Pastor Jeff and Cheryl Orluck
Cheryl: Morning. Oh, I love to be with you all today. Isn't it good to be together? It really is.
Pastor Jeff: It is. Amen. Amen. I probably should just apologize up front. We sang all Christmas carols, but our message this morning isn't really a Christmas message. We are picking up where we left off in November. We've been talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and this morning we are gonna look at some scriptures that, at least for me, are hard. All for the last few weeks, I've been reading quite a lot, Matthew 9, 10 and 11. And I keep reading it and rereading it, and I almost feel like we should do a verse-by-verse Bible study, because there are hard things that Jesus said in those chapters.
Way back in November, as Cheryl and I were reading these and, and looking at our message, we realized that some of the things that Jesus said to us and warned us about in those chapters are one of the big reasons that we really need to have the feeling of the Holy Spirit and his power. And so that's what we are gonna talk about this morning.
Oh, I should say one more announcement we wanna make sure everybody knows about is that we are coming up just in a couple weeks on Friday, December 15th, and we are gonna have a joy get together at Pastor Brian and Jackie's house. It's always fun to go there. Brian has a piano in his house, and it's a wonderful time of singing Christmas carols and fellowshipping together. We always receive an offering at that get-together, uh, for benevolence for Christmas to help people who maybe need help during the holiday season. So we'll be receiving an offering at that time. But we'll just have a wonderful Christmas celebration and it's gonna start at six o'clock. We just want everybody to bring a little snack or dessert to share with everybody else. We'll have a grand old time. Yeah, it's always fun. Fun to be together. We need to create more opportunities to be together, not less. That's kinda part of our message today.
Cheryl: I sense today a really like, enjoyable presence with you guys. I think it was because of yesterday at the tea and how we've all been working together to make things happen. When we are together and working at things, it gets exciting.
Pastor Jeff: Yeah, that's good. Amen. It is.
Cheryl: It gets exciting. Something happens.
Pastor Jeff: Yep. Jesus called us to some very serious work that isn't necessarily easy. I think November when we were teaching, we left off at the Gate Beautiful. And you all know at the gate, beautiful that was one of the gates into the city of Jerusalem, into the temple actually. Peter and John were going up there to pray. There was a man who was lame, and Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but what I have, I'll give you in the name of Jesus, stand up and walk. The man was miraculously healed. It caused a tremendous stir right at that moment, he ended up getting to preach to people about Jesus. You understand from that one sermon in that one moment, thousands of people responded and it was a wonderful experience. And then the result of all that was they were arrested.
The leaders of the Sanhedrin, the high priest and the high priest's father who presided over the trial of Jesus, and other relatives of that high priestly family, all called John and Peter to account to give an explanation of what authority they were doing this in. They took that opportunity to preach about Jesus. The leaders had a huge problem at that moment because there was a man who had been lame from his childhood standing next to the disciples, and all the people around were giving glory to God for such a wonderful miracle. So they were in a pickle. What they wanted to do was beat them, but they knew if they did, they would be in trouble. So they warned them as sternly as they could not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus, to which Peter responded, what? Shall we obey you or God?
They were pretty defiant in the face of those authorities, but they got released. Guess where they went as soon as they got released? Back to the church, and they reported to the church everything that happened. Guess what the church did when they heard that news? They went to prayer and they started laying out their petition before the Lord. We have some scriptures that we pick up from there. We got three sections of Acts chapter 4. This is all in Acts chapter 4. We are gonna start with verses 23 and 24. Cheryl Is gonna read that for you.
Pastor Jeff: As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. When they heard the report, all of the believers lifted their voices in prayer to God.
Pastor Jeff: We are not gonna read the whole prayer. They just do a really good job of kind of reminding God of the history of the coming of Jesus and the purpose for it and everything that Jesus came to do, and everything that he saw that had just happened and the threats they had experienced. And then they finished the prayer and in verse 29 and 30. we are gonna read that.
