Dr. Danny Davis | The Fire Can't Stay in the Room

- Good morning, reach K.C. Are you ready to worship today? All right, let's get on our feet. Let's worship together this morning. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ I trust you ♪ ♪ You couldn't kill me ♪ ♪ Message in place ♪ ♪ I trust you so fit and never be loved ♪ ♪ You made it all ♪ ♪ We'll be back together ♪ ♪ And every desire ♪ ♪ Is now satisfied ♪ ♪ Here in your heart ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, Lord, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing each other than you ♪ ♪ I'm not afraid ♪ ♪ To show you my weakness ♪ ♪ My failures have lost ♪ ♪ Lord, you've seen the mark ♪ ♪ They've still come to pray ♪ ♪ 'Cause God of mounting ♪ ♪ Is the God of mounting ♪ ♪ There's not place your mercy grace ♪ ♪ Won't buy you care ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, there's nothing ♪

♪ Better than you, Lord, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing is better than you ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, Lord, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing is better than you ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You turn morning to dancing ♪ ♪ You give me precious ♪ ♪ You turn shaking morning ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn morning to dancing ♪ ♪ You give me precious ♪ ♪ You turn shaking morning ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn crazy to gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into armies ♪ ♪ You turn seasons always ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn crazy to gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into armies ♪ ♪ You turn seasons always ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, Lord, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing gets better than you ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing ♪

♪ Better than you, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing gets better than you ♪ ♪ Oh, you turn morning to dancing ♪ ♪ You give beauty crashes ♪ ♪ You turn shaving glory ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn morning to dancing ♪ ♪ You give beauty crashes ♪ ♪ You turn shaving glory ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn crazy ♪ ♪ You turn crazy to gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into armies ♪ You turn seas into gardens, you turn bones into our knees. You turn seas into how we, you're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been.

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You're the only one you've been. You're the only one you've been. (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (applause and cheering) (applause and cheering) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) ♪ I can help you ♪ ♪ Help you not express ♪ ♪ Oh my great to meet you ♪ ♪ I could see your songs ♪ ♪ As I often do ♪ ♪ Every song must be ♪ ♪ Can you never do ♪ ♪ So I know my hands ♪ ♪ Praise you again and again ♪ ♪ The song that I have is a holiday new year ♪ ♪ A holiday new year ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much ♪ ♪ But I've nothing else before it came ♪ ♪ Except for our singing holiday new year ♪

♪ A holiday new year ♪ ♪ I've got one song ♪ ♪ I've got just one new ♪ ♪ With my arms shed wide ♪ ♪ I will worship you ♪ ♪ So I grow my hands ♪ ♪ Praise you again and again ♪ ♪ The song that I have is a holiday new year ♪ ♪ A holiday new year ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much ♪ ♪ But I've nothing else before it came ♪ ♪ Except for our singing holiday new year ♪ ♪ A holiday new year ♪ ♪ A holiday new year ♪ ♪ Come on, my son ♪ ♪ Hold your hand, shine on me ♪ ♪ Take up your song ♪ ♪ 'Cause you got a light inside of those suns ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Come on, my son ♪ ♪ Oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Get up your song ♪ ♪ 'Cause you got a light inside of those suns ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Come on, my son ♪ ♪ Come on, my son ♪ ♪ Oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Take up your song ♪ ♪ 'Cause you got a light inside of those suns ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪

♪ Come on, my son ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ So do my hands ♪ ♪ Free to get careful ♪ ♪ Julia, holiday ♪ ♪ Julia, now it's not much ♪ ♪ But the leaders say for me ♪ ♪ Set for our singing ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ You know, this morning, I woke up and I was feeling just this, like, I don't know, pressure and waiting on my soul. And when I walked into church this morning, I felt so distracted. Like, I had all these things going on in my mind and my heart and these things that are just going on in my life right now that I'm trying to figure out, trying to navigate it. How do I deal with this? How do I handle this situation? How do I have this conversation? What do I do? And I walked in this morning honestly feeling like burdened and heavy. And when we were singing the song this morning, I just kept thinking, "All God wants me to do is just come to Him with gratitude on my heart." I was not born with a spirit of timidity or fear, but He's given me a spirit of love with power and self-confidence, self-discipline. And so this morning, when we've seen that part, we're saying, "Come on my soul.

