Unsexy Church

Season 3 Episode 21: Why Pentecost Still Matters

• First Baptist Tampa • Season 1 • Episode 21

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The Unsexy Church Podcast

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ABOUT THE PODCAST

The Unsexy Church is a weekly podcast exploring the real, everyday life within our church family. Each week, join Pastor Bob (Senior Pastor) and Darren (Worship & Discipleship Pastor) as they sit down to discuss a wide variety of subjects—from deep theological questions to the practical, often "unsexy" work of following Jesus and building a healthy local church.

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We want to help every person make a genuine commitment to follow Jesus and then follow through with that commitment in Connecting People to a Thriving Life in Christ. These Thriving disciples should Dig In to the Bible, Grow Up in Christ, and Branch Outinto the community.

Our Mission: To Connect People to a Thriving Life in Christ. What is a thriving life in Christ? Scripture says that Jesus Christ came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Our mission in the city of Tampa is to make disciples who follow the pattern of the believer in Psalm 1 and desire God’s glory above all things.

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Welcome And Weekend Highlights

SPEAKER_00

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Unsexy Church Podcast. Podcast ministry of First Baptist Church of Tampa, Florida, where our mission is to help you connect to a thriving life in Christ. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Hello, Darren. How are we doing? Doing great. Doing great? We're good for a Monday. Yeah, bad. Monday. Mondays. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. Oh. Not really. Just came out of a good staff meeting and great. I think we had a great uh weekend as per usual. Per usual, yeah. Very busy weekend this weekend. It's been busy, man. Yeah. A lot of going on. Um helped me remember if I missed something, but Saturday was the women's high tea. Oh, was it high? I did not know that. I knew it was a tea. I did not know that. Oh wow. So our our ladies got together and set up tables with their um, what do you call that? Their tea settings or they had a tea party. Yeah, you're asking the wrong guy. And not the kind they have in Boston. They had a uh, you know, they didn't uh I mean maybe there was some tea spilled. I don't know. You get all those ladies to get no representation or no taxation. I'm just saying they uh they they tend to talk about things, but uh I heard it went really well.

SPEAKER_01

I heard of picked Darlene up at the end and we were headed somewhere, but uh room full of ladies and lovely tea settings and whatever they were. It looked awesome. Yeah, I heard it heard it went really well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, my wife really, really enjoyed it. And uh and she's not a typical high tea lady, you know. It's usually not on her agenda, but she really had a good time. So yeah, it was it was a great great turnout. I mean, we actually one of the few one of the few things that we actually had to shut registration down for. Right. Yeah, you know, usually we're we're begging people to register.

SPEAKER_01

Start putting people on the uh the the waiting list.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. So just uh they had a good a good speaker uh with an encouraging uh message for for the ladies, and just I think they had a great great time. And then Sunday was grad recognition Sunday. We did a whole podcast about that last week, but uh just a really good Sunday. How many man, we had a lot of high school graduates.

SPEAKER_01

I don't I remember the break. That was like 12 high school graduates and 24 overall, I think. With college and post grad stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So we had a good good turnout for that. And the watching the video was fun. That was fun. That was a good video, Jordan. Y'all did a good job on that video. Good job, Jordan.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't say anything. I just filmed it. That's why we we put you behind the camera, not in front of the camera. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so it was a good, it was a good, it was a good Sunday. Am I missing anything? That I I I can't I think that was I mean, there's other stuff going on.

SPEAKER_01

Those are the big events. Those are the high weekend, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so man, there's just I you know, there's uh the a saying out, you know, there's just a lot more that goes on at FBC Tampa than what you see even on Sunday morning. So man, make sure you're getting plugged into a core group, make sure you're getting plugged into uh just you can check out our web our website, see all the different events. We've got a pack summer coming up, which we'll talk about as as we go uh throughout the the summer. We've got tons of stuff for kids and tons of stuff for adults. We're doing a lot of local mission, there are a lot of local mission opportunities uh available this summer. So make sure you're checking out our website and getting plugged in and uh getting connected to people and the ministries and missions and all that goes on. Exactly.

