Preparing For Pentecost // Pastor James Wells

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Today I'm going to talk about preparing for Pentecost. So next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. And I was just thinking about that this week and praying about my sermon and what to preach, and I just felt in my spirit the Lord just, we got to get ready. We have to get ready. We have to be ready and keep ourselves ready. I want to set up the scripture a little bit. We're going to be in Acts chapter 1. That's where we're going to begin today. But we know there in Luke chapter 24, and in the other gospels, we read and we learn all the incredible things that Jesus did. We know that he met with them, he fellowshipped with them, he ate with them, he restored Apostle Peter, he taught them. We're going to talk a lot more about some of that stuff here in a minute. But I just think it's important for us to kind of set the table for the book of Acts. I am apparently in middle school, and my voice is changing this week. So if I go full Peter Brady on you today, if you've seen the Brady bunch, you know and understand what I mean there. There's a time for change you've got to rearrange. Down and okay. Guys got it? Um if you're my age, you get it. But uh Nathan, happy birthday. Who? How many birthdays? I know once you open the door, once you open the door, then people are gonna be yelling, Megan, it's your birthday too? And Josh? And my birthday's in a in a week or two? Who else? Just raise your hand. If it's your birthday, stand up. And someone other than me is gonna sing happy birthday to you. I opened the floodgates. Oh, they stood up right when I said that. It's like scared me. Happy birthday, Nathan. We're not really gonna sing to you. And Megan and Josh is in the back and so many others. Happy birthday. Getting to sit with your parents for your birthday. That's pretty awesome. This guy is always working, always doing, always serving. We're super thankful for you. I know you're very much appreciated by Corey. And uh, but uh happy birthday to everybody. All right, let's get going on this thing. All right, the book of Acts. We love the book of Acts here in this church, don't we? All right. Let's start here in verse one. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he which he said, You heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Verse six. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand here, stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Man, I could go down so many rabbit trails with this grouping of scripture. I, this is such a powerful uh grouping of scriptures. I'm gonna try to stay focused on what I try what I would like to say today and what the Holy Spirit spoke through me, to me to speak to you today. But there are so many uh incredible things here. I think as we begin, let's just take a moment to just kind of talk about what is the book of Acts. Uh many would describe the book of Acts as the spread of the gospel message from Jerusalem to Rome. And when you think about the context of the scripture and everything that was going on at the time, humanly speaking, uh Christianity had uh a lot going against it. Amen. It had no money, no proven leaders, no technology, it faced enormous obstacles, it was brand new, it taught these outlandish truths, and they were absolutely incredible, and it was subject to the most intense hatred and persecution. So there was a lot going on. And thankfully, amen, thankfully, it wasn't simply put into the hands of man. God had done something else, didn't he? Jesus, when he was here, he promised a helper. Uh, it says in the scripture, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given the commands through the Holy Spirit to his apostles, whom he had chosen. There's something about this scripture that lots about it, but this one particular thing here that I just absolutely love. Isn't it nice to be chosen? Man, there is something nice about being chosen. And and that's uh, you know, just so incredible to be here. It says he had done all these things for 40 days. He, Jesus, he taught them, and then he chose them. He picked them. And man, I I'm gonna get the cart before the horse here, but there's I just love when you're chosen. I it there's times when you're chosen and you don't even know it. You don't even know you're chosen. I just remember, and again, I whatever, these are notes, they're notes, whatever. But I remember when I came into this church, and I didn't know a thing about a thing about the Holy Spirit. I just knew there was a girl here, and I wanted to be around her. And so, whatever it took, whatever was going on, I was gonna be here. And I remember sitting right over here, I came that morning, it was Super Bowl Sunday. I remember it was Super Bowl Sunday, and Michael Jackson was doing the halftime show, and I still have it on VHS, by the way. And uh, and uh, but I was sitting right over here, we had church in the morning, Super Bowl Sunday, and I, you know, I'd gone to church, but uh, you know, my relationship, I I I love the Lord, but I didn't, I needed