Come on my soul." There's a lion inside of my soul that says, "God, you are worthy. You are glorified. You are honored." It doesn't matter what my circumstance looks like. It doesn't matter that heaviness I'm carrying on my heart because God is worthy. And that power, that spirit of power, rises up when Innocence says, "I have to give you glory, God. I have to sing praise to you, God." So we're going to sing that again. Come on my soul. Let's go. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Come on, maybe you walked in here this morning and you didn't have much to carry either.

You came in here and you thought, "God, I don't have much to give you this morning, but I'm just going to make it to this place." And I'm believing that if I could just make it to this place that God, you would shift an atmosphere, that you would shift a generation, that you would shift a life that was drug into this place. God, because I had to drag myself in here today. Maybe that's you. Let's do this one more time. I just believe I felt like the Lord was saying it down there, that we just needed to go back into this and make this an anthem over our live church and just begin to declare that God, you are going to break some things off of my life, that if I lift my hands, that if I bow on my knees, that if I will just worship the Lord of Lord and the King of Kings, that you would meet with us, how many of us believe that the Lord would meet with us? The Bible says that he would inhabit the praises of his people. So come on, let's just give him praise. Come on, come on, everything that is in us. It's all that we've got, but we're gonna bring it. Come on. ♪ Come on, don't you get shy ♪ Come on, don't get shy of me. ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ Come on. ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ Come on, hide inside of me ♪ ♪ Come on, my soul ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ Get up, get up ♪ ♪ Get up, come on ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ Get up on my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, don't you get shy ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪

♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ Get up, get up, get up, get up ♪ ♪ Get up, get up, get up, get up ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪

♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪

♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ ♪ You've got to hide inside of me ♪ Forever, right now. God, we thank you. May we give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise, because you are worthy, even if my circumstances are trying to tell me something different. So God, we give you praise. We give you honor. Come on, can we give a shout of praise? That will make the heavens hear us in the devil's triple! Come on, reach. Turn to one of your neighbors. Give them a high five. Give them a handshake. Give them a fist bump. Give them a something. Just not a kiss. In Jesus name.

Hallelujah. I have a feeling that some of us came to have church this morning. Amen? You know, there's edification in the Word of God, and you know, the Lord will just put some stuff on your heart sometimes, and you've got to chew on it when you're reading through the Word of God. One of the passages that he kind of laid on my heart this morning was in Proverbs 3, and it says, "Honor the Lord with your wealth, and with the first fruits of all of your crops, not some of your crops, not just this one or that one, but all of your crops." And if you do that, then your barns will be filled to overflowing. How many of us would like some barns that are overflowing right now? In Jesus' name, amen. Only like six people raise their hand 'cause they think it's an alley-oop, like it's like a setup question. No, I'm just asking you, I mean, how many of us want, hey man, we want the blessing of God poured out on us. But I want you to notice something. I want you to notice the word first fruits. Because God didn't tell Israel, hey, when the harvest comes in, take care of everything else that you need to take care of because that's important. And then bring what's left over to me. No, He said, hey, give me what's first because it requires faith to bring something first

before you honor anything else. Amen, it's easy to honor the mortgage note 'cause the mortgage lender calls you. Maybe pastors should start calling when we realize that people aren't giving. Hey, Bobby. Yeah, we noticed your giving record didn't come in this week. Right, they'd hang up, block us on Facebook and slander the church, you know? All they want is my money. All the mortgage people want is your money by definition. But He told us to bring the first part even when we don't understand what the rest of it's gonna look like. Because see, you were putting something into God's hands before you even knew what was coming next. And I believe that that's what giving is all about. It's not about just giving 10% of what we have. It's declaring that 100% of what we have belongs to Him. I heard an illustration once about a little boy who had saved up and he had saved this money to buy something that he really wanted. And if any of you have children that know how to count money at this point, that's all they want to do, right? They get 20 bucks and they're just counting it over and over and over and over. And, you know, they're just like, "I'm like, just put it in the piggy bank by," you know?

So you don't lose it 'cause it's gonna... And then one day, the dad held out his hand and said, "Son, give me what you have." And the little boy looked at his money and then he looked at his dad as if all of a sudden he could no longer trust this man. He's like, "You want what?" He's like, "No, we don't get down like that around here, Dad." And he didn't understand why his dad wanted all of the money that he had and he hesitated 'cause that money that was in his hand represented everything that he had worked for and everything that he was planning to do in that moment in his life. But finally, he put it into his father's hand and his dad smiled at him as if to say, "Son, if you only knew." And he reached behind him and handed his son something far greater than what he had even been saving for. See, the father wasn't trying to take something from his son, the father was trying to teach his son, "Hey, you can trust the hand that has always provided for you." See, I think sometimes that's exactly where we are with God. We look at what's in our hands and we think, "God, I need this. "I need that check. I worked hard for it. "I know I've got bills and God, maybe you don't see those bills "and I know what this month is going to look like "and if many of you are like society, "the money runs out before the month does." Hey, man, we're borrowing from next month to pay this month, but he's asking us, "Hey, do you trust me enough

