SPEAKER_00: Today we are going to talk about Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: This is, woohoo, yeah, some of you are excited about that ever since I started this series.
SPEAKER_00: This was what I thought would be lesson, lesson, sermon, whatever, Bible college guy coming out, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I thought that this would have been week two here with all of you, and it just keeps getting pushed back.
SPEAKER_00: But I feel strongly that we need to jump to Acts chapter two this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the outpouring of the Holy Spirit looked like when the church was really birthed.
SPEAKER_00: You know, yes, we were talking about this and we'll be celebrating next week the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you know that it was his death and his resurrection that solved the problem of sin so that we could get on with living the life that God always intended for humanity to walk in?
SPEAKER_00: Can I say that again?
SPEAKER_00: The cross is important.
SPEAKER_00: It makes all the difference in the world.
SPEAKER_00: It is literally, you know, that's why we have BC and AD.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it made the biggest difference in history.
SPEAKER_00: Our sins were washed away, and just as Jesus rose from the grave, we received new life.
SPEAKER_00: But then that first group of disciples, they were witnesses to those events.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't until the Holy Spirit fell on them that things exploded, that the church was multiplied and just came into being a living reality.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I love to study history, I love to look at these things, and it's just amazing to think that a little over 2,000 years ago, depending on how you date things, let's just say 2,000 years ago, a group of, well, there were the 12 apostles as we refer to them, but there was also, we see, uh, and my wife referred to last week, 120 people gathered seeking the Lord, waiting for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You got 120 people in a backwater province of the Roman Empire, Judea, and you fast forward in history, you go from those 12 apostles or 120 people hiding in a room together because they're afraid that the same people that just crucified their Lord are gonna come knocking on their door, and what are they gonna do with us?
SPEAKER_00: You go from that to a group of empowered, emboldened, spirit-filled, on-fire people that the Bible itself says, oh, we're turning the world upside down.
SPEAKER_00: And we fast forward to today, and Christianity is the largest faith on the planet.
SPEAKER_00: I know we don't agree with everybody under that broad umbrella of Christianity, but just the fact that there are what I haven't looked at the numbers in a while, but it's billions of people confess that they believe in Jesus more than any other faith in the world.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus came on the scene, the Jews were a small group of people surrounded by people who worshiped all sorts of gods.
SPEAKER_00: And today, Christianity is the most prominent faith on the planet.
SPEAKER_00: And even in our circles, we could say, churches like ours, spirit-filled churches, churches that believe in the things we're preaching about, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the manifestations of the gift of the Spirit for today.
SPEAKER_00: It was a little over a hundred years ago that that movement really got a good start.
SPEAKER_00: And you fast forward only a hundred years, what went from a handful of people seeking God, saying, Lord, we want what we read in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: We want what this book has promised us, what we're gonna be looking at today.
SPEAKER_00: They went from some little fringe churches to now spirit-filled churches, if you group them together, is the largest movement within Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the fastest growing movement in Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: And you know why that is?
SPEAKER_00: Because we have the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Because we are not a dead religion looking back 2,000 years at relics and wonders of a bygone era.
SPEAKER_00: We are the living church of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We have the Holy Spirit, we have his power.
SPEAKER_00: And places where the gospel has never been preached before, and where traditional sources of Christianity have tried to go and they can't break through.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen breakthrough because why?
SPEAKER_00: Spirit-filled believers have gone in to demonic fortresses.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible talks about these things, right?
SPEAKER_00: Territories, lands that are held under the power of darkness, and spiritual warfare has been done, and demons have been cast out, and notable miracles of healing and signs and wonders have taken place where people that were held in bondage by the devil for generation after generation are having their eyes open that the God that these Christians talk about is real and He's more powerful than the spirits we've been serving.
SPEAKER_00: Are you excited or is it just me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: We are a spirit-filled church, we are a demon casting out, healing the sick church.
SPEAKER_00: We are a signs and wonder church, we are a seek first the kingdom of heaven church.
SPEAKER_00: We are a Pentecostal church.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at what happened on the day of Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and it's so it's um Palm Sunday, and I'm like, oh, should I redirect?
