The Sufficiency of the Spirit: A Review of ‘Spirit Empowered’

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:06] Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Good to see you and all of our services and campuses, everyone watching online. We welcome you here this morning. Let me tell you just a couple of things before I preach. If you have your Bibles there, you can turn to Acts chapter one. And that's where I'm going to be preaching, beginning preaching from this morning. Yesterday, we had a memorial service for Pastor John Love, who was a pastor here at Trinity for many, many years. He and his wife, Kathy, were founding members of the church. They were in the first
[00:00:37] service in John and Donna Curry's living room thing is 46 years ago and so we did his service he was an elder here the entire time that I was the senior pastor phenomenal man of God just just a dear man he was a pastor here also for many
[00:00:53] years Kyle Wilkinson who's here pastor Kyle Wilkinson pastor Bo officiated the service yesterday and pastor Kyle Wilkinson took a pastor John's place being our pastoral care pastor but I just want to say I know many of you know
[00:01:06] pastor John and love him very much Kathy and the family they're still here in the church but he was a dear man we remember him today as being just serving this church very well and giving his giving his heart and life so much for this
[00:01:21] church much of who we are is because of pastor John love and John and Kathy so we remember him today pastor Jimmy and Kim there they're over in England today they're they're teaching pastors over there this coming week and last week there's a ministry that
[00:01:37] we support in israel called one for israel's aerosol i know you know who they are and you've heard of them over there they do a tremendous work reaching both arabs and jews over in israel and
[00:01:48] they have a disaster relief that they're doing over in israel right now helping the families involved because of this war we gave twenty thousand dollars to them this week and there was a matching fund so that became forty thousand dollars that we gave to them if you would like
[00:02:04] to give uh to trinity uh in in you know response to that you can go on the website on the app or on the website where it just says give there's a little drop down box and you can just select
[00:02:16] disaster relief and your giving will go toward that fund but they're a very great ministry and they're on the ground there in israel right now doing a great amount of good um let me give you a little bit of an update on israel we were taking 358 people to israel
[00:02:32] late november and we canceled that trip on friday um we uh we were flying american pastor jimmy and kim were going with us and uh american airlines i believe it was last monday they uh canceled all their flights through december the 4th and then delta did it then
[00:02:49] united did it all of that and so when they when they canceled the flights that far in advanced, they're saying something. The airlines are in contact with the state departments, both the American State Department, the Israeli State Department. And so when they canceled the flights
[00:03:03] that far ahead, we knew that there was, you know, that they were saying something serious was going on in that area of the world that was going to last for a while. So we canceled our flights,
[00:03:12] many, or we canceled our trip, many trips are being canceled. This, the fighting over in Israel is entering into its second week it looks as though it's going to be a multi-front war they're firing bombs from Lebanon that's Hezbollah and also Syria it's below the war threshold in the
[00:03:32] northern areas they're certainly at war with Hamas down in Gaza in the southern part there the USS carrier strike group Gerald Ford pulled into the Mediterranean this week and they're there in support of Israel. And they have told the Lebanese, they have told the Syrians, the
[00:03:50] Iranians, the Russians that they're there to support Israel. If there are any rockets fired at Israel, they'll shoot them down. If there's anybody that invades them, they'll take care of it. So thank God this week that the United States has stood with Israel as strongly as we have.
[00:04:04] And there's another carrier strike group, American carrier strike group coming into the Mediterranean right now in support of Israel. And that shows you the seriousness of what's happening right now.
[00:04:19] This is the headline of every news agency in the world is what's happening in Israel.
[00:04:23] And the interesting thing about Bible prophecy is Bible prophecy says the final scene of this age is the entire world marches against Israel.
[00:04:32] Zechariah 12, 13, 14, Revelation 19.
[00:04:35] We see the entire world marching against Israel.
[00:04:38] Joel 3, all of those scriptures tell us at the end of this age is gonna happen.
[00:04:42] And the anti-Semitism in the world right now is off the charts.
[00:04:46] It has never been this high since the Holocaust.
[00:04:48] There have not been this many Jews killed at once since the Holocaust 80 years ago.
[00:04:54] And so the heinous attack from Hamas last week, in spite of babies being beheaded, and I'm sorry to say that in church, but in spite of babies being killed and beheaded, the United Nations will not label Hamas as a terrorist group.
[00:05:09] Their hatred for Israel is so great that they refuse to take someone as vicious and heinous and evil as hamas and call them what they are they are terrorists they're the worst kind of terrorists
[00:05:20] and so united nations ultimately the whole world marches against israel that is the united nations the united nations has censured israel more than all other countries combined not north korea not iran not china not russia but constantly censuring and punishing israel and so they should call they
[00:05:38] should change their names to the anti-israel club and they will be responsible very soon for the world turning against Israel and marching against them.
[00:05:46] So what I'm saying is your Bible is very accurate.