"to put me first, even if your situations don't look?" Very good because this isn't... I don't think that tithing is a money issue. I believe it's a trust issue. When I give God the first, I'm saying, "Hey, God, you are my source. "You are my provider. "You have everything that I not only need but want. "You can do anything and before I do anything else, "I want to honor you." And so church, we don't give because God needs what's in our hands. He's got roads that are paved with gold, baby. Like, what's this little bit of stuff we got? We give because we trust what is in his hands. Let's honor God with our first and not just our leftovers. Amen? - Amen. - Come on, not many of us are leftover fans. I'm not a leftover fan. Like leftover food is a compromise. We will have six meals left over in our fridge and go to Texas Roadhouse. Come on, somebody. A fresh steak. The Lord loves the aroma of a fattened calf. Amen? If I could get some ushers to come forward. As we give today, maybe you've never trusted the Lord in that capacity. Maybe today could be the first day that you do that. Maybe today could be the day where you say,

"Hey, you know what? "I'm gonna trust you, Lord. "I'm gonna try this thing that they're talking about "and just believe. "I'm not gonna call you if you don't. "Don't worry about it. "It's okay. "Only if you're staff or leaders." God, we thank you. We thank you that you knock down walls, just to find us. That you cross the borders, just to find us. That you will go over barriers to seek us out. So God, today is not only we commit this offering to you, but we commit our lives to you. Lord, we pray that you would do something supernatural, not only in our lives, but in our family's lives and the generations to come. Lord, as we give today, may this be a seed to say, "You know what? "I'm believing that generational curses are being broken, "that things that have been passed down "from generation to generation of addiction "and just different things would be broken in Jesus' name, "and I'm sowing a seed to believe that. "God, I'm trusting you with everything that I have. "So today as we give, Lord, we just bless you. "We honor you, and we lift you up in Jesus' name. Amen. - Good morning, Reach KC Church. My name is Diane Boots.

I'm the communications director here, and I wanted to say welcome to my home. This week, we're kicking off our fall growth group session, and you are invited. You actually might be sitting in the same room with someone hosting or leading a growth group. So if I could have everyone who's helping host or lead growth groups, go ahead and stand up. We have the privilege and opportunity of joining together in new, lovely people's homes. You guys can go ahead and be seated, but you don't need to pull out your cell phone this time. We want you to talk to someone who is sitting on your row or someone that you might be interested in joining their growth group, talk to them immediately following service. Do it. Take the step. Even if you're nervous, I promise you, it's one of the best things I've ever done to open up my own home and have my tribe join my family. Not only do we have the opportunity to grow together as a tribe, but we also have the opportunity to go together. We will be doing another Reach Mission trip. Two, Belize, in April of 2027, from the 10th to the 17th, our tribe will be leaving the country to go be the hands and feet of Jesus in Belize. If you are at all intrigued or interested by that information, you're gonna wanna attend our interest meeting. It's September 20th at 1.30 p.m.

in the 201 Growth Track Classroom. That will be on September 20th, directly following second service. You will be able to have all of your questions answered by none other than Pastor Jesse. We're grateful for the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus all over the city and out to the nations. We've presented you with opportunities to get connected and now we're getting you an opportunity to get plugged into God's Word. We invite you to eliminate distractions, get ready to hear what God wants to speak to your heart. - Hey man, come on, somebody. How many of us have ever been on a missions trip? Anybody? How many of you want to go on a missions trip? Come on, somebody. Hey, well, you can get with Pastor Jesse right here. Whoa, whoa, and you will be able to get signed up to go to Belize and just rock it out for Jesus and be able to go and win people to the Lord and just share the love of Jesus. And so we are excited for that. And you know, it's not odd that this morning, not only do I get to introduce a good friend of mine but I also get to introduce a mission area that Reach has supported for almost the entirety of our existence as a church and so sometimes we might not be able to know it but Reach because we give does help support multiple people multiple organizations across the nation and the world to be able to help the gospel spread because that is what he's called us to do a man and so I have a good friend of mine you know he always kind of

