Speaker 1: We'll be reading the scriptures in a moment.
Speaker 1: This is from Acts, chapter 2.
Speaker 1: We read a couple of verses and, as you know, this is the month of October and the theme this month is Open Door Ability Uplifted Kingdom Power.
Speaker 1: Open Door Ability Uplifted Kingdom Power.
Speaker 1: And so the whole of this week, whether it's Wednesday services, sunday services and the other points of services we're going to have, we shall be providing an exposition of this theme, and I know it's going to be great.
Speaker 1: We're going to learn a lot, but we're also going to be challenged a lot.
Speaker 1: We are going to be guided a lot.
Speaker 1: We are going to see the hand of God in a very fresh way.
Speaker 1: As you know, for those who are visiting with us for the first time, either in the pavilion or online in this church, we have a theme every month, we have an area of focus, and so we are now shifting to the focus of the month of October, and it's the one I have called Open Door Ability Uplifted Kingdom Power, and therefore, you'll be hearing the word ability or divine ability.
Speaker 1: You'll also be hearing the word divine power or power, over and over again, and so, as I share with us today, I am basically raising the altar of celebrating God's power and inviting us to trust God's power, because this power makes us able and this power is a prayer away.
Speaker 1: It's available, and even through this service, I want you to know God is able to refresh you in terms of power and also in terms of ability.
Speaker 1: And so we shall stand and read the book of Acts, chapter 2.
Speaker 1: Acts, chapter 2, from verse 1 to 8.
Speaker 1: This is what the Bible says in the NIV version.
Speaker 1: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Speaker 1: All together in one place.
Speaker 1: Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house.
Speaker 1: Where they were, they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them, all of them.
Speaker 1: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Speaker 1: Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Speaker 1: When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment.
Speaker 1: Heard this sound?
Speaker 1: A crowd came together in bewilderment because each one and I like this part each one heard them in their own language.
Speaker 1: Utterly amazed, they asked aren't all these who are speaking Galileans.
Speaker 1: Then how is it, in other words, how has this miracle happened?
Speaker 1: How is it that each of us hears them in our native language?
Speaker 1: Then you jump to verse 14, right Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd, fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let it be.
Speaker 1: Let me explain this to you.
Speaker 1: Listen carefully to what I say.
Speaker 1: These people are not drunk, as you suppose.
Speaker 1: It's only nine in the morning.
Speaker 1: No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel In the last days.
Speaker 1: God says I will pour out my spirit on all people.
Speaker 1: Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Speaker 1: Your young men will see visions.
Speaker 1: Your old men will dream dreams, even on my servants, both men and women.
Speaker 1: I'll pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy.
Speaker 1: I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke, and they will prophesy.
Speaker 1: And finally, in verse 21,.
Speaker 1: Our God, we thank you for this word.
Speaker 1: We thank you that it's coming across to us.
Speaker 1: Lord, we are open, our hearts are ready.
Speaker 1: Speak to us In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: We pray, amen.
Speaker 1: We may have our seats.
Speaker 1: Like I said, the title of the message is Uplifted Kingdom Power, drawn from the theme of this month Uplifted kingdom power.
Speaker 1: I have already given us the scriptures and we have an outline on the screen covering three areas Kingdom power promised, kingdom power given, kingdom power manifested.
Speaker 1: Let me repeat Kingdom power, promised, kingdom power given, kingdom power manifested.
Speaker 1: Whenever we give a text in and from this pulpit here, we always give us an outline which assists us in harvesting the most that we can from a text, and the Bible encourages us to correctly divide the word of truth and that is why, for ease of engagement and fellowship around the word of God, then we put up an outline like I did.
Speaker 1: Kingdom power promised, kingdom power given, kingdom power manifested.
Speaker 1: Let me start with the kingdom power promised.
Speaker 1: You know, the disciples knew that they were not able, but thank God that Jesus told them that he was going to make them able and therefore there is a promise that they were given in Luke, chapter 24 and verse 49.
Speaker 1: Luke, chapter 24 and verse 49.
Speaker 1: There is a promise they were given by Jesus himself and he said I'm going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city.
Speaker 1: Some verses translations say tarry in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.
Speaker 1: Let me repeat that verse.
Speaker 1: It's very, very important.
Speaker 1: Jesus said I am leaving, but I'm going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.
Speaker 1: Kingdom power promised and therefore there was an expectation.
Speaker 1: You know, whenever somebody gives you a promise, they create room for expectation or they raise your expectation.
Speaker 1: The challenge we face with men and women is that they promise us, raise our expectation, but they don't live up to their promises.
Speaker 1: I want to thank God for the God we worship and the God we serve, because when he promises, he delivers.
Speaker 1: And I believe you know from Numbers 23, verse 19, where the Bible says God is not man that he should lie or a son of man that he should repent.
Speaker 1: Has he said, will he not do it?
Speaker 1: Has he spoken, will he not fulfill or do it?
Speaker 1: This is the character and nature of God, and so, as we look at this text, we are looking at a God who keeps his word and especially the word regarding power.
Speaker 1: Regarding power, and I really bless the Lord that they waited and they tarried as you read in Acts, chapter 2, verse 1, when the day of Pentecost came.
Speaker 1: They were all together in one place.