Mount St Helens And Powerful Images

SPEAKER_00

Um fun fact of the day. Here we go. We're back to dark. Oh, we're back to dark, man. On this day, at like I can't remember exactly I think it was like 8 32 a.m. Pacific time. Pacific time in 1980. May 18th, 1980? May 18th, 1980. Okay. Movies were made about this. Made for TV movies were made about this, even an event on the west coast in the northwest. Mount St. Helens. I was right.

SPEAKER_01

It's either a it was either a hurricane or a uh earthquake or a volcano. And I'm thinking that's probably gotta be Mount St. Helens.

SPEAKER_00

Mount St. Helens erupts. Yeah. Yep. They had they're they'd noticed scientists had started noticing uh the face of the north side start changing, you know, and it was uh bunch of molten lava built up in there. And they'd had a 5.0 earthquake, which caused a landslide, which thinned that out, I guess, enough so um it blew the side out of the mountain. That was a major eruption. It was major. And I mean uh and unfortunately, some people lost their their lives in that. Some they'd started it, they had they'd sent you know they'd started sensing uh um some behavioral changes in you know uh in the uh I don't know what you call it. I'm not a scientist. Geothermal, yeah. Yeah, they were there was minor tremors and earthquakes going on. They'd sensed some volcanic af activity, and so they were they had been uh evacuating some folks, but there's some that just refused to leave. And uh so a few people lost their lives, but it was a I mean it was a it was a huge eruption and the landslide or the lava slide, whatever that's really called, I think it was at at points over a hundred miles an hour. So when it when it blew, I mean it blew fast and just wiped out everything around it pretty pretty quickly, uh filled up a lake that was right there and just all kinds of stuff. Yeah. I could I think I was I I I remember I was at my grandma's house, if I remember right. I don't know. 1980. School must have been out, or I went I was playing hooky or something. But back then, because school went to June back then, right? So I don't know. Well I feel like I was at my grandmother's house when this happened because I saw it on TV there. That's that's the memory I have of it anyway. I remember it, but I have no recollection of where I was or what was going on, but I do remember it. I think I was in fifth grade, fifth grade, eleven years old-ish. Yep.

SPEAKER_01

So I was intrigued. You you brought up volcanoes, Mount St. Helens. How many volcanoes are there in the United States?

SPEAKER_00

Man, I bet it's higher than what I think. Uh yeah. Um I I really so this is definitely not my strong suit. I I'll just tell you. So I'm gonna just 127.

SPEAKER_02

Wow, wow. You're going high.

SPEAKER_00

Is it high?

SPEAKER_02

I think what do you think? 40. No, no, no, 63. 63.

SPEAKER_01

Do you and now is this the 48 or or is this see that's that's the difference. So if if you consider all the United States, there are 169 active volcanoes. In your face, Jordan. Now, but in mainland USA, I think it's like 20. Yeah. Oh, let me add it. Oh wow. Yeah, roughly 20 active or potentially active volcanoes in the mainland United States. Wow. So yeah. I couldn't name 20 in the mainland United States.

SPEAKER_00

But the only one I know of is Mount Smith. Yeah, that's the only one I'm uh, man. But it was uh man, that was a that was a powerful blast. Speaking of powerful things.

Pentecost Sunday On The Calendar

SPEAKER_01

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00

How about that? Do we uh do you remember the Pentecostal power? Pentecostal power, man. I remember that hymn. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01

No, I didn't go to those kind of churches.

SPEAKER_00

Oh man, we I went to an SBC church, but we sang that hymn. Let me tell you. And we sang, I as a kid, I just remember that hymn because I really liked it. I don't know, it's just funny because here's the thing that always caught me, you know, as a as a kid. You know, they we'd sing the verse, Lord has of days in Pentecost, on the power display, whatever, you know. And then it gets to the course, Lord, send me all, you know, that back that big hold, man, that big formata on the Lord, man. That was like, yes. I don't know. I honestly don't remember that hymn.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh. I'm sure, I'm sure we sang it at some point, but I honestly do not remember that. It was not in our regular rotation.

