All In, All Flame | Carry The Flame - Pastor Scott Silcox

Pentecost is not a strange side story we can ignore. It is the day the Church is born, the day God puts His Spirit in His people, and the day ordinary believers become witnesses with real power. Pastor Scott Zilcox kicks off our All Flame series by asking a blunt question: what does “All Flame” actually mean if we are not truly dependent on the Holy Spirit?

We get pastoral and practical about the state of the local church, including the uncomfortable truth that we can get really good at sermons, worship sets, systems, and even “cool” Christian culture while drifting into doing ministry without the Holy Spirit. We talk about why Pentecost belongs in the centre of God’s plan, why misused spiritual gifts should not make us dismiss the Spirit, and how the Church loses its foundation when it treats the Spirit like an optional add-on.

From Acts 1 and Acts 2 to the larger Bible storyline of God’s presence and fire from Eden through the tabernacle, temple, prophets, and Jesus, we trace why God’s goal is not just to be near us but to live in us. Then we bring it all the way into everyday life with a sharp contrast: before Pentecost the disciples cast lots, after Pentecost they live in partnership, “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” That is an invitation to stop rolling the dice with decisions and start asking, listening, and waiting.

Transcript

Welcome And Memorial Day Honor

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Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv. Now join us for a message from Pastor Scott Zilcox.

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We're starting a series on all flame. Anyone notice on the outside of the building? For here in Huntsville, we have it on the building, on our website, on our social, on hats, on t-shirts. The school picked it up as a motto this year for Kingdom Heights. All in. Let's try it again. All in, all campuses?

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All in.

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Yeah, all flame. Now, you can hear that statement and you wonder, like, what does that really, really mean? What is that supposed to mean? And I want to start this morning by maybe doing this a little different. I I uh you know, let me do this to you before I start, before I jump off into this. You know, tomorrow we'll we're gonna celebrate what? Memorial day. Big day tomorrow. It's not a day for hamburgers, although burgers will be eaten. It's not because it's the start of summer, it's because people sacrifice their lives to give us the freedom to do what we're doing in here today. How many know the freedom in Christ we have to serve him? But our national freedoms come on the backs of many, many sacrifices. And can we just honor all those who have sacrificed to get us here? And especially all those who have served in military at any one of our locations. If you have served in the military, would you just stand up? We want to just recognize you as we recognize the sacrifice of others. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, guys, for your your heart to serve our country. We appreciate it. There's other things that we got going on. I want to make announcements, but I don't really care about those. As much as I care about, really, I don't. I just don't. I just gotta be honest with it. As much as I care about us understanding something today, it's Pentecost Sunday.

Pentecost Sunday And Church Birthday

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Uh come on, touch your neighbor, say happy birthday. Come on, touch your other neighbor, say happy birthday. Happy birthday. I almost want to sing it. It's in me, you know, to sing it, but we're not. We're not. You might even ask yourself, like, what are we saying happy birthday for? Who? Guys, Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Passover, was like not an accident. It wasn't just some haphazard event. It is the birth of the church. It's the birth of the church. It's when when the church is launched into her purpose. That's you. You don't believe it. It's just so odd to me that people are just like, mm, kinda. It doesn't feel like my birthday, right? Everybody's waiting on a gift. Well, the good news is he's caught the gift. He has gifts and he would like to bestow those on anybody. Great day to ask for it on your birthday. Just another side note. Just another side note. However, we've got too much to talk about for me to just go along with this, but let's start with this slide here that we have today.

What All Flame Really Means

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This is the question that we keep asking ourselves: what does it mean to be all flame? Has anybody asked themselves that this year at any time? Thank you for your honesty. There's one person here that asked them that. That's so good. I hope there were more hands at other campuses. Fayable, I'm banking on you. Philly, your hand should have gone up, you know, because I was given, I was expecting it back, but that's a side note. What does it mean to be all flame? I'm gonna tell you what it means to be all flame at our campus. And the reason why I feel like today is a little bit of a different approach to service is because I just want to talk to you from my heart pastorally about why we put up and we stand behind statements like this. If I were being totally honest with you, my heart is grieved for the state of the local church. It's grieved in so many ways, not because not because it's not like slick or cool, because we have a lot of that. And in fact, we're getting better. Just to be honest with you, we're just getting better at being more up to date in some cool areas and some fun areas. We got nice little swag that we wear now, which is awesome. I mean, most of our worship leaders have tattoos. Right? Just so cool. Just so, so cool. We're just there. We're just there. We just we got it. We just got it, we got things now. But but the the heartbreaking thing is that we, I believe, if we're not careful and I feel like we've kind of fallen into this, we've gotten comfortable with the idea that we've built the church without the Holy Spirit. And that is terrifying when you really understand the role of Holy Spirit in the church. Um, and so I want to kind of talk about that. Just I if this is okay, I'm just gonna do it like this. I just feel today, I felt this so I told my wife, I said this is the weirdest feeling I've had in a long time, but I feel like he's having me pivot to do this a little differently. But to really talk to you from my heart concerning our pursuit as a church as being Holy Spirit driven, dependent.