Speaker 1: So they went to a particular place and they were together and they waited.
Speaker 1: It could have been one day, two days, day and night, and they were there waiting and tarring and expecting.
Speaker 1: I know there's somebody here who has been waiting for God's promise to come through and I am here as a servant of God to tell you don't rush to plan B or exit on waiting, you know to go, try some other things.
Speaker 1: I want to say to somebody in this service and also following online the God I know the God who kept his word this time.
Speaker 1: He's the same yesterday, today and forever.
Speaker 1: He's coming through for you.
Speaker 1: Is somebody catching what I'm saying?
Speaker 1: God is coming through and therefore wait.
Speaker 1: Tari.
Speaker 1: Isaiah 40, verse 31 says they that wait upon the Lord, he shall renew their strength.
Speaker 1: They shall fly with wings like eagles.
Speaker 1: They shall run and not be weary.
Speaker 1: They shall walk and not faint.
Speaker 1: They that wait upon the Lord, and therefore kingdom people, there is value in patience and there is value in waiting.
Speaker 1: And they were waiting, and they were not just waiting for something they didn't know, they were waiting for something that they were promised by our Lord, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Now these disciples are waiting because they knew they could not proceed with God's work without the promise being fulfilled.
Speaker 1: They needed capacity, they needed capacity, they needed ability and, if you recall, at some time before that they had a challenge in Matthew 17.
Speaker 1: Give me on the screen Matthew 17 from verse 14.
Speaker 1: Matthew 17 from verse 14.
Speaker 1: I read up to verse 19.
Speaker 1: When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him.
Speaker 1: Lord, have mercy on my son, he said.
Speaker 1: He has in the first service.
Speaker 1: I couldn't read that word, the tongue twister.
Speaker 1: How do you say that word?
Speaker 1: She okay, that one, yes, that one, and he's suffering greatly.
Speaker 1: He often falls into the fire or into the water.
Speaker 1: I brought him to your disciples.
Speaker 1: He often falls into the fire or into the water.
Speaker 1: I brought him to your disciples but they had no capacity.
Speaker 1: I mean, in other words, they were not able, but they could not heal him.
Speaker 1: You unbelieving and perverse generation.
Speaker 1: Jesus replied how long shall I stay with you?
Speaker 1: How long shall I put up with you?
Speaker 1: Bring the boy here to me.
Speaker 1: Jesus rebuked the demon just like that and it came out of the boy and he was healed at that moment.
Speaker 1: Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked why couldn't we drive out, you know, those demons?
Speaker 1: They were very conscious and aware that they had an ability and capacity problem and the mission that Jesus gave them, namely the Great Commission.
Speaker 1: And he said go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and, lord, I'll be with you to the end of the age.
Speaker 1: You know that mission, that assignment was bigger than them and they truly, and you know, like any human being, felt really they couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: But thank God for a promise, because they are told tarry ye in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.
Speaker 1: In Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, the Bible says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you.
Speaker 1: Then you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the other most parts of the world, in expanding circles of influence.
Speaker 1: And they knew very well that they couldn't achieve what Jesus left in their hands as an assignment without really the fulfillment of the promise, and I thank God that they waited long enough to be able to be recipients of this promise.
Speaker 1: Some people don't wait long enough and you take another route.
Speaker 1: But you receive not what God wanted for you.
Speaker 1: Even in relationships a young man, a young lady or you know all these arrangements in life, business and stuff like that are not waiting long enough for what the Lord has promised.
Speaker 1: And sometimes we go for another plan and later along the way we realize and discover that really it's more trouble than a blessing.
Speaker 1: But we know the promise of God and the blessing of God addeth no sorrow.
Speaker 1: And so we see in Acts, chapter 2 and verse 1, uplifted kingdom power comes to those who are waiting.
Speaker 1: Uplifted kingdom power comes to those who are tarrying.
Speaker 1: Uplifted kingdom power comes to those who believe and trust in the promise of God.
Speaker 1: And therefore this community of believers teach us something in the 21st century, and this is that God's promises are coming through.
Speaker 1: We just need to wait and to tarry.
Speaker 1: God is so faithful and God is so kind.
Speaker 1: He knows we need strength and he knows you're weak and somebody here.
Speaker 1: You are weak, your strength is gone.
Speaker 1: God understands that you're weak.
Speaker 1: God understands that your strength is not there, but God has a provision also for that strength that you actually need, and his power is enough in his reservoir of power.
Speaker 1: We cannot exhaust his power.
Speaker 1: In fact, god's power is amazing.
Speaker 1: You understand it when you read Ephesians 3.20.
Speaker 1: That says God is able to do exceedingly abundantly, above all that we can ask.
Speaker 1: Transcription by ESO, translation by God is able to understand his capacity, and this is the capacity he wants to share with human beings, and this is a great text on how God shares his resources, and especially power, with his people.
Speaker 1: God is able to do exceedingly abundantly, above all that we can ask or even imagine.
Speaker 1: That means God's power is beyond our imagination.
Speaker 1: God's power is beyond our language in terms of asking, and that is the nature of God's power.
Speaker 1: We understand power and people struggle and fight about power in terms of sharing power and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: We have political power, we have economic power, we have all kinds of powers that are there, but here I'm talking about divine power.