shrugs when you call him by credentials you know but he is Dr. Danny Davis he is a a very knowledgeable man of God he's helped us when we were just a young church just vision casting he helped me honestly before we even started the church we was meeting at Starbucks in blue springs for about six months hey man when I was didn't even know what a vision was you know I thought it was an hallucination on PCP you know and sorry that I'm not held liable for anything under the anointing and so but he is a dear friend of mine not only is he a friend but he's he's been a Bible college professor he is an author he's a pastor he's a man of God he's a husband he's a father a grandfather could we give it up for a dear friend of mine pastor doctor Danny Davis amen amen amen I was thinking as you were before you came up pastor Adam I was thinking when this was all a dream when this was just a thought what can God do in this place and look what God has done praise God praise God we're so so so very grateful for for the church and for what God has done and and uh Sherry my wife Sherry here praise God we we will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary anniversary in April and and she is my beloved wife and whom I am well pleased amen and I'm so so thankful for her and all that God has allowed us to do through the years and we're just so so thankful but we have served as missionaries to the continent of Africa for a total of about 19 years and we served in the country of South Africa for 12 years and then came home and pastored just not far from here in Odessa Missouri for about eight years and then felt like the Lord wanted us to go back to Africa there and so we did and went to Barundi for a year I know many of you have been to Barundi I'm a hero amen and so we're thankful for God's goodness and serve there for a year while we were waiting to get into Uganda where we served for the last several years helping to establish Bible Bible training centers there across the country and then several months ago Assembly of God world missions asked Sherry and I to consider coming and leading the publications team for Africa's hope Africa's hope is a ministry of the assemblies of God that's all things training and so we we are leading a team that develops right helps works with authors to write and develop curriculum for a little over 400 now the video in a minute is going to say a different number but it's a little old but we have over 400 Bible schools and training centers with 27 000 students across to Africa and so we're we're working with them and then currently we're working in 20 different languages to translate that material I don't speak 20 languages we have some wonderful teams across the continent who are doing an amazing work to get that material into the heart languages

and so so I just want to show you this short video that tells you more about what we do at Africa's hope and praise God love that little one amen amen amen I don't want to show you this just short video tells you more about what Africa's hope does economic hardship instability spiritual darkness in the midst of these obstacles the church in Africa's hope was started in 1988 at the request of the African Church in consultation with the families of God world missions. They wanted to grow from 2 million to 15 million members. To do that, they needed to see exponential growth in trained ministers. Four decades later, we are experiencing extraordinary growth. Thousands of dedicated pastors have been trained, new churches have been planted, and over 20 million believers are worshiping in the families of God churches across Africa. However, the African Church is not stopping here. They have boldly declared their commitment to plan an additional 300,000 churches by 2033. Africa's hope stands as a critical partner in this mission, ready to provide the resources and support needed to raise up future church planters, pastors, and leaders who will steward this spiritual revival. More than 25,000 students are immersed in their studies across over 380 Bible schools and extension training centers. Africa's hope is poised to make a profound impact in these critical areas. The Discovery Series is a diploma-level curriculum designed for Bible schools across Africa, providing training in an African context. Leaving the truth is a seven-year Bible study resource for local churches.

Roots of Faith first steps helps new believers understand their role in Christ and biblical truths. The Pentecostal pastors manual written by African leaders equips pastors for ministry challenges. With Africa's vast cultural and language diversity, translation of training materials is vital. Africa's hope is translating into crucial African heart languages to reach the continent's deepest corners. To keep Bible schools relevant, we provide computer labs, laptops, and software. To lower shipping costs and give greater access to our material, we set up print-on-demand systems so that all of our materials can be reproduced on the continent. We also ship our materials via containers, crates, and suitcases to reach students anywhere. We invest in Bible schools by funding classrooms, dorms, and libraries, building credibility and ensuring longevity. We aim to place a study Bible in every trained pastor's hands. Donated books are sorted, cataloged, and shipped to help build libraries, supplement curriculum, and enrich student learning. We provide financial support to needy students and teachers making theological education more accessible. (upbeat music) Held in multiple places in Africa, these seminars that equip Bible school leaders with teacher training, leadership development, and educational technology.

