SPEAKER_01: Alright, alright.
SPEAKER_01: Well welcome, welcome again.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Eric Gonzalez.
SPEAKER_01: I'm one of the pastors here at New Albany Fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: This is your first time here.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome if you're visiting us.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Can you guys give everyone that is here for the first time, just give them a hand.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for being here.
SPEAKER_01: We love you guys a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you didn't notice, um Pastor Michael's not here again.
SPEAKER_01: It's his second week out with baby James.
SPEAKER_01: Yay! So I'll be preaching it up today, so have a little grace, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Feel free to once in a while shout amen if you disagree with something I say.
SPEAKER_01: Um maybe email me at never mind, just don't email me.
SPEAKER_01: Keep it yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a little life update.
SPEAKER_01: Um, my wife and I had our baby Kel L.
SPEAKER_01: Jordan, May 1st.
SPEAKER_01: There he is.
SPEAKER_01: He's also visiting us.
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty amazing what God is doing in this season.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, it's it's kind of remarkable.
SPEAKER_01: I remember Eric and I remember telling uh Michael and Hannah, hey, we're pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: And then two weeks later they met with us.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we're pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: And we were like, God, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Because we didn't plan it, guys, because that would have been weird, right?
SPEAKER_01: That would have been weird.
SPEAKER_01: But before I go any further, I just want to just say thank you to you, New Albany.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for praying for my wife and my child.
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, it was a pretty intense surgery.
SPEAKER_01: She had to go through a c-section.
SPEAKER_01: All three of our kids were c-sections.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we wouldn't be here without you.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, first the Lord, but then you guys as well.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01: Can you guys give yourselves a round of applause?
SPEAKER_01: That's for me too.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, as I was in the hospital holding Cal, it's it's there's nothing like holding a brand new baby to make you reflect on life.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Just make you reflect on where you're at, where you've been, where you're going.
SPEAKER_01: And not just personally, I was reflecting on our life with this brand new baby.
SPEAKER_01: But then, like in our like public life, we're we're also part of this baby church, like this new church plant.
SPEAKER_01: And then we started thinking about oh, Hannah and Michael are about to have baby James, and it's just a lot, a lot, a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And my mind just started wandering, man, I feel like God is up to something.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't look into external signs a lot, I'm not one of those guys, but it's just hard for me in this season to not think about it in that way.
SPEAKER_01: Like God is up to something.
SPEAKER_01: Being in the surgery, it was pretty intense because um I don't know if this is TMI, but uh when we were in the operating room, Erica is awake, right, during the C-section.
SPEAKER_01: There's this curtain that is like covering everything that's going on on the other side.
SPEAKER_01: And Erica's just like wandering with her eyes, like, oh, I can feel like tugging and this and that.
SPEAKER_01: And her and I were just sitting there, just anticipating to hear the baby's first breath.
SPEAKER_01: And then what happens after that first breath is then the loudest cry that you'll hear, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's this baby being born.
SPEAKER_01: It's like the Lord is breathing his life into the baby in that moment.
SPEAKER_01: You might be asking yourself, Eric, where are you going with this?
SPEAKER_01: What does this have to do with anything?
SPEAKER_01: Well, today we're actually taking a break from our series in Romans, and we are going to talk about Pentecost.
SPEAKER_01: Because today is Pentecost Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: So look at your neighbor and just tell them, Happy Pentecost Sunday! Happy Pentecost Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: This is remarkable.
SPEAKER_01: It's Pentecost is really important for the church because just like Lord, is that you?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what that is.
SPEAKER_01: Just like the day of Pentecost, right?
SPEAKER_01: Or just like us being inside of the operating room, there's like a group of disciples just waiting with anticipation.
SPEAKER_01: There's this like moment of wait and almost anxiety and a rush of dopamine, and then all of a sudden the Lord breathes.
SPEAKER_01: And in that moment, the church is born.
SPEAKER_01: So today I titled the message God is Up to Something.
SPEAKER_01: The fire and the field.
SPEAKER_01: Now, today we're gonna do something a little bit different.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm going to invite my friend Mark to come up, and he's going to read today's scripture, today's text out loud.
SPEAKER_01: And what I want I want to invite you to stand up with us for the reading of God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to invite you to follow along in your Bibles if you brought your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: If not, uh the text will be on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: But I also want to invite you to pay attention to the detail that we are going to go through today within the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: So go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: All of them are full of high swimming and scene at the time.
