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Well, we are so glad that you are here. How many of y'all believe God is up to something good? I uh I uh am really excited. We're gonna continue out this series. Today is the last of the series. This summer we're gonna be in the book of Psalms, and I'm really excited about going through some different psalms as a church. But before we do, this is the most important message in the whole series. And you're like, preacher, will you say that every time? But this time, you know, I really mean it, okay? Like, this message is really important to understanding what God wants to do in you and through you. Now, how many of y'all believe in for miracles? Okay, you're gonna need a miracle today because I'm gonna try and preach the shortest message I've ever preached in my life. So I'm about to find out if your prayers are working today, alright? So some of y'all like, I pray every week, Pastor, so we can get to lunch, you know? Never, my prayers never get answered. Uh we're just um we watched God do some great things last service, and I come into the second service fired up because I already saw what he did the first time, and I believe he can do it the second time. And uh, in this series, it really comes down to understanding the Jesus life. Here's what we really believe. We really believe that Jesus came and lived a life, that he was a model and he was an example that you can do the same. Our heart's burden and desire for you as a church is that you would become more and more like Jesus. Turn to your neighbor and say, be more like Jesus. Uh, that'll cause some marital discussions after church. It is my prayer that by the time I get to the end of my life, I look more like Jesus than the day I started. But how many of you know that's always easier said than done? How many of you know like it's one thing to go to church on Sunday, it's another to wake up on Monday and think, how am I supposed to be like Jesus? Have you ever met the people I work with? Have you ever lived in my house? Do you know the people that I live with? Do you know the challenges that I face? And yet, I want you to understand this this morning. That if Jesus came and he believed that he was an example that you might follow after him, I want to tell you something, he's not cruel. He doesn't play jokes, he's not a prankster. So he would never come and deliver a message to you that he didn't actually believe that you could do. That he didn't actually believe that if you obey what it is that he says and do the things that he says to do, that when you get to the end, you will look more like Jesus. The question this morning is, do you believe it? Oftentimes the gap between knowing that and experiencing it are simply because we don't know how to get there. I uh was thinking about this all week and I want to let you know, anybody get um, you know, have those times in your life where you feel like you're pretty unsaved? For me, it usually happens in the kitchen. Uh those times in your life where you feel like you're about to lose your salvation over little things in life. Is this just the preacher or anybody else testify in the room? Uh because I kind of have this thing, I I hate these things. Like, especially saran wrap, you know? Like the saran wrap came from, you know, yeah, not heaven. Okay, so the thing about it is like I kind of have this thing, it's like usually sometimes I get really bothered because anybody in the room, you like, please stay perfectly flat and straight. I don't like crinkles in it, you know? By the time you get there, it's it's not really working right, and sometimes if you're unlucky, sometimes you just get to stop it. Anybody ever done that? And you're like, somebody should do something about that. Well, I don't know how old you were the day you learned. Some of y'all are today years old. When you learned that Reynolds wrap, the designer, put these little circles on the end. And if you take your finger and push in the tabs, it will hold the foil in place. Some of y'all are getting saved already. And it changes your life. Because all of a sudden, what used to be complicated has been easy the whole time. Like, like, so here's what I'm getting at. The designer of the Reynolds rap had a great idea. The designer of the Reynolds rap decided: hey, we can give people an ability that they would never have on their own if they will just access it by doing it and using it the way that we created for it to be used. When we talk about living the Jesus life where this can often become complicated, sometimes in our life, we think, great, Pastor, it's great. I want to be more like Jesus, but it's really hard. I want to be more like Jesus, but then I go to work and I get angry at people. I want to go to be more like Jesus and then I drive them 1488. I want to be more like Jesus, but then I have challenges in my marriage. And so oftentimes we get to this place where we feel like we're in the gap. We feel like we're in the space between what we wish we were and where we feel the burden and the pressure of where we are. What I want to tell you about this morning is the idea that you can't be more like Jesus. You heard me, bold statement alert. You can't be more like Jesus on your own. The challenge is oftentimes we come to church, we hear the message, and I want to paint this as a picture because I want you to know this. The whole Old Testament is full of people who tried to be more like Jesus. Now they hadn't seen Jesus in the flesh, but God had given them a word and a law to follow, and they spent their whole life wandering in the wilderness, going all these places, never being able to be more holy. Which is the very reason that God sent Jesus in the form of a man to