Five Values And Spirit Dependence

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In fact, that leads me to my next slide, which is this the five values that we have in our house. It's not an accident that in these five values, the very first value is what? A hundred percent dependent on the Holy Spirit. Now, you might have said that seems like kind of like a generic statement. And and you know what? In a church, probably a hundred years ago, it would have been. The difference is the church today, that's a very distinctive statement. That statement actually separates this church from other churches in our nation, in our community. Come on, somebody. There are people that that have gotten so accustomed to treating the Pentec treating Pentecost and treating the Holy Spirit as though it was some mystery event that happens separate of the order of God's plan. That's true. That's true. You can go back and look at it, and many times we treat it, it's just easier if we don't understand it, is to separate it to some isolated thing that we don't actually have to deal with. And that's that's disheartening because the truth is we are who we are because of Pentecost. The church is and has been operating really through the through the movement that the Holy Spirit has breathed life on the church to move forward. You know, it hasn't been on like good messages, it hasn't been on like powerful worship, it's not in logistics, it's not in how we organize. The church's power is not, its effectiveness is not those things. Those happen to be tools, those are tools. And when those tools are submitted to the Holy Spirit, then we can carry, they're not just tools, but they're gifted tools. Because in the work of the Holy Spirit, there are gifts to be had. And so what we've found ourselves doing, there's like three areas that that bring concern to me concerning this, and that is like we treat it like it's some other event. The second thing that disturbs me is that I feel like oftentimes we um we let some misuse of a gift dictate what we think about it. I mean, when's the last time you you know what? I I got a new phone. I got this new phone. This should be helping me more than it is. And you know what I'm talking about? Like, just trying to get this thing to do things that my other phone did do because it's got new technology and it's got new things, and it's awesome. It's awesome. My son's telling me all the cameras, it's got a great camera. It's like I I can't find a number. Just a number. A number. I just need to call this in. Yeah, but it takes pictures. Yes, yes. But that's not what this was created to do. First, it was created to what? Call and stay in communication. And you know what else it wasn't for? It wasn't for like daily contact. Do you know phones weren't like that where we were just to get on them and just stay there all day? It was like for emergencies. And gossip. If you were in the Andy Griffiths show, then you know that. In that era, there was gossip and an emergency. So so here's what I'm saying is when when the when the device gets an upgrade, or when this device gets used inappropriately, why is it we don't ever throw this out? And yet, when we see someone mishandle the gifts of what the Holy Spirit brings, we discount its existence as a whole. As a whole? We don't treat almost anything else in our life that way. And so it it tells me that we're at a we're at a place that we're gonna have to get real honest again about about the role and the purpose and to continue to keep that that revelation coming across. Because what we can't afford to do is be a church who turns her back on on the very thing that gave birth to her. She cannot do it. She cannot do it. Now, now got all those good amens in. We'll see how many more amens are left when we talk about we can't also project on it things that we believe are the most important things. Because we have a tendency to do that as well. Entire, like, like I mean, there's there's an there's an entire denomination built on this is it, and this is not it, and this is kinda it, and we don't like either of y'all's. We came up with another Holy Spirit, whatever it is. I'm serious, this is crazy talk, what's out there right now. Because we still think we're in charge. See, when you think this entire thing is about you, when we as a people group think it's about our survival or our success or our our, you know what I mean? Like our um Western idea of what it means to be successful. Like when we think that is what life is all about, you forget that you're playing a role, you're playing a part of a bigger narrative. You're actually cast to play a role here. Can we hear it this morning? Can we hear it this morning? All right. So I want to I want to go through a couple things. First of all, obviously, you see our five values still there? Yes. Our values. Um belief for the impossible, fear of the Lord. These are important. Belief for the impossible, let me just stop there for just a second. Why is that a house values? Because we want to be a people who can stand in the gap and contend for God to move. When the world says it's never gonna happen, or when the world says that this can't even happen, the miraculous is dead, we want to be people who say, hold up. You're trying to take, you're trying to take the testimony of our Lord and diminish it to what you understand. And because it eclipses what you understand, you can't just rip that page out of the Bible. We're gonna be a people who stand in the gap when the world wants us to be quiet about that. He's the God of the impossible. Come on, man, your whole book, the whole Bible's full of him being impossible. Miracles are miracles, are miracles, angelic beings, galaxy and worlds you know nothing about. Aliens. Huh? Just fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord, right? I I learned this best with uh our our our um our founding pastors, really exemplified this in us. What it means to lead with the fear of the Lord. Right? Fear of the Lord is