SPEAKER_00: You know, Pentecost?
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not waiting another month and a half until the day of Pentecost comes.
SPEAKER_00: We're going there today.
SPEAKER_00: But let's just say one Hosanna, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Hosanna, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Palm Sunday, everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Here we go, Acts chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: They were already instructed to wait.
SPEAKER_00: My wife already talked about this last week, but let's look at it again.
SPEAKER_00: It says chapter two, verse one when the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.
SPEAKER_00: And remember, just as we see the spirit moving on the waters, we talked about that back in Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: Wind, breath, spirit, these are all one word in the Hebrew and in the Greek.
SPEAKER_00: I think God wanted those connections to be there.
SPEAKER_00: It says there came a mighty sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
SPEAKER_00: The 120 who were serving and seeking the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And divided tongues as of fire.
SPEAKER_00: Say as of fire.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know this isn't literal fire that's burning their hair?
SPEAKER_00: You've already heard some of my fire stories, right?
SPEAKER_00: Fire and hair do not mix.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's a nasty, stinky thing when fire gets on fire.
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask me how I know that.
SPEAKER_00: So there's this manifestation of the Holy Spirit like fire, this power of God.
SPEAKER_00: And verse 4, and they were all filled, say all.
SPEAKER_00: And now say filled.
SPEAKER_00: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues at in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
SPEAKER_00: So they're all there.
SPEAKER_00: There's a mighty sound, something showed up in that room that was undeniable to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: And it says they were all filled, but I mentioned this before.
SPEAKER_00: It says that they spoke as the Holy Spirit gave them the utterance.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I mean, there are times in the presence of God, and I can only imagine that the day of Pentecost was one of those times where God was so manifestly present in a powerful way that there was very little ability to resist.
SPEAKER_00: And they're already seeking God, amen.
SPEAKER_00: They'd already made room for God, they had already set their minds on this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, wait here, this is the only thing missing.
SPEAKER_00: Wait until you receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That is their entire goal.
SPEAKER_00: For you can actually calculate this when you understand the Bible and the death, you know, happening at Passover to Pentecost, that this is 10 days that they gathered to pray together.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you remember what it was like just a month or two ago, a month or so ago when we prayed and fast, and how powerful it was in here by Saturday night.
SPEAKER_00: Now imagine not leaving the room other than for basic necessities for 10 days together, seeking no work, no agenda, no nothing, just on your face before God for one promise to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And when the Holy Spirit showed up, they spoke with tongues, but it's the spirit that gives the utterance.
SPEAKER_00: And I point that out because so many people struggle because they're waiting for you know God to just, you know, reach into their mouth and get their tongue and their lips and everything moving.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna tell you when you get filled with the Holy Spirit, I do believe you will feel something, but you are the one doing the talking.
SPEAKER_00: And the illustration I think I gave week one or two is the same way that the that the Holy Spirit didn't come on the prophets of old, and it wasn't like they were in a trance, you know, their hand was just moving uncontrollably, and oh wow, I wrote something legible.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not how it happened.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit came on them, inspired them, gave them the words, the the revelation, and then they wrote it down with the words that they had at their disposal.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and then you have to release that thing that is inside of you that's filling you up.
SPEAKER_00: And trust me, this is a faith thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just like you had to have faith to receive Jesus, we have to have faith to say, Father, give me the Holy Spirit, Father, when they lay hands on me, just like we see in the Bible, I will receive what they received.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, when I begin to feel that filling of the Holy Spirit, when I open my mouth, I believe that this is what your spirit is giving me to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Again, my experience was I had good teaching on the filling of the Holy Spirit, but I didn't have the experience.
SPEAKER_00: And when somebody laid hands on me, I felt something rising up on the inside of me.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it was new, it was a little afraid, and I was kind of holding it back, and then the people there said, Okay, now whatever you have received, just release it, begin to speak.
SPEAKER_00: And it was like there was that little half-second hesitation, do I, don't I, what is this like?
SPEAKER_00: Is this me?
SPEAKER_00: As soon as I just yielded and allowed my mouth to release those sounds, it I couldn't stop.
