SPEAKER_00: But today we're gonna bring our series on the Holy Spirit to a conclusion.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna look in Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we were in Acts 3 and we learned through the story of Peter and John healing the man that was lame from birth.
SPEAKER_00: We learned that we may not have what people are asking for, but we do have something that they need.
SPEAKER_00: And they need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I encouraged you last week to adopt the mentality that I have something to give.
SPEAKER_00: And the reports that I've got from many of you this week is that God opened your eyes to see people right in front of you this week that maybe you've been looking past and you met a need for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: And church, that's exciting.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we need to live as followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This week I want to answer the question: how do I release what God has deposited in me for the world around me?
SPEAKER_00: How do I give away what God has given me?
SPEAKER_00: How do I impart to the world what has been deposited in me?
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to see that in Acts chapter four.
SPEAKER_00: Stand with me, if you would, as we honor the reading of God's word together this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 4 is a continuation of Acts chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us that after healing this lame man, that Peter and John are arrested, and they brought before the religious leaders and told to give an account of what they have done.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to pick up the story in verse 8, Acts chapter 4, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all.
SPEAKER_00: Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that it's by the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody, we've been singing about that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's by the name of Jesus, Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him.
SPEAKER_00: This man is standing before you well.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else standing this morning because of the name of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else well today because of the name of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else been in a pit, but you're not in a pit today, and there's one reason, and his name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: By him, this man is standing before you well.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builder's which has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just pause here for a second?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who Peter's talking to?
SPEAKER_00: Peter's talking to the very people that just weeks earlier had crucified our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to the people that just weeks prior he didn't have the courage to stand before, much less speak before.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, just weeks earlier, he couldn't even call on the name of Jesus at night by a fire to a slave girl, but now he's standing before the very ones who crucified his Savior and say, It's by his name.
SPEAKER_00: Something has shifted in Peter, something has changed inside of Peter.
SPEAKER_00: This is a different man.
SPEAKER_00: He's standing confidently and speaking boldly about the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: No watch what they say about him.
SPEAKER_00: When they saw the what?
SPEAKER_00: When they saw the courage, another word for courage is boldness.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say boldness.
SPEAKER_00: When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, come in, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you a question this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Would anybody recognize that you've been with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything about your life today that would testify that you've been with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that you are demonstrating through how you live your life and through the words that you use?
SPEAKER_00: That other people would say there's something different about them.
SPEAKER_00: I think they may have been with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and John are released, and they go back to the other apostles and the church that is gathered praying for them.
SPEAKER_00: And go to verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: And we read the prayer that they pray at the conclusion of this story.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak with great boldness.
SPEAKER_00: Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 31.
SPEAKER_00: And after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they all were what?
SPEAKER_00: With what?
SPEAKER_00: And what did they do?
SPEAKER_00: Church, this is God's word and the title of my message this morning is this filled to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Say that after me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Filled to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Say, I am filled to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to your neighbor and say, You are filled to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to the other neighbor and say, We are filled to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Turn around the person behind you and say, We are filled to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for your word this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Your word is a light into our path.
SPEAKER_00: Father, your word shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray this morning that we would not just be hearers of your word, but doers of it.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' mighty name.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Caleb.
SPEAKER_00: The other day, I got to spend some time with a family that has young kids.
SPEAKER_00: My kids aren't young anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Meg and I are quickly becoming empty nesters.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We love our kids and we're thankful for our kids, but we're ready for our kids to go.
SPEAKER_00: I know I kind of shouldn't say that.
SPEAKER_00: No, they're great.
SPEAKER_00: But spending some time with a family that had some young kids, I was I was struck and reminded about the sayings that we say around kids that are just somewhat crazy.
SPEAKER_00: If you can, if you remember these sayings.
SPEAKER_00: I'm rubber and you're glue.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: Everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys remember that one?
SPEAKER_00: How about this one?
SPEAKER_00: Finders keepers.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, y'all know that one really well.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one.
