4/2/06 POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

APRIL 2, 2006
Sunday Morning Spiritual
Message
from vanderKOK:
The Power of the Holy Spirit!

http://www.fatbeats.com/wordsfromthepresident/uploaded_images/holy_spirit1-768162.jpg
Dear Friends,

Good Morning from Garden Grove, California! It's a cool

morning. I've turned my clock ahead and it is 6:50 a.m pst as I
begin composing. What a week! Some of you may or may not
know that in addition to doing ministry I also am involved in
education. I taught as a “regular teacher” for a few years in
Coachella Valley, CA before going back to seminary and while
going through seminary I substitute taught, and continued to
do so after seminary, while building up Mustard Seed

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Ministries. This week I went to several different Los Angeles
area schools and there was a lot of upheaval due to some of the
protests that took place earlier this week in regards to the new
legislation or potential legislation concerning illegal
immigrants. In addition, some of the schools I go to are not
“stable” schools. There's constant turnover--teachers quit in
the middle of the year, administrations are not always
supportive, etc. etc.

This week I saw a few fights--one kid with a very bloody face,
another kid was taken out of my classroom in handcuffs. I
heard the usual insults from students to students and even a
few towards me. I heard the “F word” numerous times. I heard
the “N word” a few times as well (did you know that black
students call other black students “N-gg-r” in a semi-
affectionate manner without any notion of the derogatory
history of the word? I've addressed the matter to them a few
times and sometimes it helps, temporarily). But the language
problem in our public schools is a real problem and is
something to pray about.

As you can imagine by 3:00 pm Friday I am ready to get away from Los
Angeles, and recently I've been going to San Diego for a brief respite.
This weekend I managed to go to San Diego Zoo and Sea World for part
of the day before returning here to Orange County to be near
the church and compose my morning message. And I promised
I would speak about the Holy Spirit this week. After my e-mail
campaign on Monday and Tuesday and the Surprise E-mail
Birthday Party for Jim Kok --which had an overwhelming
positive response, but was clouded by one negative response
from my cousin, Bob Kok, led me to send out messages about
the Danger of the Abusive Personality and an exhortation to
Walk in the Spirit.

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Since then I've exchanged a few other messages with cousin
Bob and have decided to use only postal mail communication
with Bob and his wife, Cindy, who live in Holland,
Michigan. Bob got his “fifteen minutes of fame” with his
negative spam e-mail messages in the middle of the
Birthday Bash for my dad, Jim Kok. Later, I responded to
Bob Kok saying you have “no patriarchal authority over me”
and a few other things--indicating to him my displeasure not
on ly about his negative e-mail spam but the fact that he has
not been a leader nor shown any interest whatsoever in me and
how I'm doing over the last 40 years--and now to suddenly
speak like some sort of upset “father figure” was very
disingenuous.

And some positive things came from all of this--I think we

broke through some pretense of affection that was never
actually there and I'm glad Bob finally was able to say,
honestly and openly, “I don't care about you at all, Phil (or
John)?” Even as much as it stings to know somebody has no
natural affection for you, it is nice to know the truth. And you
can begin to develop a paradigm that includes the realization
that there are those without any natural affection, some of
them are living semi-functionally in society.

My friends, last week I spoke about the Body of Christ and

intertwined it with some of my personal history and made
references to the Crystal Cathedral and how the Crystal
Cathedral, despite seeming to be “larger than life” sometimes,
is “just another” part of the body of Christ, and is a member of
the Reformed Church of America and answers to the
denomination. All the pastors of the Crystal Cathedral have
some seminary education at a Reformed or Christian
Reformed seminary and must also satisfy certain

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denominational requirements in order to continue to be part of
the denomination.

But to whom does the denomination answer? To whom does

the seminary answer? Beyond the Board of Officers or
Trustees, et. al. the ultimate answer is Jesus Christ--the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, and the “litmus test” of whether it is a genuine
“church” or a genuine part of the Body of Christ is the “fruits of the
Spirit.” Does (do) the church, the denomination, the Board of Officers
or Trustees, the president of the seminary, the professors,
administrators, those in charge of “seminary development” or “student
life” et. al. as a whole evidence the presence of the Holy Spirit and the
“Fruits of the Spirit?” That is how the “common person” can judge.
And so let's begin this morning's message with a prayer.