is is not is not a fear that comes like anxiety fear. Fear of the Lord is understanding who He is and understanding my role in being submitted. Remember, Pastor used to all do this like, he loved that covering, under the covering. Remember you, you I mean, if I saw this, if I saw that Paul once, I saw it a thousand times. We are, and we can be out from under it, or we can be in, but that fear of the Lord keeps us in that place. It's an honor, it's a respect, it's a not cheapening the name of Christ. It's it's not allowing others around us to cheapen. Oh boy. Church has got to get more comfortable with holding others accountable to when they get out of line on that, right? No, no, we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna, we're not gonna make God a soft, weak, yellow back. Come on, somebody. We're not he's not a coward. He's not overly sensitive to everybody's needs. I'm sorry, but he loves you, but he is not gonna pander towards you. That's the kind of God we want him to be. But you know, he calls us into things, right? He's raising us, he's developing us, right? And we have to yield that to him for that. So, fear of the Lord, that's a quality for us, it's a value here. Come on, touch your neighbors and say, Do you value the fear of the Lord? It's a good question. It's a good question. Over ourselves. You gotta get this. You exist last days. This is how we make decisions in the church. This is how we treat one another. We come on, somebody. Any selfish people in the room. Thank you. Come on. There's we we're we're innately selfish. You don't, you can't care for other people outside of Jesus. You just can't. You can't, outside of the character of Christ, you at best will have one good day, but look, 365 is yours. I got 364 days where it's about me. One day I might give it to you, Tim. No, come on, somebody. We're talking about in order for us to live with others in mind. Well, well, we know this. Who gave for God so loved the world that he did what? He gave. That quality causes me to look at David differently and say, I love him. I prefer my brother. We don't like that because we think that means relinquishing our control. And I would say we put this in there specifically to address control issues. Because if you fear the Lord, if you're submitted in this way, you only have one response. It's to see people the way he sees them. Prefer them. Stewards, not owners. Last but not least, stewards, but not we're stewards, not owners. Why are we that, church? Why am I why is Pastor Scott leading with that when we're talking about all in all flame for a series? I can I can just hear it. I can hear the at the ethos, the atmosphere is just in here, little thought bubbles. I'll tell you why. Because I cannot continue to put great building material on broken foundation. Busted and broken foundation, untouched, unlooked at, ignored as though, well, that probably won't matter later. No, no, no. We have to pause here and recognize it matters. The reason we're going through this all-flame series, that 100% dependent on the Holy Spirit, is how we got to all in all flame. We didn't get all in all flame and got here. This launched us into the into that phrase. Right? So we have to establish this is the type of people we are. Come on, this is hey, who calls this their church home? Raise your hand. Oh, that's a lot of you. Some of you don't have your hands up. We welcome you to be a part of this congregation. We've got next steps. Just tap the thing in front of you. You can just it would have been too good, it would have been too planned. I can't do it. If that's you, this is your values. This is what you're committed to. This is what we're saying we're doing together. We're stewards, not owners. Why does that matter? Because stewardship commands a blessing. If I'm the owner, then I'm the pastor of this church, and everything I say is the most important thing that needs to be said here. I like it like that if y'all want it that way. That works into my selfish bug, I mean, real good. That works that selfish nerve a lot. I'm happy to live in that space, but the truth is, this is his church, he's building it. The submission, the stewardship is the resource that he's given us, the people, the money, the time, all of that, and we will steward that. We're not the owners. We're not the owners. We're stewards. See, in stewardship, you recognize something. Everybody just brace yourself. Put your little spiritual buckle on right here. Stewardship. You ready? It's temporary. Got great news. Stewardship is temporary. It's temporary. When you want to be the owner, it doesn't matter who serves it later, you'll always just be the owner. See, in the kingdom, though, I don't own the kingdom. I am not the king. You are not the king. You are an under-shepherd at best. We're here to serve what he is trying to do on the earth. We're not serving our needs. Our needs will be met, but we're not serving our needs. Do you see the difference? That you can't get there unless you can put this spot in right here. You can't get to a place where you can be a steward. Now, why does that matter? Because stewardship, stewardship, come on, somebody, is authority given to you to manage when the king is not here. Which means you have the authority to move out in that. Stewardship means that I act on his behalf. I can't act on his behalf if I don't know how he would act. Stewardship. When we talk about money and finances, we don't talk about wealth, we talk about stewardship. Stewardship will bring about wealth won't bring stewardship. It don't work that other way. Wealth will not bring you stewardship. Stewardship's decided before wealth has happened. Stewardship happens because you made decisions when there was no money. That's where stewardship is built. We're constantly trying to catch up because we want wealth, but we don't want a steward. Amen? Okay, this is not a financial thing. Over there, call him. He'll work you through the process. It's beautiful. Let's go to some