SPEAKER_00: Step on a crack.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's another one.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a here's a classic parental line that's a threat.
SPEAKER_00: And it's if you keep making that face, it's gonna stay like that.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna stay that way.
SPEAKER_00: Any any others, as I say that, anybody get give me one?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody have a saying that immediately comes to mind?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good one.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that didn't hear that one, she said, if you don't stop crying, I'm gonna.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's a good one.
SPEAKER_00: I I love that one.
SPEAKER_00: I I I was reminded of another one the other day that's just just flat out not true.
SPEAKER_00: You know, some of these sayings are are are aren't aren't very true.
SPEAKER_00: I found that I can step on as many cracks as I want, it doesn't break my mother's back.
SPEAKER_00: I I have found that finders keepers doesn't translate very well in court.
SPEAKER_00: Although I've heard possession is nine-tenths of the law.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one that doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: It's so wrong, it's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it that way.
SPEAKER_00: Sticks and stones.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys know that's a flat out lie?
SPEAKER_00: It's just not true at all.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I have found that bones that are broken heal faster than spirits that are bruised.
SPEAKER_00: A word has the power to bruise a spirit that can have lingering effects for decades.
SPEAKER_00: Decades.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the Bible treats our words way more strongly than we tend to.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible speaks of, I'm gonna have to pause here for just a second for the media team.
SPEAKER_00: I think this keyboard is on.
SPEAKER_00: I hear, did anybody else hear like a buzzing noise over here?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all hear that over here?
SPEAKER_00: Somebody fix that in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm about to lose my mind over this buzzing noise over here.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we are raw today.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the things the Bible is most clear about is the power of our words.
SPEAKER_00: And there's really only one verse in scripture that you have to look at to understand the significance and the importance of our words, and it's in Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: And Proverbs says, life and what lie in the power of the tongue.
SPEAKER_00: That literally our words have the power to build up or to tear down.
SPEAKER_00: Our words have the power to encourage or to destroy.
SPEAKER_00: Our words, church, have incredible power, and that's why this statement isn't true.
SPEAKER_00: It's why when we say sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.
SPEAKER_00: It's just not true.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, when you study scripture from beginning to end, you understand that it was by the word of God that the universe was created.
SPEAKER_00: By his word, God said, Let there be, and it became.
SPEAKER_00: Our words have power, and today we're going to learn together that one of the primary purposes of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to empower your words.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles, let me show you just a few passages to help to illustrate this as we move along.
SPEAKER_00: I spent some time this week, and I I'm not going to take you through all of it, but I charted from Acts chapter 1 all the way through the book how often the Bible references that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they verbalized something.
SPEAKER_00: They spoke.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be what?
SPEAKER_00: You'll be what?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what are you called to be?
SPEAKER_00: A witness that you are called to testify that there, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the infilling of God, that there should be an outflow of a verbal response that I'm going to witness, that I'm going to testify, I'm going to tell people about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 2, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is poured out.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, it says, All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to what?
SPEAKER_00: They began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14 of this same chapter.
SPEAKER_00: After everything happens, Peter stands with the eleven and he lifted up his what?
SPEAKER_00: And he addressed the men of Judah and all who dwell in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Let this be known to you and give ear to my what?
SPEAKER_00: My words.
SPEAKER_00: Over and over again throughout the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: Every time the Holy Spirit was poured out, there was a verbalization that accompanied it.
SPEAKER_00: It says, When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to what?
SPEAKER_00: Speak in tongues and prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: There were about 12 men in all, and he entered the synagogue for three months, and he did what?
SPEAKER_00: Spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the revelation that I want you to get today, if you don't get anything else.
SPEAKER_00: One of the primary purposes of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to empower our words through our witness for Jesus and our prayer to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is the consistent theme we see throughout the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: When the Spirit of God came upon people, they spoke.
SPEAKER_00: There was always a verbal response to the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I believe God wants to empower our words so that the world can be changed.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, the Bible would tell us that God fills us with His Spirit so that His Word can get in our life and flow out of our words to change the world around us.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Words have power.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me clarify something for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe in naming it and claiming it.