Prayer: Dear Holy Father, we come to you in humble prayer and ask for
your guidance for this morning's message about Your Holy Spirit. Give
me the Words to say, God. Give me the thoughts to think, Jesus. And
give me the wisdom to bring a message together this morning that will
be meaningful and edifying to others, Holy Spirit. Hear our prayer.
Amen.

And now let's sing a song

Song:The Bible Stands http://www.newsongonline.org/midi-
hymns.html

And the Bible does stand as our source of authority--the

Inspired, Infallible, Word of God. This does not mean we do
not study the sources--that we do not examine the Greek or
Hebrew or that we do not attempt to test the “weight” of a
passage given the different fragments of parchment we have
from which a verse or passage of the Bible was derived (which
takes some time and serious research to understand) but we
believe in the Bible as a whole--that the Bible stands as
Inspired and Infallible as a whole. But this does not stop us
from inquiring into the intended meaning of the Word in
specific--various verses, passages, etc. And ultimately it is

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Jesus Christ in our heart and the presence of
the Holy Spirit that provides the personal answer to some
specific life questions.

Song: In My Heart http://www.newsongonline.org/midi-hymns.html

Isn 't that a nice piano piece? I'm starting to feel better already. How
about you? Now let's go to the morning Scripture

Scripture: Acts 2:33-39

33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God,
and having received from the Father the promise of the
Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and
hear. 34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but
he says himself: ‘ The LORD said to my Lord, “ Sit at
My right hand 35Till I make Your enemies Your
footstool.”’[f] 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel
know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they
heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter
and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what
shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and
let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you
and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as
many as the Lord our God will call.”

What is this passage all about? Well, it's about both Easter &
Pentecost, both of which are coming up. It's about the crucifixion, the
descending into hell, the resurrection and the ascension. First it is about
the promise of the Holy Spirit which we find in Joel 2: 28-29 and which
says,

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 “Andit 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: 29 And also
upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those
days will I pour out my spirit.
Joel 2: 28-29

This is a promise of the Holy Spirit and it was fulfilled, initially

and in general, at Pentecost which we celebrate this year on June 4,
2006. But the Holy Spirit can come at any time, individually or more.
And the Holy Spirit is here, now. All good things are due to the Holy
Spirit--even those things we take for granted. Although Joel
make reference to things that sound sort of “mystical” “shall
prophesy” , “dream dreams”, and “see visions” this does not
necessarily mean it will always or ever be something exotic
like you would find in a fanciful Hollywood movie. Nor do
you have to be an ordained minister of any specific
denomination to experience the Holy Spirit. You do not have to
be hired by a church and given a fancy title to experience the
Holy Spirit. Have you ever dreamed of something?

Have you ever thought about the effects of a governmental

policy and said to yourself or somebody else, “Just wait, you'll
see--that is going to lead to trouble.” Have you ever had a
premonition about something to come and find out later on it
did happen? Well maybe you have been filled with the Holy
Spirit. But if you don't act on what the Holy Spirit has inspired
in you, you might “quench” the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians
5.19-22 is one verse that warns of the danger of “quenching”
the Holy Spirt:

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19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not
prophesies. 21 Prove all things; hold fast
that which is good. 22 Abstain from all
appearance of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5.19-22

I believe that all of God's people--all believers in Jesus Christ are privy
to the Holy Spirit but too often we quench that Spirit. The word they
translate as quench in the New Testament comes from the Greek
“sbennumi” meaning very simply, “to extinguish”

One of my favorite commentaries says this, in part, about the

quenching the Spirit: “”Christians are said to be baptized
with the Holy Ghost and with fire . [God] works as fire
by enlightening, enlivening, and purifying the souls of men. We must be
careful not to quench this holy fire...we quench the Spirit if we do not
stir up our spirits, and all that is within us, to comply with the motions
of the good Spirit... be careful about indulging carnal lusts and
affections, or minding only earthly things.” (Matthew Henry's
Commentary, Biblesoft)

Too often we become overwhelmed with worldly problems--perceived

needs (as opposed to actual needs), desires, fears, phobias, etc. And
when we do not rely upon the Holy Spirit and instead capitulate to the
world we begin to quench the Spirit. IN fact, they used to say when
somebody died that the person “gave up the ghost” --and the King
James Version of the Bible uses that phrase for death at least once (see
Job 3.11 King James Bible).

