A Season of Restoration III, Restoring the Power of the Holy Spirit

This is North Way tape number 474. This message on restoration and refreshing was given by Pastor Jay Passavant of North Way Christian Community on Sunday, February 23rd, 1986. Matthew chapter 3, verse 11, and verse 12. I had not heard this dream. Jean had shared earlier that she had something she felt was important. She did share it with Fred. I just want you to keep that in mind as I read this today. This is John the Baptist speaking. I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering the wheat into His barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. The Holy Spirit and fire. John chapter 7, if you'll turn over to these words. Jesus speaking, beginning at verse 37. John 7, verse 37. On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If a man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him, or translation which I prefer says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. By this, He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For up to that time, this Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. When is the last time you are cognizant of having been really, really thirsty? When in the flesh, you really wanted a drink. Might have been on a long trip on a hot day in the car, after hours of driving along in the freeway, you'd say, I'm really thirsty, let's stop and get something. It might have been a time when you just completed some heavy exercise, and you've drained out of your body all of its fluids, and your body begins to cry for a drink. It might be when you wake up in the morning, particularly in these winter months when it's so dry, often time at night, and you wake up and your body is dried out inside. But we have a mechanism in us that we call thirst, that makes us crave for water. To have that thirst satiated. It's interesting to me that the picture that Jesus uses many times in the New Testament, as a condition of receiving from the Lord, is thirsting, thirsting after righteousness. This is a very common term that none of us could miss. This is what I love about the New Testament. People try to make it so complicated, but it's so straightforward. How many of you know what it means to be thirsty? Jesus said, if a man thirst, if a man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Now I want you to just retrace with me these thoughts. Last week we looked to see what it first required of us to go through a season of restoration in terms of repenting before the Lord. Giving ourselves that time before God when we open our hearts and have that radical upheaval of the human will. And then go on to the process of reshaping the human personality. That was repentance and we talked about that. But it's interesting that John the Baptist takes that repentance and then ties it with the fact that Jesus is going to follow. And he is going to baptize us who are thirsty with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The baptism of the Holy Spirit for a number of the last years in America, a great controversy swirled around this term. You might be here today as a visitor. Maybe you've come from a church where the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not ever talked about. You might be from a background which says that anything that has to do with the whole issue of the baptism in the Spirit or speaking with tongues is of the devil. And there is enough controversy that swirled particularly in the 70s. But I have to say that from my recognition right now, the controversy is abating some. You know why it is? Because all around the world... Do you know the churches that are growing? Do you know the mission agencies that are producing multiple fruit? Do you know in almost every instance in every nation? I'm talking about third world countries as well as the west. Do you know which churches are growing? Winning souls for Christ? Changing the face of their own culture? Do you know what it is? It's the churches that teach the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the attendant power that comes. And so, you see, the evidence has been mounting, and I think it's kind of taken all of the intensity off of the issue and put it on the fruit where it should be. Amen? And so I was praying and saying, Lord, where do we go now that we've understood that it's time to repent together? And the Lord said to my heart this morning, and I want you to hear this. If you don't hear what else I have to say, it won't matter if you hear this. Jesus said today, this morning, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. God is going to meet today in this service everyone who thirsts for the fullness of His Spirit. And I'm here to share with you, I believe and I'm confident in my spirit that many today are going to be touched by Jesus, the baptizer and the Holy Spirit. I want to be clear as I share these few words with you from the Scripture. Number one, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a condition for salvation. You could be here today and be every bit a child of God as anyone else and never have received that mighty infilling of the Spirit of God. I have three children. What they do does not