“Baptized in the Fire” | Sunday AM | Pastor David K. Caruthers

Original Broadcast of Sunday Morning 11 AM Worship, 05/24/2026

Speaker: Pastor David K. Caruthers

Message Title: "Baptized in the Fire" 

We invite you to join us in person 

Sundays at 10am & 11AM 

Wednesdays at 7:30 PM

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

I'm reading in Luke chapter 3, verse 16. I let you sit for a bit because I'm going to ask you to stand for a bit here. So don't just sit down when I'm finished reading, okay? Luke chapter 3 and verse 16. The word of the Lord says, John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. And he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And I want to preach to you for a few minutes to stay baptized in the fire. And uh let's pray together and then please remain standing thereafter. Lord, we thank you for your blessings, your grace, your goodness to us. Thank you for every person that is gathered here. Thank you for your word that speaks to our hearts. Thank you for the hungry hearts that are here. We pray that you would give us what you want to give us today, that we could receive your spirit, your power, your strength in our lives. We thank you, Lord. Let your anointing be upon us. In the name of Jesus, we pray. All right. I can't ask you to do something I won't do. You may be seated. You don't have to wear that during church. It's not the real Holy Ghost. I can just imagine somebody's gonna see something on Facebook and see those people don't even know what the Holy Ghost is. They're wearing headbands. That's not the fire of the Holy Ghost. We know that. We know that. We're just having a little fun. It's a celebration. I don't want to I don't want a mirror and I don't want to look at the pictures either. Acts chapter 2 says, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Amen. Say Amen to the Word of God. Amen. Now I haven't seen a fire on everybody's head. I've seen a lot of things over the years, but I haven't seen a single fire on everybody's head in the auditorium before today. And you had a double dose of the Holy Ghost. You had two fire flames of fire on your head today. Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the day the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts chapter 2. And if you'll stay with me for a few minutes, I'll be short-winded. I promise. I don't have many believers, or maybe y'all just don't want me to be short-winded. I don't know. Pentecost, as Sister Shepherd explained, is originally the feast of weeks, 50 days after the departure from Egypt. The giving celebrated the giving of the law, also celebrated the first fruits of the wheat harvest. It was celebration of God's covenant with his people. And how fitting it is that the same day that the Holy Spirit was poured out, the law that was written in the stone is now written in our hearts as the Spirit of God is poured out in our lives. Pentecost is not just a date on the calendar, it is not just a moment to celebrate or a moment to remember, but it is an experience. Pentecost is an experience. Pentecost is a promise. Pentecost is that fire that still burns of the Holy Ghost in our lives. And it it did not end on the day of Pentecost. It did not finish on the day of Pentecost. John the Baptist said, stated, as we read here in Luke chapter, in Luke chapter 3, that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Ghost and fire. Say fire. Sister Shepard did that. I'm going to do it the rest of the service. In the scriptures, fire represents purity, the burning away of sin. In the scripture, fire represents passion, igniting the spiritual fervency within someone's heart. In the scriptures, fire represents power, the enabling boldness and miracles that God gives. In the scripture, fire represents the presence of God, the presence of God dwelling among his people. And when we are filled with the Holy Ghost, God doesn't just give us a feeling. It's not just an excitement. It's not just something fun we experiences. He baptizes us with the Holy Ghost and fire, with passion, with power, with the presence of God. We are filled with the Spirit of God. And the fire fell on the day of Pentecost. We read it to you. The Bible describes it in Acts chapter 2. There was suddenly a sound from heaven. That sound representing the moving of God, that God is doing something, that God is working. In the same way that Genesis chapter 1 tells us that God moved on the face of the water. So that God acted upon it. And that wind signifies to us that it's a mighty thing that God is doing. It's a mighty move that God is accomplishing. It's something God is doing. It also tells us about these tongues of fire, these actual flames that rested upon people as it signifies God's empowering, God filling them, not just with the Spirit, but the power that comes with being filled with the Spirit. And then the Bible tells us that they spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance or the ability. They spoke in another language. They were so overflowing with the power of God that they spoke a language they didn't know. I just want to say that didn't end 2,000 years ago on the day of Pentecost. But it continues throughout the scriptures and throughout the centuries. And you and I are filled with the Spirit today. And when we're filled with the Spirit, God touches our lives. And when the Spirit fills our hearts, the overflow of the Spirit causes us to speak in a language we don't know. Pentecost was not quiet. Pentecost was not quiet. Pentecost