Open Door Fellowship
Pentecostal Church of God, Bland Mo. 65066
Full Gospel Ministry in Song and Word
Pastor Rev. Steven Wagner Telephone: 573-437-5190
Rt 3, Owensville MO. 65066 Date: 4/26/98
THE LOST PROMISE AND THE FORGOTTEN PROMISE
Scripture: Luke 24:36-49, ACTS 1:13,14
(Luke 24:49 KJV) And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
(Acts 1:13 KJV) And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
(Acts 1:14 KJV) These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
(Acts 2:1 KJV) And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
a. Very important verse, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come". You have to be seeking and praying when God gets ready to move, to fulfill His will and plan.
(Acts 2:2 KJV) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
(Acts 2:3 KJV) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
(Acts 2:4 KJV) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
I. The Lost Promise
A. This was the promise that God had told the disciples about in Luke.
(Luke 24:49 KJV) And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
a. This was the promise of the Father spoke about in John 14,15,16
b. Look at what this promise was all about. (Read the Scriptures)
B. God sent the Holy Spirit to take the place of Himself being here until He comes again.
a. This mean He was not going to leave us alone or comfortless.
(John 14:18 KJV) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
b. He was saying in verse 17 of this chapter the Holy Spirit will be our comforter until He comes back, but will continue to always dwell within us.
c. He also says that the comforter will give us the power and ability to carry out the work that Jesus started through us the Church.
C. This was the promise of the Father that was talked about in Acts 1:8 and the power promised to carry out the work of Jesus Christ.
a. But to receive this great promise that was being promised to the disciples of Christ they had to be in a place to receive it.
1. A place that Jesus Christ was telling them to be. Not where they wanted to be, or where they thought they ought to be but in the exact location that Jesus Christ told them to be.
2. They had to be seeking the way Jesus told them they must seek to receive it. They had to do it Gods way, not there way. If they didn’t do it Gods way then they would not receive it.
3. They had to have faith that it was coming. That what Jesus had told them was going to come to pass.
4. They had to have a desire to receive it.
5. They had to have courage to receive it. It was dangerous to pray in Jesus name in that day.
6. They had to be willing to give up their own time, lives, to receive it. They had to make time in their lives to receive it.
7. They had to look beyond their own problems, weariness, doubt. They had just had their whole world turned upside down. Everything they had believed in was just crucified on the cross. They had to look through the attack of Satan and see the big picture.
D. They did what they had to do, because they wanted what Jesus Christ had for them and they received the promise.
E. Today we are still claiming the promise, talking about the promise of the Holy Spirit, but instead of allowing the Spirit to do the work in us, so that we can do the work of Christ, we have made the Holy Spirit a kind of mascot we hang on out Churches and lives.
a. We brag about being Pentecostals because we have the Holy Spirit, but we just hang it on our church like a trophy, we don’t use the promise of the Father anymore.
b. The promise was for a Church that was on fire for God, and was going out into the world to preach the Gospel to the lost.
c. It was for a church that had all things in common, and had a common goal in life to serve Christ. Read Acts 2:42-47
THIS IS THE LOST PROMISE
BECAUSE WE HAVE LOST THIS PROMISE WE HAVE FORGOT THE NEXT PROMISE
II. THE FORGOTTEN PROMISE (THIS IS REALLY THE PROMISE THAT GOD IS TRYING TO GET US READY FOR IN THE DAY WE ARE LIVING)
A. Many times the next promise has been mixed up with the first promise, but they are different promises, even though there is some of the second promise mixed in with the first promise.
a. The reason for this is it is the same person of the Holy Trinity that performs both promises.
b. What is this promise?
(Joel 2:28 KJV) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
(Joel 2:29 KJV) And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
(Joel 2:30 KJV) And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
(Joel 2:31 KJV) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
c. I thought these were the same, I thought we were living in the pouring out of the spirit in the last days. Yes and No
1. The promise of the Father mentioned in John and Acts was given for the purpose of the new Church being born, this was the real beginning of the New Testament Church.
2. God gave this promise to empower them to continue on with His work, a help meet, a comforter, to speak the things that God wanted to speak to this world.
3. But this forgotten promise is the promise of the last days of the Church.
YOU SEE CHURCH WE ARE GOING INTO THE LAST DAYS AND THIS PROMISE IS FOR THE LAST DAY CHURCH TO COME AGAINST THE VERY DARKNESS OF THIS DAY, TO BE THE MIGHTY ARMY OF GOD, TO BE THE ARMY THAT WILL RIDE ON THAT WHITE HORSE, TO BRING THE POWER OF GOD TO THIS EARTH LIKE NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN.
GODS WHOLE PURPOSE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF MAN WAS TO SAVE THEM, TO DUE WHATEVER IT TAKES, THIS OUT POURING IN THE LAST DAYS IS GODS LAST THRUST TO SAVE MANKIND. HE IS GOING TO PULL OUT ALL OF THE STOPS. HE IS GOING TO INPOWER THE REMNANT OF THE CHURCH WITH POWER NEVER SEEN ON EARTH UP TO THIS TIME.
BUT GOD IS ONCE AGAIN SAYING YOU MUST TARRY, YOU MUST PRAY, YOU MUST GIVE UP EVERYTHING, YOU MUST BECOME ONE, YOU MUST SEEK, YOU MUST DO EXACTLY WHAT I AM TELLING YOU TO DO TO RECEIVE THIS PROMISE.
GOD IS CALLING HIS CHURCH TO THE NEW UPPER ROOM THAT WOULD HAVE BLOWN THE WALLS OUT OF THE FIRST UPPER ROOM.
CHURCH YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TELLING YOU. GOD IS LOOKING FOR A PEOPLE THAT WILL TRULY HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY AND GOD IS GOING TO POUR OUT HIS SPIRIT IN A END TIME PORPORTION LIKE MAN HAS NEVER SEEN.
BUT WE MUST:
1. LOOK BEYOND THE TROUBLE
2. LOOK BEYOND OUR WORLD BEING TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
3. LOOK BEYOND OUR OWN SELFISHNESS, OUR OWN WANTS
4. WE MUST BECOME ONE, WITH EACH OTHER SARING EVERYTHING WITH ONE GOAL IN MIND
5. WE MUST PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY
6. WE MUST SEEK GOD LIKE NEVER BEFORE
7. WE MUST LOOK BEYOND THE FEAR OF PERSECUTION, AND WITNESS AND PREACH, AND GO TO THE WORLD AND TELL THEM.
WE MUST BE WILLING TO DO EXACTLY WHAT GOD IS CALLING US TO DO TO RECEIVE THIS PROMISE.
(Joel 2:1 KJV) Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
(Joel 2:23 KJV) Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.