come and live and die on earth, but he lived as an example. He came to do what we couldn't do on our own. And he knew that you and me would be sitting in these chairs today saying, Well, that's great. I would like to have better character, yeah, that's great. I'd like to be more honest, yeah, it's great. I'd like to not sin, yeah, it's great. I'd like to have some of these rough areas of my life smoothed out, but it's hard. How could I do that? And Jesus, knowing that we would be in these shoes, gave the answer before he ever even left. We talked about the upper room part one last week. Today is the upper room part two. In the upper room before Jesus went on the cross and was risen from the dead, Jesus gave instructions to his disciples and told them all about, in John 14, 15, 16, and 17, all about the power of the Holy Spirit that would come to them. And here's what I'm here to tell you today. I've been baiting you all month long. Telling you about the Jesus life. Be more like Jesus, be more like Jesus. But we all come to the reality and the conclusion that what happens when we can't become more like Jesus? Well, the whole series depends on today's message. Because God, knowing that we wouldn't have the ability to do it on our own, gives us the power through the power of his Holy Spirit. That if you can't be more like Jesus, there's good news today. Because it doesn't actually matter what your past is, it doesn't matter how long you've been coming to church, it doesn't matter how many Bible facts you know, it doesn't matter what your grandma taught you or didn't teach you growing up. Here is what matters: that God sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of you. Because if you can't be more like Jesus, there's one person who can be more like Jesus, and that is the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you. The Holy Spirit is God's ability for you, God giving you a supernatural endowment from heaven to come to you that you could be more and more like Jesus every day of your life. And as we celebrate water baptisms today, and as today is Pentecost Sunday, I found no more fitting text than the one we're gonna share today. Because today's message really is about the baptism of Jesus. How many of you remember the account in the Gospels that Jesus went and was baptized? And I'm thinking if Jesus needed it, I'm gonna need two or three of them, you know? And so Jesus was baptized, but often we forget the part where God opened up the clouds and he said, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. And then what happens is the Holy Spirit descends from heaven like a dove and rests upon Jesus. So often we celebrate the water baptism, but often we forget. There was another baptism happening that day. That the Holy Spirit was coming. It's the baptism of the Holy Spirit was coming and resting on Jesus. The things that Jesus did was not just because he was the Son of God, the things that Jesus did, he did because he had the power of the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit living on the inside of him to do the things that he said he would do, that you too can do the same things that he says you can do. So today's message really comes down to this. Are you accessing God's ability in your life? Are you tapping into God's ability? Last week the message was called, was called how to be successful, how to have success. Today really is this how to have the strength to succeed. Not just in life and your business, but I'm talking about your spiritual success. How do you have the strength to be who God called you to be? If I asked you this morning, we're two and a half years old as a church, if I came and said, hey, we're going on our first mission trip, who's ready? Okay, five of you. Great. If I said, our first mission trip is to Hawaii, how many of y'all ready? How many know, like, you'd be willing to go? Lord, if I have to suffer in your name by going to Hawaii, I will go as long as we get to sit on the beach a few days and have a nice buffet, somebody. Okay. The thing is, if I said that's what we were going to do, many of you would be willing. But I also know that there are many people in the room who did not raise their hands because the first thought in their mind is, I'm not qualified. If I went, like, I'm gonna tell a complete stranger about Jesus on the beach. I mean, I know I'm on the beach and that's like heaven, but but I'm really gonna do that? How could I do so? Oftentimes the challenge is not in our willingness, but in our feeling of being inadequate to do the thing that we're very willing to do. And that is that not the Christian life? That sometimes we're like, yes, a church, yes, God, I'll do what you asked me to do. But by the time Friday rolls around, you've been beat up a few times, and you get to Friday and you think, God, I don't know that I can. I tried, I was gonna be more spiritual in my home this week, and then we got in a big old fight. I was gonna be more spiritual with my kids this week, I was gonna lead them, I was gonna talk to them about baptism, and then we just got in an argument or things didn't go according to plan. How many of you know the willingness and the ability are two totally different things? And the message that I'm bringing to you today is not about your willingness, it's about the ability that God is gonna put inside of you to be who he says you can be and do the things he says you can do. And that happens through baptism. So some of y'all be thinking, well, great pastor, I'll go to Hawaii, I'll do it, I'm willing. But the problem is I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I don't know how I'm gonna swim to Hawaii. Some of y'all are like, I bought a Tesla, I read the other day, somebody