After dinner, however, the mood shifts. Jesus took another cup, symbolic of the new covenant they were about to enter into between God and man. “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you…I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom comes to earth.” Last week we learned the depth of what those words meant, now we know that 50 days later at Pentecost, the Kingdom of God came to earth in the form of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist had told his followers, “There is one coming after me…who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” In the upper room of Acts 2, 120 faithful followers were filled with the Spirit of Jesus and begin to proclaim in other tongues the glory of God’s kingdom. Thus, the Kingdom is within us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are building His kingdom here on earth! It is now within our grasp, as we pray His will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.

In Luke 5, we read these words of Christ: “You don’t put wine in old wineskins; you get new wineskins for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine.” A wineskin was the scraped-out hide of a sheep or goat. The reason new wine needed to go into new skins was that the fermentation process was so strong, the skins had to be able to expand to hold it all in. New skins were pliable, soft, like our hearts need to be. We can always stretch out some more when we are being filled anew every day with the Holy Spirit! The symbolism of the Cup of the Covenant is a fresh touch from Jesus on our lives and hearts, the fermenting of our dreams & visions swirling around and being made reality. “I have to go so my Spirit can come live in you”, He said to those who begged Him to stay. We are the vessels that the wine is being poured into. It’s so easy to get stuck in the “once upon a time” experience. Old wineskins could be made pliable again by being immersed in oil – God doesn’t want the vessel (us) to burst or break from His new; wine of dreams & visions for our lives! Make it a priority to empty ourselves of what the Lord has given us so we can be filled with the next new thing He has for us. Be ready to live new experiences; God is going to challenge our mindsets and wants to change us to become bigger in all areas of our lives. Being filled with the Spirit means getting fresh vision, dreams that bring us joy, and not allowing our hearts to harden for any reason. When we keep our vessel full of the new wine of what the Spirit is calling us onward to do, we will find our dreams fulfilled, as Christ’s were after he drank from the Cup of the Covenant and did what His Father had called Him to do for the coming of the Kingdom. Come unafraid to the altar for a fresh touch, fresh oil and new wine!

Verses Used:
*Luke 22:17-20
*Matthew 3:11
*Acts 2:1-41
*Luke 5:33-39
*John 14:16-17

There are four instances in the Bible where “The Cup” is discussed:
1) The Cup of Water which represents Compassion
2) The Cup of Greed and Selfishness
3) The Cup of Sorrow and Suffering
4) The Cup of the Covenant

Each will be discussed in turn throughout the course of this series. Today, we will be looking at the Cup of Water. The Cup of Water is the manifestation of our faith. All too often, people come to church to get the experience without ever moving forward into a deeper relationship with God. The concept of the Cup of Water is where the challenge arises. Will you go beyond yourself to offer the water to others?

The Water is all that God has done in your life. You know what happens to water when it sits in a cup? It goes stale and grows mold and is undrinkable. Cups of Water are meant to be poured out. How do you pour out the water? You help others. Luke 10 paints a beautiful picture of how to give the Cup of Water. Luke 10 is the story of the Good Samaritan, and we all know the story. Poor man gets beaten up; twice he is passed by BY A PRIEST AND A PRIEST’S ASSISTENT!!! Yet, a man who is considered the enemy, stops and helps the beaten man. He sacrifices his time and resources to aid a man in need. That is giving the Cup of Water.

Now, you may be thinking, “I don’t have those kinds of resources!” You have something, right? You may not be living your best life, but you are living. And the life you are living is desperately needed by those who are dying around you. Reach out. Help out! Pour out. Give your Cup, great or small, and watch as God’s water changes lives.

Verses Used:
Matthew 10
Luke 10

Up until this time in Acts, Peter and John had only been water baptised. Water baptism is only one step in the process. The second and continual experience is being filled with the Holy Spirit. Everytime the leaders got together, they were again filled with the Holy Spirit. After they were filled, they then laid hands on others for them to receive the Holy Spirit. Believers in Jerusalem were growing in number and meeting daily until the believers scattered due to increasing persecution–culminating in the stoning of Stephen.

Philip, a deacon in the church, went to Samaria, and there, he began preaching about Jesus. A revival started as a result! Soon, John and Peter came to see all that God was doing and to help. Now, some people today claim that miracles could only be from apostles, but here was Philip, a deacon, performing miracles! He started as a servant, giving food to the widows, until God promoted him. Peter and John served as overseers over the movement, including Samaria. Philip could have gone back with Peter and John to Jerusalem, but God lead him to the desert. God is into accountability. There is freedom in oversight; Peter and John told him to follow God’s leading. God wants to release people within boundaries and structure. It is how the church works.