to really develop my relationship with the Lord. And I'm sitting right over here with Julie's family, and I uh church had gone on, and then all of a sudden, you know, there we Pastor Rick was like, We're gonna have church tonight, and we're gonna come back tonight, and the river uh of Ezekiel is gonna be down here, and we've got we're gonna have the tunnel and we're gonna be praying for people. And I was like, I told Julie, I was like, Can I come back? And she was probably like in her mind, no. But she allowed me to come back, and we came back that night, and I remember Julie came up to sing, and it was wild, and it was it was loud, and people were praying. And Ruth, I'm sure you were down here praying, and uh, and and Alan, and and I just remember uh uh Alma Dorsey looked at me and she said, Do you want to go? And before I could even answer her question, she hooked me by the arm and we were dancing. This is Little Methodist James Wells, is like hopping down through. That's probably the only time I've ever danced in this church. But I am dancing across here. And I say all that to say, say this. Pastor Julie, we never, you know, we always laugh about that and we we think it's great, and I love it, and I've been here basically every Sunday ever since, once Julie figured out that I was the one. Lord chose me, but I Julie needed a little time. But uh, but uh we she had this kind of cool revelation, and I say this with the highest level of humility, and I hope you understand when I say this, because I didn't even understand it at the time. But it was the coolest thing, and I I truly believe um that the Lord gave her this little nugget because I still try to figure this thing out. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm up here. I just know that I'm picked, God chose me, I'm anointed, and I'm here. That's what that's what the extent of my knowledge. And so, but I remember that day, and and she said that she had had this revelation about that day, and I was like, uh, okay, well, what is it? And she said, Do you know that when that night was an eruption of the Holy Spirit? And it was powerful, and I'd never experienced anything like it in my life. But I remember I remember it like it was yesterday, and she said, Do you know what I really feel like that was and what the Lord just spoke to me that that was? She said, You didn't know it, and I didn't know it, and nobody in here knew it. But do you know what? The Holy Spirit knew that the new pastor is gonna take about 25 years, but the new pastor of this church had just come in the room. And man, that ministers to me. I was chosen and picked, and I didn't know it, I didn't have a clue. That was the farthest thing on my radar. I was just, I didn't know what I was gonna do. I just knew I was following her around. I my plan was to go to the marines and do that, and then, you know, and Julia just like I just couldn't leave her, so I wasn't about to go anywhere. And so I was like, but here I am, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, he had a plan and he picked me and chose me, and we didn't know it, and I didn't know it, but he knew it. And the Holy Spirit knew it, man, and that just ministers to me in those times when I'm just like struggling and trying to figure it out, man. And I just think back to that moment and just think to myself, He chose me. You know what? Because I'm not worthy. There's nobody worthy, but he makes us worthy and he anoints us and chooses us and picks us to go and do his work. Amen. Praise the Lord. I don't know, that's not in notes. I don't know where I would even go from here. Verse 3, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs. First Corinthians says, we know that there's plenty of proofs because in 1 Corinthians we know that he had shown himself to 500 people. At least 500 people witnessed him. So that's proof, amen? Appearing to them during the 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. You know, there's something interesting here is that he didn't, he wasn't teaching them all this new stuff. It wasn't new revelation, it wasn't new this, it wasn't new that. He was teaching kingdom of God. What is that? What does that even mean? That means Jesus. He's saying, Jesus, he's telling them, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through me. That's what he's teaching it over and over. He's just telling anywhere that they go, and every place that they say, that's what he's teaching. And I think we can get so in the weeds about so much stuff, but what does he want us to know? That it's him and it's about him. And that's what we need to tell, and that's what we need to show to a broken hurting world. We need to tell him about Jesus. We need to tell him love God and love your neighbor. All of the rest are boiled into those two. Amen. What new stuff he was teaching kingdom stuff. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Now we do have to stop here. I just cannot go past this without talking about it. You know, when you really look at this, think about who was there. Who would have been in this moment? You know, it would have been the disciples, right? The eleven that were there that would have been left. It would have been many other people most likely were there. There would have been Mary, probably Mary, his mother. What about Mary Magdalene? How about this? Lazarus. I was just thinking about that this week. Lazarus, Mary and Martha, all of these people are there, and he's teaching them and talking to them. And a man that had been raised from the dead was there. That's pretty wild to think about. And what does Jesus say to them? What does he say, wait? He's telling the Mount Rushmore of church planners to wait. So if he's telling them, wait, because you need this gift, you need the Holy Spirit, it's important that you wait. If it's important to them, do you think that the Holy Spirit is important to us? You better believe it. If he's telling Apostle Peter and Andrew and Mark and all of these guys, and Lazarus and Mary Magdalene and all of these folks that are there and gathered listening to his teachings, that they need to wait, the very people that witnessed all the miracles and witnessed all the all the things, don't you think it's important that we have the Holy Spirit? I do. Is he important to you? I believe he is. John 14, 26 says, But my but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring you to remembrance all that I have said to you. That is so encouraging to me because you don't know how many times I'm standing in this, even standing here in this pulpit, and I need the Holy Spirit. I need the Holy Spirit. I hope every message I give is delivered at the at the direction of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that that is true. But you know, with the stuff that I write down, sometimes I type up and I want to have this nugget and that nugget and that nugget, and maybe I'll get to it, maybe I won't. The stuff you all remember is the stuff that I just say through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. When you're out in this world and you're walking and you're doing your thing and you're talking to people, just allow the Holy Spirit. You we try to make things so technical and difficult, and we want to tell people rules. I remember sitting in a in the parlor one day, and I was just I was working on my sermon, and I'm like Seth, I can't help it. I just hear things. Right? You just hear things, and you hear people talking, and God bless this girl. She was in there and she was trying her best to disciple and minister to this young lady, and I appreciated what she was doing. But man, this girl had not been saved very long. She had I had heard her say that she had just, you know, accepted Jesus and wanted to get baptized, and then she was really trying to figure it out. And this God loved this girl, but she was trying to give this young lady a list of rules. And she was trying to talk about to talk to her about rules and doing this and doing that. And man, I don't know, you might want to be Lyria, this very popular musician that we would all know if I said his name, uh singer. You might not, I don't know, some of his songs, I'm just not real sure about them. We're not sure about those. And I was just sitting there thinking, like, this girl just needs to know who Jesus is. She doesn't know it needs to know that reckless love ain't a good song. Which I think it is, by the way. Like, that doesn't mean anything to her. She needs to know Jesus. You need to just talk to her about Jesus. And I sat there, man, and I tried to bite my tongue, and I did. I bit my tongue because I wasn't gonna, uh I didn't want to correct her. That wasn't my place at that moment. Um, but I just we need that Holy Spirit, don't we? And we just need to be emboldened when we go into the community and when we see people and and and and just recognize that they just need to hear about him. They just need to know who he is. We can give people a list of rules. You know what people do when they hear a list of rules? They run. They need that time at the beginning, right? We gotta, we can't allow, I'm not saying like you sit here and we celebrate sin. I talked about that a couple weeks ago. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm just saying right now, they need to know who Jesus is. They know all the bad stuff they've done and are doing, they know it. But when you just talk to them about Jesus, then let the Holy Spirit work on them and do give them that revelation, especially at the beginning, man. All right. Who is he? Emmanuel. Aren't we thankful for Emmanuel, God with us? I'm so thankful that God is with us. Isaiah chapter 7 says in verse 14, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. Man, we're thankful. Aren't we thankful? Aren't you thankful that he loved you enough that he was willing to send his very own son to this earth? John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. He loved each and every one of us so very much that he was willing to do that. He was willing to send his own son to the earth to experience all the things that we experience, the emotions, the feelings, anger, frustration. You know, Jesus was