took their Tesla Cybertruck and tried to drive it through the lake. It didn't work. Some of y'all like, I got a cyber truck, but I can't get there in my cyber truck. How many of you know? Like, you have to have a mode or an ability to get there. So you may be thinking, well, Pastor, if you tell me, hey, this is where we're gonna go, like, how are we going to get there? And then I told you, hey, somebody owns a jet. You want to fly on a private jet? It's all yours. Access to go to Hawaii as much as you want. Who is now in? Anyone in? A private jet? You bet. Let's go. Right? How many of you know? What happens is we just gave you an ability to get to a place that you could not get to on your own. And that's the power of the Holy Spirit, much better than a jet, coming to you as the ability to get where God is leading you. So often I'm so consumed by, but how am I gonna get there? But what's it gonna take? What do I have to do? How much do I have to invest? What do I have to sacrifice? And the Lord is less concerned with how we're gonna get there, and more concerned with you understanding that He's already given you the ability to get there. And so as we talk about this message today, I'm I'm pulling you back to Jesus' baptism because here's what I believe. I believe that this series actually starts and ends with this message right here. That your ability to be more like Jesus has everything to do with the Spirit of Jesus, which is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit living inside of you, giving you the ability you need to do anything in your life that he calls you to do. The Holy Spirit is your understanding. The Holy Spirit is your ability to be able to love your spouse better. Some of y'all are like, give me extra Holy Spirit today. The power of the Holy Spirit is your ability to have more joy in your life when all you have felt is discouragement and depression. The Holy Spirit is your ability, your power to be able to overcome the addictions that maybe held on to you for 20 years and you wanted to get rid of 10 years ago, but somewhere along the way it felt like they kept knocking on your door. The Holy Spirit is your ability to overcome what has once held you back. Understanding today's message is everything to understanding the Christian life. I want to paint this picture. There's two baptisms, water baptism and baptism in the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes we talk about water baptism, and oftentimes we're all like, if you grew up like I grew up, you're like, Holy Spirit, what who's that? Some of y'all like, well, I just I just know that there are some weird churches and they believe in the Holy Spirit. And can I just tell you something? If you met somebody and they were weird and you thought it was because they had the Holy Spirit, it wasn't because they had the Holy Spirit. They were probably weird before they ever met the Holy Spirit. So let's just let's just call it what it is. The truth is, in the gospels, so we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The first four books of your New Testament. Four different writers giving the account of the gospel story. Now, how many of you know? You and your spouse are probably pretty different. You're like, yep. If you were to tell the story of what happened, she would tell it one way and you would tell it another. So in the gospel, here's what we find: we find different accounts, different perspectives of the life of Jesus and what happened. So that's what we preach to you every week. This is the beginning of the New Testament. But how many know, parents, that if you tell your kids something one time, anybody only have to tell their kids things one time? Wow. Come teach our parenting seminar, please. It's like, how many of you know? You don't just tell them one time, you usually have to repeat it over and over and over again. And so often in what we find is in the Gospels, you're finding different angles and different perspectives of God delivering the gospel truth to you so that you can understand it, so that you can hear it. And how many know sometimes it repeats itself? But here's what I want you to know. Out of the four gospels, there are relatively few things that all four of them all talk about. Relatively few. One of them would be the feeding of the five thousand. Everybody remembers that story, right? The loaves and the fish and and feeds five thousand people. That's in all four gospel accounts. Obviously, we can't forget this one, but the death of Jesus is in all four pretty big important deal, right? Every one of them is going to talk about it and the resurrection. Don't forget the resurrection, all four talk about it. You want to know one of the very few things that all four gospel writers talk about is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In fact, Mark doesn't even tell the birth of Jesus in his gospel. He he um he must not have been a preacher because he had very few words to say. Mark had the fewest chapters of all. He was really brief, he was really to the point. He didn't even, he didn't even talk about the birth of Jesus. You know the first thing he came out and said? He came out and said, now you've heard of John's baptism, and this is how it happens, but he says, but I tell you, when Jesus comes, he's gonna baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Now listen, if he mentions it in all four Gospels, how many of you know it's something he wants you to hear? How many of you know it's the key? How many of you know it's the secret sauce to what we do? It is the answer that you've been looking for. And so he begins to unpack this in the gospels. I'm gonna read to you from Acts chapter 1 and verse 4. If you're ready, say I'm ready. I'm