SPEAKER_00: And I heard this sound and caracters during the water.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't all these you are seeking at a land?
SPEAKER_00: And how is it which I see as an end of an age?
SPEAKER_00: And the parts of the DNS Arena.
SPEAKER_00: Visitors from Rome.
SPEAKER_00: Greatness and Arabs.
SPEAKER_00: Hearing and hearing awareness of Mariah Amitans.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing projects that asked one another.
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: So I never made fun of them and said, too much wine.
SPEAKER_00: And he just drove again and raised his voice in addressed to the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Hello Jews, all of you in other Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Listen carefully to what I say.
SPEAKER_00: These people are not drunk as you suppose.
SPEAKER_00: It's only nine in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: This is what was spoken by the prophet John.
SPEAKER_00: In the last days God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people.
SPEAKER_00: Your sons and also will prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: Your young men will see visions.
SPEAKER_00: Your old men will dream dreams.
SPEAKER_00: Even on my servants like any woman, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: I will show windows in the heavens of earth.
SPEAKER_00: And the signs of the earth will be like lightning fire and blows of snow.
SPEAKER_00: Before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone remote in the day of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_01: And we thank you for your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Speak to us today.
SPEAKER_01: We honor you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Feel free to take your seat.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's so much within these verses and in this text that, you know, 30 to 40 minutes won't do us justice.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to try my best to kind of break out the main point.
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, when people talk about Pentecost, they focus on a specific gift that was given or a specific utterance, and it just doesn't do the text justice.
SPEAKER_01: They end up missing the point.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like maybe talking to someone and describing what an American football game, specifically an Ohio State game, looks like by describing the great and wonderful buckeyed mascot, right?
SPEAKER_01: You could talk to them about what he looks like, what he does, the dances, the craziness, but it doesn't do it justice.
SPEAKER_01: You actually miss the point of what a football game actually is.
SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, that's what happens with Pentecost when people look at this passage as they think that it's about specifically the gift of tongues or what specifically Peter was preaching.
SPEAKER_01: But like I said, I'm gonna try my best to just pull out the main point.
SPEAKER_01: So that being said, I have to ask the question: what is Pentecost?
SPEAKER_01: What is Pentecost?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Pentecost is the Greek word, uh specifically the number 50.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say 50.
SPEAKER_01: It's 50, 50th.
SPEAKER_01: It comes from the Hebrew phrase Shavuk, which is the festival of weeks.
SPEAKER_01: It's uh, you know, a week is seven days plus seven weeks, so seven times seven is forty nine plus the actual day of the festival lands on the 50th day, the 50th day.
SPEAKER_01: Now, they were looking to, when they were translating the Hebrew Bible to Greek, they were looking to uh find out what word could uh replace the word, or not replace, but we can use for the word shavot, because there really is no word, so they ended up using the word 50th, 50th, to describe the 50th day.
SPEAKER_01: So then the next question is the 50th day from what?
SPEAKER_01: 50 days from what?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's 50 days after Passover.
SPEAKER_01: So uh Passover and Pentecost both are festivals and celebrations in the Hebrew culture, dating back or pointing back to the time in Exodus with Moses.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we go back in time a little bit, in Exodus we read that the Jews were enslaved to the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_01: And then God calls Moses and sends Moses to set his people free.
SPEAKER_01: Pharaoh said no to that request, so then God struck Egypt with ten specific plagues.
SPEAKER_01: The tenth plague being the death of the firstborn son, God instructed Israel to paint the blood of the spotted lamb on their doorposts, and the angel of the Lord would pass over their homes and they would not be touched.
SPEAKER_01: Hence, pass over.
SPEAKER_01: Now, fast forward after they were freed from the hand of the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_01: They were in the desert for a few years, but on the 50th day, God meets Moses and Israel on Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_01: He meets with them.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what we read in Exodus 19, starting at verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, and with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone in the camp trembled.
SPEAKER_01: Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God.
SPEAKER_01: And they stood at the foot of the mountain.
SPEAKER_01: Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say fire.
SPEAKER_01: The smoke billowed up from it, like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.
SPEAKER_01: Moses spoke, and the voice of God answered him.
SPEAKER_01: Then we look in chapter 20.
SPEAKER_01: God gives Israel ten commandments, and he makes a covenant with Israel.
