of the Holy Spirit, he affects every part of your life. He will make you a better doctor, a better lawyer, husband, wife, son, daughter, taxi driver. Why? Because he made you for a purpose.
And when we listen to him, we become who we were created to be because he is in us. And I. You know, as I've. I've watched many Christians, I think they live their lives a bit like a hose pipe.
You know, we're. We're designed for the Holy Spirit to flow through us. I. I don't know if you got your hose pipe out yesterday, but, you know, the autumn comes and we know, the dark nights, we chuck the hose pipe in the shed, and then you get it out and you plug it in, you turn it on, and nothing comes out or it dribbles out because there's kinks in it everywhere. And you have to straighten it all out so that there is a fl. Flow of water.
And do you know what? It's the same with Christians. When the flow of the Holy Spirit is turned on, sometimes it just dribbles out and we need to straighten the hose pipe out. We need to make a way for him so that he can flow through our life. And you go, well, what does that look like? Well, it's. Send your alarm half an hour early and just sitting with him. And Jesus said, my sheep know my voice and go, and how do I know your voice, Lord? Will you teach me your voice? Just worshiping and praying and being with him, spending time with him.
You see, some of you might never have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Don't worry. That just means there's more for you today.
Some of you have a kink in your hose that needs unkinking. Some of you have the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, but just don't use it much.
You know, the gift of tongues is one of the most precious gifts you can have. I mean, I know Paul says, you know, I'd prefer you to prophesy, but he was talking to a context of the Corinthian Church. When we speak in tongues, we speak to God. And it's another way that we tune in to the Holy Spirit with. With the song, the words of angels, the language of the angels worshipping him. And if you speak in tongues, I really encourage you using that gift more and more and more.
You know, some of you might even be like the Ephesians. You've just never even heard there is a Holy Spirit. What I'm saying this morning is the Holy Spirit's here. He's waiting to fill you and become your best friend.
And the question is, will you welcome him in and give him space in your life as a family? We yielded to him for the last. We've yielded to him in many ways, most of our lives, but especially over the last seven years. And as we yielded over the last seven years, he's transformed our lives. I want to tell you it works.
I promise you, if you will yield to the Spirit of God, he will transform the way you live. John. Wes. And look, I know how busy life is. We've had a young family. We know all the demands on life. John Wesley said this. I've got such a busy day today. I'm going to need at least two extra hours in prayer.
That was how John Wesley, who transformed this nation and half of the world with his preaching, he said, I'm so busy. I've got so much on. I won't cope unless I spend extra time in prayer. And I want to say to you, church, and I want to say to me, because you know, I'm always preaching to me, right?
We need to make time for the Holy Spirit and get up in the morning and enjoy Him. And then when we come together, we're ready to worship him, because we've been in his presence all week and we are carriers of Him.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Cromer Church Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship, and how to donate, visit our website at Chroma Church.