SPEAKER_00: That the confession of your mouth matters immensely to God.
SPEAKER_00: But when we do speak, we need to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, I want to give you three ways the Holy Spirit wants to empower your words.
SPEAKER_00: Three ways he wants to empower your words.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to empower your words through prayer, through proclamation, and through practice.
SPEAKER_00: Through prayer, proclamation, and practice.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say that one more time so you can get it in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit wants to empower your words through prayer, proclamation, and practice.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at number one through prayer.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit fills us so that we can speak to God.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone thankful this morning that you can speak to the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: That you don't have to go through an intermediary, you don't have to go through a veil, you don't have to go through all the things that the ancient Israelites had to go through, but but you can go through Jesus and speak directly to God.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, for when anyone speaks in a tongue, he's talking about praying in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He does not speak to people, but to who?
SPEAKER_00: But to God.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, no one understands them.
SPEAKER_00: They utter mysteries by the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What do we call speaking to God?
SPEAKER_00: We call that prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Paul is telling us here is that the Holy Spirit wants to empower our ability to speak to God, to pray to God, to communicate with God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful that I have an advocate today that helps me to know how to communicate with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful today that I don't have to have it all figured out to know how to communicate to him, but the Spirit will enable me to communicate to God in a way that I can never communicate on my own.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful that he understands we have limitations.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone have some limitations?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try this side of the room.
SPEAKER_00: anybody over here have any limitations?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: This side's going to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about y'all.
SPEAKER_00: We all have limitations.
SPEAKER_00: And the beauty of the Spirit of God, one of the primary purposes of him coming up to take residence in our life, to be filled with the Spirit of God, is so that he can empower our prayer life.
SPEAKER_00: And he does it in two ways.
SPEAKER_00: He does it in an unknown tongue and in a known tongue.
SPEAKER_00: He empowers us to pray in our mind and in our spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He empowers us to pray in a way that we understand and in a way that is beyond our understanding, which I'm so thankful for because I don't understand everything.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about the goodness of God, that He would give us a gift that enables us to operate in something beyond our capacity.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses 14 and 15.
SPEAKER_00: He said, So what am I to do?
SPEAKER_00: For I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
SPEAKER_00: What am I to do?
SPEAKER_00: I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind.
SPEAKER_00: I will sing praise with my spirit, and I will also sing with my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Why does it matter that God would give us a gift to pray both in our mind and in our spirit?
SPEAKER_00: And it's because we've already said this, we don't know everything.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, you don't know everything.
SPEAKER_00: How many of y'all have been waiting forever to say that to the person you're sitting next to this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look back at them and say, neither do you.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have ever been in a situation where you just didn't know how to pray?
SPEAKER_00: You you you've been in a situation, not only didn't you know how to pray, you didn't know what to pray.
SPEAKER_00: I remember years ago, right after Meg and I got married, we were in Tuscaloosa, also known as Tornado Alley.
SPEAKER_00: And we lived in Northport up next to County High at the time, and tornadoes seemed to go by there quite regularly.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, uh when we were living in the house there, I watched a tornado go by.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's in the middle of the night, and tornado sirens go off, which is always wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: So we jump out of bed and I turn the TV on, and they literally, James Spann, his sleeves are rolled up, jackets off, ties off.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, it's getting real.
SPEAKER_00: He calls out our neighborhood to take shelter.
SPEAKER_00: So we go to the middle bathroom in our little garden home, and I put Meg in the in the tub, and then I sit on the commode, and I just start praying in the spirit because I don't know what else to do.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: I'm praying in the spirit, and at that time Meg had not yet received her prayer language, and she's in the tub screaming, whatever he's saying, whatever he's saying, whatever he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: I say that tongue in cheek this morning, but I want us to come to grips with the reality that we know in part.
SPEAKER_00: We see in part.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, we see through a glass darkly, that we don't know everything.