Speaker 1: Divine power, divine power.
Speaker 1: And this is power that we need to be able to complete the assignments God has given us, and not just a great commission For you to be a proper father and discharge a mandate the mandate of fatherhood or for you to be a mother and discharge the mandate of motherhood, and for you to take up any other role anywhere or whichever assignment, you need power, you need ability, and I thank God that this power and ability does come to those who wait on the Lord.
Speaker 1: I don't know where you're waiting for your power from.
Speaker 1: I don't know where you're tarrying, but there is a right place to tarry.
Speaker 1: These people are in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: They were in the place prescribed and they were all together.
Speaker 1: Some people have called it the upper room and they were all there in the right place at the right time.
Speaker 1: In Ecclesiastes 3.11, the Bible says in each time he makes all things beautiful, and sometimes you must.
Speaker 1: You might feel like the Lord still has forgotten, but God has not forgotten Ecclesiastes 3.11.
Speaker 1: And he makes everything beautiful in its time and therefore congregation.
Speaker 1: We have the joy of delving into a passage that brings out something beautiful the Lord has done and God is here delivering his promise and is doing it in its entirety.
Speaker 1: When God comes through, he is an amazing God.
Speaker 1: And so wait entirely.
Speaker 1: I'm talking to somebody.
Speaker 1: Wait entirely, don't jump the gun.
Speaker 1: God is coming through, his promise has never changed and his promise is true.
Speaker 1: And God is coming through.
Speaker 1: Ability expected.
Speaker 1: What are you expecting from God?
Speaker 1: Is it based on his promises.
Speaker 1: But number two, kingdom power given.
Speaker 1: Kingdom power given.
Speaker 1: I want to thank God for our Lord Jesus Christ, because he could have continued on planet Earth and he could have been a micromanager and he could have tried to do everything everywhere he was capable of doing that.
Speaker 1: But thank God for that promise, which is a statement on how God shares his power, or how God shares his power, or how God delegates his power, and how God invites human beings to be partakers of his mission and does not just invite them to come and hang around.
Speaker 1: He invites them so that he can grant them power to be able to discharge that mandate.
Speaker 1: Now let me read from Acts, chapter 2, verse 2.
Speaker 1: You hear how this happened.
Speaker 1: The sudden layward is very important.
Speaker 1: This year we are talking about acceleration.
Speaker 1: Now let me read from Acts, chapter 2, verse 2.
Speaker 1: You hear how this happened.
Speaker 1: The suddenly word is very important.
Speaker 1: This year we are talking about acceleration.
Speaker 1: So verse 2, chapter 2, verse 2 to 4.
Speaker 1: Suddenly and I'm praying that for someone, the fulfillment of the promise that God has for you comes suddenly, somebody connecting with that.
Speaker 1: May God just come very quickly, very fast, suddenly it's beautiful, you come suddenly, somebody connecting with that.
Speaker 1: May God just come very quickly, very fast.
Speaker 1: Suddenly it's beautiful A sound like the blowing of a violent wind, where you start hearing the sound of that promise coming, and sometimes it is feigned from a distance and then suddenly builds to a crescendo.
Speaker 1: Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Speaker 1: When God begins to do something, I mean it's called a breakthrough.
Speaker 1: When you read 2 Samuel, chapter 5, verse 20, or 1 Samuel, chapter 5, verse 20, where it says God will ask 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel.
Speaker 1: No, you're right, just go back to 2 Samuel, verse 20, where it says God will ask 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel.
Speaker 1: No, you're right, just go back to 2 Samuel.
Speaker 1: 2 Samuel 5, verse 20, where God breaks forth like many waters 2 Samuel 5, yes.
Speaker 1: So David went to Baal Perazim and there he defeated them.
Speaker 1: He said as waters break out, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.
Speaker 1: So that place was called Ba Perazim, which means the breaking out.
Speaker 1: It's called the breakthrough, ba Perazim, the breaking forth of God.
Speaker 1: He says suddenly, and you may have waited for long, but God is coming.
Speaker 1: Suddenly there was a sound blowing and then there was this wind that came and filled the whole house where they were sitting In the first service, early service.
Speaker 1: I told them I had the occasion of dedicating some homes during the week and one of them just here in Lovington, and this family, god has blessed them with a home.
Speaker 1: And I went to dedicate the home and I told that family that you can own something material, physical, own it, but never own it spiritually, and that is why we dedicate homes.
Speaker 1: You know, you may have a piece of land, you have a physical title, deed, but there could be a spiritual caveat on it.
Speaker 1: That's why we come and we pray to discharge it of those caveats in the spiritual realms.
Speaker 1: And although it's clear in terms of the write-ups, there is no charge, there is no caveat.
Speaker 1: You feel it is yours but you need to own your possessions.
Speaker 1: It's called double possessions.
Speaker 1: Possess your possessions, it's double possession and you own it in the material but also own it in the spiritual.
Speaker 1: And so in that homestead I went and I was dedicating that place.
Speaker 1: Then I told everybody we get out of the house, we stand outside the door and I quoted Psalm 24, verse 7.
Speaker 1: I said ancient gates, be open and let the King of Glory, come in.
Speaker 1: Who is this King of Glory?
Speaker 1: You know he's the Lord Almighty.