was not passive. Pentecost was a fire. And that fire is still available today. And that fire drew people to the place. Not just the noise, but what they saw happening caused them to come and ask questions and cause them to be curious about what God could do in their lives. And when that fire of the Holy Ghost begins to burn in our hearts, begin to touch our souls, the Lord touches our lives and helps us. You know, life has its ups and downs. And life sometimes gives us moments where we feel like giving up, where we feel like throwing in the towel, where we feel like quitting. Life gives us moments when we feel like we're a failure, that we're not there, that we're not getting it done, that we're not accomplishing what we should, even in our walk with God. Life gives us moments that are frustrating. I mean, if you've had some frustrating moments, hang on, if you haven't, just keep on living. You'll have some. Life gives us those frustrating moments, and sometimes that twists our spirit, our attitude, and our whole demeanor of life. And sometimes in our lives we're we're we're we're mocked even for the gospel's sake, or we're misunderstood, or or or we're mistreated in some way. But when the Holy Ghost fire begins to burn in us, then something rises up that overcomes, that gives us victory. We need the Holy Ghost fire to burn in our lives. We need to be reignited in our lives and in our hearts and in our souls. Not this, we need the power of God. We need the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives. When you feel like quitting, what do you need? You need the fire to burn in your heart again. You need the fire to burn in your soul again. You need the fire to awaken. When you feel like you're a failure, Lord, let the fire burn in my heart. You feel like you haven't done too well, Lord, let the fire burn in my heart. Let the fire of the Holy Ghost burn in my life. Let it awaken me. When you feel frustration that overwhelms you, that overcomes you, what do you need? Well, you need the fire of the Holy Ghost to burn in your life. You need the awakening of the Spirit to touch your soul and do something in your life. When you feel humiliated because you failed, Sister Shepard talked about teaching this, uh, reaching out in her teaching this morning. She talked about witnessing, and I know sometimes you feel like you failed the moment, you missed the moment. Well, what you need is that fire to reignite in your heart again, to help you in the next moment, to help you get going again, to help you move again. The fire of the Holy Ghost is not just for shouting in church. It's not just for excitement in church, but it's for surviving, it's for enduring, it's for overcoming. We need the fire of the Holy Ghost to burn in our hearts and in our lives. It's got to awaken in us, it's got to stir us, it's gotta compel us, it's gotta draw us. We need the Spirit of God to work in our lives. I'm old enough to know that we all sort of get in a routine. We all kind of get in a rut. We all kind of get in our way. And you can even be serving God and living for God and doing what you know to do. You can have a prayer life, you can be reading your Bible, you can you can be going to church, and you can still allow the fire of God to diminish in your life. Thank God the Holy Ghost is not just for the day of Pentecost. Thank God for the Holy the Holy Ghost is not just for the initial receiving of the Holy Ghost. For you and I personally, thank God it's not just something that happened one time, but God continues to renew us and continues to touch our lives. And I'm challenging you this morning that we need the fire of God to be ignited in our hearts and in our minds and in our souls again. The reason why the book of Acts doesn't have a conclusion, and you know it's the only book in the New Testament that doesn't have a conclusion, is because the church history is still being written. The church is not a museum of past miracles, although it has a history of miracles. It's not a monument of something that happened yesterday. Some people try to live their Christian life like Samson. Once he came to his downfall, it was about what he once had. It was the powerful things he once did, it was the anointing that he once had. It was it was one time in the past people were afraid of me. But now he was blind and bound and living on memories of yesterday. God does not intend for you to live that way. God does not intend for you to stay in that place. God intends for you to live with the fire of the Holy Ghost ignited in your life, burning in your soul, awakening. God wants you to live, waking up in the morning and being excited about what God is gonna do for the day, excited about how God's gonna use you for the day, excited about God's work in your life for the day. We're living in a wonder and excitement and joy because you have the fire of the Holy Ghost burning in your heart, and you're living with expectation and faith that God is gonna do something miraculous in your life today. Lord, let the fire burn within us, let it awaken us. We are called to live every day in the fire of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And I know, I know. I uh again, I'll say I'm old enough to know. I've experienced enough to know. I'm trying not to claim I'm old, but people keep telling me that. So if we're not careful, we can only we can talk only about yesterday. About something that happened yesterday, or something that happened in our history. And that is good, but that's not enough. God