His Story is Our Story - a podcast by Patricia Holland Sharing Inspirational Stories For Everyday Life
from 2020-06-03T14:10:36
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“And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
Does that verse excite you?
Does it inspire you…does it make you want to see the sick healed? Does it make you hungry for miracles? How it affects you will depend on how you read it.
In preparation to talk to you about Pentecost I looked at Robert P. Menzies’ book Pentecost This Story is Our Story.
At the very get go a quote absolutely seized my heart “The hermeneutic of the typical Pentecostal believer is straight-forward and simple: the stories in Acts are my stories—stories that were written to serve as models for shaping my life and experience.”
Did you see that?
“stories that were written to serve as models for shaping my life and experience.”
How do I read the gospels and Acts?
Do I believe His story should be my story? Of course, I do. I should love people, do good things, but do I limit that to only the ones that I can do in my strength and ability?
Am I content to leave His miracles locked inside the pages of a book on my shelf?
I want to ask you the same question, how do YOU read the Gospels and Acts?
More specifically how do you read Acts 10:38?
“And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
Do you read it only as an accurate recording of a historical event?
If you do then you walk away informed, but powerless.
My granddaughter Ashlyn and I decided to take a walk. She encouraged me to take my camera. I explained that we were going to stay in the neighborhood and there was nothing to take a picture of in the neighborhood. When she insisted I agreed, but only if she agreed to show me what was beautiful enough to capture as a picture.
I was amazed by what I saw. How had I missed the beauty? A mailbox with ornate iron work. The fountain in the pond at the entrance of the subdivision. The stately oaks adorned with moss. The radiant red roses. I saw things in my neighborhood that I had stopped seeing years ago. Some of the things she showed me I had NEVER noticed.
Sometimes we read Scripture the same way I rode through my neighborhood.
When we do that we miss some really important stuff. If we read the gospels only as historical events, then we can miss truths that will build our faith and equip us to do what God has called us to do.
Dear friend, I want to caution you.
If you read the gospels and Acts only as historical events it will impress you, but never impregnate you.
It will excite you, but it has no strength to empower you.
It can inform you, but it has no compass to steer you.
It’s only when you read HIS story as your story, as the model for what God wants every believer to do, does it activate your faith.
Like my friend Cindy.
She was on a mission’s trip. The team were going to the city dump, where lots of children lived, to hand out sandwiches. She helped make the sandwiches and even used the ends of the loaf so there would be enough sandwiches for every child. She counted the sandwiches, but more children showed up than they expected. She knew there wasn’t enough sandwiches for everyone. They prayed over the sandwiches and when they passed them out, every child got a sandwich. No one will ever convince Cindy that God didn’t multiply those sandwiches.
Cindy and that team understood the reality of partnering with Jesus to do beyond what they could do. Without fanfare they simply saw the story of Jesus with a few fish and bread as their story. I believe my friend Cindy was doing Acts 10:38 When we believe His story is our story, we will do the works of Jesus.
Do His stories serve as models for shaping your life and experience?
I think they should for many reasons, John 14:12 is one of those reasons.
John 14:12 NLT “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
But Jesus didn’t stop there, He continued the conversation by reminding them that He was going to send Precious Holy Spirit.
John 14:15 NLT“If you love me, obey commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
And He came. Just like Jesus promised. All the excitement caused quite an uproar!
A crowd gathered and just like some people today, there were people there that tried to explain it away.
Acts 2:14 says
14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:
17‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike—
and they will prophesy.
21But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD
will be saved.’
22“People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip
33Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today
36“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”37Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”38Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God”
41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.
St. Augustine explains this event: “He was now to come no longer as a transient Visitor, but as an eternal inhabitant.”
Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke “the gifts of the Spirit are not badges of honor; they are tools for the job.”
What job?
To do what Jesus did… Matthew 28:19,20 explains that job is for us to “make disciples”
“And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
Jack Hayford
Jesus is the prototype of the Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered life. The Book of Acts is the story of the disciples receiving what Jesus received in order to do what Jesus did.
We simply need what Jesus had to do what Jesus did and that my dear friend was and is Precious Holy Spirit.
Jesus came to redeem us from our sins. Precious Holy Spirit came to empower us to make disciples.
Like he did a dear African American sister that I watched in the mall. An elderly woman had passed out and slumped from her daughter’s arm and onto the floor. This stranger, I call her my sister because I saw Jesus in her actions, that means we are sisters. (We are all made in God's image, but we must be born into His family.)This lady knelt beside the two women and gently and graciously soothed the daughter then began to pray for the mother. I don’t know this sister, but I could tell by her actions that she believed His story was her story.
That’s just what we do when His story is our story.
We care for people. We pray for the sick. We expect signs and wonders. We expect God to answer prayers. We believe for miracles! My dear sister was walking out Acts 10:38.
Is His story your story?
It can be…receive Precious Holy Spirit…His power and release it through acts of obedience.
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