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June 15, 2025 Fathers Day Morning is a contiuation of the Acts study in chapter 2. Sermon notes to come.

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(John 8:30-47)

The themes of bondage and freedom run throughout the Scriptures. Salvation is often pictured as a move from bondage to freedom. Nothing is more valuable, and nothing better pictures salvation than the switch from slavery to liberty. Paul presents salvation as an allegory involving Abraham’s two sons: Ishmael born of the bondwoman Hagar and Isaac born of the free woman Sarah (Gal.4:21-5:1). One was born of a slave woman and so is perpetually in bondage to the law, while the other was born of the free woman, picturing the freedom from the law we have in Christ. Paul declares that Christians are not in bondage to the law but we are born free.

It would be good to establish what freedom is. It is not a license to sin. Freedom gives you the supernatural ability to obey and trust God. Those who practice sin are slaves to sin. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” (v.34-35)

Freedom depends on how you were born. Everybody does the deeds of their father. Like father – like son (v.41). The whole book of First John has this as a proof that you have eternal life – you behave like your father. Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.” (v.44)

If you are born of the flesh you are in bondage to the law of sin and death, but if you are born again of the Spirit, you are born free. Free from sin! “Whoever has been born of God does not sin; and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest.” (1Jn.3:9-10) Born living under the law produces sin in a person’s life; but the new birth by the Spirit produces freedom from sin and the law. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2Cor.3:17)

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“Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” (Acts 2:1)

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.” (Acts 2:17)

I was first filled with the Spirit as I was reading John R. Rice’s book The Power of Pentecost and the Fullness of the Spirit. Being a Baptist myself I thought this was strange because Rice was the ‘godfather’ of the Independent Baptists, and this book went against Baptist beliefs. I was attending Emmanuel Baptist College at the time and so I asked my professor if he agreed with Rice and he said, “Certainly not! I do think this power is for special people marked out by God as evangelists, missionaries and maybe pastors.” But this is not what Rice was saying, and it certainly is not what the Bible says. Note the texts. The fullness of the Spirit and the power of Pentecost is for all, for every born again believer. (Acts 2:38-39) Acts 10:44-48 declares, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” You can’t receive something you’ve heard nothing about. You need to say loudly, “This is for me! God has not left me out of this precious and powerful promise. The baptism with the Spirit is for me! Praise God.”

What exactly is this fullness of the Spirit the Scriptures speak of? The name tells us what it is. It is you being filled with God! Your spirit, soul, and body becomes saturated with the Holy Spirit. He fills your inside and comes upon your outside with an anointing that gives you the power of God to be like Jesus and do the things He did. It makes you more like Jesus.

People sometimes say things like, “I don’t want all that Pentecost stuff. I just want to be like Jesus.” Well, Jesus was baptized with the Holy Spirit at the River Jordan right after John baptized Him in water. Does God want every believer to be baptized in water? Yes, That’s a clear. Then God wants you to be baptized with the Holy Spirit as well, just like Jesus was. Jesus received both water baptism and Spirit baptism (Lk.3:21-22). So, if you’re going to be like Jesus you need both. We all do.

What most people mean when they say they want to be like Jesus is Mister Nice Guy. They want to have a nice life, get along with everybody, work a good job, make enough money to take care of their family, and be a good citizen and neighbor. Love thy neighbor and all that. That is their view of what Jesus was like. But is it a Scriptural view? Is that what Jesus was really like? Consider this. Is the following description of Jesus what you are talking about when you say you just want to be like Jesus? Probably not, but it is the Bible view of Him.

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Stay Connected with Grace Church!

Dive deeper into sermon notes and see how Christ is moving in our community by visiting our website: https://sites.google.com/view/gracehouseclinton/sermons

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6/1/2025

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Acts 19:1-7

This chapter will tell if you want to be a part of a New Testament church or not, or be a N.T. believer. First, let’s be clear on this – according to John 3:16 and many other Scriptures, all it takes to be saved (be forgiven and have eternal life) is to believe in Christ. Salvation is by faith alone (Eph.2:8-9). Faith in the death and resurrection of Christ will make you right with God. From the Bible, there’s no doubt about that. But there is more to believe in order to experience the full benefits of our salvation. Since Pentecost it is possible to have the Spirit in you but not have the Spirit upon you. In and upon are two different things.