Speaker 1: And I asked the husband and the wife.
Speaker 1: The couple march to that door, open it and then proclaim and say king of glory, come in.
Speaker 1: And then after that you can invite us to come in.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, there was something powerful when that happened and I could sense it around as we entered.
Speaker 1: It was no longer the house we got out of.
Speaker 1: The glory of the Lord was everywhere and I tell you, when you invite the king of glory and the glory of God, that glory goes to the bedroom and that bedroom is restored to its mandate A place to sleep, a place to rest, a place to enjoy Psalms, chapter 4 and verse 8.
Speaker 1: Only God's glory can bring bedrooms back to their mandates, and also the sitting room and I prayed a place of fellowship, of communion, of planning, of rest and enjoyment.
Speaker 1: And the dining area.
Speaker 1: They will eat well, the glory is back, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And now to digest.
Speaker 1: Metabolism will be right.
Speaker 1: A life of kitchen never lack the food cooked there, the ingredients.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah Zita combine vizuri, son, and people will enjoy.
Speaker 1: And sure enough, by the time I left I had eaten food from that kitchen and was poor son.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy those moments and friends.
Speaker 1: God bless you big time.
Speaker 1: May God expand your borders.
Speaker 1: May God come through for you.
Speaker 1: I want to visit every home in Jesus' name and we pray together that the King of glory comes in and fills the whole place.
Speaker 1: It's called the Shekinah glory.
Speaker 1: Now, when you do that, you see the way the Holy Spirit comes in and is going.
Speaker 1: Every other glory is emptied.
Speaker 1: You see, you fill the place with God's glory.
Speaker 1: Any other thing that does not belong to God is actually kicked out, and so we can see the nature of God from the beginning.
Speaker 1: There is a house.
Speaker 1: They were sitting there.
Speaker 1: The whole house, you know, was filled, the whole house and not just the house.
Speaker 1: The people will be filled, also the environment filled by God's Spirit, our inside filled by God's Spirit, verse 4.
Speaker 1: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Speaker 1: And you know there is an amazing way when God is bringing capacity and enabling people, he comes corporately, but he also comes individually, and so the Holy Spirit comes upon them.
Speaker 1: The same way it is in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, and also verse 1 and 2.
Speaker 1: The Spirit of the Lord hovering over the waters.
Speaker 1: And then when the Holy Spirit hovered over right in Genesis, then God started to speak, you know in verse 2.
Speaker 1: Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Speaker 1: Then, after that, god could say let there be light, for example, in verse 3.
Speaker 1: And now there is that whole series of let there be, let there say let there be light, for example, in verse 3.
Speaker 1: And now there is that whole series of let there be, let there be, let there be, and there was.
Speaker 1: And therefore we thank God for this visitation, corporate visitation by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: But then tongues of fire, those are luminous, something that could be seen by people.
Speaker 1: Tongues of fire were coming to rest, not to come and take off.
Speaker 1: You know, tongues of fire were coming and to rest on each one of them.
Speaker 1: I want to say that when ability is received, when God is giving his power, he gives it to all of us.
Speaker 1: Let me just read 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 1, from verse 1, just for us to understand a little more on this.
Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 12 from verse 1.
Speaker 1: Now about the gifts of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: Brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
Speaker 1: You know that when you are pagans, somehow or other you are influenced and led astray to mute idols.
Speaker 1: Therefore, I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus be cast, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: By the way, that's very true, except by the Holy Spirit From spiritual rebirth.
Speaker 1: How you get saved, the Holy Spirit, by the way, that's very true, except by the Holy Spirit, from spiritual rebirth.
Speaker 1: How you get saved, the Holy Spirit is a midwife In your own growth, spiritual formation and growth from one level to another.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is involved.
Speaker 1: So it goes on in verse 4.
Speaker 1: There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them, and this happens at Pentecost also.
Speaker 1: So Paul is providing us what you call an exegesis, or rather a deeper understanding of the Pentecost situation.
Speaker 1: There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
Speaker 1: There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work.
Speaker 1: Now, to each one.
Speaker 1: That's verse 7.
Speaker 1: To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Speaker 1: To one, there is given, through the Spirit, a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit.
Speaker 1: To another, faith by the same Spirit.
Speaker 1: To another, gifts of healing by that one spirit.
Speaker 1: To another, miraculous powers to another, prophecy to another distinguishing between spirits, and to another speaking in different kinds of tongues and to steal one another, the interpretation of tongues.
Speaker 1: All of these are the work of one and the same spirit, and he distributes.
Speaker 1: That's a word I want to underline.
Speaker 1: He distributes them to each one, just as and he's the one who determines.
Speaker 1: And then, yes, we celebrate this.
Speaker 1: So today, as we celebrate the power of God and the power he's given and God choosing to work with us and inviting us to himself through Jesus Christ, and then he empowers us, I want us to understand that he makes us able.
Speaker 1: It is not that you are able, god makes you able and God makes everyone able.
Speaker 1: This power that we're talking about, uplifted kingdom power, is corporate power, but it's also distributed power and therefore, when I look at a church like this, I can comfortably say I'm looking at gifted people and very blessed people and every one of us has a gift, and some people have more than one.
Speaker 1: Pastor Regan, I pray that one day we'll have time to just teach them this.
