Overwhelmed by love

SERMON STARTER

          We get hung up on the notion of ritual and negative expectations when people mention being “filled with the Spirit.” I’ve often had to ask myself when some people tell me of this life-changing encounter with Jesus, “Which spirit?” Jesus told us there would be many deceivers and many being deceived in the last days. I’ve seen how churches and people have reduced salvation and the spiritual encounter with Jesus to walking the aisle and taking the preacher’s hand or speaking in tongues in an emotion-charged atmosphere.

          I served in a revival-centered church for three years, mostly at altar calls. When the respondents came to the front to answer the Call to Christ, we took them into a special room where we could interview them and pray with them. We usually divided the people into two groups: those seeking Jesus as Savior and those who were seeking the deeper spiritual experience.

          After one altar call, I came to one of the seeker groups where a huddle of prayer counselors were trying to get a man to “speak in tongues” in order to show the evidence he was being filled with the spirit. I was acting as a supervisor that Sunday, so I cut through the huddle and asked the man if he knew what was happening. He said he wasn’t sure. The pastor had invited him to the altar area and he responded to the pastor’s call. I then asked him if he had received Jesus as his personal savior and Lord of his life. He said he hadn’t, so I showed him the Gospel and prayed with him to receive Christ.

          Out of the man’s earshot, I instructed the novices in the huddle group that you ALWAYS ask people why they have responded to the altar call before you attempt any spiritual ministry with them. This sermon explores the idea of getting first things first as you approach Jesus concerning His Overwhelming Love.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION:

          The son of a dirt poor farmer in the rural south, a young pastor preached at four Pentecostal Holiness churches, while supporting himself picking cotton. He married his wife, Evelyn, and set out to lead his first revival at 23. The young man felt too restricted by the confines of a local church. He felt that all people needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus and be allowed to respond.

          The young Pentecostal preacher took all his savings and rented a building in a nearby town. He held a revival and took the offerings from that effort and rented another auditorium in another town. He did this over and over across the Bible Belt. Finally, he advanced to tents. He had a unique concept of believing that everyone deserved to be prayed over by the evangelist personally.

          He devised a healing line and after preaching he stood over the people who passed below him as he touched and prayed over each one. The preacher insisted that each person was entitled to healing prayer and he did it personally for hours and hours until everyone had received prayer.

          He was the pioneer who brought the healing Gospel message to television. I remember in the mid-fifties seeing his tent revivals and his healing lines. The preacher with fire in his eyes and love in his heart, challenged a nation and more than two generations to respond to the Call of Christ. The University he founded has more than 37,000 alumni. He probably, more than any other individual, was responsible for the Charismatic Revival of the 60’s and 70’s.

          On Tuesday, December 20th ORAL ROBERTS went home to be with the Lord he loved and served. He was a man that was overwhelmed by Jesus’ Love. http://www.bittenandbound.com/2009/12/15/oral-roberts-1918-2009-photos-video/

 

 

 

 

February 14, 2010 - Sheepfold Ministries

pastor Phil Roland

Overwhelmed by love

Luke 24:36-53

"And behold, I send the Promise of the Father unto you: But tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with Power from on High."    v.49

"And I have declared unto them Your Name, that the love wherewith you have loved Me may be in them, and I in them."                                     John 17:26

 

SYNONYMS:

The Promise of the Father

Filled with the Spirit

Baptized with the Holy Spirit

Spirit-Filled

 

Deut. 11:13-15 – “'And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14  'then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

15  'And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’”                                    

James 5:7,8

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

8  You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

Hosea 6:3    

“Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.”

John 15:9

“"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”

Prov. 16:15

“In the light of the king's face is life, And his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain.”

John 17:26

"And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Zechariah 10:1

“Ask the LORD for rain In the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.”

 

RAIN AS AN ANALOGY:

Falls downwards  /  Brings life wherever it falls

Falls on Deserving and Undeserving  /  Refreshes and Restores

Cleans and Revitalizes (Purges)  /  Quenches Thirst

 

OVERWHELMED BY LOVE, cont., p.2

 

Four Preconditions to being Overwhelmed By Love:

I.  HEAR AND UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL - v.45

    “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the

       Scriptures.”

          A. The Message of God’s Love Must be Heard – Romans 10:17

                 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

          B. There must be an Understanding of the Gospel

                        1. Must be an Awareness of Personal Need

                        2. Must have a Positive Regard for the Good News

                                    a. Eg. Tearful lady leaving the church, shaking head

                                    b. Eg. Man tired of leaving church feeling like a sinner

                        3. Make a Decision to Act

                                    a. Eg. 60’s chorus: “I have decided to follow Jesus. . .”

                                    b. Decision Involves the Will / Volition / Drive

 

II.  REPENT FROM SIN – v. 47

    "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to

      all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

          A. Deep Introspective Self-Examination

                        1. Learning to Think Differently about Self and World

                        2. Discarding old Virtues and Values

                            “The things I once loved I now hate, and the things I now hate I                                      once loved”

                        3. Albert Einstein Quote:

                             “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking

                               we used when we created them.”

            B. Twelve Step Movement’s Fourth Step

                        1. Structured and Applied Repentance

                        2. DECIDED to do a fearless Self-Inventory of all my flaws, sins                   and defects of character. . .

            C. Repentance at Peter’s Pentecost Sermon – Acts 2:37

            “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter                     and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

            D. Paul and Silas with the Philippian Jailer - Acts 16:30,31

               “And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be

                 saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you

                 will be saved, you and your household."

 

III.  RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SIN – v. 47                      

     "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to

        all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

A. Imperative that you Receive G-d’s Forgiveness

            1. Must Allow God to Forgive You

            2. The Power of Change is in Forgiveness

B. Three Areas You Must Forgive as a Result of Repentance

            1. Forgive Yourself

                           “If you cannot forgive yourself, you have never repented initially”

OVERWHELMED BY LOVE, cont., p.3

 

            2. Forgive Others – Mark 11:23-26

                          “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone,                             forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your

                            sins."

            3. Forgive G-d Any Perceived Injustices

C. Receiving Forgiveness is Making Peace w/ Self, God and Mankind

 

IV.  WITNESS TO THE GOSPEL - v.48

      “"And you are witnesses of these things.”

                A. Witness = MAR-TUR-IOUS = “Martyr”

               ”Able to give the testimony to the point of death”

            B.  Witness to what is Seen and Heard - 1 John 1:2,3

               “the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and                             declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was

                manifested to us; that which we have seen and heard we declare to you,”

          C. Gospel Message is Simple - 1 Corinthians 15:1-10

                 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:

                  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he                           was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the

                  Scriptures,”

                        1. Christ died for our sins - v. 3 - Atonement - “Yum Kippur”

                        2. Buried and Raised on Third Day - v. 4

                        3. Resurrected, Appeared to Peter, Disciples and 500 - v. 5,6

                        4. Appeared to Paul - v.8

                        5. Jesus’ Gospel Calls by His Grace the Unworthy - vs. 9,10

 

 

 

Overwhelmed by love, Text:

LUKE 24:36-53

36  Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you."

37  But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.

38  And He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?

39  "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."

40  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

41  But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?"

42  So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.

43  And He took it and ate in their presence.

44  Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."

45  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

46  Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

47  "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48  "And you are witnesses of these things.

 

Overwhelmed by Love, cont.

 

49  "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

50  And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.

51  Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.

52  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

53  and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.