SPEAKER_00: It's all I could do.
SPEAKER_00: It was just praying and praying and praying in the spirit and filled with his joy.
SPEAKER_00: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
SPEAKER_00: Now you'll notice as you move forward in this story that we see all of these different people gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: So just a little bit of understanding here.
SPEAKER_00: There were three times a year that Jewish men were supposed to go up to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a setup from God, right?
SPEAKER_00: The day of Pent, the sorry, not the day of Pentecost, backup, Passover.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, pretty much every Jewish male that was able to be there was a witness to the death of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And because Passover involves a whole week of uh the feast of unleavened bread attached to it, they would have been around for the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And then everyone would have gone home, back to their villages, back to their nations, and then they were supposed to come around in about another month and a half's time, 50 days.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we get the name Pentecost from, 50.
SPEAKER_00: They were supposed to come back again to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, to bring, you know, the first fruits of their harvest and things like that.
SPEAKER_00: So all of these people are coming, and and we see the story here in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Now there were in dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And at this sound, so they heard the sound, right?
SPEAKER_00: At this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I do want to point this out that in the Greek, language and tongues, we're talking about the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so some people actually look at Acts chapter 2 and they'll criticize our practice of praying in tongues because they'll say, look, what they were doing was intelligible to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_00: Did I just put a bunch of question marks over people's heads this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Uh are we doing the biblical thing?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we don't have time today to unpack all of what the gift of tongues is, but just know when you get to Paul's letters and you read especially 1 Corinthians 14, you're gonna discover that not everything that's prayed in tongues is intelligible.
SPEAKER_00: Because Paul talks about how when he prays in the spirit, his his spirit is edified, but his understanding is unfruitful.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, there's no rational, you know, just understanding this is this is God giving me a human language, there's different sorts of tongues.
SPEAKER_00: God did this for a sign for his people on the day of Pentecost, and he still does this, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: I know pastors who have been sitting in airport chairs, sitting there praying in their spirit language, and have people walk up to them and start speaking their language to them.
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, I was just speaking, you were just speaking, and they're like, sorry, I don't understand what they're saying you're saying, and they're like, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: You were just speaking my language.
SPEAKER_00: This does still happen, but it's not all the time.
SPEAKER_00: There are tongues that are human languages that you have not learned.
SPEAKER_00: There are tongues that are spiritual language between you and God.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8 talks about how there are deep utterances, groanings in the spirit that we don't have language for.
SPEAKER_00: And that these are the things that the Holy Spirit intercedes for the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: I said I wasn't gonna explain it, but I'm pretty much giving you all the passages.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, smack dab in Paul's teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: There, he talks about if I were to speak with the, you know, the language of angels, angelic tongues.
SPEAKER_00: So that's a possibility too.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what language angels are speaking, but they have a language.
SPEAKER_00: All right, we better get back to the story.
SPEAKER_00: And at the sound, the multitude came together and they were all bewildered.
SPEAKER_00: So, by the way, it's normal for those who have not yet experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit to be confused when the Spirit begins to move.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not just talking like this is not, you know, sometimes we think as Canadians, oh, it'll be my secular atheist friends that'll be confused by religious things.
SPEAKER_00: No, this is religious, devout Jewish people who have all the same promises that the disciples had, they're confused.
SPEAKER_00: So we should not be shocked, church, that if there are some of us, and maybe ourselves at time, or more certainly people of other churches that take issue when the spirit begins to move with us and they don't understand it.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's not to make us arrogant, like, well, we're more spiritual than you, bow down.
SPEAKER_00: You know, because sometimes we can get off on our spirituality as well.
SPEAKER_00: But just I'm saying that we shouldn't be shocked when not everybody understands what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who speak Galileans?
SPEAKER_00: So whatever it was about them, they could identify them as being from Galilee, but then they begin to say all of the different languages here.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, and how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language?
SPEAKER_00: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Frisia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.
SPEAKER_00: And I say that list because it's one of the only lists of names that I can properly pronounce in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: You ever get to the genealogies and you're reading the Bible out loud, and it's like, and so-and-so is the son of, oops, uh.