Speaker 1: This is a great passage and delve into the depths of it.
Speaker 1: But at service level, what I'm trying to say today is that this power has been distributed and this power is called grace lets.
Speaker 1: There is a grace that's resting in you.
Speaker 1: There is a grace on everyone, those tongues of fire that you see on their heads being distributed to each one of them.
Speaker 1: And because of this power distribution and power being vested in every one of them, they are no longer weaklings.
Speaker 1: God begins to use them and they receive capacity they did not have before.
Speaker 1: I told you before they were very fearful, they could not do quite exploits, but all of a sudden, because of this power and ability that has been given to them, they begin to speak in a language or languages that they had not spoken before.
Speaker 1: They get capacity.
Speaker 1: So there is flames or tongues of fire, and now there's this other tongue the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: He is around.
Speaker 1: Maintain that picture, but the Holy Spirit, he's also inside.
Speaker 1: He has filled the room, he has filled their hearts.
Speaker 1: There is a flame, you know tongue of fire, that's fire.
Speaker 1: And then there is the tongue languages, and they speak languages they never spoke before.
Speaker 1: And so when they span out into the city called Jerusalem, this time is Pentecost.
Speaker 1: It was a time of celebration, a time of thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: Very many people had come from many parts of the world and they had come for these celebrations and they used to meet around Pentecost, which was, you know, the celebration of the fast fruit, or you would call it the Feast of Weeks.
Speaker 1: It was a festival and it was a time when the harvest would be ready and it's called the early harvest, the very early harvest, when you go through your farm and there's one cup of maize ready here, another one ready there, and they're called fast fruits and this early harvest.
Speaker 1: They would actually bring it as part of a celebration and to thank God for harvest.
Speaker 1: They used Pentecost also to thank God for the Exodus, how God got them out of Egypt into the promised land.
Speaker 1: They also, number three, used to thank God for the giving of the law at Sinai when they became a nation, and so there was a triunion of gratitude around that time and therefore there were so many people who had come just to say thanks and also to celebrate.
Speaker 1: They were speaking different languages, as you will see.
Speaker 1: There were Parthians, there were Medes, there were Elamites, there were some people from Cyrene, egypt, pamphila, from Libya, some people speaking Cretans.
Speaker 1: There, the Arabs, they were there and suddenly you had no capacity to speak Arabic.
Speaker 1: But they have walked out of this place of Taring and they are now able.
Speaker 1: They have been given capacity to propagate the gospel to the nations and right here they must begin to do it.
Speaker 1: And so you show up among Arabs and suddenly you're speaking Arabic and these people are looking at you and say this guy is not an Arab, never heard him speak Arabic.
Speaker 1: And now, look, he's speaking Arabic.
Speaker 1: We have prayed for visas and we have prayed for passports and you are going to the nations.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, God will grant you capacity even to speak those languages.
Speaker 1: This week I spoke to somebody, our member in Germany, and I told that person speak to me in German.
Speaker 1: They speak German, they are from here.
Speaker 1: Me and you speak Swahili, and we tried to cross the languages like this and I enjoyed the German, although I don't understand much of it.
Speaker 1: Guten Morgen, guten Night.
Speaker 1: I was just saying the wrong things and I saw he mixing everything and it was a joy to see our people beginning to speak German.
Speaker 1: The other week I was addressing a conference in Swiss online a conference and there were Kenyans there and some of them told me they speak the Swiss language.
Speaker 1: God is answering our prayer.
Speaker 1: This has granted languages, given capacity, granted.
Speaker 1: Let's give a hand clap to the Lord.
Speaker 1: He's doing it.
Speaker 1: They speak in languages people understand.
Speaker 1: I said in the early service, I was doing some ministry in Indonesia and there's a town called Jakarta and one day I went out and you know the Holy Spirit, when he comes upon you you can never continue sitting.
Speaker 1: He propels you, he turbocharges you.
Speaker 1: There's just something about somebody who is spirit-filled.
Speaker 1: Now, these people are spirit-filled.
Speaker 1: They are not going to stay anymore in that place there.
Speaker 1: I went into Jakarta.
Speaker 1: I don't know the language, but I went under this bridge, found some people and I decided I was going to share John 3.
Speaker 1: You know, in English, I didn't care.
Speaker 1: You know, in English, I didn't care, but somehow God is God.
Speaker 1: Somebody shows up who knows what I'm saying in English, and somebody from there.
Speaker 1: Imagine how God works and they start saying what I'm saying and right there, far from home, I share the gospel and God, you know, walks through that.
Speaker 1: You know what they called the police, but that didn't matter to me, you know.
Speaker 1: What mattered to me is that I had shared the gospel.
Speaker 1: And so these guys show up, they are speaking Arabic and all these languages and within no time they are talking about Jesus, they are glorifying the wonders of God, and these people are perplexed and they are wondering.
Speaker 1: These people, where did they go to school?
Speaker 1: How did this miracle actually happen that they can speak in a language that we understand?
Speaker 1: God is able to pick weaklings and ordinary people and propel them to high levels of activity and impact and great influence, just simply by his power, and therefore, what we need more than anything is this kingdom power, and you can see the way it translates and the way it's working through ordinary vessels.
Speaker 1: And so I bless the Lord today as I raise the altar of celebrating God's power and inviting us to trust in this power.