Cheryl: And now, oh Lord, hear their threats and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power. Many miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
Pastor Jeff: And now here's the result.
Cheryl: After this prayer, the meeting place shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
Pastor Jeff: They rose up in desperate prayer to the Father after the threat that they were now living under. They asked him to come and fill them with the Holy Spirit. And he did exactly what they asked. And he filled them up with the Holy Spirit so much. So it says, the meeting place shook. I don't think I've ever been in a meeting where the meeting place shook.
Well, it shook the other time when our heat system was gone.
Pastor Jeff: Yeah, when our heat system went out. Cheryl thought I was wondering if that was a Holy Ghost.
Cheryl: I was very disappointed that it just had to do something with a belt.
Pastor Jeff: Just the bearings in the van. Yeah. Yes. It shakes in California every once in a while. We won't take the time, but there is an amazing story in the period of the Azusa Street revival about a prophetic word that preceded the great earthquake of California in like 1906. Anyways, what's interesting about this to me is that this is a very short time after Acts chapter two. we are not talking about years; we are probably talking about days or maybe even weeks at the most.
If you remember in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit came and there was a mighty rushing wind, which has happened in other places at other times in history. You can actually watch one of them on YouTube if you want to. It happened in Canada, way up northeast.
What is that area up there? Those islands up there? The Lucian Islands. Is it the Lucian Islands up there? No, that's over in Alaska. Scotia, Nova Scotia area. Yeah. Yeah. In the Indian Village. and then it happened in– is it Malaysia? The Like a Mighty Wind. That book was written, was that in Malaysia or Indonesia? Indonesia. These things have happened in history. And if you saw the blurb that we put out, that Rachel puts out to advertise this, that's one of the things that we really want to emphasize here, is that these things, these in feelings of Holy Spirit have happened often in history. And they need to happen often in our lives.
And so here we had this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Acts chapter 2, and a few days later, it happened again. Why? Why did they need it again? They just had it two days ago, or two weeks ago. And now they need it again. God pours it out again. It says they preach to God with boldness. Why did they need that then? They just got it. The reason they need it is because there are threats to the ministry that would've intimidated them, would've caused them to silence themselves, would've caused them to go into hiding. But they knew they had a calling and the Holy Spirit knew they had a mission. And so he gave them what they needed to fulfill it.
Let's just look for a little bit at this mission that in our little blurb we called Hazardous, and we are going to read from Matthew 10. a couple of things that Jesus said about the calling that he has on our lives and the, and the results of it. We are in verses 16 and 22 of Matthew 10.
Cheryl: Look, I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware for you'll be handed over to the courts and be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and the other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don't worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. Amen. For this is not you who will be speaking, but it will be the spirit of your father speaking through you.
Pastor Jeff: This warning that Jesus gave disciples happened right that hour at the Gate Beautiful. This is exactly what happened to Peter and John, just what Jesus told them would happen. That was not one time in history. This has been a, this has been something that the church has experienced in all of the nations throughout history. In fact, you have verses 21, 22, Angie. Brother will betray his brother to death. A father will betray his own child and children rebel against their parents, cause them to be killed. We know this happened in Germany during the reign of Hitler. And look at this, all nations will hate you because you are my followers.
I don't think we've experienced that yet in the world. I mean, there is a lot of hatred towards believers in Jesus. In a lot of places. All the nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved. That's pretty serious stuff. That's why we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit often in our lives. Something that I think is really interesting here that I think is really merits pointing out is after Peter and John received their threats, the first place they went was back to the church.
We are living in a time in the West, in America where many, many, many of us believers have lost any sense of value of the church. That's right. You know why? Because we are living fat and sassy lives. That's right. That's exactly why. I mean, consider Solomon's prayer in the book of Ecclesiastes. Lord, don't make me too poor, lest I curse you, and please don't make me too rich, lest I forget you.