SPEAKER_00: But you see the broad list of different places that these people are from, and if you're to map that out, and maybe you've got a good study Bible and you can see this, but this is the known world.
SPEAKER_00: This is Asia, this is Europe, this is North Africa, this is everywhere that Rome and even beyond that these Jews were living in, and they had come up for this pilgrimage feast of Shavuot, as it's known in Hebrew or Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12 says, and they were all amazed and perplexed.
SPEAKER_00: Amazed, perplexed, bewildered, right?
SPEAKER_00: I love the language that Luke uses here.
SPEAKER_00: Saying to one another, what does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: What a great question, Peter must have been saying, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, just give me a platform.
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: And notice in verse 13, that those are the the actual, those who are genuinely interested or curious.
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: Then there are other people also confused, also not sure what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: They say they begin to mock and they say they are filled with new wine.
SPEAKER_00: Bunch of drunkards.
SPEAKER_00: We know what they were doing in the upper room, and it wasn't praying.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So you got some people are genuinely curious and drawing near, explain this to us, what's going on, and you have other people that just kind of put a hand up, finger pointed out, mocking.
SPEAKER_00: Again, church, this continues to happen all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, whole churches have divided over this, whole denominations have split over this because the spirit will begin to move, and there will be those who draw nearer.
SPEAKER_00: What is Is this?
SPEAKER_00: How can I experience this?
SPEAKER_00: And there are others that just are like, this is outside of my comfort zone.
SPEAKER_00: This is nothing like what I grew up with.
SPEAKER_00: I don't get it.
SPEAKER_00: Looks weird.
SPEAKER_00: No thanks.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that in order to move with God, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about being weird for weird's sake.
SPEAKER_00: God bless all of my charismaniac brethren, right?
SPEAKER_00: All the weird and wonderful stuff that you know happens in our sorts of churches.
SPEAKER_00: It's not weird for weird sake.
SPEAKER_00: It's Lord, even if I'm uncomfortable, I yield to you.
SPEAKER_00: Even if I don't fully understand if it's your spirit, I'm gonna follow you.
SPEAKER_00: And even if some people point a mocking finger at me, I'm not gonna back down from the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's how one of the ways we quench the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Remember we talked about that two weeks ago?
SPEAKER_00: The spirit begins to move, and there's a divided response, so we just shut it down.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, not everybody's on board with this, so let's just throw a bucket of cold water and go back to the program as usual.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the program as usual, without the Holy Spirit will die in a generation.
SPEAKER_00: We must have the Holy Spirit to be alive for our children to experience it, to carry this forward to another generation.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, people will make up all sorts of things and ideas.
SPEAKER_00: Like you read this, and it's like everybody is understanding what these people are saying in their own language.
SPEAKER_00: And the mockers are saying they must be drunk.
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of people who speak a lot of different languages in this room.
SPEAKER_00: And every once in a while, you know, if you uh it happens, it's normal.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you run into somebody, you know, whether it's the Spanish speakers or I'm sorry, I don't know all the different uh African languages that are spoken in our church, but you know, your language from Nigeria, and I know there's lots of them, right?
SPEAKER_00: And and you you meet somebody from your background, you begin to speak your language.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, I've never walked by, you know, Filipino speaking Tagalog or Hispanic speaking Spanish, or my African brothers and speech uh sisters speaking their language, and I'm like, they must be drunk.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Like it just doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, I mean, uh I've seen drunk, I've been drunk, I you know, like that's not drunk, that's just speaking in another language.
SPEAKER_00: But I will say this I can only imagine that the Holy Spirit must have been moving so powerfully on these people that they were not stoically standing there, you know, with just calm free, you know, they must have been so overwhelmed by the joy and the the power of God and the excitement of this this fresh new move of God that was happening, that they must have just looked a little bit staggered.
SPEAKER_00: Again, things can get a little uncomfortable, a little different when God moves in power.
SPEAKER_00: Who's okay with that?
SPEAKER_00: Not weird for weird sake, but yielded to the Spirit of God for what he wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: So you gotta love that those who are drawing near and saying, What is this?
