Sifted and Ready 1985

Today I'd like to read from Acts chapter 1 and next Sunday from Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 1, verse 1. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his passion, by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking of the kingdom of God. And while staying with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You heard from me.

For John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. As far as the religious establishment in Jerusalem is concerned, the problem of Jesus and his followers was solved on Good Friday. Jesus was dead.

His followers were scattered. And even when rumors began to surface that Jesus was in fact alive and that he was pulling things together, the authorities didn't get too upset. First of all, it was a preposterous idea, and secondly, they saw no evidence.

There were no crowds, no signs of the kingdom of God. Everything was very quiet. But what was really going on, and had been going on now for months, was that the living God was putting these followers of Jesus through a sifting.

He was cutting down the numbers the way he did in the days of Gideon, sifting this thing down until he had a handful of solid, radically committed men and women. This sifting began very obviously and clearly when Jesus began to harden up his Word and make it harder as he got closer to the cross. And if you want evidence of this, look at Matthew 23, 24, and 25, the three chapters which immediately precede his passion.

And you see that it's getting to be a really tough, offensive message, a message that's driving people away. Then comes his arrest. Then they see him hanging on the cross.

And all during these events, the numbers are thinning down. And even after the resurrection, the sifting goes on until finally there is a handful of people who stick with him through everything. And with this sifted remnant, he's going to set the world on fire.

Now, the first chapter of Acts gives us a glimpse of this remnant. Reading on at verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked the Lord, Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the end of the earth. When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

So now we have a picture here of a letter. They see Jesus called. They've seen him now for the last time.

His eyes are fleshed. And they really don't know what's going on. All they are clear about is that they have to stay in Jerusalem and wait.

And so they do this. Reading on in the same passage. Then they return to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day, and when they had entered, they went to the upper room where they were staying.

Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James. All these, with one accord, devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days, Peter stood up among the brethren.

The company of persons was in all about 120. 120. That's the sifted record, 120.

With these 120, Jesus is going to shake the earth. In Acts chapter 2, which we'll be looking at more closely next Sunday, the Spirit comes to these 120. And in a matter of hours, the city of Jerusalem is shaken.

In a matter of days, the nation of Israel is shaken. And in a matter of a very few years, the world is shaken. And it's still shaking, much more than it realizes.

It's still shaking. Now, the thing to notice is that Jesus was never elated by the crowds. The crowds came to him for healing, for food.

On Sunday, they're shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David. And it's not as if he ignores them. He sees these crowds, and he looks at them with compassion, sees them as sheep without a shepherd who need to be fed.

Pray for laborers, feed those sheep. But his joy doesn't come from this. The thing that rejoices the heart of Jesus is not how big a crowd we got, but what's happening with this sifted remnant.

When he sees evidence that this remnant is in fact coming together, this is what brings him joy. And so we read in Luke 10 and also Matthew 11, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit when he saw them catching fire, this remnant, and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to these babes. Yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.

For Jesus, all during his ministry and especially after the resurrection, the issue is not, where are the crowds? The issue is, where is this remnant? Give me a remnant of men and women who stick with me as God keeps sifting them down and are still with me when it's all over, and with these I'll shake the earth. I'll give them my Spirit, I'll baptize them in the Spirit, and with them I will turn the world upside down. Now what's been going on among us here for at least the last year, probably longer, is that there is a sifting going on, much more obvious than any sifting we've ever gone through.

Now the crowds are very good, we can't complain about the crowds, but we need to see that, praise God for the crowds, may they get bigger, but what's happening is that there is a tremendous turnover. There is a shaking and there is a changing going on among us. And there is not one of us who is not touched by this.

We are being dealt with. We are being dealt with so that we have to decide whether or not we're going to be part of that remnant. Whether the move of the Spirit which is going on all over the earth right now, including here, is going to include us or go on without us.

And it's helpful for us to look at this first chapter of Acts. Look at this remnant which we see there and try to figure out and let God show us what it was that held these people together and what it was that got them ready. While the multitudes, the thousands of people who had been blessed by Jesus and healed by Him and touched by Him and fed by Him went on with their empty lives.

The remnant were people who followed Jesus all the way to the cross, saw Him alive from the dead, stayed together even after He was out of sight. These were the ones who were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet which is near Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey away.

And when they had entered they went up to the upper room where they were staying. All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brethren.

The company of persons was about 120. Now this remnant has its counterpart in 1985 on the earth. It also has its counterpart in 1985 in Detroit.

Four things mark their lives. First, they are men and women, young people, who have been disenchanted with the beer commercial world view. Two, they are people who know that Jesus is alive.

Three, they are people who thirst for the Holy Spirit. And four, they are people who hold man, the Holy Spirit. These people are the ones who are being used now to bring about under God a spiritual awakening all over the earth.