wants to do something in your life today. God wants to do something miraculous in your life today. God wants to bless your family today. God wants to touch your neighbors today. God wants you to be an evangelist today. Amen. Say, well, you know, Pastor, I'm I'm I can't do what I used to do. Neither can anyone else. And sometimes we're too smart to do what we used to do. Sometimes we lived long enough to know better to even try to do what we used to do. We'll let somebody else do that if they want to. But God can still use you where you are. What you need most is something burning on the inside of you that says, you know, I've got the Holy Ghost, and God can use me wherever I am, whatever moment I'm in, whatever circumstances I'm experiencing, whatever my job looks like, whatever my life looks like, whatever my family, friends, circumstances, it may not be ideal in my mind, but God can use me because I've got the fire of the Holy Ghost working in my life. And I'm calling you today to say, awaken that fire. Let the fire of God minister to your life. And you may be here today thinking, I don't even know what they're talking about. Maybe you're joining us online today and you're wondering what that means. You know about Jesus, but you don't know what we're talking about today. Well, there's a story in the Bible about that too, in Acts chapter 19. Where Paul came to Ephesus and he found some believers in Jesus. They believed. But he asked them a simple question: Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? That's the modern way. The King James way is the Holy Ghost. Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they didn't really know what he was talking about. They said, We've never heard of that. We don't know what that is. They had faith. John had led them in repentance. They were sincere about their walk with God, but they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. They weren't bad people. They were doing the best with what they knew. But Paul said there's something more. He asked them how they were baptized, and he they explained, and he explained what that baptism represented, and they they they then were hungry for something more of God. It requires you. It requires you to step into that, it requires you to respond to that. And when they responded, they were baptized in obedience. They were baptized again in the correct way instead of just unto John, because John's baptism was about repentance. John's baptism wasn't bad. They needed to repent. But they had already repented. Now they need to be baptized in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. It hadn't happened when John was preaching. That's all they knew. But now something is here that they need to know. They need to know that the death burial in Jesus is what provides them salvation. And so they were baptized in the name of Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, they received the Holy Ghost. They began to worship God and then they spoke in tongues in the same way they did on the day of Pentecost. On their lives personally, the fire fell that day. The fire fell in their lives, the fire filled them in their lives and changed them and transformed them. And that's what God wants to do for every one of us today. And that's how God wants to touch our lives today. And if you have not been filled with the Holy Spirit, today would be a fantastic day to receive the Holy Spirit in your life. Pentecost is not a story. It's not a memory. It's not a denomination. Jesus is still baptizing people with the Holy Ghost and fire today. He's still baptizing with the Holy Ghost and fire today. If you need strength, the fire of the Holy Ghost is for you. If you need renewal, the fire of the Holy Ghost is for you. If you need deliverance, the fire of the Holy Ghost is what you need to deliver you, to break off those bonds, to get rid of that thing that's holding you down. If you need power, the fire of the Holy Ghost is for you. If you need a fresh touch, the fire of the Holy Ghost is for you. Today, God wants to fill you. Today, God wants to refill you. Today, God wants to ignite your life with His Spirit and with His power. If you will allow Him to do it. If you'll open yourself and surrender, can you stand? I told you I'd be short. I don't know when I started, but it seems like it's short. Would you just close your eyes with me right now? Let's just seek the Lord. Lord, we come before you today. We we believe your promise. We believe that you want to fill us. We believe that you are our hope and our salvation. And Lord, we repent of every sin. We open our heart to you, to your work. Lord, baptize us with the Holy Ghost and fire today. Let your fire fall again upon us. Let your fire burn in our hearts. Let that fire never grow go out, Lord, but let it continue to grow in our lives. Let it continue to touch our hearts. Let it continue to minister to us. If you're hungry for the fire of the Holy Ghost today, I want to invite you to just come together here in the front. And if you want God to do something in your life, there's people that will pray with you and help you pray and help you receive what God wants to give you today. Can we lift our heart and our hands to God and say, God, we surrender to you. If you want God to touch your life and to fill you, or if you just want to be renewed in the Holy Ghost, I want to invite you to just come down here. We're going to pray with you, and God's going to renew you and refill you and touch your life today. Would you just step out?