[00:05:50] When prophecies that were written 2,000, 2,500 years ago foretold that this tiny little nation would come into existence again at the end of the age and they would be hated by the whole world.
[00:06:01] And we saw demonstrations all over the world on Friday when the Hamas called for a day of rage.
[00:06:07] In the United States, 300 American campuses have been infiltrated by Hamas for decades.
[00:06:12] and now we see the United States universities being used to espouse hatred toward the Jews.
[00:06:19] And so anti-Semitism is a major sign of the end times.
[00:06:22] Israel right now, the conflicts that they're in and there are many wars prophesied that haven't happened yet and they could happen in a very short period of time.
[00:06:30] But Iran again is behind all this.
[00:06:32] They're the puppet master.
[00:06:33] They're the one orchestrating everything and what they want is a multi-front war.
[00:06:37] They want from the South, from the West, from the East and from the North And it looks like that is what is about to unfold.
[00:06:43] Let's be praying for the peace of Jerusalem.
[00:06:46] Let's be praying for the protection of the Jewish people in Israel.
[00:06:51] And we certainly care about the Palestinians, the Arabs, everyone over there.
[00:06:56] It's not a matter of choosing the Jews and rejecting everyone else.
[00:07:01] God loves everybody.
[00:07:02] Aren't you glad for that?
[00:07:04] But the Jews are under attack.
[00:07:06] And the Jews are special by covenant.
[00:07:08] So let's pray for Israel.
[00:07:09] Lord we thank you for the nation of Israel we thank you for the Jewish people you selected a man named Abram and you took him and out of him you made a nation and you told him that in him
[00:07:22] all the nations of the earth would be blessed and through that man we got Jesus and through that man we got the Bible and through that man we got the church and through that man the whole world has been blessed
[00:07:35] but today Lord the world has turned against Israel and we pray for supernatural protection Lord we pray you be their iron dome you keep them from all the enemies and all the weapons that are formed against them
[00:07:48] and we pray one more time that you would use this as an opportunity to turn many Jewish people to faith in Jesus as their Messiah that this would be a spiritual event that would be a spiritual awakening for the Jews all over the
[00:08:02] world and we pray that in Jesus name and all God's people said amen I want to talk continue on this series the spirit-filled life talking about the importance of the holy spirit and if there's ever been a time when the holy spirit was important in all of our lives it
[00:08:17] certainly is important today in the times that we're living in this message is called spirit empowered i want to talk about the power of the holy spirit how to walk in the power of the holy
[00:08:26] spirit this is acts chapter one it says being assembled together with them he commanded them this jesus commanded them not to depart from jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which he said you have heard from me for john truly baptized with water but you shall be
[00:08:42] baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now therefore when they had come together they asked him saying lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel and he said to them
[00:08:53] it is not for you to know the times or seasons which the father has put in put in his own authority but you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be
[00:09:04] witnesses to me in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria into the end of the earth and so jesus this is 40 days after his resurrection he's about to ascend into heaven and jesus commands me 10
[00:09:17] days later when pentecost takes place and so jesus commands the disciples they're saved these are the saved disciples the disciples have already received him as their messiah and they've already been saved but he's commanding the saved disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they're filled with power
[00:09:35] from on high he says you're going to receive you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now so let's start with four important truths about the Holy Spirit in our lives so the number one is the Holy Spirit is God this is Genesis 1 2 the earth was up without
[00:09:49] form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
[00:09:57] The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of God.
[00:09:59] And so there are many different denominations and Christians who don't believe the Holy Spirit is a person.
[00:10:06] They believe he's just an impersonal force, but he is a person.
[00:10:10] He speaks to us, he comforts us, he leads us, he empowers us.
[00:10:14] Jesus said, it's to your advantage that I go away because when I go away, I'm gonna send a helper back and he's gonna be with you forever and he's gonna lead you into all truth.
[00:10:21] He's gonna tell you things to come.
