A Supernatural Shift - Pastor Luke Barnett

Welcome to SC Church Podcast! We’re so glad you could join us. Today Pastor Luke Barnett shared with us his message:

“A Supernatural Shift"

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Oh, come on, while you're clapping, let's give Jesus Christ the greatest applause for what he's done for us. Hey, and what he's gonna do in the future. You may be seated. It is so much fun to be back where I began the ministry when I was just 22 years old. Pastor Denny and Deonza took a risk and had me preach at this wonderful church. And I've been coming back here every other year for man, how many years now? It's 20, uh 24 years, and you've all been just so wonderful and kind. And we love you guys. And I is Sister Frances here today. We love you so much, and we just honor you today for your tireless work in the ministry and the lives of you impacted. Our family loves you so much, and we honor you. And for uh Pastor Denny and Deonza talked to them yesterday, and of course, uh Sarah and uh Pastor D. Rod and all how God's using them. I sat with that with Denny last night and had uh dinner. Um, and um he began to share with me all the dreams that God has put in his heart for this community, for this church, for your city. And I can't even tell you all the things he has in store because it's gonna cost a lot of money. You gotta pay for it all. Amen. But you don't have a you don't have a professional pastor leading this place. You have a man that's just driven by a holy unrest inside of him to really impact this community. And I just honor Pastor Denny and uh Sarah and all that God is gonna do. I gotta get right at it today. Uh, the nice thing you know about coming to this service is the preacher's gotta be done by 1115. And uh so I gotta get right at it, but I think this message is gonna pack quite a punch here today. Acts chapter 2, verse 1. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from the heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. If you were God, how would you choose to introduce the third member of the Holy Trinity to the people of planet Earth? Uh, just 33 years earlier, God introduced the second member of the Trinity as he was born in a barn, not a lot of fanfare. And now God wants to introduce the ministry of the third person of the Holy Spirit. Well, regardless of how small the gathering was, 120 people, or how unimpressive the room was, three outrageous things occurred simultaneously when the Holy Spirit arrived on planet Earth. First, there was a sound of a violent wind, the Bible says, followed by uh a fireball that enters the room and separates and into little four to five inch flames that hover over every person's head. And then they were all speaking fluently in a foreign language that they'd never studied before. So I want you to imagine right now that happening in this auditorium right now. Imagine a deafening wind blowing through this place, followed by a fireball that enters into this place and it separates and disperses. And every one of you had a little flame of fire over your head. And you're like, man, you got fire over your head. And the person next to you says, No, you got fire over your head. Everyone's got fire over their head. And then imagine that every single person is speaking in a foreign language that you've never studied before. It would seem like chaos in this place. Uh, I think you say, I'm glad I didn't skip church today. Well, unless you think there was no method to all this madness, on the day of Pentecost, God sent these three symbols to help people in that upper room understand how the arrival of the Holy Spirit would impact their lives and impact their futures. So these three symbols, what's the meaning of the sound of a violet wind? First of all, this was let to let every member in that room know that there was a new divine power that was gonna sweep over them, over their lives in a way they'd never experienced before. Now, in context, Jesus, during his three-year ministry, uh, he divine power was only vested in him. So he was the one that healed the sick, he was the one that, you know, uh calmed the seas, he fed the multitudes, he raised the dead. And if you if you missed the, if you're a block away and you missed the miracle, well, you had to hear rumors about it. But but Jesus was the one that was entrusted this supernatural power. But on the day of Pentecost, a supernatural seismic shift happens. God sends the sound of this violent wind, and everyone, everybody say, everyone, everyone in the room hears it. And this was an indication that now supernatural power is available to all followers of Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? I'm talking to you right now. This had never happened before in human history. This was a new thing, and it blew the minds of people as this power from God was now available and operative in people's lives. By the way, I think it's still a stretch for the ordinary Christ follower today to really believe that the Holy Spirit power is available to you no matter where you are or what you are doing. I have a friend who's doing big things in Washington, D.C. He's creating a new healthcare problem or solution to the problem of healthcare in America. And he was going in to present this idea to the President Trump and several of his cabinet members. And he, after the meeting, he called me