SPEAKER_00: Peter gives them their answer.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in verse 14, Peter standing with the eleven lifted up his voice and addressed them.
SPEAKER_00: And so again, imagine Jerusalem is packed.
SPEAKER_00: When these pilgrimage feasts would happen, I've heard stats where there were times there would be like in the ballpark of a million people, camping, like every room filled, camping around the city there for the holy festival.
SPEAKER_00: It's a packed city.
SPEAKER_00: And he finds a place to stand and he lifts his voice and he says, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words.
SPEAKER_00: These people are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Because nobody ever drinks in the morning?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But they are not drunk as you suppose.
SPEAKER_00: It's only the third hour of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.
SPEAKER_00: You all know.
SPEAKER_00: You're speaking to a Jewish audience.
SPEAKER_00: These guys go to synagogue every week.
SPEAKER_00: They get through all of the law and the prophets every year.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a Bible reading plan.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You show up to synagogue, you will hear someone read aloud the entire Old Testament in the year.
SPEAKER_00: That's normal practice.
SPEAKER_00: So he points them right to the prophecy that they're all familiar with.
SPEAKER_00: And I unpacked some of the other prophecies for you before.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just Joel that says God will pour out his spirit, it's a general witness of the prophets of the Old Testament that we're living in a day that we're looking forward to something better.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have, well, you know, we experience the spirit, you know, in moments, in certain places, at certain times.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit comes on us, prophets, to say these things.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit empowers, you know, the rituals of the temple, the high priest, when he goes in to make atonement.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit will clothe, you know, the king and his men to go and defend the nation.
SPEAKER_00: But these are momentary things.
SPEAKER_00: There's coming a day when the spirit of God will be for all the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: Not just kings, not just priests, not just prophets, but for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they were looking for.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Jewish people are saying.
SPEAKER_00: God's going to restore us.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just gonna be a nicer city and a better temple.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be God dwelling on the inside of us and filling us.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, he reads or quotes he wouldn't have had Joel handy, right?
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for our Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have these handy.
SPEAKER_00: And in the last days it shall be, God declares.
SPEAKER_00: This is God speaking.
SPEAKER_00: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Say all.
SPEAKER_00: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: I read that different now that I'm a father.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about the other parents in the room.
SPEAKER_00: When I first read this as a young person, I was taking that for me, right?
SPEAKER_00: Excited, getting on fire for God.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, Lord, you know, these gifts that you talk about.
SPEAKER_00: Uh use me.
SPEAKER_00: I yield to you.
SPEAKER_00: Now I look at this and I say, God, thank you for what you have done in me, what you will continue to do in me, but I will see it pass to my children.
SPEAKER_00: You will pour out your spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God will be a God who speaks to all his people.
SPEAKER_00: We can get words from God down here at the altar, from a special speaker, at a conference.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, but the goal is you have the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: You can hear from God, He can give you vision, He can speak to you at day, at night.
SPEAKER_00: I've literally taken this word at times, and I I Lord, maybe I should do this again.
SPEAKER_00: Where I've been ready to go to bed and I've literally again yielded myself and just said, God, may my sleeping hours be yours.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to give me a dream, give me a dream.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and it's amazing what happens when you invite God into those spaces and those times.
SPEAKER_00: He begins to speak in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: And even on my male servants and my female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: There's no one too young, there's no one too old, and there's no one that because of where they fit on the social hierarchy, there's no one too rich, too poor, too free, to enslave the spirit of God is for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: It's for every culture, it's for every nation, it's for all people.
SPEAKER_00: No barriers, no barriers, but the ones we put up, amen.
SPEAKER_00: God is willing and able, He will do this.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to talk about the signs in heavens above and on the earth below.
SPEAKER_00: And you can read that different ways, which is the way prophecy typically works, by the way, in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: It's symbolic language, and uh this is why people are still grasping at headlines and trying to figure out where on the end time timeline we are, and I don't get caught up on that.
SPEAKER_00: God will do what he's promised he will do, and I will follow Jesus till the end.