SPEAKER_00

That was definitely, you know, I think it depends on where you are and who your minister of music was at the time. And if if there's a fit, you know, but for whatever reason, man, we liked that one. We sang that we sang that one a lot. So why do you bring this hymn up today, Darren? Well, we're gonna be talking about Pentecost. The what? Pentecost, because Pentecost Sunday is this coming Sunday. This coming Sunday, May 24th. Now, we don't typically, as a Southern Baptist church, and we don't follow the um liturgical calendar real close. No. You know, and so this might be I'm sure that most of our folks have heard of Pentecost or heard uh obviously they've heard of Pentecost, but Pentecost Sunday, um that that might be they've probably heard of it, but they may not understand the whole meaning behind it, right?

SPEAKER_01

So or even the connection between the Old Testament feast and the and Acts chapter two. I think most of us would relate Pentecost to Acts chapters. Acts chapter two for sure.

SPEAKER_00

It goes back even further than that, right? Right, right. Um now I will say that maybe some of our folks will know this because we just not that long ago had a uh a class on the feast of the old testaments and seeing Christ. And I know that's the feast of weeks is one that that they that they could they talked about and covered. So so some of our folks may have more of an idea, but a lot of just you talk to most Christians. I think I wish we could do like a man on the street interview kind of thing. You know, what are you doing for Pentecost Sunday? Right? Jordan, what are you doing for Pentecost Sunday?

SPEAKER_02

I'm not sure. You coming to church? I I yes, I am church. Okay, that's good. That's a good start. That's a good start.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have like do you have like a a tradition that you guys normally do for Pentecost Sunday? Alrighty.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. No, no.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it it's not one of those that we we tend to we recognize like Passover, but we don't even we really don't celebrate Passover other than that it falls at Easter time, right? So it's been eclipsed by that.

Old Testament Feast Of Weeks

SPEAKER_01

Um so uh just so folks understand what we're talking about here, um, the word literally means it's a Greek word litering literally meaning fiftieth. Yeah, so it's referring to the 50th day after Passover, right? Which was a celebration of the barley harvest, which God commanded the people to recognize annually as part of what was known as the festival of weeks, yeah. Um or the harvest festival. Right, right, right. So there are three main festivals in the Jewish calendar that God commanded the the men of Israel to return to Jerusalem to celebrate. Yeah. Passover, Pentecost, and tabernacles. Yeah. And so Pentecost is that second one that happens 50 days after Passover. Right. Right. So that thus the 24th of May is 50 days after 50 days after Passover.

SPEAKER_00

Passover, exactly. And so um, and and so that's kind of the the old testament history, and we'll we'll talk more about some some of this, I'm sure. But what um when you referred to uh the second chapter of Acts, um why would we go there for Pentecost, right? Why why does that stand out to us?

SPEAKER_01

Sure.

Acts 2 And The Spirit Arrives

SPEAKER_01

So um Acts chapter one, Jesus has been resurrected, he's about to ascend into heaven, um, and he tells his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait, right? Wait for the one that I'm going to send to you. Don't he's given them the great commission already, go into all the world and preach the gospel, but before you go, go and wait. Right. And so he sends them to Jerusalem to wait. While they're there, um they replace Judas. Yep, right? They they bring forth two guys, if I'm remembering right, Parsabbas and Matthias. Um and Matthias is chosen, so he replaces to replace. Um, and then we have this description of the the disciples, about 120 people, disciples, uh, the women that were around the cross, including Jesus' mother, and uh a broader group of disciples. We when we think about disciples, we tend to think about the twelve. The twelve, but we're talking many disciples. Yeah. So this is this is kind of the core group that followed Jesus, that were his making. These are your Wednesday night members meeting ground.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. These are the truest of the true.