and said, Pastor Luke, I tried to call you on the phone. I needed your prayer, I needed your guidance, I needed you to know that I would that you were with me. And I said, bud, he's a new believer. I said, Bud, you had the Holy Spirit there. He was available. Yeah, but I was in Washington. And is God really concerned about Washington? I was at work, and would he really give me give me his power? I said, Yes. On the day of Pentecost, God made his power available to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I'm talking to everyone in this place who follows Jesus. It's yours if you want it. The Holy Spirit really is available to you. Secondly, what is the meaning of these little flames of fire? Now, this is exciting. The text says this fireball enters a room, it disperses, and every person in the room has a little flame of fire over their head. Notice everyone, men and women. This flame was not biased, you know, against women. Men and women, the young and the old, the wealthy and the poor. And this symbol of flames hovering over everyone's head is packed full of supernatural significance. So I want you to really hold on to every word I'm about to say. For thousands of years, there was always this sharp distinction drawn between clergy, pastors, priests, and normal, regular lay people. The priests or the pastors were the ones who had the special hotlines to God. They had that special stuff that qualified them to say public prayers, preach sermons, listen to confessions, and absolve people from their sins, counsel the heartbroken, marry and bury people. And that super holy stuff was was was never done by a non-priest or a non-pastor. Severe consequences would follow if someone tried. It's just the way the system worked until the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, when everyone in the room heard the deafening sound of wind, indicating that every believer now has access to the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. And everyone in the room had a little flame over their head indicating, by the way, not just the three rock star followers of Jesus, Peter, James, and Paul. Everyone in the room had the little flame over their head, signifying that every Christ's follower is now, wait for it, a minister. But on that day, it was indicating that little flame that every Christ follower is a priest, is a minister. On the day of Pentecost, the distinction between clergy and lady got smashed. And the Lord sees no distinction at all. So much so that after all this happened, Peter leaves the upper room and he goes down the streets, and there's a commotion in the streets because people heard rumors of the resurrected Christ and they heard rumors of what's happened in the upper room. And Peter looks around, he sees no priest, no legitimate clergy around. So he stands up in front of 3,000 people and he starts to preach a message. Wait a minute, Peter's a fisherman by trade. He doesn't preach. I'm sure he thought, what am I doing here? This is what a priest would do. I'm not a priest, I didn't study for this, I didn't go to school for this, but I'm doing it. And under the power of the Holy Spirit, 3,000 people were cut to the core and they gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. And on that day, the very first megachurch was born. 3,000 people converted in one day. I know megachurches get a lot of you know negative feedback, but hey, the first church is a megachurch. I want to tell you that right. 3,000 people in one setting. This was a super, and by the way, all this all this was accomplished not by a priest, but by a non-pastor type. By a fisherman. This is a supernatural shift that turned kingdom history on its ear. God took the box of what a minister looked like and he smashed it. And he said, You're all ministers. And I don't think the church has really come to grips with the power of that of that idea in 2,000 years and even still today. You know, as I was reading this Acts 2 passage this past week, man, I felt like bawling like a baby once again because it was out of this supernatural shift in the upper room that the miracle of the church was born. 3,000 people on day one entered this brand new, beautiful community. And Acts 2 says about this community, these people were devoted to the apostles' teachings and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and prayer. Everyone in that little new church community was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. And all the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold their property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they had continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who are being saved. I want you to imagine with me for just a moment. Let's dream together. There was once a community of people who were wholly devoted to God. Everyone in this new little community was fully devoted to God's word. They were feasting on it. They were reading God's word privately. They were devoted to the apostles' teaching, the Bible says. And their thoughts and their words and deeds and actions were being formed by the Word of God. There was once a community where people prayed really bold prayers and they saw signs and wonders and miracles happening in that community. There was once a community where people loved each other so deeply. The Bible says they sold their possessions to make sure that