angry. Amen. When he flipped the tables over, he was angry. It's a righteous anger. There are things on this earth that you should be angry about. It should anger you when a child is hurt. It should anger you when things happen. But it's a righteous anger. We kids can't go in there and just start beating people up. Right? Well, maybe sometimes. I don't know. I don't know. Take that part out. That didn't come out right. But Jesus came and he felt the same things. He felt sadness, frustration, joy. Amen. We talk about the negative stuff that Jesus came and experienced. He also had joy. It's okay to have joy in our lives. I'm so thankful that we have God with us, Emmanuel. And then we have the cross God for us. 2 Corinthians 5 21 says, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He wants each and every one of us to know and to be with him for eternity. And because of that, he was willing to take every lash across his back, he was willing to take nails in his hands and nails in his feet, he was willing to be insulted and humiliated. And he did it all for you, and he did it all for me. I saw this thing, uh, this really picture, a beautiful picture of it this week, and it's just it really uh ministered to me. Uh it talked about a kingdom, and there was so there's this kingdom, and obviously this kingdom had a king, and the king they had a great treasury, and some men had come to the king, and he told the king, he said, Hey, we've noticed that there's money missing out of the treasury. And so the king was like, Okay, we'll just keep an eye on it and and get report back to me. And so a couple more days went by and they came back uh to the king and they said, King, it's every day. Like there's money missing every single day. And the king was like, Okay. And so he he he proclaimed, made a pro a proclamation, and then the king said, Um, whoever we find that is stealing this money will be sent sentenced to 40 lashes. It's a death sentence. And so a couple more days go by, and the men they come back to the king and they say to the king, King, we've discovered who it is. And the king says, Well, who who tell me who it is? And the men say, It's your daughter. She's the one. She's the one taking the money. And so the king, he has a quandary and he's trying to figure out what he is gonna do, and so he he decides he's like, if if if I do nothing, I'll be I'll be a fool. They'll they'll say I'm a fool, I'll have no authority in the kingdom. He said, But i i i if if I punish her, then uh what am I gonna do? Like my daughter, I can't I can't do that. And so ultimately he he comes to the very difficult conclusion that he has to he has to punish. And so they go and they get the king's daughter, and they take her into the town square, and they they take her down and they lay her across the this rock that's in the town square, and they take open the back of her of her shirt, and and the guard is there, and he he's ready, and he's standing there, and he lifts up his whip, and as he gets it up high, you can hear off in the distance this king, and he's screaming, Stop! Stop! And the king runs, runs down to his daughter. And he says, You can't, you can't. And so the king then he takes off his robe, opens the back of his shirt, lays down across his daughter, and he says, Now whip her. And the guard is like, I I can't, I can't whip her, I'll be I'll be hitting you. I if I hit you, then I can't do that. And the king says, do it. That's the punishment. And the king laying across his daughter's back. And down comes the whip. One. Two three. When it's all said and done, the king died. And that's what he did for you. And that's what he did for me. He sent his own son to the earth. To take the punishment for all the nonsense that we do, all the crazy things that we say, all the messed up stuff, but he took it all. Amen. That is God with us. That is God for us. And I am so thankful that he's with me. I'm so thankful that he is for me. But there's something else. And that's the Holy Spirit. And that's what we're here to talk about today. The Holy Spirit, that's God in us. And we need him. And I need him. The scripture says, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. This body, this vessel right here, is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And I say that, and we all need to understand because that is true, and raise your hand if you believe it's true. It's in the scripture. If you believe that is true, then that means you should take care of the temple. You should take care of it. And I'm not talking about eating good, and I've I mean, we should do that. We should exercise, we should eat good, we should do all that. That's not what I'm talking about. My point is our temple needs to be clean. It has to be a place that you're willing to invite the Holy Spirit to come into. Does that mean you have to be perfect? No. There's nobody in here perfect. Not a single solitary person in this place is perfect. There's been one man that's walked this earth, and his name is Jesus, and he was perfect. Now, does that should that stop me from striving for perfection? No. Every