SPEAKER_01

So there's about 120 people gathered together, just kind of waiting and praying and hoping, um, waiting for what Jesus said would come. Um, and so this is a fulfillment, honestly, of Joel chapter two and Isaiah chapter 44.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Where God says, I will pour out my spirit on you and and he will put his spirit within us. And so Pentecost is the time when we celebrate the um indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit descending upon the church, indwelling them. Now, the Holy Spirit's always been active, right? Right. He's part of the triune Godhead.

SPEAKER_00

He's he's active in the Old Testament, but he only seems in the Old Testament, we see the Spirit rushing on, right, falling on people.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we see it the way it's described. With Saul, we see it with David, we see it with many of the um judges. Yeah, judges, right. Right. So God comes and through the power of the Holy Spirit empowers them through the Spirit, but the Spirit doesn't indwell them, he just empowers them and then he leaves. Right. But now here in Acts chapter 2, he indwells, he takes up residence within those who have trusted in Christ. So this is a this is really the beginning of the church age. This is the launch, the birth of the New Testament church. Right, right. So it's a clear distinction uh between um the Old Testament economy and now the New Testament economy working without the Spirit and now being indwelled by the Spirit.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think it's interesting too, going back to what you were saying about choosing Judas's replacement. Yes. They go to scripture for for that. You know, we you know, let another take his office. They quote a psalm. And the way that they choose Old Testament way, is the Old Testament way, right? They they cast lots, they trusted in the sovereign Lord. They you know, there's a proverb, I can't remember where it is or what the specific address is, but there's a proverb is um the the the lot is cast in the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord kind of thing. And so that's they trusted in the Lord to sovereignly rule over, and we don't really even know what casting lots are. It's right, maybe something like dice, probably something else, though. We don't really know, right? But somehow the lot, you know, fell in Matthias um there. But that again going back to what you were saying, that's the old testament way of making the decision when you were seeking the Lord and really didn't have all the information that you like you couldn't they couldn't peer into these men's hearts, you know, they didn't know which one the Lord had chosen necessarily, so they trusted in that that particular way. That's the last time you really see that though in scripture. Why is that?

SPEAKER_01

Because the economy's changed. Economies changed, right? If if I can use the word the dispensation has changed, right? So it's God functioning in a different way amongst his people. Yeah. So Old Testament um using different means, different manners, different mediators. Now Jesus Christ has come, he's paid the price for sin, he's offered the sacrifice, he's resurrected from the dead, he's ascended to the Father. But he said, Um, was it John 14? Uh you know, I'm gonna send the one who's going to help you. In fact, it's better for you that I leave because until I leave, he cannot come. He can't indwell in you. Exactly. So he he promises this Holy Spirit, the the the part of the triune God who is going to come and um enlighten and empower and encourage and equip, enable the Greek word is paraclete. Paraclete, the one who comes alongside, comes alongside and is the helper of uh right, and so the this is God functioning in a different way with man than he has previously. So thus the word dispensation. Um and so this is the New Testament, this is the new church age, which we're still in today. Yep, right? So anybody who is genuinely trusted in Christ doesn't get a part of the spirit, the spirit takes up residence within them, yeah, and dwells them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, right. So they're in the upper room, 120 or so of them, right? Uh having a members meeting. Pretty much. Having a prayer meeting, actually. These are the they're having a prayer meeting. They're they're seeking the Lord, they're they're they're praying, and then you know, this can the next thing, the the things that happen next can be can be controversial in I mean they shouldn't be, but they can be.