SPEAKER_01: So Pentecost is the moment.
SPEAKER_01: Is the moment.
SPEAKER_01: It's really significant.
SPEAKER_01: Because God was ready to meet with his people again.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to try my best to break Acts chapter 1 and 2 because they kind of go together into three specific points.
SPEAKER_01: If you got an outline, you'll have all three of those points.
SPEAKER_01: The first point is the waiting room.
SPEAKER_01: There is this waiting aspect, this period of time where the disciples had to wait, had to wait for a promise.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus tells us this in Acts chapter 1, starting at verse 1, it says, In my former book, Theopolis, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen, after his sufferings, he presented himself to them and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive.
SPEAKER_01: He appeared to them over a period of forty days.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say forty days.
SPEAKER_01: And he spoke to them about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: do not leave Jerusalem, but wait.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to say, wait.
SPEAKER_01: But wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
SPEAKER_01: For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus hung out with 120 of his disciples for 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: Then he gives them this instruction to wait.
SPEAKER_01: Wait.
SPEAKER_01: To wait, to wait.
SPEAKER_01: Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting is really intense.
SPEAKER_01: How many here love to wait for things?
SPEAKER_01: Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so when we look at the scripture, right?
SPEAKER_01: He was with them for 40 days and he's asking them to wait.
SPEAKER_01: And he didn't just ask them to wait a few hours, a few days.
SPEAKER_01: Specifically, they ended up waiting 10 days, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because on the 10th day, it would have been the 50th day, which would have landed on Pentecost, right?
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is asking them to wait, and if you could put yourself in the feet of the disciples, they in essence don't really know what they're waiting for.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus describes that he's going to send a comforter, as he's going to send a helper, in essence, even a spirit.
SPEAKER_01: But in reality, if you put yourself in the disciples' shoes, like what are we waiting for?
SPEAKER_01: I don't like waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's just be practical.
SPEAKER_01: Like, fine, a few of us might be waiting for God to answer a prayer request.
SPEAKER_01: But practically, how many of you have ever waited for a text message, you know, from someone that you probably are trying to get into a relationship with?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you texted a girl, you know, two days ago and you're waiting for her to reply.
SPEAKER_01: Like, come on, how come she hasn't replied?
SPEAKER_01: She's seen the text, but why is she not replying?
SPEAKER_01: Or what about the BMV?
SPEAKER_01: How many have ever waited at the BMV for five minutes, which seems like an eternity?
SPEAKER_01: Especially when the workers are just like taking their time.
SPEAKER_01: It's very torturous.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you've waited at the doctor's office waiting for some test results to come back.
SPEAKER_01: Those test results could potentially change your life for better or for worse in an instant.
SPEAKER_01: The waiting period sucks.
SPEAKER_01: It really sucks.
SPEAKER_01: I personally don't like it.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because usually in the times of waiting, I'm stuck with me, myself, and I.
SPEAKER_01: And my thoughts aren't Christ-like all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Especially if you carry a lot of trauma.
SPEAKER_01: If you carry a lot of trauma, that tends to leak over a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We tend to then create our own narratives in the seasons of waiting.
SPEAKER_01: I know myself.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe like a lot of you, my mind can go into some really random places when I'm forced to sit and wait.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you think about what the disciples have gone through, it was pretty traumatic.
SPEAKER_01: You know, they were with their master, their rabbi for three specific years.
SPEAKER_01: He never did anything wrong but teach, fed people, healed people, delivered people.
SPEAKER_01: Then they're accused, not just because they were his disciples, but because they were walking and talking like him.
SPEAKER_01: Then they see their beloved master get crucified on a cross, beaten down, spat on.
SPEAKER_01: They spoke ill of him, obviously, and they ended up killing him.
SPEAKER_01: And then just because you're associated with him, they start attacking them.
SPEAKER_01: And then three days later, the person that they saw die comes back to life.
SPEAKER_01: And then he's hanging out with them for 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, that is a pretty big life roller coaster.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you're catching what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty intense.
SPEAKER_01: And then on the 40th day, they see him ascend to heaven on a cloud.
SPEAKER_01: They get stuck watching him like a balloon, that two angels had to come down like, what are you guys looking at?
SPEAKER_01: Get going.
SPEAKER_01: So now, in essence, they're in this room waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it wasn't just 10 minutes or a couple hours, it was ten days.