day of my life I should be striving to be perfect, but knowing I'm not going to be, but knowing there's a grace that covers those weaknesses in my life. But who do I turn to? I turn to him in those moments. I turn to him. And the Holy Spirit in me helps me discern. It helps me know, helps me do better. It helps me, guides me, directs me. Verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. This mess this is not nothing to do with my message, but do you ever feel like that when Jesus was with the disciples, he was like, and they just asked the same question again. Now is the time? Is this the time? I think Jesus probably at some point was like, guys, come on. It's not for you to know. I just told you that when we were walking through the wheat field. Do you remember that? I told you that when we were at Caesarea Philippi. I told you that then. It's not for us to know. I think he probably thinks that about me sometimes. I think for sure that there's times when he's just like, James, goodness. Good goodness. Goodness. Again, you said it again. You did it again. You asked the same dumb question again. We do it all. We all do it, so we can judge them, but I just think that's funny. I just think there's got to be times when Jesus was like, God, come on, you guys. Get it. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit. Jokes always go better when you're not in front of people. I have learned that. I just need to learn. I'm not a joke teller. I'm just not. All right, let's keep going. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria until the ends of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up on a cloud, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, he as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven. Man, there is a picture in my mind of what that's gonna look like. Man, I'm so blessed I've been able to go to Israel. I'm so blessed that I've been able to stand on the Mount of Olives. I've been able to look over at that gate, that gate that some guy that was ruling at the time thought he could just put some stones in there and that's gonna keep Jesus. Do you know there's no there's no stone, no rock, no boulder, no nothing that's gonna stop Jesus. When Jesus comes back and he comes back down to this earth just like he came, man, wouldn't that be a place to be? Wouldn't it be great to be on the on the Mount of Olives and see that happen? Whew. I don't know what I'd do. I want to say I'd be super happy, but I would probably be like, ha ha take off. I don't know what this is. Man, that's gonna be a beautiful thing. That's gonna be amazing. Nothing's gonna stop him from coming. He's coming, amen. He's coming. So what do we got to do? We want this power. Why don't we get it? Why don't we ask for it? You know, uh, are we afraid of it? You know, God God blessed the people in Madison, Indiana, the church that I went to, and I am so thankful for Trinity United Methodist Church. I don't know if you saw the post I made this week, but the church that that got me my start and knowing who Jesus was, God bless them. That somebody parked a golf cart next to it, and I think a battery blew up or something, and the church burned down. 150-year-old church. Oh, there is the picture. That happened this week. But that very place, man, we didn't talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. I'm not here today, definitely not to talk ugly about that church. That church is the one God would have got me here. I believe that with all my heart. But it was because of that place and the series of events that happened at that's what that's what rocketed me here. Because I would have probably, I believe with all my heart, I'm supposed to be here, so God would have got me here. He would have figured that out. But that this is the place that that really just introduced me to Jesus. And but I I have to tell you, I didn't know a lot about the Holy Spirit until I came here and and uh Pastor Rick and Alan and Julie and people just you know talk about the Holy Spirit. You learn about the Holy Spirit. So what I'm trying to say is I walked around this earth for too many years, two-thirds full. Amen. I knew who God was, I knew Jesus, I was thankful for him. I I believe I was saved. I believe that I would, if something would have happened to me, I believe I'd be with him. But I did not know anything about the power and presence of the Holy Spirit actively engaged and involved in my life. And and why is it that we can walk around? Why would we even want to walk around this world two-thirds full? I said in the early service, maybe you'll think it's funny. I don't know. I doubt it. But I said we should get a shirt. Seth, get a shirt made that says I'm full of it. Okay, that was better. But I believe there's too many of us, too many Christians walking around two-thirds full. And now that I've been here, I don't think I could go anywhere else. I told Julie, after the, you know, when we were still trying to figure everything out, and I was in this church and I danced across here and I knew I was learning who the Holy Spirit was. I told her, I said, listen, if you break up with me, I'm still coming to this church. I'm still doing it. Because I can't go back. I don't know how, when you know the Holy Spirit, you can go somewhere that doesn't allow the Holy Spirit to move. I do not understand that for all my life. And right now, Jesus is saying, James, this is not for you to understand at this time. But what do we got to do, church? How do we get ready and prepare for Pentecost? That's what this message is. Preparing for Pentecost. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I've heard people that I would say are smart people say ridiculous things, that the Holy Spirit is just about emotion, it's just about feelings, it's just about this. You don't need to raise your hands and do all that stuff. You know what's funny? There was a teacher that said those things, and when he said those things, what was uh super awesome to me was that his mom went to church here. And he said, Well, I don't need all that emotion, we don't need all that stuff. And I was like, Well, your mom does. Apparently, Pastor Julie's gonna speak next week on Pentecost. It's gonna be Pentecost Sunday next week, and I think we should be prepared. This may or may not be the week for you to invite your new girlfriend or boyfriend, or maybe you should. I remember right before Julie and I got married, and uh my dad came in the room and he said, Do you know what you're getting into? And I said, I sure do. I had no idea. I thought I did. Preparing for Pentecost. You know where it starts? It starts with knowing Jesus. It starts with knowing him. Do you remember uh there's an awesome story in John chapter 7, and it's it's really the Sue Code, it's the Feast of Tabernacles. Uh uh musicians come on up. Uh it's the Feast of Tabernacles, and Jesus is there. And I was gonna read it all, but I'm not gonna read it all because I've taught about this before, but it's this awesome, it's called the water ceremony, and it's when it's in the fall, it's when they're preparing for uh the for fall, and the and the uh the priest will march down and they have this big picture, and then he marches back up and it's raucous, and people are cheering and yelling and screaming, and it's wild. You can get on YouTube and Google that, or YouTube and Google it. Probably don't need to do that, just one or the other. Uh, but you can get on YouTube and see this. They still do it to this day. And at that moment, there's two times when it's quiet. Every other moment, it's wild. It's wild. I've I've I've watched the video. But there's a moment when the when the priest holds up this picture, and at that moment, it's when they're crying out to God and they're crying out to him, saying, Lord, we need the rain, we need the water, we need these things. And it's at that very moment that it's quiet, but it's at that very moment is when Jesus said what he said in John chapter 7, and he said to all those who come to me, Amen, out of you. And I've always read that wrong. I always thought that when I go to Jesus that there's rivers of living water coming out of him. That's not what it says. What it says is when I go to him and I accept him and he's my savior, then out of me, out of me will flow rivers of living water. We are the suppliers of the water, but it starts with knowing Jesus. That's number one. Number two is repent. You want a move of God in your life? Repent. Get right with Jesus. Know him, get right with him. And I want to challenge you this week to pray. I want to challenge you to pray. What do we pray? How do I pray? Pray for the Holy Spirit. I think in our circles, in charismatic churches and in and churches like ours, this is for you. We worry about what is our gift. What is our gift? What is my this was already done, Stephen, before you texted me yesterday. What is this? I need this. I want to speak in tongues. I've been in this church 40 years and I've never spoken tongues, and you beat yourself up over it. And I'm here to tell you don't beat yourself up over it, and don't pray for tongues. Pray for the Holy Spirit. I believe in the gift of tongues. I believe in the gift of prophecy. I believe in discernment. I believe in wisdom. I believe in knowledge. I believe in giving. I believe in all of those things. But you know what? When I need more of it, I just need to pray for the Holy Spirit. If I got a tough situation in my life, then I don't need to pray for peace. We know don't pray for peace anyway because God, you're gonna get it. You're gonna need peace or patience. You don't need to pray for those things. Pray for the Holy Spirit. You got a tough situation. I got you if you're sitting there right now and you're like, I got this coworker and I need patience with them. I do not, I cannot, they're unlovable. I've got all these situations, and you're thinking, I need to pray for patience. And I'm telling you, don't pray for patience, pray for the Holy Spirit. And so that's what I want to tell you this week is pray for the Holy Spirit. Get up in the morning and pray for the Holy Spirit. In the afternoon, pray for the Holy Spirit. In the