Philip does not flinch at God’s leading. He sees a caravan in desert as he is walking. The second in command in Ethiopia was a Proselyte Jew returning from pilgrimage to Jerusalem. By now, Jerusalem was in turmoil, the 25 thousand believers meeting daily only to suddenly stop following the stoning of Stephen. The Ethiopian man came there during that time. The man did not know anything about Jesus. He did not know the “people of the way.” The Holy Spirit told Philip to go up and talk to him. He invites Philip into the chariot. The man was reading Isaiah, and Philip shows Jesus to him in the scriptures. The Ethiopian asks to be water baptized. There are Ethiopians today who can trace there lineage and faith back to this scene, all because of Philip heeding the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit told Philip to do things he did not know how to do. We are a church of the Holy Spirit. When we heed the Holy Spirit, we never know what God will do through it.

Next, it’s important to realize that our souls are birthed at conception, and the being which is created at that point never dies. Our conceived beings are eternal, as we are made in the image of God, and He is eternal! So when the horrible happens and a child, born or unborn, dies, we can take comfort in knowing that God receives them and that their names are written in the Book of Life, burning brightly as innocents. As we age, when we turn to the Lord, again our names are bright lights in that book as we become more like Christ and want to make His name higher than ours. Those who continue to turn away from the Holy Spirit’s promptings will find their names fade from that book, if they choose not to reach out to what God is offering them. Our name is a vital component of who we are, and, in Proverbs, we find out that “a good name is better than great wealth” – Prov. 22. Your name is your calling card, for good or bad, and for all eternity.

The Holy Spirit is God on the earth today, and it is HIS job, not ours, to convict all men of sin, to comfort, and to bring understanding as we continue to search out what God is saying to us individually. In the Old Testament, God the Father spoke to the men of that time, and the Holy Spirit instructed the prophets what to say to the people of Israel & Judah. Then, for 33 years, Jesus was God the Son on the earth, showing us what God looks, acts, and sounds like. He had to die, not only for the sins of man, but to release the Holy Spirit to empower men, women, and children to have the authority we are talking about. Our authority comes from living in Christ and being filled with the Spirit! Remember how important that is! Even our impossible situations can be fixed up and made BETTER by God’s miracle-working power when we know who we are and what we have. In 1906, people were for revival in the country of Wales, UK, and in the city of Los Angeles; now, as a result of their prayers, over 1 billion Pentecostals filled with the Spirit are in the world today! We must look up to heaven, position ourselves in alignment with God’s Word, and realize that in every situation, God is bigger, more powerful, more abundant, and “able to do exceedingly more than we ask or think” – Ephesians 3.

We have been exploring the topic of who we are in Christ. We have authority in Christ. We have authority to do greater works in Jesus than He himself did. We have authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. We have authority to speak God’s word into existence. We have authority to teach all the nations.

Authority is powerful. It is something given to you – given from a source over or above you. When you are at work, your boss gives authority; he gives you access. When you start operating in that authority, you become so integral to the work, that you end up having more power over that process than the boss who gave you that authority. Jesus said to his disciples, “I’m leaving, but I am leaving you the Holy Spirit.” God has given us access to His power. He has given it, or delegated it to us. We need to step into that position and move within that power. He had all authority and He gave it to us. He said we could do greater things then He did, IF we live and walk in that authority.

Matthew 18:18-20: “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” We have been given the authority to open and close things, to bind or loose them, and to unlock or shut them in the context of prayer. We use this authority for when a breakthrough is needed. We are loosing the will of God on earth. The Kingdom of God is bigger than us. God’s will is bigger and more powerful then the world’s will. Jesus was talking about prayer and faith, about standing on the Word of God in authority. It can change the course of human life. Words are powerful. In authority, words can change the course of human life; they become potent. It is like having a nuclear device in the world of the Spirit.

Mark 16: 17: And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues. These miraculous signs will follow those who believe: healing and casting out demons. You have the POWER of the Holy Spirit in you! Don’t live in first gear when you have a V8 engine inside! In authority, we can bridge the natural and supernatural! Jesus spent so much time in prayer, He knew the heart of the Father. All the perfection of heaven can heal the broken. In those times that you need to stir the faith and soul again, go back to a time in your life when the will of heaven and the will of earth collided, and in God – everything aligned. See that time, visualize it, and find the confidence and authority in Christ.