affect their standing as my children. They're my children. What they receive in terms of enablement for me, whether it's for education or for skills or whatever, that has nothing to do with it. There will still be children. And I don't want anyone here to misinterpret what I'm saying today, that if you don't receive the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, that you're not a child of God. In fact, Paul the Apostle said that unless the Spirit of the Lord is in you, you're not part of God. You've got to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your life. But there is a difference, beloved, and I will say it unashamedly, between that indwelling that comes in your life when you receive Christ and the mighty enabling that comes when the Holy Spirit is released in you. And I can tell you from all experience of having been one who jammed my head for three solid years and then six other ones here and there with knowledge to come to terms with this thing of the Holy Spirit that there is a difference between what you know up here and what you have in here. And if you know up here all about the Holy Spirit, but you don't have Him in here living in you, then you don't have the power that God wants in your life. And I'm here to share with you, Jesus said today, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Now there's going to be with us today three kinds of people. The first kind are going to be people who have never been filled with the Spirit of the Lord. These are people who have a thirst of dryness. There's a dry thirst in them. What does it mean to be dry inside? To be dry when you pick up the Bible. Susan asked earlier, how many of you are reading through the Bible? Who knows what it's like to pick up the Bible, read faithfully your three or four chapters and say, I didn't get anything out of that. Well, there's a few honest saints. How about the rest of you? I've had this thing sometimes to me, just like eating Fiber One without any milk on it. Telling myself, it's good for you, it's good for you. But it tastes awful. And it's not, I don't even want to go back the next day. And dryness, beloved, is debilitating. Who wants to go out of their homes into the marketplace dry inside? Who wants to encounter other dry people in need and have nothing to give them to drink? And I'll tell you something. The greatest lie that I know that Satan perpetrates on people who've never been filled with the Spirit of God and who are living in one measure of dryness or another is this. Hey, that's normal. It's normal to kind of just not feel that you're in with the flow of God. I mean, after all, you're not going to know that until you're really holy and with Jesus. And I want to tell you that many people that I know feel the thirsting and want something but are denying it and saying, well, but I've tried and it didn't work or somehow it, I don't know, it just didn't make it with me. And all the while their life is showing all these symptoms of sickness in the Spirit. I think you have an overhead. If you don't, let me just read this one. No, you maybe don't have an overhead. Listen to this. Are these symptoms of your Christian life? Do you lack assurance of your salvation? Do you wonder one day if you really are born again and the next day feel okay about it? Do you have difficulty hearing the Lord speak to you in your life? Do you have a hard time perceiving truth and when someone comes along with another opinion you get bounced all around and say, well, maybe that is and maybe it isn't. Do you find yourself constantly struggling with sin? I'm talking about every day it's a battle to survive. Some of you are nodding your heads. Do you find yourself always uncomfortable in worship? Do you find yourself sensing a uselessness? If you measured the fruit of your life you'd have to say, well, you've made it in your family and you're still married and you have a job but there's no fruit. People aren't coming to Christ because of you. People aren't growing because of you. They're not being healed because of you or released from bondage. Do you have great difficulty in witnessing? When was the last time out of your mouth came a testimony to another individual about Jesus Christ? Do you find yourself struggling all the time with the call of the world? Every time a commercial comes on you say, oh, that's really what I... but I can't have it. And if those things describe you, beloved, those are the symptoms of dryness. There's something that's not happening. There's not a gushing up in your life coming by the Holy Spirit. And I want to say to you today, if you want your life to count for God, then come to terms with that dryness. We sat over here in this room on my left just on Friday night with about 60 or 70 people for the concert of prayer. And I asked the question as we started. I said, how many people here at one point in their life or another said, when it's all over with, I want my life to count? And all but a few put their hands up. And I don't know if it was because they didn't hear the question or they're not really sure. But I want to look here today and ask that same question. How many people here who know Christ as your Savior want your life to count for the kingdom of God? Hallelujah. And I believe, beloved, that if we will see that God's way, the way he's provided for our lives to count is by complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit. And you need to say to yourself today, I'm not going to live in the dry desert of Death Valley. I'm not going to make it a struggle to survive whether or not I'm going to be a believer one day to the next. No, sir, the Bible doesn't say that your life is to be a dry, barren desert. Listen to Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, or stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Listen to this. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither. And whatever he does prospers. You can say hallelujah to that. How many of you want whatever you do to prosper? And that means to have the blessing of God on it. I want to tell you, whoever you are today, there is no satisfaction, there is no quenching that thirst by anything in the world. I just made my semi or bi-annual, I guess it was, excursion to the Pittsburgh Auto Show. I'll be repenting after the service up here. But, you know, going through that this time for me was really good because one thing that I'm discovering is when you're looking to be filled with something to meet that deep, deep need, you've got to go on and on and make it more and more and more extravagant. You know what I'm saying? It just, you know, the Yugo doesn't make it anymore. Or the Golf, or the Jetta, or, you know, you climb on up there to get to the Audis, and then you're going up there to the Rolls Royce. I had my two boys with me, which is something else I'm going to have to reconsider. And I said to them, well, which of the cars did you like the best? You know what their starting point is? This enormous Lamborghini thing that, $119,000. How many of you know that will not satisfy you? You'll get that thing, and you'll drive it for a day, or a week, or a month, and somebody will drive up next to you and hit your door, and you'll have a big gash in your door. And it'll never satisfy you, no matter what it is. I want to tell you, beloved, it's the Word of God. And that dryness will come back. And if you've never been filled with the Spirit of God, there's only two reasons I know, two obstacles, and I want to say today, that God's going to pull these down today to all who thirst. Number one, it's fear. Fear that somehow you're going to get into a wild aberration, some strange distortion of what true God-fearing Christianity is all about. Somebody handed me this slip today. Here it is, right here. This is the news of a group organized to fight Christians. A group known as Fundamentalists Anonymous will begin a national tour to warn people about Fundamentalist Christians. Executive Director, I won't name him, said the group would be seeking speaking engagements before college groups and mainline Christian churches. According to this group, a Christian who is a Fundamentalist is mentally unbalanced. And if the Fundamentalist mindset can be seen as a psychological disease, it can also be seen as a social disease. And if it's a social disease, then we can quarantine them and get them off and get them out of our hair. I hate to tell you this, but we're past, in these people's minds, we're past this. And I say hallelujah. This world is not my home. Amen. I don't mind being called different. The Bible says we're a peculiar people. And all I can tell them is inside of me is a river of living water and it is satisfying my soul like nothing ever could. And that same river, beloved, is there for you. And so don't let fear rob you of this great, great gift of God. And the second thing I need to say this, with all conviction of the Holy Spirit, is pride. There is in us, now listen to me, some of you people who are successful, God bless you. God has blessed you. But there remains in many of us the same fear, and then it's born of pride, of a stigma that somehow we've got to maintain a balance here in our Christian lives so that what we're involved in is still on the acceptable scale in society. It's the same thing that lied to you originally when you were dealing with becoming a Christian and now it's dealing with this and saying, you know, if you really get into this, well, the people who are wondering about you, they're going to know that you're over the brink. And I want to say to you, there is a subtle, but it's a very pervasive thing in middle class America. And here in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, there's something about being, you know, acceptable. And I want to say that pride, and that's all it is, it's a pride that says, I want what God wants, but I really like it on my terms, God. I've heard people say, I want the fullness of the Spirit, but you can keep the tongues part, because that's what makes me weird. But God didn't say that. And I want to make a plea this morning, don't let fear, don't let pride that somehow it's going to compromise your acceptability, don't let it get in the way of what God wants for you. There's a second group of people with us today. And it's those who are thirsting because of devotion. Those who have given themselves and poured