In much of the Western world, God has been forgotten or replaced because we have so much. Those of us who still remember God, have lost our sense of value for the church. If you think about it, the church just imposes on what would be our spare time and our extra money. They want us to give offerings. They want us to get up on Sunday morning and get dressed and come to church. They want us to come to prayer meetings. They ask that we show up on a Saturday in May to help clean up the church for the next year.
How dare they? I got yard work to do.
I mean, really, right? And not only that, but there is that pastor. He just drives me nuts. And those other people who have offended me, I'd just rather not deal with it all. I'll just have church in my home, which we don't. I'll get together with a couple of friends of mine and we'll have church every morning in my living room. Some people do that. And if there is a gathering that's really real, it's the church and I don't want to discount that. But at the same time, there are a lot of us Christians in the West who are just doing our stuff.
Cheryl: Do you want to know what I know? There is a temptation that comes to you during the week or shortly before church and says, you can stay home. You can watch it. You can just have your quiet time by yourself.
Pastor Jeff: Anybody ever have that temptation on? You can be honest. and you know, every, you know, it's every time I've had that temptation and I've come to church, I've been so thankful.
Cheryl: I know about this temptation because I've had it. I've had it. I just want to tell you that it's not just about you coming to church. It's not all about you. The Bible says, "Let us consider how we may spur each other toward love and good deeds." that is a commission to you. This is like our training ground. This is like a setup for us for the rest of the week. It really is a feeding place. It's to get your commands, you know, just figure out and see how each other is doing. Let yourself be seen and get the help that you need here amongst your community, your brothers and sisters. Let light shine on that. I mean, when light comes to that dark area, it is busted. I love that we will put that out there is to be seen. And just that is so powerful, powerful to put light on it.
Another thing I want to tell you is I need you in my life and you need me. I dare say you need me. I am the great Cheryl Orluck. Can you guys say that about yourselves? We should all be able to say that we are so, so specifically made. We are so specifically made to be that certain person, to be there at that certain time for that certain other person with that certain thing that's going on in their life. Yeah. And just little conversations around things where we will talk about little things and we can go to prayer. It doesn't have to be a long thing or maybe it's just a sentence you give them. It's very powerful and uplifting and something to pay attention to here in these church walls.
Pastor Jeff: But we need to be together for that to happen.
Cheryl: Amen. Amen. So we gather to bless, encourage and minister to each other.
Pastor Jeff: To each other. Amen. Oftentimes, you've heard any one of us three pastors allude to the many, many people who have been wounded in their churches. We don't want to minimize the reality that there are people who are not attending church. And the reason they haven't is because they were abused. They were taken advantage of, they were mistreated, they were wounded, and they are carrying wounds from those experiences. But for all of us, we need to understand not every pastor is that pastor. Not every church is that church.
If you had a negative experience in one church, it doesn't mean the next church will be the same. And you still need the church. You need the real church. We all need the real church. We need each other. We need someone who will cry with us when we are crying and rejoice with us when we are rejoicing. We need somebody that will say to us, get out there and do it. Will you?
We need somebody standing on the platform saying, will you just go out and say hello, please? Because there is a job to do and it's not an easy job. And we are coming into a season in our nation when the message we have is not well received. I was listening to MPR the other day. They were talking about our new speaker of the house. I realize our media in America is characterizing believers who are conservative in their political and social views as a sect, a sect of Christianity. I mean, that's how it works. You just start to get the word out that begins to villainize the people who live the way Jesus has called them to. It has happened over and over and over in history.
It has happened in contemporary history. Consider North Korea. Consider Hitler was Jews in his day, but he made them less than human so that they could do what they did to them. It's not an unusual thing for persecution to happen. And the reason it happens is because you are called to serve a master who calls you to a certain way of life and the way you live. And when you talk about what's right and wrong, it rubs people the wrong way. They do not want to hear it. Because in our America, we understand our culture. We understand that the reason that people have problems when they are living sinful lives is because it's those Christians who are saying it's wrong. And if we just would stop saying sinful living is wrong, it would all be okay, then you can live in adultery and you can live in homosexuality, and you can do anything you want to your body. And it's all okay if we just silence the people who say it's wrong.