SPEAKER_00: We don't see everything.
SPEAKER_00: We can't calculate everything, but we serve a God who knows it all.
SPEAKER_00: And in his wisdom, he gives us a gift that enables us to connect with him in a wonderful, miraculous, supernatural way that aligns our life with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul says in Romans.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this verse in Romans chapter 8, verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: It says, In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
SPEAKER_00: He searches hearts, knows what is in the mind of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints, how?
SPEAKER_00: In accordance with the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so thankful this morning that I have a gift that allows me to pray in the perfect will of God when I don't know what the perfect will of God is.
SPEAKER_00: Something beyond our understanding.
SPEAKER_00: So let me let me let me tell you what praying in the spirit is.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jeremy's version.
SPEAKER_00: Praying in the spirit gives your spirit a voice when your mind runs out of words.
SPEAKER_00: This is what praying in the spirit is.
SPEAKER_00: It's giving your spirit a voice when your mind runs out of words.
SPEAKER_00: If your prayer life feels stuck or shallow, I want you to know this morning that the Holy Spirit wants to give you a gift that will unstuck you.
SPEAKER_00: I know that's not good English.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit wants to give you a gift that will empower you, that will propel you, that will connect you with God in a way that is wonderful and beautiful, something beyond your mind and your ability.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Holy Spirit has come to fill us so that our prayer life can be empowered, both in a known tongue and in an unknown tongue, both in our mind and in our spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, the Holy Spirit comes to empower our proclamation of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit fills us to speak for God, not just to God, but for God.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 4, Peter and John have healed the lame man.
SPEAKER_00: This causes such a stir in the temple that they're arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders of Jerusalem, as I said earlier, the very men that crucified Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And their command to Peter and John was explain yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Explain how this has happened, explained by what name you have healed this man.
SPEAKER_00: And verse 13 tells us that they were taken back, as Peter began to declare, it's in the name of Jesus, the one whom you crucified, but God raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the name of Jesus that this man is healed.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says they were in awe of their boldness.
SPEAKER_00: Why would it say that?
SPEAKER_00: Because they knew who they were.
SPEAKER_00: They knew who Peter and John were.
SPEAKER_00: They had seen them around Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This wasn't a shock.
SPEAKER_00: They they wasn't like they were strangers.
SPEAKER_00: They had been in the temple when Jesus was teaching.
SPEAKER_00: They had been there when Jesus was crucified.
SPEAKER_00: They had been there all along.
SPEAKER_00: They knew who these guys were, but the problem was they're not the same guys anymore.
SPEAKER_00: There had been something that had happened to them that had changed them.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just that they had been with Jesus, but that the spirit of Jesus had taken up residence inside of them.
SPEAKER_00: It's what Jesus had promised them.
SPEAKER_00: It's better for you that I go away.
SPEAKER_00: If I don't go away, the helper cannot come.
SPEAKER_00: But when he comes, he'll not just be with you, he'll be in you.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone thankful that the God of the ages lives in your heart today?
SPEAKER_00: They saw the boldness of Peter and John as they testified about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I want to clear something up.
SPEAKER_00: Boldness is not a personality trait.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times we think that boldness is a personality trait.
SPEAKER_00: Boldness is not about your personality, it's not about your demeanor, it's not about the things that we would like to clarify it as.
SPEAKER_00: Boldness is something that comes on you when you've been changed.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what has happened to Peter and John.
SPEAKER_00: They've been changed, they're not the same people that they used to be because the spirit is in them.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you shriek back from the idea of testifying about Jesus because you say, Well, I'm not I'm not bold enough.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you this morning that the same God that raised Christ from the dead lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: See, it's not that you don't have boldness, it's that you're allowing a spirit of fear to have preeminence over your life.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that God's not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.