SPEAKER_00: If that means he comes down in glory, glorifies me, and I walk into ruling and reign with Jesus without passing through tribulation, then praise you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If it means I have to go through Jesus and die for my witness of Christ, then praise you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So you will not get into the details on the sun and the moon and all of these things coming, but verse 21, and Peter circles back to this later in his sermon.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and they shall come to pass, or sorry, it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: The promise of the Spirit is for believers.
SPEAKER_00: And that is worth saying.
SPEAKER_00: Not everything spiritual is God, right?
SPEAKER_00: We know that there are demonic things, and the enemy does like to counterfeit and try to draw people away with what is power.
SPEAKER_00: But when people give themselves over to the power of darkness, it's slavery, it's depression, it's fear, it's everything that God sets us free from when we get his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: God's spirit is a spirit of life, of joy, of strength.
SPEAKER_00: All those good things.
SPEAKER_00: So the spirit is for believers, it's for those who call on the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And then what Peter talks about in the next part of his sermon really would apply more to next week.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna just jump ahead.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about everything Jesus went through and that he really was the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: But let's just get to the end where he shows us that this thing that had just manifested in their presence is available for them and not just them, it's available for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: There is no expiration date for the movement of the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: Can I say that again?
SPEAKER_00: There is no expiration date to the movement of the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: I have some brothers and sisters in Christ, and I love them and honor them.
SPEAKER_00: They have different views on that.
SPEAKER_00: They think that it passed away with the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: I find that too convenient.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, they'll point to some passages like 1 Corinthians chapter 13 where it says that you know when the fullness comes, these things will pass away, and they'll say, see, it's talking about the gifts will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: Once we get the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: If you go and look at that passage and we were to look at it together, I guarantee nobody in this room would have thought that that passage was saying that unless they were taught that ahead of time.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul is addressing there as he's in the middle of talking about how the Spirit moves, by the way, chapters 12, 13, and 14 of 1 Corinthians, is that when the kingdom comes in its fullness, then certain things won't be needed anymore.
SPEAKER_00: We won't need to heal the sick in the kingdom of God, the fullness of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because everybody will be healed.
SPEAKER_00: We won't need any of that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Like you can walk up, oh, there's there's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, what should I do about this?
SPEAKER_00: You know, like uh it's hard to even imagine what it'll be like, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like we won't need those sorts of things when Jesus returns and the kingdom's here in its fullness, but the spirit is what marks the church of God, amen.
SPEAKER_00: So it goes down uh to verse 37.
SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll jump ahead for the sake of time.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when they had heard this, they were cut to the heart, and and again, he does drive home the death of Jesus and his resurrection, and these people had been in the same place a month and a bit ago watching Jesus be crucified.
SPEAKER_00: And probably a lot of them shouting, crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine as they begin to see that this really was the Messiah, they would certainly be cut to the heart.
SPEAKER_00: And it said they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles' brothers, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_00: That's that group of people who leaned in.
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: Now they're they're cut to the heart and they're looking to respond to the truth that they had just heard.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, Pastor Brent talked about responding, and that's part of why we come up to the altar again and again.
SPEAKER_00: And can I just clarify something for you?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to have something wrong in your life to come to the front to get prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I know sometimes in modern Christianity there's a thinking that people who come to the front, they're sinners that need forgiveness, or there are sick people who need healing.
SPEAKER_00: There's something about simply taking another step and saying, now what do I do?
SPEAKER_00: I want to receive, I want to draw close.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I come to the front if I'm not preaching again and again and again.
SPEAKER_00: Not because, you know, I just had a fight in the car and I gotta get right with God again.
SPEAKER_00: Not that that would ever happen.
SPEAKER_00: Never, right, hon.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Again, if you receive Jesus, your sins are forgiven, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: But then there is that fullness, that infilling, that baptism, which means immersion, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's such a beautiful picture.
SPEAKER_00: Just like we get baptized by getting dunked in the water, you know, you can take a little drink of water and you have water on the inside of you, but then it's a whole different experience to get thrown into the water.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, the spirit will come in you when you believe, when you call on the name of the Lord Jesus, but then there's an immersion, a being thrown into the fullness of the spirit, so you're swimming in it.