Acts 1 And The Pentecost Outpouring

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scripture. I'm gonna read three passages of scripture to start with, right? It's gonna be the last few verses of Acts chapter 1 and then the first few of Acts 2. And I just want to talk about it for a second. Is that okay? Alright, let's go to this one here, Acts 1.23. And they put forward two, now let me just give a little context before I read it. Look, they're trying to replace Judas's job. Right? Judas is is is is done what he's done. He's turned the Savior in, he's bought him a field, he's hung himself. Like he's this is bad news. The disciples, though, say, hey, we had a good thing going with 12. We need to close that number. We need to kind of close the gap on that. We need somebody who's been there, who saw him, who was with us. You guys tracking? That's the decision they're making right now. And they put forward two. Joseph called Orsabbas, and this one, I love this one, who was also called Justice. Like, I can tell you right now he's losing because he's put three names in the ballot box already. Do you see what's happening here? He's already got three names, and we know he's gonna lose. Just because of that, he's a cheater. And they prayed and said, You Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in the ministry and the apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they cast lots for them. And the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Next scripture, Acts 2, 1 through 4. And when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2, 5 through 8. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven, and at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? What a powerful, amazing, incredible event. Now, I said to you earlier, three things that bothered me is the idea that we treat it like it's a separate event, the idea that that you turn around and for some reason we let the gift or the misuse of a gift cause us to think differently about who the Holy Spirit is. The third one is really simple. It's when the church forgets who embodied and empowers the movement of the church as a whole. So when we just completely separate ourselves from that, those three things. In talking through that or thinking through that today, and again, I'm not gonna hold this here all day, I promise. But I do want to kind of get this thought out to you because over the next few weeks, at every single one of our campuses, we're gonna be going through a series on all flame. We're gonna be talking about how to steward the flame. Today, we're talking about how to carry the flame. We're gonna talk about how to trim wicks, even, right? We're gonna be talking about what that looks like. How do we maintain or how do we not just get fired up, but we're emboldened to go forward. Right? We're gonna spend weeks upon weeks really digging through this topic because we believe that the the real hope of of the real hope of the world is a unified church. That unified church is not unified just internally with each other because we can't do that outside of the Holy Spirit. It's unified under the the revelation that we're called by the Holy Spirit and unified through the Spirit so that we can be his best expression on the earth. Amen? Amen.