[00:10:23] The word helper there is the word paraclete the greek it means someone who walks next to us to help us he says he's going to be with you forever so the holy spirit is with us as a person and if you want to see the trinity the trinity in
[00:10:35] matthew chapter 3 jesus is standing in the jordan river the holy spirit descends on him like a dove and god the father speaks from heaven and said this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased
[00:10:45] there you have the father the son and the holy spirit all in one scene together the holy spirit is not an impersonal force he is very god a very god co-equal and co-eternal with god the father
[00:10:55] and god the son number two we're born again of the spirit at the moment of salvation this is john chapter 3. most assuredly i say most assuredly i say to you unless one is born of water and the
[00:11:08] spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of god that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit of spirit do not marvel that i say to you you must be born again the wind blows
[00:11:18] where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes so is everyone who is born of the spirit so when adam and eve ate the god created adam and even i
[00:11:29] talked about this last week and he breathed into their nostrils the breath of life breathed into adam's nostrils the breath of life that wasn't oxygen it was the holy spirit because god said when you eat that fruit over there you're going to die when they ate the fruit they still were
[00:11:42] breathing but the holy spirit departed they became spiritually dead and so nicodemus is asking jesus here about things of God. And Jesus just cuts right to the chase and says, you have to be born
[00:11:53] again until your spirit is regenerated. Until the Holy Spirit comes inside of you when you receive Christ, you have a dead spirit. We're all born spiritually dead. There's no such thing as a person being born saved. We're all born spiritually dead because of Adam and Eve. And we have to
[00:12:11] choose Jesus in our lives. And when we do, our spirit is regenerated and that's being called born again here's number three being baptized in the holy spirit is a separate and subsequent experience to salvation now it can happen five minutes later in my case it happened a couple
[00:12:29] of years later but it is a separate experience salvation is about jesus and his lordship when when you get saved it's not about the holy spirit you can be saved and never hear about the holy
[00:12:39] spirit okay and so salvation is about jesus but the holy spirit is about yielding to the holy Spirit so we can live a Spirit-empowered life and fulfill our destiny in God. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told the saved disciples, wait for the power of the Holy Spirit, then you'll
[00:12:58] be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world. You're not prepared to fulfill God's will without the power of the Holy Spirit. Let me give you the proof of
[00:13:08] this, that this is a subsequent event to salvation. First of all, the saved disciples are told to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:15] This is the New Testament pattern of those who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:19] This is Acts chapter eight, the Sumerians.
[00:13:22] When they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
[00:13:29] Then Simon himself was also believed.
[00:13:32] And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
[00:13:38] Now, when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them who when they had come down prayed for them that they might
[00:13:47] receive the Holy Spirit for as yet he had not fallen on none of them they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit so they
[00:13:57] were receiving Jesus and being baptized but they weren't being baptized the Holy Spirit so the apostles came down laid hands on them then they received the Holy Spirit this is the Ephesians in Acts 19. It happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the
[00:14:12] upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? They said to him, we have not so much as heard whether there is a
[00:14:21] Holy Spirit. And he said to them, into what then were you baptized? They said, into John's baptism.
[00:14:27] Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who was who would come after him that is on christ jesus when they heard this
[00:14:37] they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus and when paul had laid hands on them the holy spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied so paul comes upon a group of
[00:14:47] people here that they have repented and believed but they have been baptized in john's baptism which was the baptism of repentance and he said did you receive the holy spirit when you believe they said we haven't even heard whether there is holy spirit so then he baptized him again now when
[00:15:01] the Bible says that people were baptized in the name of Jesus. They were not baptized in the name of Jesus. They were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Matthew 28, Jesus
[00:15:11] commanded us to baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because there's some people who use these scriptures to believe in Jesus only. They believe that there's only Jesus and we're baptized, we're only baptized in the name of Jesus. This is differentiating between
[00:15:25] John's baptism and Jesus' baptism. When it says they were baptized in the name of Jesus, it means they weren't baptized into john's baptism they were baptized to receive christ as their savior but they were baptized in the name of the father son and holy spirit another proof that the baptism
[00:15:40] in the holy spirit is a separate experience is the the feast of israel so in leviticus chapter 23 god came to the children of israel and he said i want you to celebrate seven feasts a year now
[00:15:52] these seven feasts are the future in advance they're a prophetic grid of the future and he said i want you to have the feast of passover this is in the spring of the year the feast of
[00:16:01] passover followed by the feast of unleavened bread followed by the feast of first fruits 50 days later i want you to celebrate the feast of pentecost and then basically three months later there's going to be three more feasts there are trumpets the day of atonement and the feast of
[00:16:17] tabernacles which they were just finished in israel so there are seven feasts so the first three feasts are the salvation feast the feast of passover one is they took the male lamb and they killed it and remember they wiped the blood on the doorposts of their house so that death
[00:16:30] would pass over their house they were remembering egypt when god struck the firstborn of egypt but he passed over their homes the second one was the feast of unleavened bread which took place the day after passover it lasted for seven days then there was the feast of first fruits that took
[00:16:47] place the day after the feast of unleavened bread began then 50 days later there was pentecost Jesus was crucified during the feast of Passover while they were killing the male lambs around Israel they were killing Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming
[00:17:02] he said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world God knew when he started the feast in the Old Testament that Jesus would be crucified on the very day of Passover Jesus was
[00:17:12] buried during the feast of unleavened bread Jesus was resurrected on the day of first fruits when The priest would take the barley leaves and wave them before the Lord as the firstfruits.
[00:17:23] 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus was resurrected the firstfruits among many brethren.
[00:17:27] Here's what that means.
[00:17:28] What happened to Jesus is gonna happen to us.
[00:17:31] He was the firstfruits of many brethren.
[00:17:33] 50 days later, 50 days later from the Feast of Firstfruits, 50 days later was the Feast of Pentecost.
[00:17:42] That's when the Holy Spirit fell.