night when you're getting ready to go to bed, pray for the Holy Spirit. I love what T.F. Tenny says. He says, I never pray for an hour, but I never go an hour without praying. It's a lifestyle of prayer. If you want to move in your life, you want to know what your gift is, you want to know these things, just pray. God, I need the Holy Spirit. And you know what else is so incredible? There's gonna be also times this week and you're gonna just be like, I already prayed for that, I already prayed for that. I don't even know what else to pray. You know what then you know what you do? You just be quiet. Because you know what the scripture says in Romans? This is what it says. It says, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray, for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. There is a time when it's okay to be quiet. I fell I fell under that conviction when I just didn't even know what to pray. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one. And you just you don't even know what to pray. You know what? Just be quiet. Let the Holy Spirit that's in you pray. Because he's in you. He's in you. Let him do his thing. That's another thing I've loved about the book of Acts. I'm sorry I'm going long. Sorry, not sorry. I'm gonna be done in a second. That I love about the book of Acts is it's so incredible to me that we we wait for this one particular moment. And it's gotta this one particular thing has to happen, or it's not real, or whatever. But I love all throughout the book of Acts that it says continually that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and then they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Allow him to do it. Amen. So, what do we have to do? We gotta pray, we gotta get right with the Lord, and then let him do it. Receive it, amen. We gotta receive the Holy Spirit. I love, and I'm closing with this, in Acts in Luke chapter 24. I love how it ends. It says, and he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And while he blessed them, he parted, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven, and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. This is why I just want to get you this picture, and I ask you to stand to your feet. This is gonna be a wonky altar call. It's not wonky, whatever. If you could stand. I'm in a weird mood. My wife's been out of town, I don't even know what I'm doing. I love how this ends, and it's so amazing to me. And I just want you to get this picture. All of this has gone on. It's 40 days, it's teaching, it's beautiful, it's amazing. He's teaching on the kingdom of God. He walks them, they take this journey to the Mount of Olives, and there they stand on the Mount of Olives. And I can just picture it now. Thankfully, I've been there, and and you just you stand there and you look over Jerusalem, and here he is, he's with them, and it says he raises his arms and he blesses them. The last thing that Jesus did before he parted departed was bless them. And I just see him saying these words the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. And then he parted. That's beautiful to me that he wanted to bless them. He told them to wait. Don't rush in, don't try to do stuff you're not prepared to do. Wait. I'm gonna bless you with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I'm gonna pray over you. If you want to come to the altar, this is always open. But I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna go. We're gonna have a beautiful day today. Amen. We're gonna leave. It says, what did it say they did? They they left with great joy. So we're gonna leave here today, amen. With great joy, knowing what? That the comforter is coming, that peace is coming, that hope is coming, that love is coming, that power and boldness is coming. So I don't know what you need today. I have no idea, but I do know this. I feel led, Alan Shelby. Could you come down here and pray for Marilyn? Uh-oh. She's not even gonna make it. You better hurry. I just want you to pray over her. I'm gonna pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for this day. I thank you, Lord, for your Holy Spirit. And God, as we leave this place today, God, I pray that we leave with joy. We leave with joy knowing that not many days from now, that not many days from now, that your Holy Spirit will fall upon us. We believe that, God. I believe that with all my heart, Lord, that you want to do something in our lives so that we can go and then talk and teach and talk to people about how good you are. So, Lord, I pray, God, that this week that you keep us focused, that you keep us focused on you, keep us focused on who you are, keep us focused. And in those moments when we stumble and we fall, God, that we're quick to repent, we're quick to go the other way because he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. And then we'll go and we will sin no more, God, because we love you and we honor you. And we just thank you, God. I pray, God, that you would just use us in a great and mighty way. It's in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God bless you.