not one person in that new supernatural community had need. And they ate together in their homes. That's the way of saying they took their masks off and they got real with one another, and gladness and joy filled their hearts. There was such a love and concern that they for one another, they started to call each other brother and sister. We think that's kind of corny sometimes, but it was very real in that community, this bond of brotherhood and sisterhood. And the worship that flowed was so rich and real that all the people in the neighborhoods around were looking in, saying, Can we be part of this? And they were coming to Christ daily, the Bible says. Man, when I read the account of that Acts 2 supernatural community, I almost had a heart attack this week. I was so filled with joy. Why? I thought, why can't there be a community built like that today? Why can't there be people who really love the Lord with all their hearts and souls and minds? Why can't there really be people who devote themselves daily to the word of God and to the apostles' teachings? Why can't there be a community that's just so powerful that people all around want to come and be part of it? Why can't there be a church like that built today? I challenged our people with this message two weeks ago. Has the Holy Spirit lost his punch? Has the gospel message lost its power to change human lives? I preached this message to our church, and people they were they were stirred. They said, yes, that ought to happen. That ought to happen here in Phoenix and other locations. And we think that you're the pastor to build that, Luke. Who's the dream team? Who you're raising up? How are we gonna get this done? Because if it's gonna be done and built, it's probably gonna be built by some pastor type, by some clergy type. A little history of our church. Like your church, I know you're this is an older church, I think you're 90-something years old. Our church is 103, 102 years old. It was begun by a Native American pastor named Pastor Barry Hill. For the first 60 years, our church ran between 20 people and 200 people at its peak. And here's how the system worked: the church members paid the salary of the pastor. And the pastor was required to do all the ministry stuff. He was the one that preached and taught, did counseling, visitations, he'd marry people and bury people. And once a year, the congregation would meet together in a business meeting and vote whether or not the pastor was doing the work of the ministry well. And if so, they would renew his contract for another year. And if not, they would fire him and find someone who would do it well. But notice all the work was being done to the people. And it's problematic. But in the 1970s, our church, back then Phoenix First Assembly, now Dream City Church, uh, they had a tough run. They had five pastors in 10 years, and they couldn't keep a pastor. In 1979, a man named Tommy Barnett, my dad, my hero, became the pastor of the church. And he stood boldly before a group of 200 people in the church, and he gave a new kind of vision for the future. And he said, There was once this supernatural community that came out of nowhere and it changed the whole world. And there ought to be another supernatural community that comes out of Phoenix, Arizona, that changes the city and changes the state and changes the world. And that small little congregation got so fired up and said, Amen, Pastor. That's why we hired you. We want you to assemble the dream team and build that kind of church. And then my dad dropped the bomb on them. He said, Acts two, supernatural churches are not built by pastor types, they are built by ordinary people who just love God and they have a heart to do it, they have a heart to minister. Then he explained to them what happened on the day of Pentecost. How in the upper room the Holy Spirit blew in, and they all heard the sound of the wind, indicating that now the Holy Spirit's available to them. And they all had a little flame of fire over their head, indicating that God has called every person that sits in this church here tonight. You don't need seminary training, you don't need a pastoral certificate, you don't need a robe and tassels. What you need, those things are not the things that make you eligible to do something great for God. And 99% of the people sitting in that church that day, that 200 group of 200 people, they were business people, kind of like you folks here today. They weren't really interested in ministry stuff, they were just running their businesses. But what my dad taught them that on the day of Pentecost, a shift happened. And now you all have access to the power of the Holy Spirit, and now God has put a flame over your head, indicating He wants to use you in the ministry. All of a sudden the light bulb went on in their minds, and they said, Wait, wait a minute. I thought I was off the hook. I thought, Pastor, you were on the hook. But it turns out I'm also on the hook. Friends, there are so many important things that need to be done in this community in the name of Jesus Christ. There are so much, so many people that we see and we feel the need. You know why? Because we don't feel like pastors. We just don't feel like pastors. For what it's worth, I have never felt like a pastor. I was just a guy who wanted to do business and God got a hold of my life and called me into the ministry. When