SPEAKER_01: But then we read in the scripture, but then suddenly, I want you to say, suddenly.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly, God shows up.
SPEAKER_01: I think I am here to encourage you today.
SPEAKER_01: If you have been or are right now in a season of waiting, God is going to suddenly show up.
SPEAKER_01: God is going to suddenly blow his life into you.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly, suddenly.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know when, we don't know how, but God is suddenly going to show up.
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm here to remind you to stay faithful, to stay grounded on his word.
SPEAKER_01: Because suddenly he's going to show up.
SPEAKER_01: Shake the person next to you and tell them, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly he's going to show up.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly he's going to touch you.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly, he's going to speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly, he's going to fill you.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever season you're in, God promises to show up.
SPEAKER_01: This is what we see within the scripture, New Albany.
SPEAKER_01: Here in New Albany, we are people of the here and the not yet.
SPEAKER_01: We believe, right, that the kingdom of God has come in power, but it's not fully realized.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let the not yet make you forget that God is moving now.
SPEAKER_01: God is working now.
SPEAKER_01: Just because you don't see it or don't perceive it doesn't mean he's not.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples didn't know what they were waiting for, they were just waiting.
SPEAKER_01: But in essence, they were like playing tic-tac-toe on a napkin while God was playing 3D chess.
SPEAKER_01: He was setting everything up.
SPEAKER_01: We here in New Albany are people that live in expectancy.
SPEAKER_01: Again, we don't know when, we don't know how, but we know that we know that God is moving on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: God is moving on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, only a few of you believe it.
SPEAKER_01: It's alright.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, I'm just here to remind you to hang on.
SPEAKER_01: Hang on.
SPEAKER_01: Keep on.
SPEAKER_01: Keep on pressing toward the mark.
SPEAKER_01: The scripture says that those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
SPEAKER_01: Keep pressing.
SPEAKER_01: Keep holding on.
SPEAKER_01: God is up to something here in New Albany.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe it?
SPEAKER_01: Now the second point, the fire.
SPEAKER_01: The fire.
SPEAKER_01: After waiting 10 days, God then decides to show up at 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: At 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: New Albany, we start church at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: Did we miss it?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, we didn't miss it.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 2, starting at verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound like a blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
SPEAKER_01: They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
SPEAKER_01: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
SPEAKER_01: Now the fire here is very significant.
SPEAKER_01: God is referencing his presence.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in Scripture, when it talks about fire, there tends to be two specific significance.
SPEAKER_01: One, the judgment of God or the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: Here he's making a reference to his presence.
SPEAKER_01: There is this repeated theme throughout the Old Testament of fire and the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you remember in Exodus what we just read.
SPEAKER_01: Showed up on Mount Sinai in fire.
SPEAKER_01: Exodus 13, the Lord led Israel through the desert by day as a cloud and by night as a pillar of fire.
SPEAKER_01: After the tabernacle was built in Numbers 9, we read when the tabernacle was complete, the Lord showed up as a cloud during the day and fire at night.
SPEAKER_01: Exodus 40, we also read the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.
SPEAKER_01: When God first shows up to Moses, he shows up in a bush that was on fire, the burning bush.
SPEAKER_01: In 2 Chronicles 7, we read that Solomon, once he finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed his burnt offering and sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
SPEAKER_01: The fire is really significant, specifically here in Acts, because the Lord releases his spirit on the people.
SPEAKER_01: But wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: If I recall, there was always something that was separating God's presence from humanity within the temple or even within the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_01: How was God able to release his spirit without killing everybody?
SPEAKER_01: How was this able?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it all happened on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 27, starting at verse 50.
SPEAKER_01: And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
SPEAKER_01: At that moment, I want you to notice this church.
SPEAKER_01: At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
SPEAKER_01: From top to bottom, the earth shook and the rocks split.
SPEAKER_01: This particular moment was so powerful and so violent that I love that the scripture says that there was even an earthquake and the rocks split.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the veil being torn from top to bottom is specifically really important.
SPEAKER_01: We only read about that in Matthew and in Mark.
SPEAKER_01: Luke's version does not say that the veil was torn from top to bottom.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that significant?
SPEAKER_01: It's significant because it's showing that God Himself is tearing the veil between humanity and his presence.
