New Covenant - the Gifts of the Spirit -Part 3

Now, remember this. This was a particular time when he was sending them out only within the borders of Israel because the time had not yet come to reach out to the rest of the world. That would come after the Day of Pentecost.

So he said to them, now this is not the time to go to the Gentiles, verse 5, or to the Samaritans. Now only to Israel. First, we want to give these fellows an opportunity to hear the word.

The Gospel is preached to the Jew first and then to the others. And the Jews rejected it. Then Jesus said, OK, now, in Acts chapter 1, he said, now you will be witnesses to the outermost parts of the earth.

So for those, that period of time, before the Day of Pentecost, he told them to go only to the Jews. And he said, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons and various things there. Now what I want you to notice is that these people were given authority to go and preach the Gospel.

The Gospel would be confirmed by these signs. Now, it's not the Gospel we preach today. They were not preaching Christ died for your sins like we preach today.

But we can see here a picture of what became completely fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. So what happened on the Day of Pentecost? The Holy Spirit came upon his disciples and they got power to be the witnesses of Jesus under the outermost parts of the earth. Now that's what we want to look at.

New covenant ministry that began on the Day of Pentecost. In Mark chapter 9, verse 1, the coming of the Holy Spirit is described like this. It's described in many ways.

In Mark chapter 9, verse 1, the coming of the Holy Spirit is described as the kingdom of God coming with power. The coming of the Holy Spirit was the coming of God's rule on earth. It didn't mean he ruled the whole earth, but he ruled 120 people.

The fire of God came and filled 120 people. The kingdom of God means the rule of God. The sphere in which God rules is called the kingdom of God.

Today we don't use the word kingdom so much. We talk about government. We don't talk about the kingdom of India.

In the old British Raj days they did that. Now we say the government of India. The area where India governs.

The kingdom of God is the area where God governs. Where he rules. And you know whether you're a part of God's kingdom by just asking yourself whether God rules your life.

It's very simple. That's all there is to the kingdom of God. It's the sphere.

For example, you go to Sri Lanka. Indian government has no power there. Whatever rules you have here don't apply there.

But everyone who lives within this country comes under the rulership of the government of India. There can be rebels in this country like Naxalites and terrorists. A lot of Christians behave like that who say they are part of the kingdom of God.

But the real citizens of God's kingdom are those who have God's rule over their life completely. Please remember that. So on that day the Holy Spirit came and gave them gifts.

So I want you to turn to Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 and see what happened there. In Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 the coming of the Holy Spirit. Before that I want you to see Acts 1 verse 1. Now Acts 1 verse 1. The book of Acts by the way was written by Luke.

And we know that he wrote the gospel of Luke as well. We can say this is the second book of Luke. First book of Luke and the second book of Luke.

The first is about Jesus' life and the second is about the disciples, mostly Paul. Because Luke was a very close co-worker and follower, a traveler with Paul. So Luke wrote two books, the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

And he refers to the gospel which is describing the whole life of Jesus from the time of his birth to the time of his death and resurrection and ascension. How does he describe it? In Acts 1 verse 1 he says, The first account, or what we know as the gospel of Luke, I composed, O Theophilus, that one is also written to Theophilus, which means just friend of God, about all that... Now notice how he describes his gospel. All that Jesus began to do and teach.

That's how he describes the gospel of Luke. All that Jesus began to do and teach. So, using your simple sense of logic, what do you think Acts of the Apostles is about? All that Jesus continued to do and teach.

That's the Acts of the Apostles. The gospel is all that Jesus began to do and teach in his physical body. The Acts is all that Jesus continued to do and teach through his spiritual body.

In both cases it is Jesus doing and teaching. There with his physical body, here with a number of people who are his spiritual body. And then we come to Acts chapter 2. We must keep that in mind when we read Acts of the Apostles and say, because Acts of the Apostles, that first verse, and what follows on from that, it would describe the entire new covenant period.

What are we supposed to do today? Jesus wants to continue to do and teach what he did in Nazareth and in Palestine, in Israel 2,000 years ago. He wants to continue to do and teach through you and me. It's Jesus continuing to do and teach through you and me.

I want that in my life. I want to treat other people the way when I deal with people, I want Jesus to do something for them through me. I want Jesus to speak through my lips.

He can speak through your lips. You must believe it. Okay.

Now in Acts chapter 2, it says when the Holy Spirit was poured, Peter describes it like this. In the last days, verse 17, I'll pour out my spirit on all mankind. This didn't happen in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came on one person here, one person there, sometimes hundreds of years apart. The Spirit was on Moses and then the Spirit was on Joshua. And then we wait a long... And then in the book of Judges, the Spirit was on Samson, then on Samuel, then on King Saul, and David, Elijah, Elisha, and the different prophets, Isaiah onwards.

But it is only on a few individuals. Everyone didn't have the Holy Spirit. And now it says everyone, all mankind, every single person can have the same Holy Spirit that came upon Elijah and Elisha and John the Baptist and... Do you know that? I mean, you won't have the same ministry.

But it is the same power to do the ministry which God has called you to do. Well, you know that Samuel and John the Baptist didn't have the same ministry. Elijah did so many miracles, John the Baptist did none.

Yet they have the same spirit. In fact, the Holy Spirit told Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, your son is going to have the spirit of Elijah. Amazing.

And yet Elijah did so many miracles, including raising the dead, and John the Baptist didn't even do one. Can two people have the same spirit and one do so many miracles and the other do none? Yes. And Elijah and John the Baptist are the most classic examples of that.

It's not a question of ministry. Same spirit doing different ministries. The same spirit that was in Elijah was in John the Baptist.

He did miracles through Elijah, but he prepared the way for Jesus through John the Baptist. So today the Holy Spirit can be on two believers, and through one person he may do miracles like he does through Elijah, and through another person he may just prepare people to live a holy life. And just by the way, Jesus said John the Baptist was greater than Elijah.

That means the one who prophesied and proclaimed God's word and prepared God's people for the coming of Christ was greater than the one who did so many miracles and brought fire down from heaven and raised the dead. I don't think many Christians understand that.