SPEAKER_00: And because we're allowing fear to govern our heart rather than what is in our heart, we walk by people every day, timid and quiet and tentative about saying anything about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to know this morning, you have the solution for the world's problems living inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: You've just got to give word to it.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to point them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them that He is the hope of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Same Spirit who helps you talk to God will help you talk about Him.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you a question this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Where where have you where where are you feeling pressure to go quiet about your faith?
SPEAKER_00: Where have you said, I don't want to rock the boat when the Spirit is actually nudging you to say something?
SPEAKER_00: Boldness to testify.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about being mean to church.
SPEAKER_00: You hear me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But you know when there's this butterfly in your stomach, you know there's this stirring in your you need to say something.
SPEAKER_00: You need to say something, you need you need to point them to the source of life.
SPEAKER_00: And how often do we retreat from that rather than step into it?
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus is willing to testify about you before his father, how can we not testify about him before others?
SPEAKER_00: You know there's one way you get into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, He's mine.
SPEAKER_00: If he's willing to do that for us, how can't we do that for others?
SPEAKER_00: Third way, the third way the Holy Spirit wants to empower our words is through practice.
SPEAKER_00: Through practice, through practicing the declaration of our faith, through practicing prayer, and through practicing our testimony.
SPEAKER_00: And we do that through desire, through asking for it, expecting it, and speaking it.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I just want you to know if if you want the Holy Spirit to empower your words, He doesn't just overtake you.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to want it.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 1, Paul says, eagerly desire spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: The words eagerly desire are the strongest verb tense in all of the New Testament, and they are only used in this one spot.
SPEAKER_00: And it literally means to long for, to desire, to search for, to go after, to pursue.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys remember how you pursued your spouse?
SPEAKER_00: Somebody said, Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody said they're still doing it.
SPEAKER_00: There's a healthy marriage.
SPEAKER_00: It's a little much.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, God doesn't just overwhelm us to give us what He wants to give us, He invites us to want it.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys remember the parable of the swine?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I don't cast pearls to swine.
SPEAKER_00: I don't cast valuable things to those that don't know their value.
SPEAKER_00: So God doesn't give gifts to people that don't understand their value.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're invited by the Spirit of the Lord through the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If you want your words to be empowered by the Holy Spirit so that you can pray to him in a way that you've never prayed before, and you can witness for him in a way that you've never witnessed for, you gotta want it.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just overwhelm you and give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: And number two, you've got to ask for it.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke chapter 11 and verse 13, actually, verses 11 through 13, Jesus says, if your earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their kids, how much more does your heavenly father know how to give good gifts to his kids who ask for it?
SPEAKER_00: You've got to ask for it.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta want it, I've gotta ask for it.
SPEAKER_00: And when I want it and when I ask for it, number three, I need to expect to receive it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this in Acts chapter 2, verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: This is on the day of Pentecost, Peter's preaching before the multitudes in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.
SPEAKER_00: And listen to this: and you will receive.
SPEAKER_00: Not you might receive, or one day you get to receive.
SPEAKER_00: No, and you will receive the gift of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Then verse 39, he says, This promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about us, church.
SPEAKER_00: All of us who are far off, for all whom the Lord will call on.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to expect to receive it, and then you've got to give word to it, number four.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta want it, I gotta ask for it, I gotta expect to receive it, and then I've got to give voice to it.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it this way: you've got to pray the prayer and you've got to share your testimony.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't take your words over.
SPEAKER_00: But if you'll give your words to him, he'll empower them in a way that is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00: So our family has a story that has been passed down for many, many generations.
SPEAKER_00: My both sides of my family grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky, coal miners by day, pastors by evening and weekend.
SPEAKER_00: My great-grandfather lived way up in a holler.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone know what a holler is?
SPEAKER_00: A holler is a really small valley that's so small that you can holler from one side to the other.
SPEAKER_00: There's one road in and one road out, and he would walk that road to work early every morning, and he would pray as he walked to work.
SPEAKER_00: He would pray in understanding, and he would also pray in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: My grandfather would walk with him from time to time, and he would tell the story that I'd ask my dad, What are you what are you saying?
