Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
Need For A Fresh Outpouring
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Listen to this teaching | Related Teaching | Bible Teaching | 
Print
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh..."
(Acts 2:17)
God cannot be comprehended, but He can be known. The Holy Spirit enables us to know the incomprehensible God. The Spirit's abiding in us allows us to cry, "Abba, Father." It's the Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, right with Father and on course (Rom. 8:16). I want to take our understanding of Father--His love for us, who He is and what His purpose is--into the practical aspect of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. But until we understand that this life in the Spirit is the purpose and gift of our Father, we'll think that somehow it's merited. We'll think we have to get holy enough, performing penance or knowing some formula, but that's not the case.
When you talk about life in the Spirit today, sadly you almost have to apologize for being a charismatic because of all the yo-yos, gimmicks, hype, hypocrisy and sensationalism. But we have no apologies for being full of the Holy Ghost. There is no apology for being able to hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. There is no apology for the visitation of the Spirit of God in our midst that causes us to walk by faith beyond the natural and transcends every power that would oppose the kingdom of God. There are no apologies for the Spirit-filled life. Tozer said in one of his books that they had the same dilemma about the charismatics in their day that we have today. All one heard in those days in any Pentecostal church was a teaching on tongues or miracles. Why was that? The pendulum was swinging because there hadn't been any messages on those subjects. Maybe there were too many such messages, but it doesn't negate the reality of God's promise that in the last days He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Acts 2:17). Your old men would dream dreams. The young men would have visions of the work of the Spirit of God in our generation.
There's only one Church. There was not a subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began at Azusa Street. Azusa Street was the continuation of the Day of Pentecost. There's only one Church, and things have not changed in 2,000 years. God has not changed; He's the same yesterday, today and forever. What He did 2,000 years ago, He expects to be doing in your life today! Where is the power of God? Where is the dependency on the Holy Spirit? Where is the reliance upon the supernatural instead of the machinery of 2,000 years of experience of Christendom? Where is the greater wisdom of that inner voice that transcends the mass mailings and media blitzes of Christianity today? Where is the power that sends us into the streets to preach the unsearchable riches of the resurrection of Jesus--the free gift of the Sin-bearer becoming sin with our sin, that we might be made righteous with His righteousness--and see 3,000 saved on one street corner? Where's that power in us today? Is this a different Church, or is it the same Church but without faith or reliance? Is it the Laodicean church who rests in its riches and says, "I have need of nothing"? Beloved, we need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God!
The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power (1 Cor. 4:20) and in the working of the Spirit. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; it's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17). How is, "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven" going to happen? It'll happen when the Holy Spirit begins to manifest Himself in our presence.