I go to pastor events, I say, Who are these strange people? When they asked me to say something appropriate, I got I got nothing. You know, I've I for 30 years, I felt like I was the wrong guy. Like maybe I'm I'm not pastor stuff. Here's the point 99% of Christ's followers have taken themselves off the hook because we simply don't feel like ministers. And the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost to say to each of us in this place who claim to follow Jesus Christ, my power is available to you, and I've called you to be my minister. In fact, God says I no longer see a distinction between the clergy and non-clergy. You just have to be a fired up follower of Jesus who loves the Lord and step out in faith and do what the Spirit calls you to do in the marketplace, in your neighborhood, in your schools. Can I get an amen here this morning? This is the priesthood of the followers of Jesus Christ. And what I'm saying is that every one of us are on the hook. Every one of us has been empowered by the Holy Spirit and called by God to make a difference. And here's what's cool: not only does God put all of us on the hook, he also equips every one of us with that special stuff that we need to do what God has called us to do. In Romans 12, it says this we all have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it's serving, let him serve. If it's teaching, let him teach. If it's encouraging, let him encourage you, on and on and on. What's so cool about this verse is God not only has called every one of us here to be ministers, but he's equipped us with that special stuff that we need to fulfill the calling of God upon our lives. Spiritual gifts are these special empowerments from God, these abilities that God entrusts to every believer to help us fulfill his mission for our life. My my number one gift is leadership. That's what God put in me. Secondly, I have a teaching gift. My third gift is discernment. These are gifts that God poured into my life as a gift. I didn't deserve them, I didn't ask for them. He gave them to me. When I was 22, about 20 years old, my dad could see I was struggling with my calling in life. And I said, Dad, my buddy has begun this business, so I'm gonna partner with him in the business world. And my dad said, That's fine if you want to do that, son, but I want to tell you something. You are a born leader, people follow you. And he said, I think you would be selling your life and selling your calling short if you didn't use the leadership gift that God put inside you to somehow move the church forward because you see the church differently than most people see the church, and God wants to use that gift in you to move his kingdom forward. And he said this, he said, I want you to say this for what it's worth. He said, You're probably gonna be miserable in life, you're probably not gonna be fulfilled in life, and you're probably gonna die prematurely if you just go do whatever you want to do. So I joined the ministry. Amen. I didn't want to die prematurely, but it took that strong challenge from my dad to recognize that there was a gift that was given to me by God, and I was gonna be accountable to God one day for that gift. So I want to challenge all the leaders here. You're leading a business, you're leading something. God put that leadership gift in you. And most of us, we use that leadership gift, 99% of it, to move a marketplace venture forward somewhere, and that's wonderful. You ought to do that. But there ought to be a certain amount of horsepower from that gift that you use to move a kingdom venture venture forward, to lead something in the church, to lead a men's ministry, to help the work of God move forward smoothly and powerfully, because God gave you that gift. And you all have a gift, at least one. Some of you have the gift of teaching. If you have the gift of teaching, what should you do in the church? You ought to teach. Have the gift of administration. You can organize things very well. What should you do in the kingdom? You should organize. Some of you have the gift of hospitality. When people come to your home, you can make them feel so warm and wonderful. You ought to use that in the kingdom of God. Whose responsibility is it for us to identify the gift that God gave us? That's our responsibility. Now just be so bold to say this. You're going to stand before God one day, and He's going to ask you, What did you do with the gift I gave you? And you need to have a good response. And just so you know, I want to tell you this. I gotta wrap this up. Where's my clock at? I gotta wrap this up. Um God doesn't care a hill of beans about theological training, about a Bible school diploma, about titles. Those things are important and necessary. But on the day of Pentecost, a supernatural shift happened, and every rank and file Christian became a minister with spiritual gifts, and they were expected to minister. All you need this morning, all you need is to love the Lord and have a willing heart. And God will say, You'll do just fine. I'll use you. As a team comes to help me wrap this up. I thought about my dad while preparing this message. My dad has no high, he has a high school diploma. He finished by correspondence. You know why? Because at 16 years old, he purchased a station wagon and he pulled a big tent behind him and his Oregon in the back. And he would set up shops, set up