All of these initiatives show what we do. But why we do it is because spirit-empowered, biblically-trained leaders are the hope of Africa. Amen. (audience applauds) - And I just wanna share one story with you real quickly before we get into the word of the Lord. This young lady here is Pastor Farina. She was born in Tanzania into a Muslim family, grew up until her teen years, and somebody preached the gospel to her. And she gave her life to Jesus and began serving him, but her family told her either renounce Jesus or we're gonna take your life. In her early teens, she packed up a little thing she had, and she escaped from that situation when across Tanzania, across Uganda, settled in western Uganda, where she was taken in by an assembly of God family, and there began to be discipled and loved and brought into the family. She got involved in the church and began to develop a burden from ministry, but she knew she wanted to be trained well in handling the word of God. But there wasn't a Bible school there, that God saw fit to bring my wife and I, as well as some other missionaries in, and we were able to translate, or excuse me, establish three learning centers

across the country. One of those was near where Farina lives, and she signed up and came, and she finished her first year, and she graduated her certificate level as top in her class. Amen? And we're just watching how she is blossoming. Now she is the assistant pastor for the Assistant General Superintendent of the Uganda Assemblies of God, and is discipling and raising up the next generation of ladies and men, and so we're just so thankful. But I tell you her story for this, well, even before Reach KC. I mean, you guys have been with us. And that monthly support, this is what happens with it. We see God do wonderful work in people's lives. And who knows the impact? Who knows the impact? And so we just came to say thanks. Thank you. So just look at somebody and say, hey, I had a partner. Amen, praise God. I know you've been in the series in the book of Acts. I know you're up around Acts chapter 6, but I want to jump back a little bit, if I can, to Acts chapter 2. And just kind of talk about that with you this morning

and see if we can hear something from the Lord. Amen? Now, before we get into a reading of the scripture, most of us, when we think of Pentecost, especially when it comes to Acts chapter 2, we get this mental image of a room, right? An upper room that's above. And we get this image of 120 people that are gathered there. We think about the wind that comes, the fire that falls. We think about this experience that happens to people that ignites this New Testament church and empowers them to go and fulfill the commission of Acts 28 and Acts chapter-- excuse me, Matthew 28 in Acts chapter 1. And all of those images are true. And there are things that most of us think about. But I want you to think for just a moment that as the upper room as kind of a picture on a TV. And you've got this camera in the upper room, and it's focused on the 120, and it's looking at them. But then in the middle of the story, the camera sort of pulls away and moves away from the upper room and begins to focus down in the street. Because there in the street, thousands of people have gathered to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. They have gathered together Jews from every nation, people from completely different parts of the world with different languages all around them. But yet, Acts 2 tells us that each of them, though they spoke different languages,

heard the good news of Jesus Christ in their own language. You see, that upper room received and got the fire, but it was the street that got the miracle. And I think that's sometimes a part of Pentecost that we often miss. Think about this, folks. It's been 10 days since Jesus went back to the Father. It's been 40 days since Jesus came out of the grave. And before He left, He gave the disciples one command. Go to Jerusalem and wait. Go to Jerusalem and wait until what? Until you are in dude with power from on high, until the promise of Joel 229 comes. And so they did what they were commanded to do. They went, they waited, they prayed, they pressed in, they trusted God. Now, we don't know exactly what happened in that upper room for those 10 days, but I want you to kind of imagine in your mind and get it in your heart this morning the feeling that might have been in that room. Jesus is gone, the promise has not yet come, and they have, you know, there's kind of not this idea. I mean, what's gonna happen? What's gonna go on? But there's an expectancy in the air. And so they waited and they prayed. And the Bible tells us they were all in one accord and they were united in purpose and trusting God. I don't think this was 10 days of just sitting around wondering

if Jesus's promise would come to pass. I think this was 10 days of intentional obedience to the command of their Savior. You see, folks, I think there's a difference between waiting on God and stalling. Now, you can say, "A man or O me about this." But I've learned something in my lifetime that most of us don't wait well. And when God says, "Wait, we get anxious, we get nervous, "or we get busy." You know, if I just get enough activity, then maybe God will come through and do something for me. Or we take the silence and we try to fill it with all kinds of noise because we think that in the silence, there's not much happening. Or some of us do the opposite of all of those things. Instead of just waiting and even getting busy, is not going to show up, that somehow what Jesus said to us is not going to come to pass. But understand, the disciples did not do either of these things. They didn't get ahead of God, which is so often the case with us sometimes. But they also didn't walk away from God. You know what they did? They just kept praying. You know what else they did? They just kept showing up. They just kept holding on to the promise

that they couldn't see, but they knew would come. So let me ask you a question before we go any further this morning. Is there a promise that God, that you've been waiting on, that you know God spoke it to you? You know that God declared this thing to your life. You know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it's been confirmed not only in your heart, but by the words of others. But yet it's not come. It's not here yet. You can't imagine how it's going to come to pass. Can I tell you that the God who said it is the same God who is faithful to bring it to pass? It doesn't matter what hell brings. It doesn't matter what the world brings, the God that I serve. He is able to speak that which is not into existence. He's able to bring the past, that which we cannot fathom, and make it a reality. Yes, man. Come on. Because here's what I've come to understand. The fire may not come today. The fire may not come tomorrow, but the fire will come. And when the fire comes, everything will change. When the fire comes, everything will break loose. When the fire comes, chains will fall, sickness will bow, disease will run, the enemy will flee. Why?