SPEAKER_01: If it would have been torn from bottom to top, easily people would have been like, no, humans did that.
SPEAKER_01: But God was showing us that he's the one that tore it from top to bottom.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how is that possible, Eric?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what does that have to do with anything?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me just describe this veil to you.
SPEAKER_01: The veil was 60 feet tall and 30 feet wide.
SPEAKER_01: And so thick, people say that it was approximately four inches thick.
SPEAKER_01: Only God can.
SPEAKER_01: It kind of feels like God is up to something.
SPEAKER_01: God is up to something.
SPEAKER_01: Once Jesus laid his life down and his blood was shed, he atoned for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: And in that moment, God could.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it wasn't just so we could enter into God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: I believe the veil was torn so he could get out.
SPEAKER_01: And we see that there in Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: The fire rested on each of them.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what, New Albany?
SPEAKER_01: The fire is resting on you.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: That you right now are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You are the walking temple of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Everywhere you go, you are carrying his presence.
SPEAKER_01: No more do you have to go to a specific place at a specific time to meet with God.
SPEAKER_01: All you have to do is just say, Come, Holy Spirit, and He is there.
SPEAKER_01: New Albany, do you believe that?
SPEAKER_01: Shake the person next to you and tell them, Wake up.
SPEAKER_01: Wake up.
SPEAKER_01: You are now the temple.
SPEAKER_01: Everywhere you go, He's there.
SPEAKER_01: Everywhere you go, you can hear his voice.
SPEAKER_01: Everywhere you go, you can get a touch from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And to believe that God then wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: But something very important about the fire, the fire wasn't put on you to keep you warm.
SPEAKER_01: The fire was put on you so you can spread it.
SPEAKER_01: The fire was put on you to set New Albany and all Columbus on fire for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: To passionately just fall in love with the city and just set them on fire with love.
SPEAKER_01: Alright?
SPEAKER_01: With love.
SPEAKER_01: God places his power over you to become his witness.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say witness.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 1, verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: But you will receive power, everyone say power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witness.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say witness.
SPEAKER_01: In Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: The word power there is the word dunamis.
SPEAKER_01: Dunamis is where we get the word dynamite from, which means this power isn't just explosive.
SPEAKER_01: It's in essence even visible.
SPEAKER_01: It's loud.
SPEAKER_01: It's powerful.
SPEAKER_01: And the word witness here is the same type of witness that we find in a court of law, someone that swears to what they have seen and what they have heard.
SPEAKER_01: It also means martyr.
SPEAKER_01: And it's really interesting because little did they know that after Jesus had died and risen, that a lot of them would be persecuted just because they were followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Just like a lot of parts in our world today, the church is being persecuted and people are dying, but it's the very, I believe, the power of the Holy Spirit that helps them hang on to the living word and being able to stand under the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is the same power that is over you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, thus far, we've talked about the waiting room.
SPEAKER_01: We've talked about the fire.
SPEAKER_01: So now the question is, what do we do with the fire?
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys might be thinking, well, Eric, you told us the fire is not to keep us warm.
SPEAKER_01: We got to set Columbus on fire in love.
SPEAKER_01: What do we do?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the third point, the field.
SPEAKER_01: There is a field, there is a game to play.
SPEAKER_01: God is inviting you to play in his, you know, heavenly football game, not just to sit down and just watch the game or to be a bystander or being the loudest person in the crowd shouting about how to play the game.
SPEAKER_01: He's inviting you to play the game.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a lot of theologians that believe that the phenomenon that happened in the day of Pentecost was a reversal of Babel.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Babel we find in Genesis chapter 11.
SPEAKER_01: And specifically, why is it the reversal?
SPEAKER_01: Because God himself had to separate humanity.
SPEAKER_01: Humanity at one point forgot about God.
SPEAKER_01: Humanity was living their lives without the Lord and in essence tried to become like him.
SPEAKER_01: And we read in Genesis chapter 11, verse 4, we see this.
SPEAKER_01: Then they said, the humanity, humanity said this, come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower to reach the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: In essence, the unity wasn't the problem, it was making a name for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: What we read in scripture is that pride always comes before the fall, and humanity, in essence, in this moment was just forgetting about God, trying to make themselves the main deal.
SPEAKER_01: God had to separate humanity.
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of people believe that God was reversing everything at the day of Pentecost.