But we are called to love the world the way Jesus loved the world. That's right. Amen. And Jesus laid down his life; he said things that made the Pharisees angry. He confronted their sin and they killed him. He said, "A slave is not above his master. A student is not above his teacher. If they call me the prince of demons, they are going to call you things worse." So we need the Holy Spirit. Here's another section. Let's go to Matthew 10: 34.
Cheryl: Don't imagine that I came to bring peace on earth. I came not to bring peace but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-Law against her mother-in-Law. YYour enemies will be right in your own household.
Pastor Jeff: Wow. That's, you gotta unpack that, right? That's a hard one. But Jesus said it. I honestly think he's not telling his disciples what he wants to happen. He's warning them what can happen. I don't know about you. When I first shared Jesus with my mom and dad, they were offended,
Cheryl: My mom and brother. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff: They were deeply offended, brother. Yeah. And just consider, I mean, you may know people I do who were Jewish or Islamic, who gave their lives to Jesus. And from that time on, they were dead to their families. Consider if you have, because of your new faith, you've lost your parents, your brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles, your grandma and grandpa, and the whole community that you were part of, you are now without a community. How desperately is the church needed for those of us that have been rejected by loved ones because of our faith.
You don't have to convert from a different religion for that. I mean, there are maybe some of us here who have been told by our children, if you are going to insist on that Jesus thing, you just can't see your grandchildren anymore. We have friends who've been told that, that, that hurts. That hurts. In fact, we are going to-- Angie, bring up Luke chapter 3. Let's just read it.
Cheryl: Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, this child is destined to cause the falling and the rising of many in Israel. And to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.
Pastor Jeff: Wow. That sword piercing your soul. When Jesus was talking about this, I didn't come to ring peace, but a sword. He wasn't talking about us taking up arms. He was talking about a cutting that can happen in our relationships because when, because we share the truth about Jesus. Jesus. And if you have a broken relationship with people you love because of your faith, you are going to experience that kind of cutting. Right? It's real.
At the same time, I think there are many of us who can say, well, thank the Lord. We didn't experience that. I didn't experience that with my son. Cheryl didn't experience that with her daughters. We haven't experienced that with our daughter-in-law. They all love the Lord. And we all love each other. That's why we share the truth. That's why we raise our children the way we do, so that we can all share in the community of the faith together. But the reality is, it doesn't always work that way. There is a price that we pay because we love Jesus and because we choose to follow him. Some of us have paid the price already. Some of us have yet to experience that. But it's real. And that's why we need each other. And that's why the church is so essential.
Even think of the churches that you have odd against because of their foolish doctrines. One of the things that Jesus says to his disciples in this section, he says, "When they reject you in one city, flee to the next." Flee, he said, flee. What he's suggesting to his disciples is that they are going to be homeless, they are going to be refugees. That has happened in history.
But consider if you are in a position of persecution, and when you make the sign in the sand of the first half of the fish and you are looking for somebody to complete that sign, do you care if they are Calvinist or if they speak in tongues? Do you really care about their theological differences from you? Do you actually care that they offended you some years ago? No. You are just looking for somebody, somebody who you can share your faith with in the times of persecution, in the times of trouble. We need each other and we need the Holy Spirit.
I'm preaching to the choir here. You guys are all here, and those of you online, you were with us too. Thank you, because this is real. These words kind of seem contrary to the core of Jesus' message, but they are not. He's just sharing with us the realities of what it means to be a servant of Christ.
Let's just talk about this in the feeling of the Holy Spirit. I think we can, we'll probably close here. Signs and wonders confirm the truths that we speak. They did for Jesus, they did for the apostles, they do for us. It's not a guarantee that people will accept what you say. The Pharisees didn't accept what Jesus said. The religious rulers of Israel didn't accept what Paul and Peter said even though they saw the signs. But I believe that miraculous signs and the power of the Holy Spirit infilling our lives, anointing our words when we speak and actually resulting in miracles and healings when we pray for people, is a part of what Jesus intends to follow his believers. That's what he said in Mark chapter 16. These signs will follow those who believe.