SPEAKER_00: It's all around you, it's all you sense, it's all you feel.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in verse 39, for this promise, the promise of salvation, and the promise of receiving the Holy Spirit is for you and it is for your children, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And it is for those who are far off, everyone whom the Lord God calls to himself.
SPEAKER_00: There is no expiration date.
SPEAKER_00: And I love the book of Acts because as you read the book of Acts, you see that, of course, they didn't know what God was setting them up for.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter said those words, he was just thinking of his Jewish brothers and sisters standing there before him and the rest of the Jews that they were gonna go out and reach.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have any clue that God was gonna break down the wall between the Jews and the Gentiles by giving the Gentiles the spirit too.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to look in just a couple of minutes here, because I gotta get this into you before you get up here and receive prayer this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If I can find where I was.
SPEAKER_00: And then another day we'll talk more about what Paul has to say about it.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't stop there, but it also doesn't always look like the day of Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's so important for us to understand.
SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of people come up and they say, Lord, give me your Holy Spirit, but because there's no wind, there's no rushing sound, and there's no visible manifestation of something like fire, they're like, Well, this must not be my day.
SPEAKER_00: And again, because God doesn't force you to open your mouth and do this, you might actually receive, but you didn't yield, and so you didn't, you didn't really begin to operate in what God wants to give you.
SPEAKER_00: So why do we want to look at this then?
SPEAKER_00: If you jump ahead to Acts chapter 8, we see that as the church began to be dispersed because of persecution, that there's a a deacon of the early church, a servant, one of those who served at tables, Philip, he went down to the city of Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: And when he went to that place, he began to preach Jesus to them.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm in Acts chapter 8, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John.
SPEAKER_00: Now notice they had received the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: They had already believed in this Jesus that Philip was preaching about.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: And then Peter and John came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_00: That they had believed they had been baptized like so many millions of Christians around the world, but they had not yet, the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon them.
SPEAKER_00: They were real believers, they were real Christians, but they had not yet had this experience.
SPEAKER_00: So they prayed for them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, oh, that that is what we just read, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had laid their hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: There it is in black and white.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, on the day of Pentecost, nobody had to lay hands on anybody.
SPEAKER_00: God just bam showed up and they were filled.
SPEAKER_00: But then what we see through scripture is those people who are filled can get others filled.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and John went down and prayed.
SPEAKER_00: They laid hands on them, and then they were filled.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at this Acts chapter 9, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: It says this is talking about the Apostle Paul, who had just a day ago, pretty much, a couple days, I don't know, been persecuting the church.
SPEAKER_00: But then, of course, he had an encounter with Jesus, and he he's waiting until God sends a man named Ananias to him, who already believes in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So Acts chapter 9, verse 17 says, So Ananias departed and entered the house where Paul was, and laying his hands on him, I love that.
SPEAKER_00: It's like Ananias had to work up the guts to walk into the house where this guy just rolled into town with orders to imprison Christians.
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like, I better just do this before I, you know, turn chicken and go back out the door.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He goes in, lays hands on Paul, and he says, Brother Saul, which is how he was known, of course, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me to you that you may regain your sight.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna be healed and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, and immediately something like scales fell off his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he arose and he was baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Now, isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't even baptized yet.
SPEAKER_00: Well, isn't that out of order?
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we spirit-filled people can get accused of, you know, the Bible talks about decently and in order.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, that doesn't fit into a lot of denominational, you know, you gotta you gotta receive Jesus first, then you gotta be baptized, then this has gotta happen, and you know, you can't do communion until this or that, all of these different hoops.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God got him filled, and then he went and got baptized.
SPEAKER_00: It does happen.
SPEAKER_00: Was that your experience, huh?
SPEAKER_00: She was filled with the Holy Spirit before she was baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Now it does not say that he spoke in tongues there.
SPEAKER_00: But look at what Paul says himself in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
SPEAKER_00: So he did speak in tongues.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, Acts chapter 8 didn't say, you know, did they speak in tongues, did they prophesy?
SPEAKER_00: But it says something so powerful was happening that the local sorcerer, literally, walked over and said, I'll pay you for whatever it is you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's so amazing.