Speaker 1: There are two things as I preach across.
Speaker 1: I've raised an altar of celebrating God's power and inviting us you know, just inviting us to just release ourselves to this same power, and God is able.
Speaker 1: These people are very ordinary kawaida, but see what God is doing.
Speaker 1: Ability received, but finally, kingdom power manifested.
Speaker 1: This is ability exercised when you read from the Verse 14.
Speaker 1: This is what it says.
Speaker 1: Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd, fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: Let me explain this to you.
Speaker 1: Listen carefully to what I say.
Speaker 1: These people are not drunk, as you suppose.
Speaker 1: It's only nine in the morning.
Speaker 1: No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel the morning.
Speaker 1: No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel In the last days.
Speaker 1: God says I'll pour out my spirit on all people.
Speaker 1: Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Speaker 1: Your young men will see visions.
Speaker 1: Your old men will dream dreams, even on my servants, both men and women.
Speaker 1: I'll pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy.
Speaker 1: When the Spirit of God comes upon a person, there is what happens out of it, and God gives us ability so that we exercise it.
Speaker 1: He doesn't give us ability so that we can gain titles.
Speaker 1: God gives us ability so that we can serve, so that we can exercise that ability.
Speaker 1: Remember Peter.
Speaker 1: He was a coward.
Speaker 1: This guy had even denied Jesus, but he's the one taking the lead in verse 14.
Speaker 1: This guy who used to run away from responsibility, all of a sudden is taking charge in verse 14.
Speaker 1: And he preaches the first sermon in church history.
Speaker 1: In fact, pentecost is a birthday of the church.
Speaker 1: This is the day the church was born and the Holy Spirit was a midwife and the first preacher was Peter and he preached that sermon.
Speaker 1: That is there.
Speaker 1: If you read further you will see it.
Speaker 1: And the sermon was Christocentric.
Speaker 1: He kept Jesus at the center and I think I mentioned last Sunday, he just simply painted the picture of how God became man, how God dwelt among us John, chapter 1, verse 14.
Speaker 1: And then how God in man was crucified, shed, his blood Was died, became the lamb of God, became flesh in the lamb of God and then eventually he died and he was buried and on the third day he rose from the dead.
Speaker 1: And that is the essence of the gospel.
Speaker 1: And Peter therefore stands in front of that crowd and he's speaking.
Speaker 1: Oh, there were no microphones.
Speaker 1: Like this, pastor Keniti, I wonder how they used to preach those, even Jesus, how he used to preach to 5,000, and they didn't have microphones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my brother, minister Patrick Kubuya from Congo, who ministers to us in the revival season, is here.
Speaker 1: God bless you.
Speaker 1: So how they managed to do that ministry without things like this?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but Peter stood up and with that loud voice he preached and he presented Jesus, he presented the gospel.
Speaker 1: If you read further, you will find that 3,000 people accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior in the first open air, first crusade of church history after Jesus departed.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's one guy empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine, you and me?
Speaker 1: We are just one, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what we can do to this city?
Speaker 1: Somebody bold, somebody strong, somewhere along Moy Avenue?
Speaker 1: I was in Moy Avenue earlier in the weekend, walked around, saw the population and you know, the street preacher that is in me felt like I could turn that place to a pulpit the side of the road and begin to shout with a loud voice.
Speaker 1: Jesus came, he became flesh, he died and he shed the blood.
Speaker 1: He was buried for you and for me and he rose from the dead and today that same blood is as powerful as it was then and your sins can be forgiven and you can become a new creation.
Speaker 1: I was feeling something bubbling in me like preaching that gospel right on those streets.
Speaker 1: Now, can you imagine one person, just one of us, you know, like Peter, empowered by the Holy Spirit, going out there.
Speaker 1: Imagine the difference we can actually make in our homes, I mean in our schools, everywhere the Lord has sent us.
Speaker 1: And so this power that is given to us, when it is exercised, results happen.
Speaker 1: And this is guaranteed.
Speaker 1: When you exercise the power that God, divine power that God has given you, results are guaranteed.
Speaker 1: And these results are not guaranteed by earth, they are guaranteed by heaven.
Speaker 1: And that's why we go by faith.
Speaker 1: Matthew 17, verse 20, says If you have faith, the size of a master's seat you can say to this mountain be removed from here to there.
Speaker 1: What does the Bible say?
Speaker 1: It shall move, yeah, and so, as we live at this place today, I am just asking us to trust this power, and oftentimes we trust other powers.
Speaker 1: You know, to trust this power and oftentimes we trust other powers.
Speaker 1: You know, trust this power and begin to practice it.
Speaker 1: In Acts, chapter 3, verse 6, the Bible says you know, peter and John, the beautiful gate.
Speaker 1: They spoke to a cripple.
Speaker 1: They said the following Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you In the name of Jesus Christ, of Nazareth, walk Taking him by the right hand.
Speaker 1: He helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
Speaker 1: He jumped to his feet and began to walk.
Speaker 1: Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God.
Speaker 1: When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate, called beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Speaker 1: I declare today that, as we go out and celebrate God's power and exercise this power, there are so many people who are going to be blessed and there will be so many testimonies.