shop in small towns all across the Midwest and the Southwest and do revivals as a 16-year-old. He didn't have any time for Bible school. And yet today, when I go walk into his office, you see all these beautiful framed diplomas of the leading universities across America, where the presidents of these divine of these uh colleges have given him an honorary doctorate degree. Now he has so many degrees, I call him Fahrenheit. I mean, he's amazing. But he wasn't really educated or he didn't really have that background of a theological degree. And God says you'll do just fine. We have a prayer pastor named Saeed Husseini. Saeed was um an Iranian Muslim businessman. He owned 23 dominoes, pizza locations. He came to church and he got gloriously saved. And he wanted to be used by God, but he had no pedigree. He had no theological training, no Bible school background, but he loved to pray. You know, people in the Middle East are bent toward prayer. And he started a prayer movement as a ministry, as a layperson in our church. Today we have a prayer pavilion open 24-7, largely because of Pastor Zi's emphasis on prayer. And God looked down and saw a man who had no ministry background, no university training, and said, You have a heart to do it and you love me. I'll use you. We have a couple named Constance and Luke Meredith. Constance was a victim of human trafficking in the Phoenix area. Then she was promoted within that movement to be a recruiter for other young ladies to enter human trafficking. Finally, when the pimp got enough of her, he sent her out to the streets and she didn't know what to do. She made her way to our Phoenix Dream Center where she found the Lord. When she was being disciple during those couple of years, she met a man named Luke. Luke was a medic in the Gulf War. When he came back from the war, he was so traumatized by what he saw. He turned to meth and drugs and alcohol. He was living on the streets. He was rescued by our Phoenix Dream Center, came to the Lord. Both of these people had tremendous leadership gifts inside of them. So they rose up very quickly after a couple years of discipleship. They met, they got married. And in Colorado City, when we bought Warren Chefs, that polygamous prophets building up there. We needed a couple to go, and they had gotten married. And now they lead the ministry, rescuing young girls from polygamy up there. Again, no pedigree, no pedigree at all, no theological training. But God looked down at the willing hearts, hearts that loved him and said, You'll do just fine. I think about Brian Steele, who's the director of our Phoenix Dream Center. He was just a young boy, a farmer from Iowa, went to Arizona State University, got with the wrong crowd on drugs and alcohol, wound up on the streets of Phoenix. He came to church one day and got gloriously saved. He's a Jewish young man and he raised up through the discipleship program. And now he runs the Phoenix Dream Center and all four of our dream centers all across the state of Arizona. Again, no, no pedigree, no theological training. Just a young man who said, I love you, Lord, and I want to be used by you. And God said, You'll do just fine. I look at the elders of our church, the board. I'm looking around for people who have some seminary training. I can't find it. We got an architect on our board, a CEO of a major food company, CEO of a media company, all no clergy types at all, but God says you'll do just fine because you love me and you realize you're filled with the Holy Spirit and you're gifted by me. I'll use your gift of discernment and leadership. You'll do just fine. What I'm saying this morning is this: what would happen if all of us in this place here in Shreveport opened our chest cavities wide to God and said, God, I'm no priest and I'm no pastor, but I want to be used by you. I'm willing to be used. What would happen today if we all understood in this place that we're all on the hook and that on the day of Pentecost, every one of them heard the sound of that wind, and every one of them had a little flame over our head, indicating that God will use anybody who wants to be used? What would happen if every one of us in this place went to our work every single day, every single day, and we saw ourselves as the ministers that God sees us to be? How we change our community, how we would change this city and this state. I was in Starbucks just about six months ago, waiting in line in North Scotsto, where I live, and all of a sudden I feel these two hands wrap around me. I'm like, this is weird. And turn around, and there was an elderly lady hugging me in line of Starbucks. And I said, I don't think I have met you before. She goes, We never met, but I go to your North Scott location, and I just want you to know I've been wanting to do that for a long time because your sermons have been ministering to me. I just learned a few months ago that I have bone cancer. And the doctors tell me it's terminal. And I just wanted to give you a hug and let you know that you've been so encouraging and motivating to me through your sermons. And then I wanted to hug her, you know? And we joined hands right there in that Starbucks. And I ministered to her, and we hugged, and she cried. Ministry was happening in Starbucks. And then I thought to myself, what about the hundreds of thousands of people in Phoenix that are known by about 10,000 members