[00:17:44] These are the salvation feasts.
[00:17:46] The death, burial, and resurrection, that's how we get saved without that we don't get saved there is no salvation these are the salvation feasts the feast of pentecost is the impartation feast this is the baptism of holy
[00:17:57] spirit this is when the church started and the holy spirit fell on the church and they all began to speak with tongues and that that began the church 50 days later 50 is the number of jubilee
[00:18:06] for the jews it's the freedom fullness victory all debt goes free you get all your property back everything starts at pentecost so when jesus told the disciples you stay in jerusalem until you're filled with power from on high you'll receive the promise of the father that happened 10 days after
[00:18:25] jesus went into heaven he was on the earth 40 days after he was resurrected 10 days after he was he went up into heaven the holy spirit felt it's a separate experience three salvation feasts
[00:18:37] then they are impartation feast the three feasts that are left are trumpets day of atonement and the feasts of tabernacles i believe the fulfillment so so this tells us the future in advance in the
[00:18:48] old testament god gave seven feasts that tell us the future in advance the last three feasts have not been fulfilled i believe the fulfillment of the feasts of trumpets is the rapture of the church i believe the next major prophetic event that will happen is the rapture
[00:19:01] of the church nothing has to happen for the rapture of the church to happen it is imminent and so the next one the day of atonement i believe that's the second coming of jesus that is a national day of repentance for israel and at the second coming zechariah 14 revelation
[00:19:15] 19 at the second coming all israel will get saved in one day they will look on him whom they pierced and all the bad news is two-thirds of the jews die during the tribulation the good news is the
[00:19:25] third that's left they all get saved when jesus returns the day of atonement i believe is the second coming not the rapture but the second coming at the end of the tribulation the feast of tabernacles i believe is eternity with god so it's a seven-day feast on the seventh month
[00:19:40] that lasts for it for so on the seventh month and so this is the last of the seventh feast so i believe that's that's what's going to take place but i believe that the uh feast of pentecost
[00:19:51] is the fulfillment of the holy spirit falling and in our lives it can happen five minutes after you get saved in my case it took place two years after i got saved and i'll tell you more about that in
[00:20:00] just a little bit but i believe it's a separate experience here's number four truth about the the holy spirit it is impossible to fulfill god's will for our lives without the fullness of the holy spirit's power how do i know that because jesus christ was baptized in the holy
[00:20:14] spirit jesus was in the jordan river you remember when he was in the wilderness he was in the jordan river and uh you know john baptized him and the holy spirit came up on him and everything jesus
[00:20:26] did he did in the power of the holy spirit the disciples that were saved could not fulfill their god's will for them uh without being baptized in the holy spirit so i grew up in a church here in
[00:20:35] in Amarillo, I never heard the name of Jesus.
[00:20:39] I never one time heard the name of Jesus Christ.
[00:20:43] I had no idea who he was.
[00:20:44] It was the deadest church in the history of dead.
[00:20:49] And then a friend of mine asked me to go to church with him.
[00:20:51] And when we turned 13, we didn't have to go to church anymore.
[00:20:55] It was like a celebration.
[00:20:57] And my two older brothers, Damien and Lucifer, they didn't go to church anymore.
[00:21:02] And so when I turned 13, I thought I'm never going back to that stinking dead place again.
[00:21:07] my friend invited me to go to church with him and the only reason i went to church with him because the girls a lot of cute girls went to his church that's the truth and i went to church with him and
[00:21:16] somebody started talking about jesus and i thought who in the world is jesus and they started talking about jesus but i never heard the words holy spirit until i was 19 years old the church that
[00:21:28] i heard about jesus in never one time did they mention the holy spirit well i got saved because of that church they put the gospel in me when i was kind of at a low point i received jesus
[00:21:39] as lord of my life and jesus came into my life and i was saved i mean i was radically saved i lost all my friends left the lifestyle that i was in you know karen and i got married and i felt
[00:21:52] trapped i really did i loved the fact that i was going to heaven but what i hated was i felt like i have got to live this christian life for the rest of my life and i can't be in the world having fun
[00:22:07] like what my friends are having and that's fine i don't want to go back there but this has got to be the most boring way to live your life in the history of the world and then i was watching
[00:22:16] television one day and pat robertson the 700 club he was on tv talking about the holy spirit and you'll receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and i was fascinated by that and
[00:22:28] he was talking about some scriptures so i started to look at these scriptures well i didn't know that the church i went to thought that was of the devil i didn't know that and so i went to church
[00:22:37] karen and i were in a couple sunday school class and i went to church that sunday and i was so excited that you know maybe there's something i'm missing maybe there's something i can get
[00:22:46] that will give me the power you know to live for god because i i felt like i can never do the things i want to do and i can't stop doing the things i don't want to do i just felt powerless
[00:22:54] So I went to church that Sunday and, uh, the, there was an opportunity in the class to ask questions.