gonna clean up my mess. Acts chapter 1, verse 4. And while staying with them, this was after Jesus had died, he had risen from the grave and he'd come back to visit the disciples. He told them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. Remember John chapter 14, 15, 16, last week? The promise of the Father was the Holy Spirit to come, which he said, You heard for me. For John baptized with water. Today we're water baptizing, but he says, You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked Jesus, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Now, how many of y'all can relate to this right here? Okay, Jesus is like, I got some really important information for you. I want you to wait right here and don't do anything until the Holy Spirit comes to you. And then the disciple shoots his hand up and says, I got a question. Y'all got kids, right? This is like a this is like a road trip happening right here. You get in the car, when are we gonna be there? It doesn't matter when we're gonna be there, we're gonna be there. I'm not answering your question. Jesus says, I have some important things for you to know. And the disciples in the midst of it say, Now tell us about the end times here. Lord, at this time, are you gonna restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It's not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will, here it is, receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. God is saying, I got something for you. I have a plan for your life, I have an assignment for you. We're going to Hawaii, we're going on mission. Jesus is saying, I got a plan for you. And I love how he says this. He says, You will be. You will be in Jerusalem. You will be my witnesses in Samaria. Now, I don't know about you, just me, but when I read that, I'm like, Jesus, that's a pretty confident statement in somebody who is not always that good. Jesus, you're putting a lot of confidence in those disciples right there who they didn't always get it right. Listen, when you read the Bible, I want you to know the Bible is full of a bunch of people who didn't get it all right. Sometimes you can be like, man, I don't feel as good as those church people, man, I don't really know, and I haven't been to church my whole life. No, no. I want you to know all of this Christian life is about a bunch of people who don't get it right, but through the power of this text right here, it changes everything. And so here's the understanding. The disciples didn't always get it right. In fact, they were asking some really dumb questions. There were times when the disciples, they thought they knew where they were going and they didn't know where they were going. There were times disciples like, Jesus, we've been with you for three years, we already know what you're gonna do, and they didn't get it right. And so, why is this really important? This is important because Jesus is looking at a group of people who don't always get it right, and he tells them with full confidence and assertion, you will go to Jerusalem and you will be a witness. Do you hear the confidence? Jesus, how could you possibly say that? Because Jesus' confidence was not in their ability but in his. Jesus' confidence was not in their skill sets and their talents and their strengths. This was not they're the best preachers in the world. This was not they're the best writers in the world. This was Jesus saying, I'm going to give you the power of the Holy Spirit, and he will be in you. And if he is in you, you're gonna have everything you need. If he is in you, you're gonna do things you can never do on your own. If he is in you, you're gonna go places you can never go on your own. And so Jesus is revealing this to them. So you have to understand this because if it's true for them, it's true for you. If it's true for their life, it's true for your life. Here's why this should give you confidence this morning. Because all the areas of your Bible that you've ever read and thought, I don't know if I can really do that. Compassionate, mercy, kind, and patience, bless God. I need some help right there. As I read this text, here's what I find. I find a God who's so caring and loving and thoughtful. He's not cruel. He didn't take the world, spin it in motion, and say, good luck, have a good life. I hope you make it to the end. But quite the opposite. That Jesus says in this text right here, I will be with you to the end of the age. And what he means is the Holy Spirit is coming to you. And when the Holy Spirit comes to you, here's what it means: it means Jesus is with you every day for the rest of your life. You're not waiting on Jesus to show up in human form. You're not you're not just waiting in your life, well, maybe I can start getting it right. If Jesus was right in front of me, leading me and guiding me and speaking to me every day, then maybe I could get it right. No, no, listen. This is Jesus saying, I will be with you all the days of your life. It says in Matthew 20, it says, even until the end of the age. He says, I'll be with you. How does he do that? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the power of the Holy Spirit equips you and walks with you and guides you and comforts you. Last week we talked about the Holy Spirit is your advantage, He's your comforter. He will be there for you at 2 a.m. when nobody else is there for you at 2 a.m. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is saying this. He's saying, you're gonna stay here and you're gonna receive the power of the Holy Spirit. But this is why this was really important, because I, for many years in my life, overlooked the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I knew all about the baptism by water, but I had no idea about the baptism of the Holy Spirit until I'd never forget in college, my future wife at the time introducing me to the Holy Spirit. And I remember having these conversations. I remember saying to her out loud, I finally feel like I can do the things I've always been trying to do. Because how many of you know I knew a lot up here, but I didn't know a lot in here. It's one thing to have answers up here, and it's another to have hope and confidence in here. It's one thing for somebody to tell you, it's another for you to believe it and receive it. What Jesus is saying is there's a baptism in the Holy Spirit. And so here's what this looks like. There's usually two different theological camps, and I'm not going to unpack this big time because I just want to paint one picture. But oftentimes people say, Well, I when I got saved, I received the Holy Spirit, all the Holy Spirit I will ever need. And I know the intent behind that phrase. I've heard it said many times. Well, I received the Holy Spirit when I got saved, I got all the Holy Spirit I will ever need. And just not from a theological perspective, but just from a human perspective, I'm thinking, Lord Jesus, I'm gonna need more Holy Spirit than I've ever had. Because how many of you know I need it? My prayer is not, my thought is not, oh, I got all I need. My thought is, Lord, I I want all that you have for me. Lord, I'm gonna need so there's a difference in the posture. Do you understand what I'm saying? One posture is closed-fisted, I'm not interested, I'm gonna stand over here to the side. The other says, God, if you have something for me, I'm just gonna be willing. I may not understand it, I may never heard this before, but I'm just gonna choose to believe that, Lord, you're gonna lead me in truth in your word. And so here's where often that perspective comes that the Holy Spirit happens that salvation. I'm gonna unpack it to you. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. I love this scripture. It's so true. And people who make this claim about baptism of the Holy Spirit, they are accurate on this account. Here's what they're saying. They're saying actually that Jesus has baptized them into the Holy Spirit. That's what happens. Jesus baptizes them into the Holy Spirit. That's what he is calling the seal. So when you get saved, we got some saved people in the room. When you get saved, guess what? The Holy Spirit comes and seals you. The Holy Spirit lives in your life. That's how you have life. That's how you can go to heaven. There's your eternity wrapped up right there. The Holy Spirit comes to you when you said yes to Jesus. Thank God for that. Says that he seals you. That's what we call baptism by Jesus into the Holy Spirit. But there's another baptism that Jesus is talking about, and it's baptism with or in the Holy Spirit. The word in Greek is for with is also the word in, so you can use it interchangeably. It's baptism with the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Spirit. You're thinking, Clayton, this is a big game of semantics. I totally understand. I'm going somewhere. I want to help you here. Here's I get that it sounds like semantics, but here's why it's really important. Because there were people in Acts chapter 8, and there were people in Acts chapter 19 who had been saved a while, and Jesus, or people go up to them and saying, Hey, have you heard about the Holy Spirit? And this saying, No, we got saved, but we've never heard the Holy Spirit. Listen to what it says in Acts chapter 8. I can't do the whole chapter, but here's the gist of it. They had simply believed Philip for salvation. The Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them. And Peter and John, they arrive on the scene, and it says this that those people received the Holy Spirit. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, well, maybe the news just hadn't got to them yet. Jesus had just risen from the dead, and now they just didn't even know what they didn't know. But I want to tell you something. This passage in Acts chapter 8 happens five years later. Some of these people have been saved for five years. Acts chapter 19. Same, same type of scenario. Walk up, they've never heard of the Holy Spirit, they've never received the Holy Spirit. And he said, Have you received? How many of y'all know? This was 25 years later. In other words, here's my point today. The question is not whether or not baptism happens when you get saved or happens subsequently. Because here's what happens when it happens as a separate second experience, here's what it's happening, it's saying that the Holy Spirit is indwelling or filling you. The question is not when you received the Holy Spirit. That's not my concern today. My concern today is this have you received the Holy Spirit? How many of you know we can mess some things up with our intellectual minds? We think we got God all figured out. We can give you all kinds of scenarios and this and that. But I think sometimes the Lord is just saying, I think you're missing the picture. The picture is this. Have you received the Holy Spirit in your life? And the reason why he's so passionate about this is because your receipt of the Holy Spirit is what gives you the ability to do the things that he says you can do. This is so important, especially it's not just for Pentecost Sunday, it's not just for baptism Sunday, it's for your life. Have you received the baptism in the Holy Spirit? Here's why this is important. Because the disciples were asking Jesus a question in verse 6 and 7. They said, Lord, at this time will you restore the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus said, It's not for you to know. Jesus says, I'm not giving you the answers. Here's what he says: I'm