Speaker 1: You hear us, pastor Ambrose and I, saying next Sunday we are looking forward to testimonies Now.
Speaker 1: These testimonies will multiply many times over and the power of the Holy Spirit is awaiting somebody who would say I want to be a channel.
Speaker 1: I want to be a channel, I want to be a conduit of this power.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be a receiver of this power, I want to be a conduit of this power.
Speaker 1: When you're blessed, like Abraham, you become a blessing, and so when God releases his power in me, I exercise that power and I tell you we shall see a lot of results now when we do this.
Speaker 1: And so, my brothers and sisters, let me say this God's spirit is upon us and he has anointed us to do something.
Speaker 1: I'm closing with this.
Speaker 1: Luke, chapter 4, verse 18 and verse 19.
Speaker 1: Jesus himself saying about the power on him and God's spirit is upon every one of us and we are anointed to do something.
Speaker 1: Jesus said the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
Speaker 1: He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Speaker 1: Now, those are five areas or channels of expression of the anointing.
Speaker 1: And Jesus is saying the anointing is not just upon me to color my life.
Speaker 1: The anointing is here so that I can do something with it.
Speaker 1: And he mentions five lines of expression of anointing Each one of us.
Speaker 1: The Lord has given us gifts and he has given us his power.
Speaker 1: He has made us able.
Speaker 1: At the end of time, we'll have to account for it.
Speaker 1: Now, how do you see the Lord using your life?
Speaker 1: I say that God has given us different gifts and I read some of them.
Speaker 1: You know quite a number of those gifts.
Speaker 1: Each one of us has given us different gifts and I read some of them.
Speaker 1: You know quite a number of those gifts.
Speaker 1: Each one of us has been given the gifts and God has given us those gifts so we can express them and use them for his glory.
Speaker 1: Today I want to pray and as I pray, I'm praying for a Pentecost revisit.
Speaker 1: I am praying for a special visitation of the Holy Spirit and I know when a preacher says that people get afraid Because they think will I fall?
Speaker 1: I think what has been modeled?
Speaker 1: People fall, isn't it?
Speaker 1: When they are touched, they fall.
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: Listen to me.
Speaker 1: Is there any falling in this passage?
Speaker 1: I read the whole passage.
Speaker 1: Is there any falling?
Speaker 1: I am just simply going to pray for a visitation of the Holy Spirit and I'm going to pray that when he comes, then the tongues of fire will descend, be distributed, descend afresh upon each one of us, and I am going to pray that God will convict you about something you need to do with your life and with that gift, and that when we leave this place, this uplifted kingdom power, its evidence, shall be felt all over the city.
Speaker 1: Nairobi is a small town.
Speaker 1: When you think about it, I mean with all of us here.
Speaker 1: It's a small town.
Speaker 1: We can make a difference overnight.
Speaker 1: Even Kenya is a small country.
Speaker 1: We can make a difference overnight.
Speaker 1: If Peter, in one sermon, could lead 3,000 people to Christ.
Speaker 1: If the Samaritan woman could bring a whole city called Sychar to God, to Jesus, in John, chapter 4, what about me and you?
Speaker 1: And last week, sunday, I asked us and challenged us to lead people to Christ.
Speaker 1: I raised the question when is the last time you led someone to Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1: You shared the gospel and you led them to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: There's no greater joy than that one, but not just one.
Speaker 1: God is able to lead us in ways we can use our platforms to turn the whole world around, and that is my prayer.
Speaker 1: So we are going to pray.
Speaker 1: I want us to trust God as we celebrate his power.
Speaker 1: Trust him for his power, and God will give us this power, because he says when you pray and ask actually, in Luke, chapter 11, I think it's verse 13, when you pray and you ask, the Lord will give you the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: If, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
Speaker 1: And therefore we convert this assembly into a place of prayer, like the upper room in the day of Pentecost, tarring and waiting and asking that Holy Spirit come upon us, give us kingdom power, make us able so that we can serve the Lord in a bigger way than probably the way we are serving him.
Speaker 1: Our God is able.
Speaker 1: And so this assembly converted into a prayer forum, a waiting forum, an expectant forum, looking up to God, you know, disabusing ourselves of any other power sources.
Speaker 1: I'm saying God, you are the source of my strength, you are the source of my power.
Speaker 1: I'm feeling weak and I'm trusting you.
Speaker 1: That power that happened in Pentecost can it happen to me, lord, I'm open and I am ready.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit come upon me.
Speaker 1: That's a beautiful prayer to pray, and as we pray this prayer, I know that our God, who gives his gifts without holding back, is able to come where you are.
Speaker 1: And that tongue of fire, the Holy Spirit in feeling just happening.
Speaker 1: And then from there, with the mandate he gives you, you go out and make a difference.
Speaker 1: I know we are all different and sometimes, when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person, they are those who react differently.
Speaker 1: They may sit, they may fall, and different reactions, but the base, base thing here is the Holy Spirit is a person.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he is a person and is a part of the Godhead.
Speaker 1: And the promise is for every person and God is saying I am coming, I am connecting with you.
Speaker 1: I want that to happen today, wherever you are.
Speaker 1: I'm not asking anybody to come in front those who are following online, those in the pavilion, just where you are, and you can turn that place as a place of celebrating God's uh, god's, god's power and trusting him for that power in your personal life, not for many people, just for yourself.