Because there is a con who is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that we can ask or even think. So they're waiting, they're expecting, and then we read these words. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly, everybody say suddenly, suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from where? From heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them. There's the sound. There's the wind. There's the fire that fills the house. And now, I want us to stop and just think about this for a moment. Every person in that upper room, every person in the room spoke the same language. They were all from Galilee. Peter didn't need an interpreter to understand Mary. They could understand each other. But yet God, in his wisdom, he comes and he baptizes them in the Holy Spirit. And they begin to speak in languages that they had not learned. And what are they doing? They are announcing the good news of Jesus Christ

in the languages of the people that are down there in the crown. Now, I don't want to get into all the theological implications of this today. But here's what I've come to understand. Though we believe that tongues comes with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believe that. We preach that. We understand that. But here's what I want you to get this morning. The tongues are not the tongues of fire. The tongues that God baptizes them, baptized them with, wasn't just for them. The tongues were for the people out there. Now, I want you to think about this. Now, we lived in Uganda for the last several years. Uganda's the noisiest place I've ever lived in my life. I mean, we had AK-47 fire zipping through the front of our house. You could hear it coming through. And we would have-- they would start parties at four o'clock on Saturday, and it would go all night long until six o'clock the next morning. And you'd just hear the bass, boom, boom, boom. And our windows would be rattling. Sometimes we'd have to get up and leave and go to a hotel and stay because it was so loud. And then they'd shut down the DJ. And then you'd hear, ah, ah, ah, didn't you hear the call to prayer coming over the loudspeakers?

And then you'd hear some Pentecostal pastor in the background screaming his lungs out. It was the noisiest place I've ever lived. But somehow I imagine that's what Jerusalem felt like on Pentecost. People are everywhere. They've come to this great feast. So then the question is, is why does God They have not known Jesus. And think about who's there. Now sometimes we get into here and we start reading all these names of countries and we think, oh man, here we go, another list and all this. But just think about this for a minute. Luke tells us that there are Parthians there. Now today we would call them Iranians. These are people from Iran and in that day and time they are the greatest enemy of Rome and they're the greatest enemy of Israel. And then he tells us there's Egyptians there. Now think about this to a Jewish mind. All they can think of of Egypt is 400 years of slavery, the Exodus being delivered, brought out, all of those things. And then it says there are visitors from Rome. Now think about this. There are people who are who are associated with this occupying power, this military force, boots on the ground, but more than that these are people who were a part of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But listen to this. Every single one of them heard the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ in their language. Now what is that gospel? Because that's important this morning. What is the message that the Spirit was bringing? Well Acts chapter 2 and verse 11, we won't go there, but it tells us the crowd heard them declaring the wonderful works of God. You say, well what are the wonderful works of God? That's massive when you think about that. But here's later on as we read through the book of Acts chapter 2, Peter tells us what those wonderful works are. That wonderful work is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come in the flesh, dwelt among us, went to a cross, was crucified for us. And on the third day rose again victorious over death, over hell, and over the grave, and that He's coming back again to receive those who have put their faith in Him. That same Jesus who was killed is now alive and He's also Lord. That's the message. You see, but here's the thing folks, that message crossed barriers. It crossed the barrier of language. It crossed the barrier of religion. It crossed the barrier of hatred. It crossed the barrier of tribalism. It crossed every barrier because Jesus is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