He didn't say that to 12. He said that to over 500 people who were with him at that time, and he said it to us: These signs will follow those who believe. Why? Because they are intended to confirm your testimony. What makes our message different from the thousands of conflicting messages that are out there on social media right now? Why is your message any different? What makes it different? What makes us different? How are we not just another voice shouting out, "Here's the real truth" that people just say, oh, there is another one.? There is another one.
There are two things that I can think of that make the difference. One is love. If you look at a lot of what believers say on social media, they are kind of missing that. The second one is power. The second one is power. And the power was released in the disciple's life in the early church because they went to the Lord desperately and they asked for it.
I was thinking about this this morning. Probably every revival in history happened not because God said, I think it's time for a revival. I think every revival in history happened because there were believers who were pleading with him to do something. One of my heroes of the faith, contemporary hero of faith is John Wimber. I've talked about this before. Some of you know who he is. Some of you may not. He's the founder of the Vineyard Church. He was a member of the band, the Righteous Brothers. He was a drug addict. He got saved. He met Jesus. He got hungry for God. He ended up starting a church.
The Lord kept telling him to pray for the sick. And he kept praying for the sick. And nobody ever got healed. John Wimber, for one year, prayed for the sick every single Sunday and never saw one healing. And he'd go home from church and he'd yell at God, "You keep telling me to pray for people. Nothing is happening. Nothing Is happening. Where are you? What is this about?" Every week for a year, no one ever got healed.
I prayed for you DJ at least three or four times when you've been here and you are still walking on crutches. I'm going to pray again for you today. Why? Because when we are desperate for God to do something, he does it. He responds to our police, he responds to our cries, he responds to our prayers. We are anticipating, many of us are anticipating revival. Are you crying to God for it? You get enough of the prayers put in that bowl in heaven and guess what's going to happen? going to get dumped over. We gotta fill up that bowl with our hunger and our desperation for God to do something.
Cheryl: And we can't pray for them unless they let their needs be known. That helps too. That helps too. And you know, and I'll just say this, as long as you said that, we do have prayer warriors up here every Sunday morning. I don't see many people taking advantage of it. But if you are waiting for something from God, get up here and get people to pray for you. And if you don't get it that week, come up the next week. And if you don't get it that week, come up the next week and keep coming up and having prayer warriors pray with you to get the things that you are trusting God for.
Cheryl: We will hound heaven.
Pastor Jeff: Yeah. Together. Anyway, John Wimber, finally, gets a call one morning and one of his parishioners says, "You gotta come to my house." He says, "Why?" It's like seven in the morning. He says, "My wife is sick and I need her to get healed because I gotta go to work today. He says, "Okay." Drives over to the house, walks in. The guy ushers him right into their bedroom. She is sick in bed. He prays for her and as soon as he is done praying, he turns his back on her and he starts to explain to the husband how sometimes we see God heal and sometimes we don't. And if he doesn't, it doesn't mean he doesn't--.
He's trying to explain why she is not going to get healed. He's looking past John and he's starting to smile, and John turns around and she is making the bed. And he says, "What are you doing?" She says, "You prayed for me. I got healed. I'm making the bed." So of course, he pretended he wasn't excited until he got outside the house. And there was a yes!
You know that that year of desperation that he lived, launched a healing movement that swept all the way around the globe. We have a book today called Power Evangelism. It was written in the eighties by John Wimber that talks about how Jesus intends for his power to follow our evangelism. That's God's intention. In that case, it was one man who kept being obedient to God, yelling at God and still being obedient to God until he saw a breakthrough.