Fire Through Eden To Jesus

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And so this is what we're going to be pursuing, but I wanted to start today with just the idea of what does it mean to carry the fire? This is fascinating to me because, I mean, there's so much happening here from the time Christ has died, he's risen, he is now showing up, he's teaching people. I would have said, I feel like this is a good end to the story. Jesus resurrected and end scene. We're there. Felt like that was plenty that needed to happen. You can only imagine in the disciples' minds, like when he decides to tell them at the ascension, hey, I'm going to go away now. Well, like a hold up. Now we all went, we done did three years of discipleship with you. You you died on us. And then you came back, and now's the time for us to advance that kingdom, right? This is the time where we become the centerpiece, the real deal. Everyone does what we want, right? And he's like, Yeah, you guys are still concerned about the wrong things. Right? However, what you should be concerned about is the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Because that is the next step. So, so I did this like just to give us an idea of kind of where we were at with this. It's like we started here in Eden, and there's something interesting about this because uh what makes Eden interesting is that we see God with us, walking with us in the garden here. Right? Isn't that what we see? He is with us, he's there. Now, when there's sin and separation, I find this fascinating, is that when he leaves, there is a giant flame that keeps them out of the garden. Hmm. Well, that's interesting too. So what we're seeing is the presence in creation and with mankind, Holy Spirit has always been there, hovering and been present in every one of these stages. And so if we don't, we don't start to look at who the church is through the lens of we've always been the end game. God with and in us has been the plan A from the beginning. We're acting like we're in plan Z. We're not plan Z. We're still in plan A. He restored that. Now we see that like we go through the next one, the tabernacle series, right? When we go through the tabernacle and he says, I have to have a place for my people. And remember how many people died when they tried to bring false fire into the camp? How many? The number's 3,000. Died that day. Remember it was when God showed up on the mountain and a big ball of fire and smoke, and everybody's like, Yeah, Moses, you go ahead, dude. You got this. You got this. We believe in you. You know? I could just see it. That's just the sheep. That's what they do, right? They love you. To sacrifice. Go. Like, let us know how it goes. We'll take care of your family and all your belongings. You know, because they don't think he's coming back. They're afraid. They discount going to God, but Moses doesn't. And in turn, you find out when he's with God, he doesn't come back the same, does he? He comes back with instruction and he physically looks different. Now he's glowing. That's wild. He's been with the Lord, and now you can't look at Moses in the face. You know that that sounds like a mystical book, but man, when you believe the Bible and you see what God's done, what he's inviting us into a relationship we're forfeiting most of the time. And you say, Well, I don't know if I want to glow like that. Well, some of you need a little up glow. You couldn't you could stand for a little Jesus FaceTime. How many know that sometimes it's not in that physical, but maybe it's in just how you carry yourself. I can tell when you've been with him and not. It's an invitation. Then we we can, we as a church and the people, just like Israel, we we we're gonna get we're gonna get good at this. We're getting good at this. You know, we ain't doing no tent ministry anymore. We're building a building, a good one. Fancy. We spending tons of money. Everybody's gonna know about our Lord. Right? We got gold and we got all the things. And that's when we went to temple life, where God's just gonna stay here. He doesn't just come and go. Now he's just gonna stay in here. We're gonna put him in this box over here and we'll keep him here. As if we could hold God back behind the curtain. Isn't that great? I love us, I love us, I love humanity. We're just like, I tell you what, we'll do a really thick velvet curtain. That's got it. There it is. He won't get out now. Put gold around it, maybe he'll stay. Come on, somebody. It's silly, but these are things, right? We're preserving worship, we need worship, we need to respond to God. He's making himself available, right? And when that falls apart, and when that's taken away, right, what do we end up with? The prophets. Those really great guys who prophesy all the bad and good, right? But you know what? They begin to seed the hearts of every single believer saying, There's more coming, there's more coming. There's a fire that will consume, the law will be written on your heart. This is the prophets. They're they're prophesying what's to come, what to look forward to. See, we're in a process. He uses them for years just to keep the people motivated in the direction that Christ has already determined, which is Himself. Amen. That's how we get here. To Jesus, the most prophesied person to have ever lived. Everything on those first four were all getting us to hear. Prophesying, speaking, declaring, modeling for us to see Jesus again. Not just for us to experience him, not just that he would die for us, not that he would just provide salvation, which he did. Not only would he die on a cross, which is such a critical piece to the faith that we walk in, right? How many know that we it's at the cross we found salvation? His sacrifice there, the blood of Christ. But how many know that if he just dies and he never resurrects, then it doesn't have new life, new beginning. And he says, No, I'm come to fulfill all the things that's been said. And what does he do? Pops up out of the grave. Hey oh, got him, right? Starts talking, starts eating, starts explaining to everybody, it's not over. We're just in the next phase. We're just in the next phase. Relax. I know you want to be all the kings and all the amazing