going to give you power instead. This is why this is important. Anyone have questions for God? You got a list of questions when I go to heaven one day? Jesus, I got some questions I'm going to ask you. And here's what Jesus is saying: it's not about the answers to your questions, it's about the power of the Holy Spirit coming to you. Do you understand the importance? This is Acts chapter 1. This is the beginning of the New Testament. Things are about to take off. The gospel is going to be spread all over the world. And Jesus is saying, I don't want you to miss this one piece. That when you receive the power of the Holy Spirit, it's going to change everything in your life. Listen, I know that foil thing was cool, but can I tell you something far greater? That the Holy Spirit has a built-in design in your life. The creator of the world has a built-in design for your life. Not to make it perfect, not to mean you'll never make another mistake, not to say you're going to have everything all figured out. But I'm telling you what, it's going to give you the ability to do things you could never do before. His presence is your life, is going to make things smooth where they were rough. It's going to make the hard parts easier. It's going to make some of the tough stuff more digestible in your life. And the disciples come at Jesus with a question, and Jesus stops them and says, It's not about the answer to your question. I think sometimes we're like, God, well, why this? And why that? Why did that have to happen? And when is this going to happen? And when are things going to turn around? And when are things going to change? And the Lord doesn't answer that. You know what he does? He says, But you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit. And what is he saying? You're going to have everything you need while you go through it. You're going to have the ability to walk in places you couldn't walk on alone. You're going to go through things, but as you go through things, I'm going to be with you. Here's why this is important because answers give us intellect. Answers give us more intellect. And this is not what Jesus is pursuing. I know in our Western civilization, it's about knowledge and intellect. I understand that there is a place for that. God does not ask us to leave our minds at the door, but here's what he does say answers lead to intellect, but power, power from heaven, gives you the ability to do everything he's asked you to do. In other words, maybe, maybe you've been looking for answers, and the Lord says, the thing you don't need is answers. The thing you need is the power from heaven to do the things you've been wrestling with. Yeah, but Jesus, even if I don't understand, even if you don't understand it all. As I think about this, the disciples, they were in this place where they were ready to receive what God was doing, but they didn't understand it all. And I just want you to know today that receiving the Holy Spirit is not about your understanding. You know, can I be completely transparent with you? I'm still learning so much. I'm still so I I still often think, God, I can't be standing right here because I don't know. But you know what I think makes a good Christian? I think what makes a good Christian is a Christian who's humble enough to say they don't know. I think a good Christian is a person who has the humility to say, God, I don't have this all figured out and I don't have all the answers, and I probably never will. But I know what I do have. I have the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who made a way for me, his blood covers me. But beyond that, it's not just an event in history that I look back upon, it's an active, working gospel in your life. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, which means it's right here, right now. The power of the Holy Spirit in your life is what gives you the ability to keep going. So my question for you this morning is are you looking for answers up here, or are you looking for the power of the Holy Spirit right here? And the last piece is this is so interesting. Jesus tells them, I want you to wait. I want you to wait. You know why that's interesting? Because in Matthew chapter 20, they're gonna put the scripture on the screen. Jesus came to them and said, This is before he goes, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and do what we're doing today. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe. Teach them to be more like Jesus. He says, Baptize them and tell them you can do it. Be more like Jesus. The things he did, you can do. Have more kindness, have more compassion, have more mercy, have more patience. Lord knows. Lord knows I need it. And then here's what he says All that I have commanded, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. There it is again. The Holy Spirit's gonna be with you to do all those things. But here's why this is so interesting, because in Acts chapter 1, this is Matthew 28, before he dies on the cross. Okay, you with me, Sam, with you. Before Jesus dies, he tells him to go into all the world and do all these things. Acts chapter 1, he shows up back on the scene, he's raised from the dead, he comes to the disciples, and they're in the upper room again. And he's telling the disciples, I want you to wait. Hold on, Jesus, you just said go. Jesus says, I want you to wait. But Jesus, you said go. Anybody ever challenge Jesus on a few things? More than I care to admit. So which one is it, Jesus? Do you want me to go or do you want me to wait? And here's what Jesus tells them. He says, wait, why did he tell them to wait? Go back to that passage. Here's what he says, I want you to wait. Why? Because the promise is going to come to you. The power