out, and I want to, now listen to me, many of you here at one point in your life can look back and say, I remember the day that I was filled gloriously with the Holy Spirit. If I put up, I don't want you to put up your hands, but many of you could say, I remember that. But you also would say, if you were looking objectively in your life right now, there is a widening gap between the glory of that fullness and your current experience. Beloved, every river has a source, every river has a place where it's being poured down into. And if you're not tending to that source, your river begins to dry out. And as we give out of living water over and over again, what I find is there's so many thirsty people, so many who want to drink from us, that we begin to dry out. And then we go get filled again, and we get drained. There's other things that happens with rivers too, you know. I'll tell you something in this church that's happened. As the Spirit of the Lord has been poured out, it's been hard to control. That's true about a river. Some of you saw the news this week in the floods in California. Rivers out of control can do damage. Is that right? Flooding homes and making things miserable and what was supposed to be a blessing became a curse. And I'll tell you, it begins difficult sometimes. That's one reason I'll submit to you why the denominations don't want the baptism in the Spirit. Because the people sitting in those white office buildings can't control it. They say, no thank you. We'll just keep doing what we're doing. And there's another thing about rivers of living water. They're hard to control, and they're also very powerful when they are directed. And they can blast away things that are standing in line of it. I read with great grief an article that Fred gave me not long ago about the fact that John Wimber's course at Fuller Seminary, which many of you know, many of you have been influenced by that ministry, and John Wimber was teaching a course, two to three hundred students every time the course met, on signs and wonders in the world today and how it affected church life. And the seminary shut it down. It shut it down because it was just too controversial and theology began to be an issue. And I'll tell you what happens, and it happens all the time. See, the river was pounding against some of those established little islands of independence. And it wanted to sweep them up in the flow. But instead, they built dams. And I'll just share with you, I believe that can happen here, church. We can start to see things that we don't feel good. It's very common for us to not understand how God's working. These people in the healing and wholeness team, they'll be the first to tell you. They don't know. There's no formula for this. It's the Spirit of God. And when somebody does something they don't understand, fifty people say, we don't want that anymore. Then we build a dam and the river's going to stop. And I grieve over that because I think that's exactly the opposite thing that we need to do when the Spirit of the Lord begins to move like a river in us. We just need to ask God for the grace to channel it and flow with it. And the third thing that happens in rivers, first is they're hard to control. Second is they become powerful, blasting out things. Here's the third thing. Rivers get polluted. They get polluted with an awful lot of junk. I grew up out in Beaver, Pennsylvania, overlooking the Ohio River and intersecting with the Beaver River. And I remember the days. You could walk down. I remember doing it, walking down and seeing little slimy, scuzzy stuff on the sides of the river. My dad even had a little ski boat that he got. He wanted me to get in that river and ski while he stayed in the boat. That's not true. He's sitting right over here. He's shaking his head. But over the years, as pollution controls became more and more enforced, that river really is quite nice most times of the year. Pollution can mess up a river of God. And we pollute it with two things. Our flesh and all the things about us that have the stain of sin and the world's junk. I don't have time today. I'm just going to obey the Lord and go on. But I just want you to know, would you please ask God to help you to monitor the stuff that goes in you that's going to pollute that river? Would you? Ask God to put screening glasses over your spirit so that you're not going to imbibe other liquids that are going to pollute that river. And I'm talking about everything from junk TV to movies to reading materials to music. And there's so much out there that's straining right now. I'll tell you, I'd like to talk sometime about this seduction of Christianity issue that some of you are alert to. Because in it implicitly is the whole idea, the whole possibility, actually, of shutting down that river. Beloved, I just want to say, if you're here today as a person that's dry, you were once filled and flowing, but right now you're feeling yourself dry, would you resist this other temptation that happens? Listen to A.W. Tozer. The only power that God recognizes in his church is the power of his spirit. And whereas the only power actually recognized today by the majority of evangelicals is the