SPEAKER_01

They can be, right? And so um you're referring to the the the wind, the the the the rushing of the wind and the fire, the tongues like fire, and then how the res the disciples respond. Yeah, so so the rushing of wind and fire are both symbols of God in the Old Testament, right? His power, exactly, his presence. And so we just see that manifesting itself in some way. And we don't, I mean, they heard a mighty rushing wind, right, and they saw like tongues of fire. It wasn't necessarily fire sitting on people's heads, but they were like tongues of fire, which is why many people use a flame to represent the Holy Spirit. Right. Right. And we have denominations that use it to represent. So we see this manifestation of so there's no confusion over what's this noise, what's this power. No, this is God coming down. Right, right, right. Uh, and then it enables and equips the disciples to do things they had not been able to do before.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And I think that's that's one of the key points there is these guys were why were they in the why were they why were they in the upper room? Yeah. They were hiding. They're hiding. They're hiding, they're they're praying, they're scared, they're they're afraid that they're next. Right. And the Holy Spirit comes in, they come out of hiding.

SPEAKER_01

They go immediately out into the streets and start proclaiming what's happening. Right. Start proclaiming the gospel.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And the amazing thing about it, which is where you're going, I'm sure, is not only are they proclaiming it, but as they're proclaiming it, people from different countries and different languages are understanding it in their own language. Hearing the work, the mighty acts of God in their own language. So there's some we call this speaking in tongues. Well, that's fine. That's what it was, but we have to understand this was a known language. They're not speaking in some unknown language, an angelic language, a prayer language. They're speaking in a language, and everybody's saying, look, these guys are Galileans. Yeah, there's no way they know my language. They're uneducated, Galilee. Uneducated gals. These are rednecks. These guys are from the backwards. These are the six boys. But yet they're speaking in my language. And this is multiple countries, multiple languages are at least 15, I think.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Right. So it is the spirit empowered them to proclaim the gospel and enabled them to do it in such a way that that message began to spread to the nations, right? It's the fulfillment of Jesus telling them, I'll be with you and you're going to take the gospel back.

SPEAKER_00

Even to the end of the age, go into the ends of the earth, even to the end of the age, I'm I will be with you. Yeah. And that's how he fulfills that in the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

Tongues Gifts And What Continues

SPEAKER_01

Now let me say this. This is and this is where the controversy comes, right? So should everybody who has been indwelled by the Holy Spirit be able to do such a thing? Right. I think it's important to understand that Acts is descriptive, not necessarily prescriptive. Yeah. So that means it describes what happened, not necessarily what must happen. Correct. Right. So not everybody who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit has to speak in tongues.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Has to speak. And again, a known language. A known language, exactly. Right. Um, that's not necessarily the case. However, I would say that because we have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit, we have been given gifts of the Holy Spirit. Yes. Right. Romans chapter 13, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, you know, are descriptions of holy uh of spiritual gifts. Yeah. An enabling of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life to do that which he couldn't do for the building up of the body of Christ. Right. Um so there's lists of them there. So I would say, while it may not be speaking in tongues, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, gifted, gifted, empowered, enabled by the Spirit to do things we could not do before. Right. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