SPEAKER_00: And he'd say, Son, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to God.
SPEAKER_00: This happened over and over and over again over many years.
SPEAKER_00: And one year in particular, a a a Russian immigrant family moved in, and they moved into a house that my great-grandfather would walk by every morning as he prayed in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He's thinking, he's praying to God.
SPEAKER_00: He's facing things that he doesn't know how to deal with.
SPEAKER_00: So he's praying to God beyond his understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Little church that he pastored soon after this Russian immigrant family moved in, they came to attend the church and got saved, the whole family.
SPEAKER_00: And my grandfather asked him, Well, tell me, tell me your story.
SPEAKER_00: He said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: He said, We don't we don't we don't know God, we don't know the story of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But every morning you walk by our house in our Russian language, you were telling us about the Son of God who gave his life for the sins of humanity.
SPEAKER_00: See, God wants to empower your prayers, and he wants to empower your witness, but we have to give words to it, and if we'll take a step of faith and give words, give voice to it, God will get on it and connect us with Him and with others in a way that we can't connect any other way.
SPEAKER_00: You stand with me where you are this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We ask my prayer team to join me to my right and to my left today.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have a moment of ministry together here at the conclusion of our service today.
SPEAKER_00: My response is really simple.
SPEAKER_00: It's three things.
SPEAKER_00: First is this if you're here this morning and you were real honest about your faith journey, you'd say, I feel a little dry, I feel a little weary, maybe even I'm worn out, I'm tired, the vibrancy that I once had has faded, and I need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit today.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that you're in the right place at the right time to receive what God has for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask you to respond in just a moment as our worship team leads us.
SPEAKER_00: Number two is this if if you're here this morning and and you want the Holy Spirit to empower your prayer life and maybe even give you a prayer language beyond your understanding because you know you need more.
SPEAKER_00: Come to one of our prayer team members, and we're gonna pray with you today and believe that there's gonna be an impartation of power upon your life to pray in a way that you've never prayed before.
SPEAKER_00: And then number three is this you know God's placed you among people that don't know him because you're the witness for them.
SPEAKER_00: And you've been timid and you've been shy and you've been tentative about sharing your testimony, and you know you're coming into a season where you need to get bold about your faith.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask you to respond in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: With every head bowed and every eye closed.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here this morning, you say, Pastor, I know today I need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just raise your hand right where you stand?
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm gonna I just want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Is there anyone here under the sound of my voice?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00: I see those hands.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: In just a moment, I'm gonna ask you to respond to get out of your seat.
SPEAKER_00: Come to one of our prayer team members.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, you're here today and you know you need your prayer language empowered.
SPEAKER_00: And it's time for you to pray in a way you've never prayed before.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, you just raise your hand right where you stand.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I see that hand.
SPEAKER_00: I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your honesty this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, you know it's time to get bold for Jesus and it's time to testify about him.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, just raise your hand right where you stand.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I see that, I see that, I see that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Hands went up all across the congregation for these three requests.
SPEAKER_00: The worship team's gonna lead us, and I'm gonna ask you, as they do, to take a step of faith this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Come to one of our prayer team members.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna lay their hands on you according to scripture and pray for an impartation of the Spirit of God upon your life to empower your words today in a way that they've never been empowered before.
SPEAKER_00: If you're ready to do that, just as a church family, would you just raise your hands towards heaven with me this morning and say, Holy Spirit, fill us with your life.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, fill us with the power of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, empower our words to connect with God and with others.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we submit our tongues to you, we submit our minds to you, we submit our spirits to you, we declare we know that we're not enough, but you're more than enough.
SPEAKER_00: We declare we don't know everything, but you know all things.
SPEAKER_00: And so today we come before you this morning, the God of the ages, who loves to give gifts to his kids to empower them for his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this morning for an impartation of power over your church that we may speak your words to the world.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, as the worship team leads us, take a step out of your faith.
SPEAKER_00: If you raise your hand, move right now out of your seat and come to one of our prayer team members right now.