[00:23:01] And so I raised my hand, not knowing that the church thought that all that was of the devil.
[00:23:05] I raised my hand and I said, yeah, can you tell me about speaking in tongues and the baptism of Holy spirit?
[00:23:11] Well, it wasn't a good experience.
[00:23:13] And I thought I had cussed or something.
[00:23:16] I thought, cause it hadn't been that long since I did cuss, you know, and I thought maybe I said a cuss word and didn't know.
[00:23:21] because everybody in the classroom just turned beet red.
[00:23:24] And the teacher that I asked turned beet red and he never answered my question.
[00:23:27] He just looked away from me, didn't answer my question.
[00:23:29] But there was a couple in the class that Karen and I walked out of the classroom and a couple walked up and said, we speak in tongues.
[00:23:37] We've been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
[00:23:38] But they don't believe that.
[00:23:39] They think that's of the devil.
[00:23:40] Well, through that couple, we went to a camp called Camp Farthest Out down in Cedar Canyon.
[00:23:48] It was a bunch of crazy Methodists, tongue-talking Methodist down there and it was through them that we received that we heard about the Holy Spirit that we began to hear about the Holy Spirit and Karen and I both wanted it
[00:23:59] and so we went to a meeting one night uh out on uh Grand Avenue where Walmart is now it was the Villa Inn Hotel and we went to a meeting of Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship and they prayed
[00:24:12] for us to receive the Holy Spirit so I didn't receive the Holy Spirit there at the meeting we went home and i went got down on my knees and it when we got home karen went to bed i got up my
[00:24:22] knees in the living room and i just said lord i want everything you have i want everything you have and at that moment it was like someone took a hot barrel of oil and poured it over the top of
[00:24:33] my head from the top of my head to the tip it just heat went down my body and i saw jesus that's the only time i've ever seen jesus i saw jesus he was hanging on the cross and he was looking at me and
[00:24:44] it was just the greatest love i had ever felt i knew i put him there but i knew he loved me and it was just this love that penetrated my soul and i just and i kind of started speaking in
[00:24:55] tongues it was real crude um but i started speaking in tongues and i just it was just glorious and i went to bed that night and i woke up the next morning and i picked up the bible
[00:25:06] and i knew all the people in it the bible was a very hard book for me i read it because i thought i had to but i never enjoyed it it was so difficult for me the next morning when i woke up i started
[00:25:17] reading the bible and i thought well how in the world do i know all those people was because the holy spirit who is now empowering me wrote the book and knew all those people it dramatically
[00:25:29] changed my life and from that moment until this moment i've not been a perfect man by any means but i have walked in the power of the holy spirit and i have fulfilled god's destiny for my life
[00:25:41] if I died today as much as I know how I have fulfilled God's destiny for my life it would have been impossible without the Holy Spirit whatever God's destiny is for your life you can't do it without the Holy Spirit that's called humanism
[00:25:55] that's called arrogance believing that we in our own power can do what we can only really do by the power of the Holy Spirit so let me answer some questions and I want to pray for you if you haven't received the Holy Spirit maybe
[00:26:07] some of you have received the Holy Spirit but you just get you maybe been a little stale. Maybe you've not been walking in a dependence on the Holy Spirit and the fullness of the Holy Spirit the way that you should. Let me answer some questions here. So this is a question
[00:26:21] people have. Isn't speaking in tongues a gift that some have and others don't? Okay, the answer to that is yes and no. There are three different kinds of speaking in tongues in the Bible. The
[00:26:32] first is called the miracle of languages. And this happened on the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2.
[00:26:36] When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one accord in one place.
[00:26:42] And suddenly there came from heaven a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
[00:26:48] Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and one sat upon each of them.
[00:26:53] They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
[00:26:59] And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
[00:27:03] And when the sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
[00:27:11] Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
[00:27:18] And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born?
[00:27:22] Parthians and Medes, Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, in the parts of Libya, adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.
[00:27:36] We hear them speaking in our own tongues, the wonderful works of God.
[00:27:39] So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean?
[00:27:43] So this is not speaking in tongues that most charismatic Christians would do.
[00:27:49] This is a miracle of languages.
[00:27:51] They were speaking in tongues and every single person there heard them speaking in their own language.
[00:27:56] And there were many, many different languages represented there.
[00:27:59] Now I've heard of this happening on the mission field, but I've never experienced this personally.