emperors. You want to be all the important people, but just relax. I got a plan. And if you can trust that I've done all of these other things and raised from the dead, come on, somebody, you can trust the next phase. Come on, touch somebody so you can trust the next phase. Next phase. He ends up spending tons of time with these guys and then finally decides, well, I'm leaving again. Well, I can just tell you what, if I'm a disciple, I am I'm that guy that's saying, like, no, I think that's a terrible idea. I think you're missing it, and I think we ought to pray about it. I would have been that guy that would have just come up with some over-spiritualized reason for Jesus not to ascend. I would have. I would have just been my humanity because the comfort of knowing I finally got him back, just to lose him again, and especially with the unknown being so up in the air. And yet, he, Jesus, understands that in order for us to fully return back to what he intended in the garden, I have to go. And I'll pray, send the helper. I'll pray for you a comfort. I'll pray that his spirit will be in you. Why? Because if it is in you, then we will advance. Now we're no longer looking at a fire motif that's just locked up in the physical expression. We're no longer looking at one that's just been moving around, cloud by day, fire by night. We've seen it, fire in the bush. He speaks from that. We've seen it at the altar, we've seen it all along the way, and instead he's saying, it's not enough unless it gets in you. That my plan, my redemptive plan, is not working unless it gets in you. Now, why is it, fast forward 2026, we say, I don't think I need it. How is it we can pray for revival and pray for an anointing and pray for the kingdom and pray for the nations and pray for revivals? And we can do all of that and reject the idea that the Holy Spirit needs to be in me. We are saying essentially to say, yeah, we want plan B. Plan A is awkward. I need plan B. And could you get more clear about it this time? And yet he he isn't gonna do any of that. Because it's enough and it's sufficient and it's good and it's exactly what he wants. Us filled with the Spirit of God. If you think I'm talking about all of us speaking in tongues, then you're missing what I'm talking about. Because I think some of you are like, I ain't doing it. I ain't doing it. Nobody's asking you to do it. I mean, we're long, long away from the time where we force people to make up tongues. Come on, man. I was in services. I was in, I was in Holy Ghost services where peace just say this. Just say this. Da. Just say it. I was around that da-da-da-da-da. You got it, he's got it, we've all got it. No, come on, man. Like, like, listen, listen, listen, here, here, I am not, I'm not trying to diminish, but I'm trying to say when people's desires to see people get more, it's there's no end to what they want to do. And sometimes people will fall off into manipulation, control, intimidation. That's not the spirit. It's not the spirit. But he did say, go and wait. Go wait. I'm telling you, go wait. Don't leave. Don't go fishing again, Peter. You tried that after I died. No, this time go wait. All of you. Get up in the room, pray, fast, and wait. I'll do exactly what I said I'm gonna do. And he blows in like a wild wind, like a storm brewing. And in that moment, the Spirit of God is given to mankind to be witnesses. The proof of that is their immediate speaking in other languages was then to then testify. Why? Because we're in the feast of weeks, right? It's feast of weeks. This is the time where everybody's coming back in, and they're actually all there in Jerusalem from all over. So it's a perfect timing. Right? In order for the expansion of the church to explode, it has its best chance when everyone, everyone's coming back to the city. And so he waits strategically to get us in that place, but he's got, listen to me. Oh my goodness, I'm just having this thought. It doesn't, it won't matter. If he strategically has it planned on the calendar, he's got to have willing people to work through. You hear what I'm saying? Like, like he had aligned all the things, but if you can't be patient and wait, it won't mean that the Holy Spirit won't come. It will mean you don't get to partner with him. And that's way worse. From this seat, that's way worse. He's gonna do what he's gonna do. That's his plan. But he's choosing people who will say, Do it through me. Do it through me. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll wait. I'll wait till you move. I'll wait till you say go. He's desirous of people in a church that would awaken themselves up to that idea again. It used to exist, but it's fleeting, it's disappearing, it's evaporating right before us. And this is the thing that breaks my heart because he did it and we treat it. You see, it's all in a timeline until we get to Pentecost. Then it's just separate. It's all this is all God's timing until we got to Pentecost, and all of a sudden we want nothing to do with it. I'm trying to tell you when the Holy Spirit shows up, he has come to mobilize the church. What he did by by speaking through all of those in the upper room, he awakens hunger, passion. The gospel message gets delivered in many languages, and all of a sudden, he is restoring the nations back. Right? You remember Babel? He's giving, he's saying, No, I my heart is for the nations. So he restores the nations through the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and all of a sudden we have a passion to go reach. We can go anywhere. The gospel spreads fast. 3,000 are added to the church. Anyone else think that's an accident? How many were lost when they turned their back on God? When they wanted another God, while Moses is getting the instructions, and they're giving their earrings and their gold and their things to make a little what? A golden calf. When judgment comes to that, it's 3,000 people. When restoration comes, 3,000 come to know him. He is a redeemer. He is a redeemer. He is restoring. Show you two more things and we're closing. Somebody, please come play this piano or something. Excuse me. I I want to point out a scripture to you. I'll do this. Let me go back. Um, I won't go back. I'll go forward.