God grant that we may be numbered among them at whatever cost to us. First of all, they are men and women, young people, who are disenchanted with the beer commercial view of the world. While the Palm Sunday multitude keeps chasing after gusto, trying to find the good life of Miller time, looking for that handsome man, that beautiful woman, to come up and say, this butt's for you.

Trying to find paradise in Babylon when there is no paradise in Babylon. While that's going on, over here we have the remnant who know that any paradise Babylon offers has to be delusion. Has to be.

Because Babylon doesn't offer paradise. Babylon will never turn into the Garden of Eden. It will be Babylon until it is destroyed.

And the prince of Babylon is not a very nice fellow. His name is Satan. And he controls Babylon by means of one thing, the lie.

And particularly the lie in the form of negative inspiration, delusion. See, it's not just people who are in mental hospitals who are deluded. Many times people in mental hospitals are sharper about what's really going on in the world than the ones who are outside.

No, deluded people run governments, run churches, run businesses, run unions. They're everywhere. What a glorious thing to be delivered from the delusion of a mere commercial view of the world and to see that the real road to paradise on this earth right now is there.

The remnant are men and women, people who have been inspired, who have been given a vision so blazing and glorious that they now see how useless and how empty and how untrue this commercial is over here. And that vision is simply this. That Jesus is alive.

They see it. They know it. And Jesus being alive becomes our paradise.

Now he is our joy. To know him is unspeakable pleasure. Endless pleasure.

Genuine fulfillment. And this is what we're gathered here today to celebrate. This is what we're, this is what's changed our lives.

That Jesus is alive with the power of an endless life and he is ruling in glory but he's also in our midst. He is in our midst today. And as we worship him he's our gusto.

And as we worship him and glorify him he speaks to us in the spirit. He comes to us in the bread and wine. He binds us together in cords of love which Babylon will not break.

And then he sends us out into Babylon to proclaim his name and command people to bow down before him and get up and follow him. And they will respond. The remnant is made up of people who thirst for the Holy Spirit.

Thirst for the Spirit. While staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said you heard from me for John baptized with water but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came to this remnant and when the Spirit came the interesting thing is while they were fulfilled they also became more thirsty.

The more they received of the Spirit the more they desired the Spirit. The more they want the Spirit. And the more they pursued the more they received.

To drink the Spirit to be filled with the Spirit is to drink God into our bodies. To drink Jesus right into our flesh so that we receive into our bodies the peace of God the mercy of God the holiness of God the nature of God the word of God the power of God. The Lord is raising up a people here and all over the earth now who thirst for His Spirit.

So thirst for His Spirit that nothing else satisfies them and even when they try they can't get any satisfaction anywhere but in His Spirit. And they know that the Spirit is Emmanuel God with us God in us Christ in us the hope of glory and having this in them they have a flame that nothing can extend. And seeking the Spirit and thirsting for the Spirit and pursuing the Spirit Jesus baptizes these people with the Spirit fills them with the Spirit again and again and again and again.

People in this gathering right now who are sending the last week I want to be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit don't leave here today stand where you are. Finally the remnant this sifted remnant is made up of people who obey the Spirit.

See when the Spirit came on Pentecost in Acts 2 they spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance the Spirit gave them utterance but it wasn't like they were in a trance or that they were overpowered no, no, no they obeyed they obeyed the Spirit and said speak they spoke the Spirit moved them to worship they worshiped the Spirit moved them to praise they praised the Spirit moved them to pray they prayed the Spirit moved them to go out into the streets and manifest the Kingdom of God and they did it. The same Spirit who did that is moving on His remnant upon the earth today especially today and those who are in the remnant obeyed they obeyed first of all in the little things the things which are right under our noses like get reconciled with your wife get right with your husband get things straightened out with your friend reach out and help that person dig into your pocket and share what you have with that family specific things then come the big changes and they will come changes so awesome that were we to see them right now our breath would be taken away we'd be staggered and we will make those changes we will make those changes when the time comes if we're obedient to the things the Spirit is calling us to do here and now and so the sifting and the shaking that has been going on in our lives and in our corporate life all this is going on for a specific purpose to develop and raise up a sifted remnant a remnant that's ready so when they had come together they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel he said to them it is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth they were his witnesses the witnessing was done with tremendous power by that remnant and this witnessing is going to be done with tremendous power by the sifted remnant on the earth today in 1985 with us or without us four questions spoken to each one of us are you ready to give up the beer commercial world view and to reject it with an act of the will if you have to reject it a thousand times a day do you know that Jesus is alive and if you don't know it now and seek to know it I believe help my unbelief until you know and you will know are you thirsting for the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God and finally will you obey the Holy Spirit as he speaks to your heart right now now let's give him a chance to speak let's just be silent and let him do the talking in our hearts right now