Last week, when I asked you to pray for one another, I saw some of you get right up & pray, knowing that you were able to lay hands on those around you and expect healing to occur. I saw that it was hard for others, and some of you folded your arms & looked at me like, “I am not qualified to do that!” We need to realize who we are and what we have as believers, to focus on the power that each of us can tap into through Christ. The pastor of any church is not better, more spiritual, nor worse than any of his congregation. We are all ministers of God’s power in our world. There are many days when Jill & I do not feel qualified to do all the things that God has us doing – Pastor Phil Pringle prays starting at 5:30 every morning. I can’t do that! I need coffee to get going, and then I do what the Lord has asked me to do for that day. Each of us, according to the verse in Romans, have been made right in God’s sight by faith; we have peace with God because of Jesus’ death, as we talked about on Easter. Read the 2nd verse – we can confidently & joyfully share the power of God that has changed us with those in the marketplace. We are all righteous enough to lay hands on others, we are all filled with the same Holy Spirit. We transfer whatever is in us to others. Nothing imperfect can come into God’s presence. That’s why when we’ve been forgiven of our sins! We are all “made right in God’s sight by faith” as it says in verse 1 above.

Take the opportunities God gives when He gives them – it is easier than we think! God WANTS to use us, His people! Let the Holy Spirit stir you to enact your faith – don’t freak out! Laying on of hands is a point of contact and a transfer happens when we decide we can allow God to use us as conduits of His power. There is often self-doubt when God is starting this process in us. We never feel good enough, we know our own sins & lack of spirituality – but it’s not about US, it’s about GOD in us! Don’t disqualify yourselves or others for Christian/spiritual service. The Apostle Paul said, “My confidence isn’t in me, it’s in Christ & the anointing on my life.” Read about Paul’s early years before he got saved – he was not the best guy around!

Lead out of anointing and faith in God, not out of gifts we’ve been given. God gets on our heart, not our natural gifts; He enhances & anoints anything we offer back to Him, confident that He will use it through us. When we are called upon to do something outside our natural ability, we have faith that God will come through. Build on the basics and we come into a “zone of favor” that we couldn’t do on our own. God opens doors for us, no matter how bad we used to be, no matter what we have done. None of us is worse than anyone else because Jesus is the Great Equalizer, and in God’s eyes, we are all cleaned up & ready for new life when we accept Christ into our hearts and begin to live with simple faith, simple confidence. Ephesians 2:6 – “For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” When we allow faith to lead us and believe that God is in us, we have that confidence to simply obey when the moment arises for us to act when God prompts us to reach out to someone. We were dead until we met Jesus, now life & resurrection impregnate us! The next time you are called upon to lay hands on someone, remember who you are and what you have – you CAN pray for those in your world! God is working through all of us, what a change that will make in the marketplace!

1 Corinthians 3:10-11 (NLT): By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:16 (NLT): He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

You’ve heard it said that we are clay in the potter’s hands. Well, we are also the bricks in the builder’s hands. Have you ever watched a brick-layer lay bricks? It is very interesting. The brick-lay will pick up one brick, and put it back down, just o pick up another brick, and put it in the wall where the next brick is needed. Why does he do this? Because he knows which brick goes where. To the average human eye, each brick looks the same, but the brick-layer can feel in his hand, if a brick fits perfectly or not. He knows if a brick goes in a certain spot or not. Each brick has a place, but not all bricks fit together. The brick-layer knows which one goes where… he just knows.

God is the brick-layer and the brick-maker in our lives. We each have to go through the fire, and be laid out in the sun for us to be used. We get refined through the fire, and we get hardened, strengthened when we are laid out in the sun. We come to Jesus as wet, messy blobs. He shapes us into bricks, each one of us look the same on the outside, but no two are the same when shaped by his hands. As we allow God to form us, he then can use us. While every hand-made brick is different, they all fit together somehow. God forms us, then he puts us together, right where each of us belong.

Romans 10:1-15 (NLT): Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Why did Christianity reach the whole world when there were thousands of different religions vying for attention? Why did the message and truth of Jesus travel to the ends of the earth? One word: FAITH! Faith is believing without seeing. Faith is enough to transform your life and the lives of all of those around you! When you believe in your heart and confess with your words that Jesus is Lord and that He was raised from the dead, you are saved and you move from confessing faith to LIVING in faith.