And so what about wha let me let me just push and poke the bear just a little bit. I mean Poke away. I mean, w why do we I mean, I can recall my salvation experience in Um it didn't look like that at all. No. Right. I mean, I d I there was no wind, there was no fire. Sure. You know, there um and even in my gosh, this is weird, but like in my younger twenties, like I had some friends who were Pentecostal and they would want to, you know, pray over me to receive tongues, you know, and those kind of things. And I like I like I I have one guy work on me for like what seemed to me what seemed like hours, you know. And he's like, and like, man, you don't have it yet? You don't have you know, he's like, no, man, I don't I don't I you know why why I guess two questions why does God why trying to phrase this correctly, right? Um why doesn't God work in that same way today? Why or or does he, does he not, I guess is the is the question. Sure. Um go ahead, sorry.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, there's I mean there's a lot going on here. So I first of all, I I understand Acts to be a transition between Old Testament economy and New Testament economy. Right. I believe that there are certain things that happen in the book of Acts, again, that are descriptive, not prescriptive. Right. They're describing to us what happened at that time, and I believe must a lot of what happened then was the prior to the word of God being written, being collected, being available. Right, the word of God was through the mouths of the apostles. Yeah. And their message had to be verified, authenticated. Authenticated. And I believe he used these signs and these wonders as what they're called sign miracles to authenticate that message, right? So I believe it was during that period of time. This is my personal understanding of it. Um, I believe that now we have the word of God and we have the Holy Spirit to enlighten us to the Word of God. Yeah, we no longer need those sign miracles. Yeah. And so they are not carrying forward today. Now, there may be some brothers and sisters that are genuine believers in Christ that have a different understanding of that. I'm open to having that conversation, but I think these gifts were given for this period of time. I think one thing we see is you get to the book of First Corinthians, and Paul is writing to the church and he's saying, Look, you guys, you're you're you're elevating the gift over the giver of the gift, and you're you're you're making more out of the ability to speak in tongues than you ought to be.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And I so I think there's a reason why we don't now because we tend to elevate gifts and we tend to put things up on pedestals that we don't that don't belong there. It's not our ability, it is the Holy Spirit. Right. And any gift, any time, any use of a gift that points attention to the person, not Jesus, right, is a misuse of the gift. Right. So the Holy Spirit, his complete role is to point people to Jesus. Yeah. He would not draw attention to himself. Matter of fact, matter of fact, Jesus says he will guide you into all truth. Truth, right? Absolutely. So, you know, so that's that's my understanding of of this. Um, there's prescriptions of Paul in his letters to the churches to say, yeah, do I wish all of you could speak in tongues? Sure, but there's a process for it, yeah. Only a certain amount of time, only if there's an interpreter, only for the building up of the body. Right. Right, right. For the proclamation of the gospel. Exactly. So there's there's there's ways it should be done that often are not followed. Yeah. I can't say they're never followed, right? But but they're often not followed. Yeah. And then you have the situation that you experienced where somebody is trying to tell you you need to have this gift. Yeah. If you're saved, you have to do these things. Right. No, I'm not no. Exactly. Salvation is by grace through faith alone, not of works. It's not gonna demonstrate itself, right? Um I I I don't have to have tongues. I don't have to whatever fill in the blank. Fill in the blank, right? Exactly. It is salvation by grace through faith. Now, I believe that true transformation will demonstrate itself in in in a reformed life. Yeah. In in in a life that is is changed, a transformed life. So um so yeah, I don't know if I answered your questions, but I think that's that's really good.

SPEAKER_00

I think sometimes people wonder, you know, why why not? You know, why doesn't God do this today? You know, why and I think you answer it really, really well. I mean, we have the complete word of God now, it's available. Um and uh I think I agree. I think those were apostolic sign gifts. Right.

Bold Living Through The Holy Spirit

SPEAKER_00

Uh and so these these these men, these apostles spill out into the streets proclaiming the the word of God, and what what happens after that?

SPEAKER_01

Oh well, 3,000 people come to trust in Christ, right? So the church goes from 120 to 3,000 like that.

SPEAKER_00

And this is one of the to me, one of the biggest proofs, I think, for for Christian faith. Think about Peter, yes, right? Peter, the chief preacher here in an incredible message, incredible sermon. Gives his first sermon that we know of. I mean, probably his first sermon. Now, probably not his first speech, because we know he liked to talk, right? Right. But I mean, his it's his first sermon, and it's an incredible sermon, and and he uses the old testament to point people to Jesus. And and just a few days, a few weeks before that, he was denying Jesus. Again, another another um uh sign, if you will, that that he is indwelt with the power of God through the Holy Spirit, right?