Because of the mandate Jesus has given us, we need a breakthrough because we can't be silent. We have to show the love for the people in our lives by telling them the love about the love of Jesus. One of the things that we can do is when they are struggling, we can pray for them and God can touch their hearts and we can see something begin to happen in our nation, not because of all our political work-- and not that it's wrong for people to be involved in this democracy politically, but because of the gospel. Because the church is being the church and reaching out to people around them with the truths of Jesus and praying for them so that God can touch their lives. And for that we need the Holy Spirit.
We need the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to get excited with the Holy Spirit again. Most of us are sleeping. I don't mean that in a condemning way; it's just reality. It's just how it's. We are living comfortable lives and they are very busy, full of all kinds of things, but when Holy Spirit gets hold of your heart, a lot of those important things, it just kind of falls by the wayside and the real issues that he called us for become the primary reasons we are alive. And that's when life gets exciting. Right? Hallelujah.
Anybody else? Let's stand together. I don't want to pretend we can all just pray that magical prayer of Acts 4 and the building is going to shake. But we need to pray and we need to hunger for God to come and stir our hearts and fill us again. If you got filled with the Holy Spirit two weeks ago, guess what? Maybe we need it again. The last big revival I was part of was back in the nineties,so it has been a dry 20 years in that sense. Not that we've stopped serving the Lord, but he's got more for us and he has got more for this world because of us.
Father, we just acknowledge to you that we've lived rich lives and we've so easily become complacent and satisfied. And we just turn our eyes for a moment on you to hear your words and recognize your call that you sent us to bring the gospel to all the nations of the world. And they may hate us for it, but that doesn't change the calling that you placed in us when you made us alive again to bring that new life to all those around us. As Pastor Robert said this morning, one person at a time.
Lord, every one of us in this room has one person all around us. And we need you. We need your boldness, we need your power. We need your love that compels us to reach into lives with your wonderful truths, your great love. In your mercy, we've come to know who you are. Help us Lord, to tell the rest of the world what we've learned. Come and do something new and fresh in our midst to fill us, Holy Spirit, again with your passion and your power. In Jesus' name, Amen. Pastor Brian.
Pastor Brian: Thank you, Pastor Jeff and Cheryl. I remember the movie, Fiddler on the Roof and Tevye was questioning, does his wife love him? And he sings, do you love me? And she goes through a list of things. Well, you know, I darn your socks, I do this, I do that, whatever. And at the end of the song he says, well, "I guess you love me." But I don't want to have that kind of relationship with God. Just a list of a few things that I do for him or he does for me. I want to be captured by the love of God.
There is so much more that we can engage in with God. he's infinite, we are finite. We will never exhaust him in what he can give to us. And so I just want us to leave here today with a heart that says, I want more of you, Lord. That might be kind of new in our way of thinking, but I want to have-- I don't want to have a marriage with my wife that we just kind of go through life for 50, 60, 70 years. I want to have a vibrant relationship with my wife, where every day is meaningful.
And that's how I want my relationship with God to be, not just routine, but that every day there are new mercies for me to experience. There are new depths for me to understand his love, new places, higher heights, deeper depths for us to go. And as we enter into that kind of relationship with the Lord, I do believe all of our lives will become much more enriched, and that the reality of what we will have with God is something that I believe people who don't like religion but would want something like that. They will want something like that.
You just need to look at the headlines. Did you know suicide is up and you, and you know what demographic it's really up in? No. The elderly. The elderly, nothing to live for. Jesus gives us everything to live for and he offers it to us today. So whether you are here in person or watching online, there is a deeper depth for all of us to go to in the Lord. Let's just open up our hearts and our lives to go to that deeper place in him. Let's lift our hands together.
And now, may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. And may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face towards you and may you see him look at you with his beautiful smile. This, we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.
John and Tina will be serving communion today over here at the communion table and we will have people to pray for you if you do have needs as Pastor Jeff said. God bless you. Hey, bring a friend Saturday to the radio two and a half hour and hopefully we'll see you Saturday.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 12-3-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.