SPEAKER_01: Reversing it, bringing the unity back under the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Tim Keller says it this way: At Babel, they tried to get to heaven to make a name for themselves.
SPEAKER_01: At Pentecost, heaven came down to earth to make a name for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel creates a new humanity where the barriers of race and culture are swallowed up by the glory of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: What I love and what I what we see within the scripture is that God doesn't get rid of race or diversity in Acts, but if anything, everyone hears their language being spoken and they hear about the wonders of God being spoken out loud.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want to remind you that the day of Pentecost was the festival of Shavot, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And thousands of people were coming into Jerusalem to celebrate this festival.
SPEAKER_01: This wasn't a random date.
SPEAKER_01: Again, God was playing 3D chest.
SPEAKER_01: While they were waiting and waiting, God was planning, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Thousands of people are about to show up, and I'm about to display my glory.
SPEAKER_01: Now imagine a town of about 30,000 people suddenly being filled with about a quarter of a million international speakers, travelers speaking different types of languages, all crammed into a single square mile.
SPEAKER_01: It was this chaotic and packed international melting pot where God decided to drop his spirit and again display his glory.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 2, verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: The travelers, this is what they said.
SPEAKER_01: Utterly amazed, they asked, Aren't these all who are speaking Galileans?
SPEAKER_01: Then how is it that each of them, we're hearing each of them speaking in our native language?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongue.
SPEAKER_01: The day of Pentecost is a great picture.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great reminder that God came to break some barriers and to bring all of creation again under one name, and that name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to verse 14 in Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Then Peter stood up with the eleven, and he raised his voice, addressing the crowd, fellow Jews, and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you.
SPEAKER_01: Listen carefully to what I say.
SPEAKER_01: These people are not drunk, as you suppose.
SPEAKER_01: It's only nine in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
SPEAKER_01: In the last days, God says, I will pour my spirit on all people.
SPEAKER_01: Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
SPEAKER_01: Your old men will see visions and your excuse me, your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.
SPEAKER_01: Even my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
SPEAKER_01: God right here is breaking four specific, four specific barriers within humanity.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is sexism.
SPEAKER_01: Then he's breaking ageism, classism, and racism.
SPEAKER_01: Sexism, because he says your sons and daughters.
SPEAKER_01: Ageism, your old and your young.
SPEAKER_01: Classism, even your servants.
SPEAKER_01: And racism.
SPEAKER_01: Again, this was a really amazing melting pot in this very specific moment.
SPEAKER_01: So what is the Lord telling us today, specifically, with him breaking all four of those?
SPEAKER_01: Is that there is no excuse.
SPEAKER_01: There is no excuse.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what color you are, it doesn't matter how tall, how short, how small, what your age is, from the youngest to the old, God wants to use you for his glory.
SPEAKER_01: Did you guys know that there's no such thing as a junior Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_01: Like God wants to use even the smallest of childs.
SPEAKER_01: That declares Jesus as Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to use even the oldest.
SPEAKER_01: The oldest of the old.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever old that is to you, that's how old.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the person behind you and tell them, God even wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead, tell him.
SPEAKER_01: God even wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: Use you for what?
SPEAKER_01: To lead people to him, to encounter him.
SPEAKER_01: Look, a lot of us in the room might not feel adequate enough.
SPEAKER_01: Knowledgeable enough.
SPEAKER_01: Or even holy enough.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm here to remind you, I do truly believe this, that that is a lie from Satan.
SPEAKER_01: Anything that he tries to speak to you to get you to stop being the light of this world.
SPEAKER_01: That comes from the pit of hell.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you that are retired, I don't believe in retirement.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in repurposing.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: Look, Erica two weeks before she went on maternity leave, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because it was a scheduled C section, so the date was on the date or on the calendar already.
SPEAKER_01: And she works in the nuclear medicine department.
SPEAKER_01: So she works with a lot of techs, and so it's the same team year-round.
SPEAKER_01: So in the midst of their conversations, breaks, all of that, she's always sneaking Jesus in there.
SPEAKER_01: But not overwhelmingly, you know?
SPEAKER_01: She's not like overwhelming with it.
SPEAKER_01: And once in a while, she'll separate with certain, you know, co-workers that she sees the Lord is working on, and she'll pray for them or give them advice.
SPEAKER_01: Well, two weeks before her maternity leave, she ended up texting me.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: I just led so-and-so to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, what?