SPEAKER_01

And so it just changed it just changed. The transformed lives of the disciples is one of the proofs of the resurrection. Yeah, and the proofs of the of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit coming, because their lives utterly changed. Utterly changed. They go from hiding to proclaiming, to and and to being willing to lay down their lives. Yeah. Not for a lie, but for what they understand this is truth. Exactly. I'm gonna lay down my life for.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I I think unfortunately, we as Baptists, we'll speak about our little tribe here, right? We tend to under-emphasize the Holy Spirit out of reaction to what we see as an over-emphasis, the whole pendulum thing. Yeah, we swing it too far the other direction. Right. Um, and I think part of the point of Pentecost is that God fulfills his promises, right? God says the Holy Spirit, I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit, he's gonna come. And the Holy Spirit is available to us. Right. And the Holy Spirit is indispensable to us, right? So, what God calls us to do, take the gospel into all the world, what God calls us to do, um, offer our lives as a living sacrifice. We cannot do it. It's impossible for us to do it on our own. We can only live the life God calls us to through the spirit that he enables us to do so. And so I think the point of Pentecost is God fulfills his promises, right? Holy Spirit's available to us, Holy Spirit is indispensable to us, and then God provides for his purposes, right? So here's what I'm sending you to do. I'm not just gonna send you out on your own. If if God sent Bob out to do this job, we're gonna we're in trouble.

SPEAKER_00

I was just reminded this morning, um, just something I was listening to, uh John 15.5, you know, being in the vine, apart from me, you can do nothing. Right. You know, and and the Holy Spirit keeps us connected to the the vine. And I just was thinking about ministry and the my responsibilities here. And I'm just a lot of days, especially Mondays, like this is maybe too I sometimes I just kind of feel defeated, but or just I I can tend to think about things I wish that have had gone better, sure kind of thing. And I think, God, I'm I'm just what do you have me doing this for? I I'm just not uh I'm not equipped enough. You know, I'm not smart enough, I'm not talented enough, I'm not whatever. And it's just a good reminder that he's the one that that equips, right? He's the one that does the the work, even we're nothing more than than vessels. We have to be willing, clean vessels, but uh yeah, he's the one that that that does it.

SPEAKER_01

And I I think we can get frustrated both individually, personally in our walks with Christ because we fail so often. Right, right. We don't live up to what we expect the expectation should be. And that's because we're trying to do it in our own power, right? We're trying to do it in our own abilities, which we're never designed to do. We're supposed to surrender. And I think we can get frustrated corporately as a church when we only try to do things that we know we can accomplish, the things that God has brought some gifted people into our church, and man, this guy can do this and this lady can do this. But Ephesians 3.20 says now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, right? To him be glory in the church. So God does more than we could ever imagine through his church, by the power of the Holy Spirit that is indwelling us, not through us, but through us with the power working through us and uh for his glory, not for ours. And so, yeah, Pentecost, while we don't typically emphasize it on our annual calendar, our liturgical calendar, is an important day.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I think some of the applications is okay, dads out there, moms, I I don't know how I'm gonna lead my family. Right. How do I, how do my, how do I lead my family toward Jesus? Man, the the power of the Holy Spirit within you will uh yes, we we can give you practical tools and helps, but the power of the Holy Spirit living within you will show you and and and empower you to lead your family to Jesus. How can I be, how can I live out my faith and be a witness at work, at school through the power of the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. That's the application, that's the takeaway, I think, of Pentecost for all of us. Before Christ, yeah, we were scared and cowering, cowering. Now we can be bold. You know, yeah. So and we uh we can stand up. Yeah, it's yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I I I don't have patience. How can I get patience? Don't pray for patience. But yeah, the Holy Spirit enables you to do that. How can I love my wife as Christ loved the church? You can't spirit. You can't Holy Spirit can't, right? Exactly. Um how can I control my tongue, right? I I've I've struggled with saying negative things or having uh coarse language come out. How do I control that? You don't. Yeah, the Holy Spirit doesn't.

SPEAKER_00

And that's the hope of Pentecost, right? That's right. Yeah, that's right. We can overcome because of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Pentecostal power. That's right, man. Lord's in the old time power, man. I was trying to find uh like an old, old timey version. It's got it's not as popular as I thought it was.

SPEAKER_01

I don't remember it, but yeah, I'm glad I got the real thing.

SPEAKER_00

So there you go, man. Exactly. Exactly.

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SPEAKER_00

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Bob Block

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Darren Selvidge

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