Speaker 1: And God is able to come through.
Speaker 1: And so, congregation, as we embark on this month of uplifted kingdom power, there is power on offer.
Speaker 1: And this pulpit here.
Speaker 1: I am speaking and I'm saying there is power on offer.
Speaker 1: Don't go for those other powers.
Speaker 1: I am speaking and I'm saying there is power on offer.
Speaker 1: Don't go for those other powers.
Speaker 1: That power is divine power.
Speaker 1: That power is near.
Speaker 1: It's a prayer away.
Speaker 1: You just simply pray.
Speaker 1: God will give you power, he'll make you able and he'll make your life count.
Speaker 1: I'll ask us to stand up now, even as we trust God, for uplifted kingdom power.
Speaker 1: Amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: Let's pray, almighty God.
Speaker 1: I thank you so much for the text that I just shared from Acts, chapter 2, about Pentecost and your promise being kept and how the Holy Spirit came so that we are not left as orphans and so that we may have the counselor, the teacher, the guide, the comforter, so that we may have you, god, in us and that you may feel us.
Speaker 1: Thank you, my God and Father.
Speaker 1: I understand uplifted kingdom power comes from you and comes to us through the Holy Spirit and that's why, lord, even as I place an offer by this sermon to us people of the 21st century, I'm placing the same offer presented by you, lord Jesus, to your disciples in the 1st century, and they tarried and they received.
Speaker 1: I am conscious of the fact that, god, you're able to do the same thing you did many years ago and there would be a divine visitation and divine power coming down, distributed to everyone, and that, god, we can walk out of this place with new abilities, supernatural kingdom abilities, that God will walk out of this place to be able to do exploits for your kingdom.
Speaker 1: And therefore, father, I just ask for a Pentecost repeat inside here, god, I know they are tiring and waiting and suddenly I am praying for the.
Speaker 1: Suddenly, suddenly, my God, you came through.
Speaker 1: Father, thank you for someone who is listening to me and is desiring this power, the uplifted kingdom power, and is saying I need that power, I need it.
Speaker 1: And, god, I connect with that person in form of a prayer because you say you will give us the Holy Spirit when we ask Thank you, my God, and therefore my brother, my sister, as a sign of desire, lift your hands to God.
Speaker 1: We are lifting these hands, my God, as it were, on the day of Pentecost and, lord, we are waiting on you.
Speaker 1: I am waiting on you.
Speaker 1: I am tiring in the place of expectation.
Speaker 1: My God, I thank you for all these lifted hands and, my Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would come, fill the whole of this place right now, in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Ancient gates be lifted up and let the King of glory come in.
Speaker 1: I am praying that, lord, your spirit would enter the pavilion and also enter every space where this sermon is being followed around the world.
Speaker 1: Ancient gates be lifted up and let the King of glory, come in.
Speaker 1: My God, we are lifting our hands up, expecting from you, and even as we are lifting our hands up to you and turning in your presence, I can see the tongues of fire and I remember also the team of the being reminded by the apostle Paul to start up or put to flame the gift that was in him.
Speaker 1: I can see tongues on fire descending upon each one of us and just like John the Baptist said in Matthew 3, verse 11.
Speaker 1: One is coming who will baptize you with the spirit and with fire.
Speaker 1: My God, I am praying that your fire descend upon our hearts and start up the gifts that are within us, that, where the fire and passion had been quenched by many things of this life and many things that we pursue in this life, that the fire of God would be again reignited inside every one of us.
Speaker 1: And, my God, as I pray number two I am praying that your spirit now fills every vessel.
Speaker 1: We are open and we are ready.
Speaker 1: In Ephesians 5, 18, you tell us don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, and I pray the infilling of the Holy Spirit right now, in the name of Jesus Christ, and I'm praying for spiritual capacity, lord, for ability, divine ability to be given to you.
Speaker 1: Each one of us receive now.
Speaker 1: Receive now, in the name of Jesus, this capacity that's coming from God.
Speaker 1: Receive the capacity Because in your own strength you cannot make it, and the Bible says it's not by power, not by might, but by his spirit you will make it.
Speaker 1: Receive the capacity, my God, I thank you as we receive this capacity by the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: My God, refresh us in terms of our connection with the Great Commission that, as we leave this place, we shall go to discharge our mandates and our God, I know there is an assignment for everybody and you have given commensurate giftings and commensurate power to be able to carry out those assignments and mandates.
Speaker 1: My Father, I thank you Because, as I release this congregation today, I am releasing, like it was at Pentecost, a whole group coming from a room where they were sitting and the presence of God filled the place.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit filled them.
Speaker 1: Then they stood up, they left the place, went different directions and wherever they went, they started speaking the kingdom language, kingdom language, and God gave them the ability to speak to the people that, as we leave this place, my God, all the pockets we shall visit.
Speaker 1: Something is going to happen.
Speaker 1: Manifestations of the Holy Spirit shall be seen and shall be realized and therefore you can say to yourself now we can pray together.
Speaker 1: Say, lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, come upon me, fill me, lead me out to be used of God for the glory of his kingdom, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: And we all say let's give a hand clap to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Glory to God and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: And we all say let's give a hand clap to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Glory to God.