power of man. God does his work by the operation of the spirit while Christian leaders attempt to do theirs by the power of trained and devoted intellect. Bright personality has taken the place of divine inspiration. And only what is done through the eternal spirit will abide eternally. If you're dry today, if you're drained off, if you've been sweating in the kingdom, some of you servants and saints have been sweating by discipling and caring for people and ministering. And if you're drying out, would you do one thing? Would you tell God, I'm thirsty? I'm thirsty, Jesus. Would you give up on your intellect? Would you give up on your resolve? Would you give up on trying harder? And just say, Jesus, I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. Lord, I'm thirsty. I need a drink. I need the spirit of God to dwell up in me again. The third kind of person here today may be experiencing, hallelujah, the thirst of delight. I remember about seven years ago, I think it was, six or seven years ago now, when my wife and I were encouraged and able to go on a vacation for our tenth anniversary. We went over to Hawaii for ten days. Sitting in a restaurant area, there's some of these beautiful places that are outdoors and so on, and I forget what we were drinking. It was either Coke or something worse. Diet Coke, something like that. But we had a drink in our hand, that's my point. And out on the tray, this waitress brought these two beautiful tropical fruit drinks. It came in bowls like this. They had pineapple slices on them and oranges and papayas and like a bouquet of flowers. And I looked at that thing and I said, oh, does that look good? And it created a thirst. Do you know what I mean? I mean, you can have something, but you thirst for that thing. How many of you know people that do that for you? You see their life and you thirst for what they have. You thirst for God in them. And that's what you want, even if you know what it means to be filled with the Spirit of the Lord. I want you to know today, beloved, that the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not just simply to get you to be able to speak in tongues. I want you to see the Spirit of God coming on you, not as a goal, but as a gateway into all that God has for you. And I want to share with you, write these down if you would, five things that you can expect to happen as you move through that gateway. Five things that I trust you'll begin to thirst for in the Spirit of the Lord. Here they are. Number one, you'll find that as you move in the power of the baptism of the Spirit, you'll grow in revelation knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and the things of God. Write those scriptures down. I can tell you unequivocally that when I received the fullness of God's Spirit in my life, Jesus became more real to me. And He has ever since. And it's a gateway. And more and more and more I'm growing in that revelation. And the things of God become more and more clear to you. 1 Corinthians 2.12 The Spirit of the Lord makes all things known. The second thing you can know in the gateway is victory in your personal life. Victory in your personal life. I cry in my heart for people whose life orientation is getting through sin. God ordained for us, beloved, to be victorious in our personal lives. And Jesus came and said that He had come to bring life and life abundant and not to be at every turn clawing to hang on to salvation. And the baptism of the Spirit releases the power to live a holy and personally fulfilled life, pleasing to God. Victory in your personal life. That's one reason why it's called the Holy Spirit. You can look up these scriptures. I don't have time to go through them all. Number three, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a gateway to dynamic worship and praise. Let me just say to you in love and after years of just watching people now, people who have never been released in the fullness of the Holy Spirit find worship very difficult. And those who've come in to a release in that baptism of the Spirit so want to commune with God that any expression that has biblical foundation and spirit anointing is a point of rejoicing to them and not a point of contention. That's what Jesus meant when He said those who worship Me must worship Me, how? Say it, in spirit and in truth. I want to submit to you if worship is a struggle and every time you come in it's just then ask God to fill you with the Spirit of the Lord. And I could talk about prayer and Romans 8 talks about this the prayer enablement that the Holy Spirit brings. I'm not even going to focus on tongues today because tongues aren't the issue. But I do believe that if you come to God and ask Him to fill you with His Spirit you have the capacity to speak in tongues. And if you don't exercise it, it's only because of fear, pride, or perhaps ignorance that no one said you could. And I want you to know it's a whole dynamic in your life that God gives you to move in prayer. Number four, the Holy Spirit baptism is a gateway to ministry and spiritual giftedness. And I think, beloved, as I, listen, just think for some moments major, major things that are happening in the world today. They're all