But not everybody who has “given up the ghost” is actually, physically
dead. We have all met people who seem to lack natural affection and
civility. Fortunately, a lot of them are in jail--mass murderers, rapists,
habitual thieves, etc. Unfortunately, some are not--some people live
without the ghost or much of it in a semi-functional manner in society.
But they are not real pleasant people to be around. In fact some of these

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people are “abusive personalities”--fortunately marginalized by good
society to a certain extent--but still dangerous.

And we have the Holy Spirit to rely upon to keep us alive rather than
walking dead. Our senses are not dulled. We are “in the Spirit”
and “of the Spirit” and together as the Body of
Christ we exhibit the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22-
26; also see Ephesians 5.9; among others) We can rely upon the Holy
Spirit if we are careful not to get seduced by the world and materialism.
This is not to say material things are bad, God forbid.

IN fact that's an opposite danger to think of all material goods as bad.

Indeed not, what is dangerous is to make materials goods out-of-
proportionally important to your life--so that God becomes secondary.
People lose their good judgment when seduced by material pleasures.
The congressman from San Diego, Duke Cunningham, one of our heroes
from Vietnam, is an example of having become seduced.

How do we prevent this quenching of the Spirit?

There is no formula. Going to church may help but then there are some
who so habitually go to church that it is not fully “of the Spirit” as much
as it is just another habitual pattern. Take, for example, the mass
murderer from Kansas City--whom they called the BTK Killer-- “Bind,
Torture, Kill”. He murdered several women over the course of many
years and went uncaught for a long time until he led police to him,
almost intentionally, with letters and ultimately a computer disc that
they traced to his church where he was a deacon. Going to church,
alone, is not evidence of the Holy Spirit.

When I first returned to southern California in August of 1997 and

resumed seminary at Fuller in Pasadena I began attending the Crystal
Cathedral worship service. I actually, physically attended inside the
glass cathedral with all the lights and cameras as they

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filmed the Hour of Power which is on television
every Sunday.

http://www.atlantachristianweb.com/celeb_features/images/Kathy%20Ireland%20with%20Shuler.jpg
ABOVE: RANDOM IMAGE OF SCHULLER INTERVIEWING A
GUEST, KATHY IRELAND, FOR THE HOUR OF POWER

It was not my first time observing the worship service. Our family came
here in 1984. But it was my first time I attempted to go as a “regular
attendee” and to try to experience the Cathedral as a regular church.
And there were a lot of different dynamics at the Crystal Cathedral
than what one might experience at a more “local” church.

The Cathedral is too big to be generalized and so I will not try, but I
believe everybody experiences it differently according to their own
individual interests or needs. It is only when you begin to
interact with the people as part of the Body of
Christ that you begin to experience the true church ,
whether it be the people at the Crystal Cathedral (i.e. physically at
12141 Lewis Ave) or people who are part of the “Houses of Power”
around the country and world, or people who are both part of the
Crystal Cathedral congregation in Garden Grove or via television as

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well as a part of another congregation. IT is also each individual person
and congregation all across the USA and around the world. It is the
Reformed Church, the Christian Reformed Church, the Presbyterian
Church, the Baptist Church, and so on and so forth. This is the Body of
Christ.

And when we tapinto the Body of Christ we begin to

experience the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. If I didn't
take time on Sunday, at least one out of every seven days to specifically
focus on the Word and talk with the Body of Christ I would not be able
to regenerate enough to do what I do the rest of the week. Just as we
take care of our own individual, physical body we must take care of the
Body of Christ.

And this morning's primary passage goes from mention of the actual,
physical Body of Christ--the crucifixion (Acts 2:36) to mention of the
descent into hell ( “His soul was not left in Hades” Acts 2:31) to the
resurrection (”God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses” 2:32) and
mentions the “right hand of God” (Acts 2.33).

I used the New King James Version which says “to the right hand of
God” but there are those who say the Greek (tee dexia)
is
more accurately translated “by the right hand of God”
---i.e. a “glorious forth-putting of divine power” as the Jamieson,
Fausset and Brown Commentary says.

And it makes sense to think of the resurrection as a divine

intervention and perhaps later the ascension as being “to the right
hand of God.” But Jesus is with us in Spirit--the Holy Spirit. And it is
upon this Holy Spirit which we rely so that we can exhibit and
experience “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5.22) Against such things there is no
law.