[00:28:03] I've heard of on the mission field, God doing a miracle when there was a barrier of language and God did a miracle where the people could hear the preaching of the gospel. Okay. So that's,
[00:28:11] that's the miracle of languages. The second kind of speaking in tongues is tongues accompanied by an interpretation that equals a prophecy. Okay. This is first Corinthians 12. There are diversity of gifts, but the same spirit, there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord,
[00:28:25] there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
[00:28:29] but the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the profit of all for one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit to another the word of knowledge through the same spirit
[00:28:38] to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healings by the same spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another different kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues but one the same spirit
[00:28:52] works all these things distributing to each one individually as he wills this is first corinthians 14 pursue love and desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy for he who speaks in the tongue does not speak to men but to god for no one understands him however in the spirit
[00:29:08] he speaks mysteries but he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself but he who prophesies edifies the church i wish you all spoke with tongues but even more that you prophesied for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks
[00:29:24] with tongues, unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification. I've done this one time. And so I was in a meeting, uh, when, before I became pastor of the church, Karen and I were life group leaders and I was at a meeting in our old building. Now, what I did not know is
[00:29:39] two weeks later, the church is going to split. Uh, the elders were going to fire the pastor two weeks later. And, um, and so we were, we were church members. We didn't have any inroads with
[00:29:50] leadership or anything like that but we were in this meeting uh and saraki who precious woman uh who went to be with the lord she was uh sitting next to us carrying me and at the end of this
[00:30:02] meeting was just a you know regular life group meeting and she said i have a tongue and so she began to speak with tongues and i was getting the interpretation i didn't understand the words that
[00:30:12] she was speaking in the natural but the lord was speaking to me what she was saying and what the Lord was saying to me is a lot of people are going to leave soon. And a lot of people are going to
[00:30:22] come and I'm in this. And so when I was, and I said, so they said at the end of that, does anybody have the interpretation? I was like, well, you don't want to hear this, what I'm about to say
[00:30:33] here, Debbie Downer. And so I said, I think I have the interpretation. So I said, a lot of people are about to leave, you know, God's going to do something and God's in this. So two weeks later,
[00:30:45] the church split and when it happened when i say split i mean like like two or three hundred people left i think maybe we're about a thousand people at that time but it was extremely painful and but
[00:30:56] i remember the comfort that i felt that god had forewarned us and god had told us that he was going to be in that now i've only done that one time i've seen it many times but i've only done
[00:31:06] that one time and uh so here's the third type so there's the miracle of languages then there's a tongue followed by an interpretation that equals a prophecy and the third type is a private prayer
[00:31:18] language this is something that everybody can have yeah the miracle languages that's not for very many people tongues interpretations maybe everybody won't work in that but this is for everybody private prayer language first corinthians 14 2 he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to
[00:31:30] men but to god for no one understands him however in the spirit he speaks mysteries first corinthians 14. if i pray in a tongue my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful what is the conclusion
[00:31:41] then i will pray with the spirit i also pray with the understanding i will sing with the spirit also also sing with the understanding and so there's a private prayer language that that we can all have
[00:31:51] if we want it and i'll tell you why it's important here in just a minute this is another question do i have to speak in tongues to be filled with the holy spirit well let me let me say this
[00:32:01] because i've been charismatic i've been filled the holy spirit for 48 years and so i know a lot of people who don't speak in tongues that are just wonderful wonderful christian people who exude the
[00:32:09] character of jesus christ i do and i know people who speak in tongues who are as weird as all get out that i wouldn't trust with my pet chihuahua and so i don't have a pet anyway so i don't think
[00:32:24] i don't think that speaking in tongues is a litmus test of spirituality i think the character of jesus is but i believe that speaking in tongues is a wonderful gift that god wants to give us
[00:32:35] as a blessing to us um some people uh you know don't understand how important speaking in tongues is this first corinthians 14. he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to god
[00:32:47] for no one understands him however in the spirit he speaks mysteries but he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men listen to this he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself but he who prophesies edifies the church so it says he who speaks in a tongue
[00:33:05] edifies himself the word edify in the greek there is the word oikio demeo oiko means build domeo means house he who speaks in a tongue builds his own spiritual house you're edified when you're speaking in a tongue you're something is being constructed in you in the holy spirit you don't
[00:33:24] understand it, but God is doing something supernatural. When I speak in tongues, you know, I'll be speaking, walking around the house or driving down the street, speaking in tongues, where I don't understand what I'm saying, but I feel blessed. There's something that happens
[00:33:38] supernaturally. Okay. Tongues is a supernatural language. What it says here, we speak to God and it feeds us. Okay. It's a blessing that you need in your life. That's what I'm saying. I believe that tongues is for everyone who wants it. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is the
[00:33:52] initial evidence of people being filled with the Holy Spirit in scripture. And again, I'm not saying that you can't have the Holy Spirit and not speak in tongues. I'm just saying, I think it's a blessing
[00:34:00] that God wants us to give. Let me say this. It's a threshold gift. So water baptism is a threshold step of obedience that many people did this morning. Okay. So water baptism is a threshold
[00:34:13] step of obedience. Why is water baptism so important? I've never met a person in my life who was not water baptized who ever did anything great for God. If you won't get water baptized, the first thing that God commands, are you going to do much else? No, no. I've never met a person
[00:34:31] who powerfully operated in the Holy Spirit who wasn't baptized in the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:36] If you won't receive the Holy Spirit, if you won't speak in tongues, it's a threshold spiritual gift.
