A FAR GREATER BEGINNING

November 5, 2000 pm
MF Blume

The Bible teaches the following:

1 Corinthians 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

The first work is always natural and then a spiritual work occurs afterwards.

This is true for creation, as far as mankind is concerned
With that in mind, let us read the following.

Luke 24:45-49

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. 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.

Jesus referred to the coming day of Pentecost as THE BEGINNING.

Acts 1:4-8

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.

Peter also referred to the day of Pentecost as the beginning.

A FAR GREATER BEGINNING

Genesis starts with referring to THE BEGINNING.

It was the beginning of creation.
NATURAL creation.
And God spoke His word to CREATE and MAKE.
He simply has to speak and His WORD CREATES.
You can call upon Him in trouble and He will speak and create a joy in your heart and comfort!

John's Gospel speaks of the IN THE BEGINNING, also.

And John speaks of the WORD, that God uses to create, and said that word was GOD HIMSELF.
His Word is the expression of HIMSELF.
Its the same with us.
Your word is yourself.
When you speak to me, you simply express yourself.
Your word is not another person side from you.
God's Word is God Himself.

Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh.

He is the expression of the Father.
He is the Father human flesh.

His Word is inseparable from His Works.

He spoke and the WORK from which he rested on the seventh day occurred.
He works through His word.
No word... no work.

But in the NEW TESTAMENT AGE, God went further than He ever did in using His Word.

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Everything that this man said and did was WORD OF GOD.

He expressed Himself to humanity far greater than He ever could during the Old Testament.
That is the reason Jesus said...

John 14:10-12

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

His WORD and WORKS are inseparable.

The New Testament is the NEW CREATION OF GOD.

As Genesis had IN THE BEGINNING, the New Testament has its IN THE BEGINNING.
The first creation was natural.
The last creation is spiritual.
A FAR GREATER BEGINNING.

In Genesis we read...

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Darby's translation reads, "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."
Young's Literal Translation read, "the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters"
God's Spirit is not a bird, but this is a metaphor of the manner in which His Spirit moves.
Like a dove, for example.

So we see waters, and the Spirit of God flutters like a dove over the waters.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Then God's Word commanded LIGHT to exist.

That was the first day of Genesis' natural creation.

This morning we noted that John's Gospel began counting the first of a series of days with the day listed in John 1:29.

It was the first day that Jesus appeared on the scene to manifest Himself to Israel.
On that day, Jesus was in the WATER.
Nobody knew who He was.
John only saw Him as his cousin.
John said the Lord spoke to him and told him that he would know the Messiah when the Spirit would come down upon Him.

John 1:31-34

And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

The Spirit of God descended upon Him IN THE WATERS.

Just like Genesis!
The Spirit moved on the face of the waters.
And AFTER THAT, THE LIGHT WAS MANIFEST TO JOHN.
LET THERE BE LIGHT.
John THEN knew that Jesus was the Light.
Just like Genesis!
After the Spirit moved on the waters, GOD'S WORD PRONOUNCED LIGHT.

A FAR GREATER BEGINNING. The day of Pentecost spiritually is linked to the Beginning we read about in John.

On that day, according to Acts 2, the SOUND of a rushing, might wind came into the upper room.
The wind did not BLOW THEIR HAIR AND GARMENTS.
It was only the SOUND.
The VOICE.
Like the breath of life that entered into Adam, the WIND OF GOD entered the upper room.
The Greek word for WIND is PNOE.
It is translated as BREATH in Acts 17:25 -- Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

WIND in Hebrew is also translated as SPIRIT.

This is God's Spirit.
And the SOUND of the Spirit came into the room.
But that SOUND was not going to stay in the room.
THE WORD.
IT WAS GOING TO ENTER THE PEOPLE IN THE UPPER ROOM.

Acts 2:4

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance

In order for them to speak in tongues as the SPIRIT GAVE UTTERANCE, we understand it is GOD'S WORD that they were speaking.

God is a Spirit.
And His Spirit GAVE UTTERANCE.
It was therefore GOD'S WORD.
Just like in Genesis.
A FAR GREATER BEGINNING.

The SOUND went from being in the room to being IN THE PEOPLE.

The works of the Father occurred that day and as the Spirit entered them, while they SPOKE GOD'S WORD, they were made NEW CREATURES.

NEW CREATION occurred for each of these 120 people.
God's word and works of creation cannot be separated.

This was what JESUS referred to as the BEGINNING in Luke 24:47.

Luke 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Acts 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.

A FAR GREATER BEGINNING THAN GENESIS!

Notice that PETER said AS I BEGAN TO SPEAK.

The Holy GHOST or SPIRIT moved as the WORD OF GOD went forth from Peter.

Peter spoke GOD'S WORD that day.

And a new creation occurred.

In Acts 2 we read what the WORD SPOKEN IN TONGUES did.

This as not preaching in tongues.
Nowhere does the Bible say that tongues are for men to hear in the form of foreign-dialect sermons.
In fact we read that tongues are not for men to hear but for God.
But the people who came to see what happened at the upper room did hear them.

Acts 2:7-11 And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Here again WORD and WORKS OF GOD are inseparable.

Why did God choose tongues?

James 3:3-8 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

The tongue can no man tame.

So God chose to come into such union with us that when we allow Him to be Lord of our lives and surrender to Him totally, HE TAKES OUR TONGUES AND HAS THEM ACTUALLY SPEAK HIS WORD!
What a privilege we have been given!!!

You may have received the Spirit long before I did, but we both experienced the same beginning.

There is no time in God's eyes.
He is eternal.
All is forever a NOW to Him.
So in His eyes we experienced the same beginning.

His Spirit filled the house in Acts 2.

As in Genesis, the Spirit moved on the waters.
It was the beginning.
...of the Church.
...of the experience of the Gospel to people.
...of the great commission where they FIRST preached what Jesus told them to preach.... (Compare Luke 24:45-49 and Act 2:38)
A FAR GREATER BEGINNING.

Acts 2:4

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Always the WORD OF GOD came with FILLING OF THE SPIRIT.

JUST LIKE GENESIS.

The beginning
THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD.

I am speaking the Word of God again today.

And His Spirit is here.
There can be a new creation everytime a WORD of God is spoken.
Its up to you.
Open up to His word and believe it.
And it will do a work in you and create you anew.

There was WATER AND SPIRIT when the first Beginning occurred.

John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

It BEGINS and you ENTER the Kingdom when you are born of the WATER AND SPIRIT.

Just as in Genesis.
BUT A FAR GREATER BEGINNING