You see folks, the gospel is not a philosophy. The gospel is not a self-improvement program. The gospel is that there was a dead man in a tomb and he came out alive. And that my friends changes everything. And that message is still being preached today in every language, in every place, across every barrier to every person who has not yet heard. Now, I'm not here this morning to give you a geography lesson. I'm not a big fan of geography, but if you're going to study the Bible, you need to be. But I think what Luke is trying to show us is that God is a God who goes over walls. God is a God who breaks down. Paul tells us that God has broken down the middle wall, partitioned between Jew and Gentile. He's taken down the barriers. He's taken down those things that keep people from coming to relationship with his son. And he's given us the opportunity to cross barriers, cross enemy lines, cross centuries of pain and distrust. And when that sound came and when the spirit fell and the crowd came to them, people stopped and were drawn to something they could not explain. But I think what stopped people in their tracks is all of a sudden they heard somebody say, "Have you heard about Jesus? Hey, wait a minute. Aren't these all Galileans? Aren't all of these people speak? They don't speak our language. They don't know what's going on. But yet they're telling us about the good news of Jesus Christ. And who is this Jesus?" You see, folks, the idea here is that this wasn't just a miracle of speaking. This wasn't just a miracle of tongues, though that's a miracle. That's not really the, I don't think, is the primary or even the secondary focus. what's said, but it's about what's done. Now, Shari and I have seen this first hand. In the year 2000, we packed up our stuff and our two-year-old boy and our one-year-old boy, and we got on a 17-hour, 17-hour and 45-minute nonstop flight with two toddlers. And we're still saved. And we went to South Africa and we went there to plant a multinational, multilingual church intentionally. From the early 1940s to the late 1990s, South Africa was completely segregated. It was illegal for blacks and whites to worship in the same room. It was illegal for people of any other ethnicity to worship in the same room with someone from another ethnicity. It was illegal for you if you were a certain ethnicity. You had to live where you were told to live, and then other people had to live where they were told to live. Everything was completely and utterly separated. And in 1994, that fell, and in 2000, God called, in 1999, God called us to go there and plant this church. We get there in 2000, and we, you know, we didn't know what God would do.

We saw miracles. We saw amazing things happen. We didn't know exactly how God would do all of it, but over a 12-year period, by the time we left in 2012, every Sunday morning, I got to stand before a congregation with 16 different languages across the room. A man with 16 different people groups, black, white, all, all sort of people groups across there. And we watched as God healed people with HIV and AIDS. We saw God roping the blinded eyes. We saw God unstopped deaf ears. We saw all kinds of things because God will cross barriers. God will go beyond what humans expect, and He will reach into the places that nobody else wants to reach into. I was thinking between services this morning, we had a lady in our church named Lena, she lived in what's called a squatter shack, squatter camp. They call it the technical term as an informal settlement. It's where people who have no home to live in. They find tin, they find cardboard, they find wood, whatever, and they build their own little house called a shack, and then these old communities will pop up, and we were reaching out into that community because no one else wanted to go there, and we would go, and we were doing children's ministries, and just believing God for good things. And Lena came and gave her heart to Jesus, and we baptized her. She was baptized in the Holy Spirit. And one day we got word that that camp of several hundred of these shacks had caught on fire. And the fire, because in the winter time, we have winter in South Africa, and they burned these kerosene heaters, and somebody bumped into the heater. It fell over. The switch didn't go off. It caught one of the shacks on fire, and the fire just began to spread. And as it was coming down, people were running, and Lena, she stepped out, knew in the Spirit, not knowing that you weren't supposed to do this kind of thing, you know? She got out there and she just began to rebuke the fire. She just began to rebuke the fire, and honest to God, it stopped right at her house. I mean, nobody came to play. Don't go put out fires in these places nobody cares about. But the fire stopped. You see, folks, here's what I've come to understand. It doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter where you came from. It doesn't matter what your background is. It doesn't matter what color you are. It doesn't matter what language you are. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today, and He's going to be the same forever and forever. He is reaching to places and people and tribes and every nation and every kindred and every tongue, because the God that I serve is able to reach those. You see, Jesus didn't come just to give us a self-improvement program. He came to deploy us

to the world. See, every single person in this room who's been born again and received the Spirit, you've come into a co-mission with Jesus. You're working with Jesus through the Holy Spirit to do this. Not just pastors, not just missionaries, not just people who have this dramatic calling or whatever, but every single one of us has a somebody that needs Jesus. So I'm not here this morning to call you to Africa, although I believe, I think this is a prophetic word for you, brothers. It's not going to be long before you're going to be sending, not just on short trips, but sending from here. here to tell you is this, is that the same spirit that sent the disciples out to the crowd to preach Jesus to them is the same spirit that is aiming you towards somebody that you know. Because the spirit, the fire of the spirit was never meant to stay in this room. The fire of the spirit was meant to push us out. We come, we gather, we're edified, we're encouraged, why? So that we can then scatter into a world that is in darkness so that we can tell them that there's a Jesus who has come and he has given his life and he has rose again by repenting of sin and putting their faith in Jesus Christ. They too can find new life and new hope and new strength and new power and new attitude and a new family and a new body. Hallelujah. You see, because when Joel 2, 29 says that he will pour out his spirit on all flesh, he actually meant that. He would pour out his spirit on all flesh. You see folks, there's not a group of people on this earth that the spirit has written off. There's not a language to obscure, a tribe to remote, a city to broken. When God said all flesh, he meant all flesh. And from the moment he poured out his spirit, he's been sending his church to go do what he has called them to do. I know this morning that we look at this list of nations. We look at all these people and we say, well, that's there, that's, you know, all this kind of thing.