As some of you saw earlier this week--my attempt to have an e-mail

birthday party was “of the Spirit.” And many of you joined in and I
thank you. Nonetheless there were some who attempted to quench the
Spirit and were negative, trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame

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using my e-mail list to spam people with negative ideology. Don't let that
negativity affect you my friends. Bothersome, annoying, frustrating, and
upsetting in the short-run, but not to worry in the long run. The power
of the Holy Spirit and people “in Christ” overcomes.

Let's take a break and listen to a song: There's Power in the

Blood http://www.newsongonline.org/midi-hymns.html

And indeed there is “power in the blood”. IT is the blood of

our Lord Jesus having died on the cross for us which saves. Praise
the Lord! Peter reminds us that we need to “repent” ourselves. All of us
have something for which we can repent--maybe it's a sin of omission,
maybe it's a sin of commission. Whatever it is--and you know in your
heart what it is--place it before Jesus and ask for forgiveness. This is the
catalyst for regeneration by the Holy Spirit, acknowledging one's
shortcomings, but not just acknowledging them and later repeating
them but sincerely endeavoring to overcome those shortcomings and to
fulfill God's purpose for you.

Song: Sweet Holy Spirit http://www.newsongonline.org/midi-

hymns.html

And so my friends as I come to the end of my message feeling much

better myself I thank you for listening to (or reading) my morning
message and hope we can continue as the body of Christ to support each
other and keep our “sails up” so that the power of the Holy Spirit
can fill our sails and lead us. We cannot always or fully control the
direction of the wind (of the Holy Spirit) not should we. We should allow
God's Holy Spirit to lead us where He intended us to go. Amen? Amen.

And now may God bless you and keep you. May the Spirit of the Lord
be with you and fulfill you. And may you fulfill others in the day and in
the night, in the east and in the west, wherever you may be. We are the
Body of Christ filled with the Holy Spirit.

Take The Name of Jesus With You

http://www.newsongonline.org/midi-hymns.html

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Footnotes
How you Know Me or How I know You
1)
Yes it's me, J.P. Kok class of 1985 (GRCH) and class of 1989 (Calvin
College, psychology major, with honors) ) and 1994 (Calvin College
again, English/Education major) and class of 2002 (Fuller Seminary,
Masters-in-Divinity, M.Div ), and "ex" of California State Long Beach
Graduate School (for Social Work, one semester)) and "ex" of Wayne
State Law School (one semester)

http://www.abovethelaw.com/images/entries/Wayne%20State%20University%20Law%20School
%20Above%20the%20Law%20blog.jpg

and "ex" of Calvin Theological Seminary (one year, 1996-97)

http://puka.cs.waikato.ac.nz/custom/cic/collect/cic-hcap/index/assoc/p296.dir/Calvin%20Theological%20Seminary%20(view
%20from%20the%20southwest),%20Calvin%20College-small.jpg

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and "ex" of Reformed Bible College (where I took two years of Greek
in one year) among other things. Some of you might know me from one
of the above schools or programs.

Others of you might remember me from growing

up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/michigan/images/s/grand-rapids.jpg

ABOVE: GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

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Still others might remember me as an infant in Iowa
City, Iowa (where I was born).

http://www.icgov.org/site/CMSv2/image/parksAndRecreation/parks/CityPark3.jpg
ABOVE: IOWA CITY, IOWA

Others of you might remember me from 1st CRC on Bates St. where
our family attended church for fourteen years. Still others might know
me from California where our family moved to in 1984 when I was a
senior in high school.

Others might know me because you know my brother (Andrew) or

sister (Julia), or you know my dad (Jim) or my mom (Linda), or my
grandfather Kok (the late Rev. Gareth Kok) or my grandfather Peters
(the late Leo Peters of Butterball Farms).

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 http://p.rdcpix.com/v03/l4f3c2642-m0t.jpg
ABOVE: MY GRANDPA PETERS HOUSE, GRAND RAPIDS, MI

http://www.sbnonline.com/Content/Site051/Articles/07_01_2008/PetersMarkjpg_00000006597.jpg
ABOVE: MARK PETERS is NOW the CEO of BUTTERBALL
FARMS, FOUNDED BY MY GRANDPA PETERS

Some of you may know me from the Crystal

Cathedral where I am a member and where
my dad works and where the Kindness Conference just took
place over the last three days.

Others of you may know me from the mission work I did in Costa Rica
(1991) or the teaching I did there (also 1991) .