[00:34:41] If you won't sit in your prayer closet or your room or your bedroom, your living room at home and pray in tongues by yourself, are you ever going to pray for somebody to be healed? Are you
[00:34:49] going to believe in something supernatural it's a threshold gift and so i believe that speaking in tongues is very important now some people say this is another question i don't understand why speaking in tongues is so important it doesn't make any sense to me romans chapter 8. this gives us the
[00:35:02] reason why we speak in tongues likewise the spirit also helps us in our weakness for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings
[00:35:12] with sounds which cannot be uttered in the natural now he who searches the heart knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of god okay so
[00:35:23] paul says i'm going to pray with my mind i'm going to pray with the spirit also so let me just say this let's just say that you're praying and you don't pray in tongues and so you're
[00:35:30] praying you can only pray for what you understand you say well what are all the things i need to pray for today and you sit there and you make your list and what i tell people is everything
[00:35:39] you're worried about you need to write it down that's your prayer list you need to pray about everything you're worried about it until you're not worried and you're trusting god and you have peace okay what about the things you don't know about what about your relative that is going to
[00:35:51] be in danger today and you don't know it what about your child or your loved one who has a need that you don't know about who's struggling with something you don't know about what about
[00:35:59] the millions and millions of things you don't know how can you pray about those things by praying in the spirit the holy spirit helps us in our weaknesses because we don't know how to pray
[00:36:11] that's what romans 8 says the holy spirit will help us and so when i'm praying in a tongue paul says my mind is unfruitful but my spirit prays what am i praying for i don't know but he knows
[00:36:22] but he's not praying something unimportant he may be praying for me and all the things that i need so i'm saying we need help in our weaknesses because we're very very weak people let me
[00:36:32] tell you something understanding how weak you are is the secret of walking in the power of the holy spirit and here's the prayer that the holy spirit loves i need you i need you he loves
[00:36:44] our weakness he loves our weakness he he comes in our weakness and gives us power but he can't do it until we admit we need him and we don't i don't know how to pray i know some things that i can
[00:36:55] pray for and so how do i begin praying in tongues you do it by faith let me talk about receiving the holy spirit and i want to i want to pray for you to receive the holy spirit again i know many of
[00:37:05] you have received the holy spirit before so let's just refresh ourselves this morning and just say holy spirit i need you refresh me you know come into my life and you know just give me kind of
[00:37:15] a renewal a revival of my relationship with you some of you never received the baptism of holy spirit let me say this if you have some unrepentant sin in your life you know a lifestyle of sin if
[00:37:28] you unforgiveness is a big deal with holy spirit it grieves him so if there's somebody you haven't forgiven you don't have to be perfect by any means but if there's something you know that there is
[00:37:38] between you and god just just deal with it and he'll forgive you he's a very forgiving gracious god the second thing is you just ask him to come in holy spirit i ask you to come in lord baptize
[00:37:49] me in your holy spirit and you receive him by faith just exactly the way that you receive jesus you receive the holy spirit by faith he's a gift of grace that you don't have to deserve you don't
[00:37:59] have to deserve him our life really is a mess without him and he knows that so he's going to come into our messy lives if we just receive him once you receive the holy spirit you speak in
[00:38:10] tongues as you feel led of the holy spirit he's not going to make you but when you feel led of the holy spirit to speak in tongues you'll never be out of control self-control is a gift to the
[00:38:19] holy spirit according to galatians chapter 5. okay so when the holy spirit comes in your life you'll be out of control you'll be more in control than you've ever been before but you just do it by
[00:38:28] faith and like i said i started speaking in tongues and it was real crude it's like caveman talk and now it's very fluent i have a very fluent prayer language but it's a prayer language it's
[00:38:37] something that i do when i'm alone and when i'm praying and when i do it it feeds me it builds me up on the inside and i know that i'm praying for important things that i don't know about okay so
[00:38:48] value heads with me if you would holy spirit we we come to you today and thank you for the gift that you are in our lives and for those of us who have received you before we receive you again
[00:39:02] and we say we're weak and we can't we cannot accomplish god's will for our life without you holy spirit and so we just ask you to fill us and for those of us who have never received the
[00:39:16] baptism of the holy spirit jesus we receive you as our lord and savior if we've never done that before we receive you as our lord and savior and we commit to being water baptized as a step of
[00:39:27] obedience. But Lord, now we come and Holy Spirit, we invite you. We repent of any sin that we have in our lives. Jesus, cover it with your blood, wash away all of our sins. And now Holy Spirit,
[00:39:43] we invite you to come in. Lord, baptize us in your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we need you. We need your power. We need your love. We need your guidance. We need your help. And Jesus said that
[00:39:59] when you came that we would be filled with power from on high fill us this morning with power from on high and we want your fruits and we want your gifts we want everything that you have and lord
[00:40:11] we pray that when we're alone and we're praying that you'll lead us to speak in tongues that you'll lead us in a private prayer language to build an intimacy and dependence with you and so we can be built up on the inside spiritually and beyond that holy spirit we pray that you would
[00:40:29] use us supernaturally in the gifts of the spirit to do things that only you can do. And Lord, I just pray that this morning, a blessing on every person here, every person watching, every person watching online, Lord, fill us this morning with your Holy spirit.