This transformation is something that the world and the religious despise. Jesus warned His disciples to “beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod.” What He meant was “Beware the mindset of religion and of the world.” The religious mindset casts doubt on faith and replaces grace with works. The world’s mindset turns the focus from God to self and ridicule any who profess to believe in things unseen. Both attack the faithful; one from the outside, one from the inside.

Yet Faith has the transforming power to change us, bringing us to a place where the mockings of the world or the doubts of the religious do not bother us. We simple do not care, for we have faith in God, who is greater than all things. This transforming power of faith is rouses the misdirected zeal that Paul talks about in Romans 10. You see, the religious and the worldly were not much bothered by this new religion. It was when the lost were drawn to the transforming power of faith that the two groups became angry. Paul was witness to this event time and time again in his travels, yet he never stopped, for he knew that FAITH was stronger.

Faith is more powerful than doubt and self. Faith is the power to transform. Faith brings us closer to God. A few men and women of faith changed the world!

Faith is enough.

When we deal with spiritual warfare, if we don’t understand what we’ve been given, it is difficult to carry out our lives the way God intended us to.

The reality is everything changed when the cross came. The spirit realm changed and we now win every time. We can never lose because God lives inside of us. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us and movies in our lives.

When we accept God and allow Him to move and breathe in our lives, just as He did in Jesus, we are set free from that old dead life of defeat. When we realize God is already there and is already working and has already won, there is no room for worrying about the devil.

God is continuously working and is always there. We are living our lives trying to collide with the river that is already flowing.

Grab hold of this truth that is in the Bible and know that we are winners every time. The devil cannot win and will not win. We are victorious in every situation through Christ.

Galatians 2:20 (NLT): My old self has been crucified with Christ.It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The House of God is a place to come to be refreshed. It is a place where the Holy Spirit moves; to convict where conviction is needed; to bring change where needed; and to refresh the believers. When we make room for the Spirit, He moves on our behalf.

There are four aspects of the House where one can encounter God and His Spirit:
–Fellowship: God moves in friendship; no one can truly survive the trials of life alone, we need friends to walk beside us and hold us up.
–Worship: We encounter God in worship. The worship leaders worship; they lead us into worship, and it is there that we encounter God.
–The Word: the Word is preached in this church. No matter who is speaking, they are speaking from the Word. The seed is scattered, and when it hits your heart and takes root, your world will change.
–The Alter: The supernatural happens on the alter. Healing, repentance, freed–it all happens here.

Now, the Spirit of God empowered Jesus. Wherever Jesus went, the Spirit went with Him. W have a spirit in us–upon conception, something eternal was created in the physical. It is part of being made in the image of God. That spirit part is the part that will never die. The human body will die, but the spirit will live on. When we are born in the physical, we are born into a fallen world; God waits for us to come to Him for a rebirth into the supernatural. This happens upon accepting Jesus’ sacrifice. When we come to that point, we encounter the Holy Spirit and are filled with Him!

Jesus was reunited with the Holy Spirit upon His baptism. From then on, Jesus and the Holy Spirit worked hand in hand to reach the World. Jesus would withdraw to pray. He, The Holy Spirit, and God would be one for a little while, then Jesus would return to perform the miracles growing inside of Him. The Holy Spirit would work through Him to change people’s lives. And when Jesus died the physical death on the cross, it was the Spirit that brought Him back three days later.

Then, in John 20:22, Jesus imparted the Spirit to His disciples. It was like receiving a new toy; they weren’t certain what to do with it, but they went for it anyway! They followed Jesus example: they went to pray. And when they prayed, the Spirit showed up! (The Spirit is in us; the Spirit fills the room around us.) Then, Peter–the disciple known for sticking his foot in his mouth–stood and preached! He was a fisherman! yet, when the Spirit came upon him, he did something he had never done before–he spoke with power, eloquence, authority, and theological accuracy! When the Spirit comes upon you, you do things you never would have done before! And what’s more, Peter already had boldness; the Spirit used his boldness to bring honor and glory to God! The Spirit takes what you already have and magnifies it for use in the Kingdom! He takes you into things you’ve never done and uses the gifts you already have! It is all for the benefit of the Kingdom!

The Holy Spirit is powerful! And He empowers us to perform miracles! He is in us! In every aspect of who we are. Paul said it in Galatians. It is no longer we who live, but Christ’s SPIRIT lives in us. He is in our hands, our minds, our hearts, and our feet. Where we go, He goes. And where the Spirit goes, there is also freedom! The Spirit brings freedom.