of our church who are going through very traumatic times and they have needs and they have hurts, but they don't have access to the senior pastor because they don't live in my neighborhood? And I looked at our people and I said, Would you be that minister? Would you own that territory? And would you open your arms and pray with someone at a Starbucks and pray with someone in the driveway of your home or at your place of business? Would you see yourself from this day forward as the way God sees you? As a person who's called by God, empowered by God, given the gifts that you need. Oh, you don't have theological training, but you have the calling of God upon your life to minister. So here's how I want to end this message here today. I'm going to ask you all to stand to your feet. I didn't have time to get to the third symbol, but what was the symbol of those who were speaking in tongues in foreign languages? This is not the gift of speaking in tongues that so many of us value and need. This was a special thing that God did on that day so that people who are visiting there in Jerusalem from different parts of the world could hear the message in their own native tongue. This was God's way of saying that I don't want to just be in Shreeport or Phoenix. I want to go from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the uttermost parts. God said I'm going global with this thing. I love this church so much because you are a big supporter of global missions. You're doing it, Shreeport. So looking at my time here, I want to be honored. I have one minute left. This is going to take three, so hang on. All right. I mean this with all sincerity this morning. I've just poured my heart out today because I'm just so passionate about this. At this stage of my life, I'm not concerned about preaching good sermons. I'm concerned about impact. Impact. Anybody watch bowling these days? I'm amazed at their the way they dress. They're really kind of cool. The balls all decked out. You know, it's kind of a, you know, I but I don't care how well they're dressed, I don't care how good their form is, how good the ball wicks, if they're not if they're not knocking pins down, they're not they're not successful. You know what? If our sermons aren't knocking pins down, if it's just tickling ears, you know, it's not gonna have any impact. So I hope this impacts you today. You are a minister. That's how God sees you. I know you look at me and say, no, he's a minister, he's up there behind the pulpit, but I'm just like you. You gotta get this. I don't have any more special stuff than you have access to. And God sees you and wants to use your life. And I recognize one day that I'm not off the hook, and neither are you. You are as accountable to God for your ministry as I am accountable to God for my ministry. And you all have the power of the Holy Spirit, you've all been called by God, you've all been equipped with spiritual gifts, and you have God cheering you on right now to be what he made you to be. But until you see yourself that way and you're seized with this reality that you are God's man, you are God's woman in your neighborhood, in your school, in your marketplace. So I want to end this message by commissioning you as ministers. I want to commission you right now, from this day forward. So when you're in Starbucks and you see a need, or you're at school, young person, you see a need, you're no longer gonna say, Well, I wish Pastor Sarah was here or Pastor Danny was here, you know. You're gonna say, No, I'm here. And I've been called by God. I'm empowered by God. I don't have a theological degree, but I have the Holy Spirit. I'm gonna minister this person. So here we go. Would you raise your hands like this? Today I commission you as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing that you are full, have full access to the power of the Holy Spirit, and knowing that God has called you and entrusted you with spiritual gifts. I declare you to be adequately equipped to fulfill the calling of God on your life as you move through this world. I commission you to speak the words of God and to be the hands and the feet of Jesus to this generation. I exhort you to live in a manner that glorifies Christ and to love in a manner that draws people to Him. I exhort you to overcome temptation, to endure hardship, and above all else, to keep the faith. And in so doing, you will be laying up treasures in heaven, and you will experience on this life the life that is real life. And as you do this, you will sense the smile of heaven, and someday you will hear those words from Jesus. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Do you receive this word today? I love you so much, Sweetport. I hope God ministers to you through this message.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Thank you for connecting with us today. The first step to a new life in Christ is receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, repeat this prayer after me. Jesus, I believe you died on a cross and rose again for me. I ask that you come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Whether you committed your life to Jesus for the first time today, or you're already on your journey of faith, we would love to stay connected with you. Please visit sfchurch.com and follow SCchurch on all social media platforms. And remember, the best is yet to come.