SPEAKER_00: So something was visible, something was obvious there.
SPEAKER_00: Last instance here in Acts chapter 10, and this is where Peter he already set himself up.
SPEAKER_00: He already said that this promise is for you, it's for everyone who is still far off, and who else is further away in the mind of a Jew than a dirty Gentile?
SPEAKER_00: God had to give him a vision to convince him to go in the door.
SPEAKER_00: But he shows up at Cornelius' household in Acts chapter 8 and verse uh, sorry, Acts chapter 10 and verse 44.
SPEAKER_00: And while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
SPEAKER_00: No one's baptized in this place.
SPEAKER_00: They're just hearing the gospel for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, he didn't even have the opportunity to lay hands on them.
SPEAKER_00: We saw that in Samaria they got hands laid on them.
SPEAKER_00: Paul got hands laid on him.
SPEAKER_00: Here, you gotta imagine Peter would have had to have God drag him across the room to touch those Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: So God's just like, Peter, I at least got you in the room, you preach to them, I'll do the rest.
SPEAKER_00: And he fills them with the Holy Spirit, all who heard the word, verse 45.
SPEAKER_00: And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.
SPEAKER_00: So do we begin to see how strong of a biblical foundation we have for what we do in seeking God, in asking him, and knowing that he's not gonna give us a demon, he's not gonna give us a serpent or a snake, as Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: If you ask for the Holy Spirit, your Father will give you the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, he can visit you and just dump his Holy Spirit out on you.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you have experiences like that.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you also have to just say, I know some people who are filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let's call them, let's get them to lay hands on me.
SPEAKER_00: And when they do, I will respond in faith.
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready, I'm receptive, I've made room for God.
SPEAKER_00: Have you made room for God?
SPEAKER_00: Are we receptive in this place today?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you get up here, Jamie.
SPEAKER_00: She's giving me those eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Like, is it time?
SPEAKER_00: It is past time.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's stand to our feet today, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus, for your Holy Spirit, amen.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna pray today.
SPEAKER_00: And I know God has already filled some people for the first time, just as we've been teaching on the Holy Spirit, and I'm grateful for that, but I believe there are more people who can yet be filled with the Holy Spirit, not because of who I am, but because that's the promise that he left to his church.
SPEAKER_00: So when I or one of the other prayer warriors and prayer warriors, you can come up, lay hands on you, that is your moment to simply receive.
SPEAKER_00: Simply receive.
SPEAKER_00: It's not something you have to work up, just receive.
SPEAKER_00: Say, God, fill me today, fill me with your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I yield to you.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever that looks like, if they said that they look drunk, I don't care what I look like right now or what people say or how they interpret this, but I want you, God.
SPEAKER_00: I want your Holy Spirit, I want your life in me, Lord, and flowing out of me.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that the Holy Spirit did come to live in me when I was born again.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but I want to be dipped into those waters of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire as your word promises.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, send your spirit in power and might today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord God, that we would experience today and moving forward your suddenly moments that suddenly, Lord God, there was an outpouring, that suddenly there were healings, that suddenly, Lord God, addictions are broken, that suddenly the power of God was manifested in an undeniable way.
SPEAKER_00: Lord God, I prophesy by the Spirit of God today, movement of the Spirit, like we have not seen Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not my desire alone, it's what you said you will do.
SPEAKER_00: Signs will follow us, those who believe.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, you know, get up here and get prayer this morning, whether it's the first time you're getting filled, or whether you say, I need to be stirred up in my life.
SPEAKER_00: The same apostles who are in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, two chapters later, they're together again and they say, Lord God, stretch forth your hand, Lord, send your spirit, and they were shaken again.
SPEAKER_00: So you might have been filled once, but you can be shaken again, you can be filled again, you can be baptized and immersed in his presence, his power again.
SPEAKER_00: And if you heard one of those words of knowledge, we believe the Holy Spirit's gonna move in healing, and you can find your way over to this side of the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: God's gonna heal that pancreas, He's gonna heal that knee, He's gonna heal those other conditions that Greg spoke about.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.