I'll tell you this, every person in this room has what I would call a list of nations. You say, well, I'm not praying for nations or maybe you are, but here's what I mean by that. Everybody in this room's got a list of people. Maybe it's that person at work that just annoys the fire out of you. Somebody said preach on. Maybe it's that family relationship that just doesn't seem like, maybe, whatever it might be. I believe the Lord is telling us, hey, I've given you my spirit so that you can cross those barriers and you can step into their world. You see, so often the problem with the church is we say, hey, come be in our world. Come be in our world and adapt to us. And we make people come in and become missionaries instead of us because they got to come in, learn our culture, learn who we are, learn all this, no, no, no, God wants us to step across the barriers of language, of relationship, of this and that and step into the worlds of other people and say, you know what, I don't know, I may not know what you're going through. I may not know what you're feeling. I may not know all of that. But I know that Jesus Christ is the answer to everything, that through Him you can have life and life to the fullest, that through Him you can find deliverance, that through Him you can lay down your shame and pick up joy, that you can trade in your ashes for beauty, that you can take the brokenness of your life and you can exchange it for His life and a life that becomes so rich and wonderful. So I want to ask you two questions this morning, two, number one, do you know Jesus? Have you repented? Have you asked Him to forgive you of your sins and ask Him to become Lord of your life? If you haven't, today's a great day to do that. You don't have to leave here the same way you came in. But the beautiful thing is, is not only will Jesus save you, but He'll put you into this

family so that you can have a new family to help you live out that new life. The second thing is, is who's on your list? For those of you who already know Jesus, who's on your list? Who is God calling you to go and tell about Jesus? Who is God speaking to you, that person at work, that family member, that son or that daughter, that grand son or daughter? You know what? I hate a lot when my kids were small and in the house, let me tell you, you pray a whole lot more when you get grandkids, amen, because now you've got another generation. Who's on your list? Who's on your list? As the musicians come, you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Savior. I'm telling you, today could be the day that will change everything in your life. If every head bowed and every eye closed, you're here this morning. "I don't know everything there is about this Jesus. "I'm not even sure. "I just kind of came here wondering, "and I'm not sure what's happening, "but I feel something in my heart right now "that says I need to make a decision. "You're here this morning, and that's you. "Would you just lift up your hand? "You just lift up your hand? "Maybe you're here this morning, "and you've wandered from Jesus. "I kind of went your own way for a little while, "but you want to rededicate your life. "There's hands that are coming up across this room. "You want to give your life to Jesus this morning. "Father, right now, would you just pray with me,

"Church, Lord, right now? "Thank you for those who have given, "who have raised up their hands. "And Lord, we just ask Lord that you would begin "to speak to their hearts, "that you would begin to give them the words to say to you "and grant them repentance right now. "Jesus, forgive me of my sins. "Come live in my life, and become the Lord "of all of my life. "And Lord, I commit today to following you "and to walking after you. "Because what I've been trying to do just isn't working. "But Lord, I'm giving you my life and my heart and my soul. "If that's you this morning, I'd like, "I just think it'd be a great step, act of faith. "If you just stand, and there's those here "that want to receive you, and just tell you more about Jesus "and how you can become a part of this community. "Hallelujah. "Hallelujah. "Amen. "Praise God." (audience applauds) As we stand, who's on your list? (gentle guitar music) Would you do me a favor this morning? Let's not leave. Let's just linger here for a minute, okay?

I know sometimes the musicians come and the back door gets opened, and I'm just asking to stick with us for just a minute here. If you've got somebody you're praying for that you're asking God to give you the words to say, would you just by faith step out and bring that person in your mind and in your heart to this altar? Just trusting that God, the Holy Spirit, is gonna speak in a language to you that you understand so you can go tell them in a language they understand that Jesus loves them and that He's with them and that He wants to be in their life. Would you do that this morning as we sing? Just get in your mind that someday that person's gonna walk to this altar with you and they're gonna throw up hands and they're gonna say, "Hallelujah." And they're gonna worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. (gentle guitar music) (gentle music)