of the Holy Spirit is going to come to you. Do you know why it's important that they waited? Because if they had never waited, they would have never been able to go. If they had never received the power, they would have never been able to go do the things that he said that they could do. This is why it's really important because I think I got overzealous. I got saved, I got excited, and I was ready to go, and I never waited. And I woke up one day and I think, how am I gonna do that? God, you're asking me to do this stuff. How could I possibly do that? God, you want me to change? God, you want me to do something. How could I possibly do that? And the Lord says, Well, if you'll wait on me, I can do that work in you. If you'll wait on me, you'll receive power. This is why it's really important because Jesus, the answer was both, guys. Which one do you want me to do, Jesus? Both. Go and wait. Alright, let's figure that one out. Well, it reminds me of the time I ran out of gas in this car rider line in front of a bunch of soccer moms, you know? Jeez. Big old truck, big old Texas. When I first moved to Texas, I had a big truck in Missouri, but then I got big truck because I thought it was cool, and I was in Texas. I thought Texans rode horses to school. Turns out they just drive big trucks. I ran out of gas in the middle of the car rider line in front of everybody. It was completely embarrassing. Can I tell you why I ran out of gas? It's really revelationary. It's because I didn't fill the car up with gas. I never stopped to fill it up. I'm one of those go people. Anybody in the room, you're just one of those go people. I wake up, I'm ready to go. Let's go. I got things to do. I got a mission. What's the next mountain? What's the next assignment? What's the next task? I'm ready. And sometimes I think that's what God is so proud of me about. But how many of you know he's just as proud of your waiting as he is your going? Here's what I realized there's only one place they should be building gas stations, and it's on the right hand side of the road.

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Why?

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Because when that vacation stops, I'm gonna beat the clock on the GPS. Like I am going to beat that time. And if I have to stop and fill up with gas, I get discouraged because the clock starts ticking the opposite direction. And here's what I've realized, though. How many of you know that if I never stop and put gas in my car, I will never get where I'm going. And that's what the Lord is saying about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. That if you never stop and wait and receive his power, you will never be able to have the marriage that he says you can have. You'll never be able to walk and do the things that he says you can do. And how many of you know life is hard enough as it is? Anybody? I don't need to make it harder on myself. So I've made the decision a long time ago that I'm gonna go for the Lord, but I'm also gonna wait on the Lord. Because it's not just whether or not I received the Holy Spirit as salvation, and it's not just whether or not I had a subsequent experience, like in Acts chapter 8 and Acts chapter 19. You know what it is? It's that every day of my life I need the filling and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So my prayer is no longer, Lord, you said you filled me with your spirit when I got saved. You know what my prayer is, Lord, today I'm gonna need you as much today as I've ever needed you before. In fact, maybe even more. So, Father, today I need the power of your Holy Spirit in my life, and I'm not going anywhere until I have you going with me. So I just want to ask you this this morning. Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit lately? Lately. Why? Because some of y'all have been in church a long time. You got baptized in the Holy Spirit a long time ago. The question is not whether you got baptized in the Holy Spirit a long time ago. The question is, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit lately? Have you waited on him to fill you and give you the ability you would never have on your own? And for some of you in the room today, you're saying, I've never received the Holy Spirit. Can I tell you it's a lot simpler than you think it is? And it's not as weird as you think it is. It's Lord, right now I receive the power of your Holy Spirit in my life to fill me, to do the things that you said I could do. It's my acknowledgement, Lord, that I can't do it on my own, and I'm gonna need your help all the days of my life. It's my acknowledgement, Lord, that I want to go to Jerusalem and Judea and Hawaii and all the places and all the world to do what it is that you've asked me to do. But I am acknowledging right now before you, Lord, in heaven, that I can't do it without you. So I'm done trying. So today I receive the power of your Holy Spirit. To those of you being baptized today, it's not just a water baptism, the repentance and forgiveness of your sins and what God did on the inside. There is also a spirit baptism happening in the midst. That you say, Father, I'm going down in the water, and today when I come up, I'm receiving the power of your spirit in my life. And I just believe this is not a bathtub. This is this is not just something that washes you and cleanses you, it's something that ignites what God wants to do in your future and in his plans for your life. So, Holy Spirit, we ask that we receive you today in a way we never have before. In Jesus' name, all God's people said, Amen. We're gonna baptize some people in this room today. Y'all ready? If you're getting baptized today, go ahead and stand up. I want you to come right down front.