There’s nothing wrong with being incomplete, unless it is a willful incompleteness. It is better to be complete. Imagine having a bicycle that has no brakes. It will get you down the road, but it is dangerous without brakes. Every bike needs brakes to be complete. Imagine having a house without a roof. That house is not bad, just incomplete. Every house needs a roof to be a complete house to live in.

You don’t want your body to be incomplete. Nothing sinful to have lost an arm or leg or an eye. It’s just better to have two arms, two legs and two eyes, to be complete. Wouldn’t you like to be complete? If you’re not, you are not at full strength. No wonder you’re always struggling if you’re incomplete spiritually; you lack the power Pentecost provides. If you’re saved but not full of the Spirit you are an incomplete believer, much like the believers at Ephesus in our text.

I. All Old Testament believers were incomplete. Before Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4 every believer, though saved, was incomplete. At Pentecost the full blessings of the death and resurrection of Christ was fully realized. Some of those blessings we have gone over in all the chapters we’ve covered leading up to this one. They include:

1. The Church was born on this day. This is Christ’s heavenly people, distinguished from Israel. God gave two visions to Abraham to say he would have numberless descendants: stars and sand. The stars represent his heavenly descendants and the sand represents his earthly children. His heavenly people are the church who will live with Him forever in the New Jerusalem. Abraham’s earthly people were incomplete without the church, and their experience was incomplete. This all changed when the Day of Pentecost had fully come.” Full salvation would be for Jews and Gentiles. Every Pentecost Sunday is a birthday celebration for the church.

2. Believers began to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Jn.14:17). Jesus said, The Holy Spirit was with them and would be in them. On this day believers became “in Christ” and Christ came into us. Remember earlier in this book I talked about the sponge being put into the bowl of water and when that happened the water came into the sponge? The water was in the sponge and the sponge was in the water. So, the Spirit came into us and upon us. This began to happen when the Day of Pentecost had fully come.

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Wednesday Evening, Rick Griffith brings an object lesson with the posed question of "How will you answer these three questions?"

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Stay Connected with Grace Church!

Dive deeper into sermon notes and see how Christ is moving in our community by visiting our website: https://sites.google.com/view/gracehouseclinton/sermons

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Selected Profound Sayings of Jesus from John 8:12-30

We have read through this section with the emphasis on Jesus confusing a lot of people. Let’s look specifically at some things He said, some of the most profound things ever uttered by Him or any other human.

1. v. 12 “I am the light of the world…” The whole world sat in darkness until Jesus came. Yes I know there was the genius of Alexander, Plato, Agustus, and even Moses and Isaiah, but they were not the light of the world, didn’t ever claim to be. But here comes this carpenter from Nazareth claiming to not only give light to the world, but to BE the light of the world! And if you don’t follow Him you walk and live in darkness! You know nothing… nothing of eternal significance. The purpose of light is to make manifest and Jesus claimed to make manifest God Himself and all eternal realities. He was the perfect man in the likeness of God.

“We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are seen are eternal.” (2Cor.4:18) Jesus makes eternal things manifest. He alone has the words of eternal life. He alone could say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Don’t get upset at those who cannot see. They can’t know because they can’t see. According to John 3 without being born again, given a new set of eyes, they cannot see and thus enter the kingdom of God. In saving a soul, God must emancipate us and enlighten us.

Even to this day, most people think Jesus worked His works and said His sayings as the divine Son of God; that is – as God. But that is not so. Jesus did everything He did and said everything He said according to what the Father told Him to do and told Him to say. Acts 10:38 tells us that in no uncertain terms. Jesus of Nazareth (a man) was anointed by the Holy Spirit and went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with Him.” Not because He was God!

Jesus is our model in ministry, whether it be speaking the word of God or doing the works of God. He was and is truly man, doing what man was created to do, bearing the likeness of God and reigning over the earth (Gen.1:26-28). To see this man was to see God. And He did this perfectly, the only one who ever has. That’s because He always did those things that pleased Him.

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