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing! How did it happen?
SPEAKER_01: She said, Well, he just, you know, in the conversation, he just had a ton of questions about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And I try my best to just answer those questions.
SPEAKER_01: And then ultimately he just asked, So, Erica, how does someone give their life to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And then she asked, Why?
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to give your life to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I do.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Easy, just pray with me.
SPEAKER_01: And she led him to the Lord there, on the clock.
SPEAKER_01: Is that allowed?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But if you work at Lincoln Memorial, keep that to yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Erica said that, but before they said amen, she looked up at him and he was just crying and his eyes out.
SPEAKER_01: And when they said amen, he just reached over and asked, Can I hug you?
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
SPEAKER_01: And he was just in tears.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we are living in such a critical time in Albany.
SPEAKER_01: Where they're, you know, we're we're hearing about wars and rumors of wars.
SPEAKER_01: The gas prices are crazy.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you watch the news and there's a new virus coming.
SPEAKER_01: There's like three new viruses.
SPEAKER_01: And people are stuck on a boat because of it.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's like, oh my gosh, what is going on?
SPEAKER_01: The stock market is going down, it's just up and down, up and down.
SPEAKER_01: I do believe, in essence, they're they're forms of distractions.
SPEAKER_01: They create fear in us that make us lock ourselves in our bedroom.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be cautious, but at the same time, remind you that you carry the presence of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And we are invited to play in this field.
SPEAKER_01: We're a brand new church.
SPEAKER_01: There's so many empty seats that they need to be filled.
SPEAKER_01: God isn't just calling me and Pastor Michael.
SPEAKER_01: He's calling all of us as a community.
SPEAKER_01: You got it.
SPEAKER_01: Shake the person next to you and tell them, you got it.
SPEAKER_01: The person you were ignoring, the person you were ignoring.
SPEAKER_01: Because I say you guys are talking to the same person.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the other person you were ignoring and tell them, you got it, you got it.
SPEAKER_01: So, in essence, what is the point of Pentecost?
SPEAKER_01: It was when the church was born and we inherited a mission.
SPEAKER_01: Christopher Wright says this.
SPEAKER_01: It is not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Mission was not made for the church, the church was made for mission.
SPEAKER_01: God's mission.
SPEAKER_01: God is up to something.
SPEAKER_01: I want to invite you to jump in.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be a spectator.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be a complainer.
SPEAKER_01: Because I know we like to complain.
SPEAKER_01: Like I like to complain a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not complain.
SPEAKER_01: Let's jump in.
SPEAKER_01: Let's play the game.
SPEAKER_01: For the glory of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you might be thinking, Eric, you talked all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You talked about the fire and everything.
SPEAKER_01: You're a little bit louder than Michael.
SPEAKER_01: How do I actually do this?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I got two simple applications for you.
SPEAKER_01: The first one, before your feet hit the ground in the morning, while you're still in bed, I want you to pray this simple prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Come, Holy Spirit, I surrender my day to you.
SPEAKER_01: And just wait.
SPEAKER_01: Just wait for a couple of seconds.
SPEAKER_01: Try not to fall back asleep, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But just wait.
SPEAKER_01: And with time, God is going to, I believe, speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: I believe He's going to give you a couple of names.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you might think of someone randomly, maybe a family member.
SPEAKER_01: And what I want you to do is just pray for them and pray that God encounter them.
SPEAKER_01: I want to challenge you with that simple application for the rest of the month.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing you can do is practically just be a blessing to someone.
SPEAKER_01: Just be a blessing to someone.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe a coworker.
SPEAKER_01: While you're going to Starbucks and getting your cappuccino, grab a second one for a coworker and just bless them.
SPEAKER_01: Look around your neighborhood, see what neighbor needs their lawn to be cut, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because it just rained a ton.
SPEAKER_01: Simple application.
SPEAKER_01: Just love on your community.
SPEAKER_01: Also, I do believe God is going to remind a few of you of some family members you haven't talked to in a very long time.
SPEAKER_01: I want to challenge you to just give them a phone call with no agenda.
SPEAKER_01: Just tell them you love them.
SPEAKER_01: Tell them you love them and you miss them.
SPEAKER_01: That's how we change the world is by love.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually the demons will come out and then you can call me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Look, all of this cannot be possible until we first surrender our lives to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.