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Or from the mission work I did in the Philippines (1992). Still others of
you may remember me from the judicial setting. And some of you I
know from the little Bible Study group, Koinonia. Some of you I
remember from working with at Pine Rest Christian Hospital. Others
of you I know because I attended the church you were pastoring at the
time.

Maybe some of you remember me from Spring Break

in Florida, either with Christian Adventures (riding our bikes to Key
West with the Calvin College group) or hiking in the Appalachian
Mountains in Georgia (with another Calvin group) or Fort Lauderdale
and Daytona Beach (a little more of a secular experience).

And some of you may remember me from the

Student Teaching I did at Holland Christian Middle (now
South Shores Middle) in Holland, Michigan or maybe even the
summer weeks we spent at my Grandpa's Cottage on Lake Michigan
(near Holland) and others of you remember me from the Cottage near
Stony Lake. Some of you may remember me better from Millbrook
Christian Junior High (or Seymour Christian Elementary) And at least
one or two of you I went fishing with once or more, either around West
Michigan or on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Some of you are former girlfriends (I still love you) or

friends from somewhere along the way. And for those of you who are
enemies I hope we can be friends now. I'm not such a bad guy after all.
Some of you I knew from the semester in Spain, 1988. Others of you I
know from the semester in Hawaii at Chaminade University of
Honolulu (1986).

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 http://www.gradprofiles.com/images/images/cham3.gif

Others of you I know from doing CPE at UCLA Medical Center

where we were hospital chaplains together.

http://www.mattel.medsch.ucla.edu/pedcardfellow/mattel_hospital.jpg

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 ABOVE: UCLA MEDICAL CENTER where I did CPE

Some of you remember my dad, Jim Kok, as a college basketball

player or maybe played with him.

http://www.calvin.edu/news/photos/faculty/vroon-and-kok_small.jpg
ABOVE: JIM KOK, RIGHT, CALVIN BASKETBALL STAR, 1950’s

Others of you know my dad as a chaplain and CPE leader.

Still others of you know me because I know

your son or daughter. Some of you remember me as a student
from English, Psychology, Education, or Seminary. Some of you
remember me as a high school football player. Also, some of you may
or may not realize that I've been preparing Sunday morning messages
from outside the Crystal Cathedral for a while now.

At least one of you is a former suite-mate from the Beets

Dormitory at Calvin College. And one of you is a pastor at the CRC
in St. Joseph, Michigan, where my sister lives and where I was for the
month of May, 2005.

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IF you are receiving this I somehow found your e-mail address and
would like to hear from you, but if I don't hear from you, at least just
listen, weekly. Or at least save this in your archives for a while. God
bless you. I am hoping to create a Hol-E-Spirit Revival. That's a
Holy Spirit Revival by e-mail. JPK

FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO OTHERS. THE

MORE THE MERRIER! I HOPE THIS E-MAIL LIST WILL GROW
INTO THE 1000'S OR MORE!

Attachments: 1) ja23_032 is a photo of Pastor Kok III on a hobycat on

Lake Michigan near Stony Lake (New Era) when my parents used to
own a cottage there. 2) mr06_503 is a photo of the Kok family (when
Pastor Kok III was a kid) at their home on Griswold St on Easter in the
1970's (also shown is the Peters Family--or the Peters 2 Family--my
grandfather Leo Peters re-married and had three children after his first
wife died) 3) mr06_469 is a picture of Pastor Kok III and a few of his
siblings in the "dinghy" on Lake Michigan at Grandpa's Cottage which
is still owned by the Peters and where my mom and dad spent a month
last summer (2005); 4) A photo of Pastor Kok III with a fish he caught

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on Lake Michigan several years ago and a reminder not to be just a
fisherman but be a "Fisher of Men"! 5) A more contemporary photo of
Pastor Kok III by a stream next to the Mississippi River( Summer, 2004)
6) A picture of the Crystal Cathedral taken last week by Pastor

VanderKOK
J.P. Kok
JOHN THE EVANGELIST FOR CHRIST

TAGS: CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL, SPIRIT, HOLY, Garden Grove, San

Diego, Pentecost, ABUSIVE, inspired, INFALLIBLE, CHAMINADE,
CPE, koinonia, UCLA, Millbrook, Butterball, Honolulu, Appalachians,
Outer Banks,

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