[00:40:44] And we thank you for that in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Come on church family. You can put your

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:40:51] hands together for everyone who made Jesus the Lord of their life today. We're so proud of you.
[00:40:57] And in fact, if you did make Jesus the Lord of your life, you prayed right there, we'd love to encourage you to take one more step of faith, and that is to get your phone out
[00:41:07] and text the word DECISION to 88787.
[00:41:11] As you do that, it's gonna allow our team, one, to celebrate the decision that you made, but also to get some things in your hands so that you know what to do next.
[00:41:20] What does this look like to continue following Jesus?
[00:41:23] So we encourage you to take out your phone and text that word DECISION to 88787.
[00:41:27] so that we can get in touch with you and continue to encourage you right there where you are you probably have communion elements that you grabbed as you walked in the room if you did not happen to
[00:41:36] get these our team is coming down the aisles if you made jesus lord or you're a believer in jesus christ you can take communion with us if you do not have it just raise your hand and our team
[00:41:47] would love to come around and and help you grab one of these elements and you know it's such an an honor to be able to remember Jesus every single week, his death on the cross, the burial and
[00:41:58] resurrection. You know, this is a celebration. Not only do we remember what he did for us, but we also remember what he's done, how it still speaks to us, how it empowers us even today.
[00:42:10] You know, the Bible talks about how he became sin. He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And so what a privilege it is to come
[00:42:20] around the table as his kids to remember him and to celebrate him so if you would go ahead and pull back that first layer revealing the bread which represents the body of jesus and when you
[00:42:34] have that will you just grab it and lift it up we're going to pray over it together jesus we remember you today that you gave up your life that your body was broken for us that you took on all
[00:42:45] of our sin all of our imperfection we say thank you for doing that and we receive today the benefits of being perfect and right relationship because of you, you can take and receive.
[00:43:00] Now, when you're done with that, you can turn your community element over and peel back the next layer, revealing the cup, which represents the blood of Jesus that was poured out for you and me.
[00:43:12] So if you have that, will you lift it up?
[00:43:13] We're gonna pray over it as well.
[00:43:16] Jesus, we say thank you again for pouring out your blood.
[00:43:20] We believe there was life in your blood and your blood covered all of our sin from now until eternity.
[00:43:25] we say thank you we remember you and we celebrate the sacrifice that you made for us and the benefit that we have as your church and as your children that we continue to receive even today in Jesus
[00:43:38] name you can take and receive the cup come on right there if you find yourself with two free hands put your hands together one more time for Jesus we're so thankful for him we're thankful
[00:43:54] for Holy Spirit I want to encourage you just a few things to know about happening in the life of our church. You know, this upcoming Tuesday night and Wednesday night, we have something called Hearing God Seminar. It's going to take place right here in this room, beginning at 6.30
[00:44:09] on Tuesday and Wednesday. We'll have child care available. And if you're wondering what it looks like to learn more about operating in the gift of prophetic, this is a training for you. It'll be available here in person, not available online. So if you can come 6.30 Tuesday and Wednesday,
[00:44:24] we're going to teach you what it looks like to operate in the power of prophetic, trusting and hearing Holy Spirit in your life. This can be a great opportunity for you to keep, continue to
[00:44:33] trust Him and see what He will do with your life. And then also in a couple of Sundays, I think it's October the 29th, it's the fifth Sunday of the month, we will have child dedication. So if you're
[00:44:43] here and know anyone who is a part of this church and wants to dedicate their child, you can go to our events page online, sign up to dedicate there, and we'll get you some information and details
[00:44:53] as you do that.
[00:44:56] So with all of that said, I would love to encourage you to stand back to your feet.
[00:45:00] I wanna welcome our prayer team members down to the front.
[00:45:02] And as we pray and leave today, if you need prayer for anything, our team is here.
[00:45:07] They're prayed up, ready to join with you and partner with you in prayer.
[00:45:11] So we'd love for you to partake in that as well.
[00:45:14] But let me bless you as you leave today.
[00:45:16] So in the name of Jesus Christ, I bless you church family with the power of Holy Spirit.
[00:45:21] I bless you with the expansion that comes from letting him have every room in your heart.
[00:45:27] And I bless you with the giftings and the strength that comes from knowing that you are building up your spirit, man, every time you operate in the gifts of the spirit.
[00:45:36] I bless you today as you go from here to be a witness of what God will do through you in Jesus' name, amen.
[00:45:42] Thank you guys for joining us.
[00:45:43] We'll see you again next week.