attended by those signs and wonders that come by spirit fullness and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Read in your Bibles, check these scriptures out. If you're struggling and don't have a ministry, are you filled with the Spirit of the Lord? Number five, the Holy Spirit baptism is a gateway to evangelism and witnessing. I've heard it said that people who've been recently saved and filled with the Holy Spirit ought to be locked up for six months before they go into the world because they're so effervescent with the things of God. And I agree that there needs to be sensitivity. But, oh, church, how many dying people did you see this week? How many times did you have a conversation with someone that was spiritually dead and you knew it and you wanted to share with them? But you couldn't. You didn't know how to make the bridge into the conversation. You weren't sure if you'd offend them. You didn't want to appear as though you were insensitive. And I want to say the Spirit of the Lord is the spirit of evangelism and witnessing. And Jesus said, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And so let me just conclude this way. Today, you may be here as one who's dry on the inside, never having been filled with the Spirit of God. You may be here as one who has become dry because you've poured out. And you need a touch. And you may be here today as one filled with the Spirit but delighting yourself more and more in the things of God. And you want refreshed in that delight. I have one question for you as we conclude. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? If you're not thirsty, you won't receive a thing. I'll tell you, that's the truth. God will not come and just land on you with both feet. I remember so well a conversation I had with someone several years ago who said these words. Now listen, this might be you today. He said, If God wants me to have that, He'll give it to me. Now, he was sincere. And I'm not saying, again, this had nothing to do with salvation. I want to say to you, Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And so as we come to a time of ministry right now, who are we coming to? Who? We're not coming to people. We're not coming to a church doctrine. We're not coming to be better than somebody. We're coming to Jesus. And we're going to come to Him and drink. And I want to say to you, I have assurance in my spirit today, beloved, that anyone who comes with an open heart and drinks. By the way, I thought of this last night. I said, Lord, what does it mean to drink? What does that mean? I mean, we know physically. And I saw a picture in my own spirit. What do you do when you take a drink? You tilt your head. Have you ever tried to drink like this? You put your head back and you take a deep, long drink. I believe that's the posture God wants us to assume today. A deep, long drink from the hands of Jesus of that living water pouring over us. Beloved, He's going to satisfy the thirst of all who come today. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I see in my spirit right now, Lord, many thirsty. Many, many thirsty today, Lord. Yearning for that river in them to spring forth and go in such great power. Father, I pray right now, You begin to stir. You begin to bring the point of conviction on every heart. That truly, indeed, I do thirst today. And I'll lay aside my doubts and my fears and my pride. And I'll drink from Your hand, Lord Jesus. Lord, in the name of God. I want you to keep your head bowed. And I'm just going to believe the Spirit of the Lord to move in these moments as we worship Him. Just keep your head bowed for just a moment, Bill. Who is here today? Right now, you want agreement in faith. I described you when I described the person that never really has been filled with the Spirit of God. If you were honest, you'd say today, Pastor, I've never really known what that means, and I want to. Just put your hand up and take it down. Honor the Word that you've given. And who is it that's here today that would say, Well, I know I'm filled with the Spirit, and I feel like I'm moving in, but today I'm thirsting for more. A delight. Let me see your hands. Bless God. Bless the name of the Lord. Oh, my Father. Jesus. Church, let's stand before the Lord. Let's just begin to worship Him together. Glory, glory, glory to the Lamb. Glory, glory, glory to the Lamb. For you are glorious and worthy to be praised. Lamb of God, we're thrilled that you will reign in righteousness forever, for all men can dwell on the earth. Oh, let the Son of God enfold you with His Spirit and His love. Let Him fill your hearts and satisfy your soul. Oh, let Him have the things that hold you and your spirit like a dog will descend upon your life and make you whole. Hallelujah. Let's all sing, Jesus, Jesus. Jesus, oh, Jesus. Come and fill your hands. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh, Jesus. Jesus, oh, Jesus. Come and fill your heart. Sing it again, Jesus, oh, Jesus. Jesus, oh, Jesus. Come and fill your heart. Oh, my heart. Jesus, oh, Jesus. Come and fill your heart. Rage the Spirit. Let's sing one more. Jesus, oh, Jesus. Come and fill your heart. Jesus, oh, Jesus. Come and fill your heart.