From Casting Lots To Daily Guidance

SPEAKER_01 42:03

At the beginning, I read uh a passage of scripture that didn't match the other ones. I read that passage on purpose. And I read that pass passage because um I I watch my kids do this uh oftentimes in the house with each other, with their friends. I used to do this as a kid. You've done it before. Um I I I have been guilty of casting lots. Um, seriously, like this. Like umy meeny miny mo. Catch a tiger by its toe. If it hollers, let him pay $50 every day. My mama told me to pick the best one, and you are, this is interesting, not it. Right? You're out. Unless it starts to fall the wrong way, and it's like, and my mom says, I am it. I don't know. We trust the Lord. Providence of God. You know, do you know what I'm saying? Has anybody ever played that before? And then because you get smarter the older you get, you realize there's like a pattern, and then you can know it's like if as long as I start with him first, is he gonna land on him last? Boom, roasted, you're always out. I think that's how Jax plays most games right now. Like, you're just out. No, well, I'm the winner again, anyway. It's interesting that that I want to show you the progress of Holy Spirit being present in your life. Okay, I told you five values. The number one value of the house is what? 100% dependent on the Holy Spirit. Why that has to matter? Because we're not talking about being 100% dependent on the Holy Spirit when you're in this room. We're talking about being 100% dependent on the Holy Spirit, the way you live your life. The way you walk your life is what I'm talking about today. And I'm going to show you the progress that the disciples got to experience because I think this is fascinating to me. But at the beginning, they're casting lots to find a guy. Before the Holy Spirit comes, they've got like a stone with their names or something. It's in a I don't know how they did it. How would I know how they did it? But you know, you know, history says that the ways they would do this is different ways. It's we have the same tradition, it's like drawing straws. Right? Hold up a little thing, and whoever gets the short straw gets to do whatever it is that nobody wants to do. In this case, the two gentlemen likely have their names on it. And when they reach in and they choose who it's going to be, in Jewish culture, they they didn't treat this like we treat it, like with little childish games. They had used lots all throughout the Old Testament. We know this. You can go back and see when Lamb was divided for the children of Israel. It was done in. Interesting. Who told them to do that? It's God. Now that's fascinating, isn't it? God uses that way of decision making for a season. The last time we see a record of it is in this passage. You never see it again. Now that's interesting to me. Is that just before the Holy Spirit comes, an old system of decision making has got to die. But look how fast it resurrects in a new way. Check the scripture out here. Two of them. Chapter 13, verse 2 and 3. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Listen to what's happening. Watch the pivot. Watch the pivot. See, any other day, they're drawing lots on these guys. Okay, you know, look at the look at this one here. Look at this one here. 28, Acts 15. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to who? Partnership. We got partnership. We got true Holy Spirit partnership. First, first, first sighting. Not the tongues alone, not the empowerment, not the 3,000 who've come, but now we're seeing it in their daily life. It's not just in the event, it's in the daily application of how to lead. They're in true partnership. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us that we would do what? Well, they're getting leaders in place to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. See ya. That's how the letter ends. They're establishing leadership, and in order for them to establish leadership, they're no longer leaning into casting lots for anything because the Holy Spirit is now speaking with them and now through them. So my question is why are we still casting lots in your daily life? Why are you going to work and hoping you're getting it right and not actually working with the Holy Spirit? Why are you trying to figure out how to make your marriage or relationship work? But you haven't inserted one minute's worth of time to allow Holy Spirit because that old system of just roll the dice, cast the lot. How do I feel today? Because casting lots to us now becomes just an easy way to make a fast decision that might not be Him. And then I'll spend the rest of my life praying for the consequences that that decision made. Holy Spirit is inviting you into a relationship with him that takes the chaos out of your day. Doesn't mean chaos won't come around you, but he'll settle you. When you give him access to your life, when you give him an opportunity to weigh in. When's the last time you just let him weigh in? Well, it seems a little redundant. I mean, do I have to let him weigh in on everything? I would just tell you everything. Everything. It's better that you just let him weigh in on everything. He's got the better solution. He's got the better way. I don't know. I'll just go to church. Maybe they'll sing my song. Roll the dice. Cast the lot. Maybe I'll bump into Christian and he'll have something deep and amazing to say. Cast the lot. Because, man, I think you go. Fayable, can you hear me today? Madison, can you hear me today? How long will we cast lots when it's a system that died and the Holy Spirit invites us into partnership? What should I do, Lord? Where should I go today, Lord? How should I respond, Lord? Holy Spirit, what do you have for me today? Holy Spirit, who you bring into my life today? Where do you want me to get gas today, Lord? Oh, you think that's crazy? Or maybe it's not. Maybe it's the activity the Holy Spirit wants to give to the church again. It's the action behind the advancement of the church. It's when the church is at her best, is when she is yielded and submitted to the Holy Spirit. Should I sell? I don't know. Ask the Holy Spirit. Don't ask yourself. Greed will tell you to do something different. Holy Spirit will tell you what to do. Should I leave this job? Don't go on your feelings. You know you got your hands slapped and now you don't want to be here anymore. That's a feelings decision. Come on, Holy Spirit wants to mature the body. Because in order for the church to really advance, it won't advance on sermons alone, it won't advance on good Sunday services. It advances when people live yielded lives to the Holy Spirit and allow him to step into daily life. Holy Spirit, what does my kid need today? Not what you want them to have today. What is the Holy Spirit trying to develop in them today? We gotta ask those questions again. Instead of just being like, I don't know what happened. And it usually ends with church hurt. I don't know why, but if you've been in the church, it ends with church hurt. It has nothing to do with the fact that the Holy Spirit hadn't been in a hundred miles of anything you've done. It's probably because Pastor Lisa didn't say anything to me. Yep, there it is. That's the wound. That's the wound that's what you allow to continue to wound, but that ain't the wound. The wound is the separation between you and Holy Spirit. The wound is between your intimacy and the Lord. That's the wound. The wound is really where you separated, where you became God and He became just a support system. And I'm trying to tell you, this is the invitation to you this morning. You don't have to walk out the same, and you don't have to live your life the same. Stand with me.

Simple Prayer And Learning To Wait

SPEAKER_01 52:55

Going back to what I started with. Put your hand over your heart. It's this simple. It's this simple. It's this simple. Come on. Hand over your heart. Holy Spirit, come. That's it. Holy Spirit, come. That's all you have to say. Come on. Just right where you're at. Close your eyes. Personal. It's personal. It's your own flame. This isn't your wife's flame. This is your flame. It's not your daddy's flame. It's not generational flame. No, no, no. This is individual. He wants to do an individual work right here. I give you access. Lord of my life. God in direct. Holy Spirit, you're welcome. Holy Spirit, come. Holy Spirit, bring revelation to your word. You know, you're not hearing anything in your prayer life or in your reading. Just invite Holy Spirit in on that. Holy Spirit, illuminate the word of God. I'm saying that prophetically in this room over somebody who's just been quietly decaying because you just don't have that passion to be in the word or in the presence of the Lord anymore. I'm just telling you, Holy Spirit, I'm just saying now. Bring revelation to every page, every word, every word. God, every prayer time. God, I pray that prayer in their home becomes so real, so tangible, the presence of the Lord. God, we forgive us for waiting to be in the company of other believers before we recognize your presence. Forgive us when we wait till we're inspired by some message. We yield ourselves, Holy Spirit. Would you guide us? Would you direct us? Would you prepare our hearts? Would you give us the right prayer at the right time? And when it isn't there, we choose to trust that silence. That silence of you not speaking doesn't mean I move forward. It means I wait on the Lord. I wait on the Lord. I wait until the Spirit moves. I wait till I feel a connection to what you're saying. That's my commitment. I'm saying this to somebody in here today. I don't know. You're sitting in a decision where you feel rushed, and I'm telling you, Holy Spirit is saying, wait on the learn the discipline of waiting. Learn the discipline of waiting. Learn what it means to wait. If you'll wait, he will use it. If you'll wait, he'll use it. If you'll wait, he'll use it. But if you get busy, if you get frustrated, if you get impatient, come on. He's still gonna be God, but you are gonna be in a different situation. Wait on the Lord. Amen. Heavenly Father, we love you today. We lift you up and we magnify you and we welcome you in this place. We thank you for Pentecost Sunday. We do celebrate our birthday today. God, I'm gonna have birthday cake today because I am excited about being a part of your church, about what you started, and about your plan. This was not an afterthought. This day is not an afterthought. It is the it is the awakening of the greatest movement that has ever been. And that is what you chose. I didn't choose it, you did. And God, if you chose it, it must be worthy, it must be worth it, God. And God, we give our hearts, our lives, our our entire being towards it. Holy Spirit, God, direct, encourage, move us into the place where we can have more dependency on you and less on ourselves. God, you be glorified, you be lifted up, and we'll give you the glory, we'll give you the praise. We will not take an ounce of it for ourselves. It is our great pleasure to do work with you. It's our great pleasure to wait on you, it's our great pleasure to serve others with you. It's our great pleasure to be dependent on you alone. It is our great pleasure. God, we bless you today. And we thank you for the opportunity. Give us the grace, the courage, give us the wisdom and insight. Give us the ability to stick to it when it feels uncomfortable or when things get difficult or situations or society, whatever it might come. God, I pray that we would fixate our eyes on you. Holy Spirit, guide and direct us. We give you the glory for all of it. In Jesus' name, everybody said, Amen, amen.

Closing And Staying Connected

SPEAKER_00 57:28

We hope and pray this message was encouraging and impactful. Join us live on our website or Facebook on Sundays at 9 and 11 a.m. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at the Rock Family. Have a Jesus filled week.