Pneuma Week 2

Come on and stand to your feet. How many believe what the Word of God says, where it says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Come on, there's freedom in the room today. Let's put our hands together, let's celebrate. We thank you, Lord. As we sing. ♪ I'm shaking off the heaviness ♪ ♪ I'm dancing out of my regrets ♪ ♪ I'm throwing caution to the wind ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Some would say it's foolishness ♪ ♪ But I say it's worth the risk ♪ ♪ I can't forget what Jesus did ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that want to kill me? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, I'm killing me ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ Looking what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, good and I'll be free ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free, yeah ♪ Oh, if you're free today, give Him praise. ♪ I found a friend that never quits ♪ ♪ No other love's as good as this ♪ ♪ And I don't care what anyone says ♪ ♪ I'll never be ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that want to kill me? ♪

♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, I'll carry me ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ Looking what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, good and I'll be free ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free, yeah ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood now this sinner can stand My debt is paid and my record is clean I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross and you broke your body This is our testimony You shed your blood now this sinner can't stand My debt is paid and my record is clean I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood now this sinner can't stand My debt is paid and my record is clean I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free Looking what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free

You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood now this sinner can't stand My debt is paid and my record is clean I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross and you broke your body You shed your blood now this sinner can't stand My debt is paid and my record is clean I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me I couldn't do it so you did it for me So look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was I'm never going back to the way I was So look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was The next song that we're going to go into is called Fall Like Rain, and it just invites the presence of God to fall down like it did on the day of Pentecost. So as we go into this song, I want to invite you, you can come up to the altar, find a place that you can really worship God if you need to move on to the aisle, if you need to reset your mind right now, but we need to invite the presence of God in this place. It's crazy how whatever it is that we are passionate about, we don't have to tell people to love. If we, you know, people lose their minds watching the games. People scream at concerts. We cry over relationships. We celebrate achievements. We even in the morning that once we have that first sip of coffee, we do a little dance. But why is it when it comes to the presence of God, passion is optional?

Why is it the presence of God, passion is too much? And the question you need to ask yourself this morning, it isn't, do I have to raise my hands? Do I have to get on my knees? Do I have to? The question is, why is it that I am emotionally expressive over everything in my life except the presence of God? Why is it church that in worship, it's the one place that we hold back? I want to challenge you. Maybe you walk in here every Sunday and you don't even, you come in because it's tradition, but you don't really even get it. You don't walk out here different. You walk out of here completely overburdened with the cares of this world. What if, what if you just let it go today? What if you jumped into what God is doing and raise your hands and open your mouth and started worshiping God? What if you just got on your knees before the presence of God? What if we got together? We call down the reign of God and lives were changed and you were healed and we were hold. What if that happened church? The Bible says if we seek him, we will find him. If we seek him with all our heart. So church, can we do that this morning? Can we do that? Go ahead and raise your hands up with me. The altars are open. Get on your knees if you need to. We're not going to wait for the worship team to sing their song. No, no, no, no, no. We're going to go ahead and call down heaven right now.

So in your own words, cry out to God. If you don't know what to say, just tell him that you love him. If you don't know what to say, just shout his name. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There is nothing like your worship. There is nothing like what you say that goes up to the throne room of God. Come on church. Come on church. You're waiting for the song to start. The song's not starting. In your own words, call out God. In your own words, shout to Jehovah Rapha. Shout to Jehovah Jireh. Come on church. In your own words, press in, press in, press in. Jesus, we need you. My God, my God, we need you Jesus. There is nothing like your presence. There is nothing like your power. There is nothing like your faith. This world has to offer. I won't give my best to my work. I won't give my best to my spouse. I give my best to you right now. Have your way in this place, my God. We seek your faith, not your gifts. We seek your faith because my God, you are our strength, you are our shield. You are our ever-present help in trouble. You are all we need, my God.

Come on church, come on church, come on church. Press in, press in, call down heaven right now. Do not walk out of here the same. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh, we need you, we need you. We invite your Holy Spirit. Come and dwell in this place. Come and dwell in this place, oh. Come on, get desperate for his presence. We invite you, Lord. We invite you, hey. Come fall like rain. Holy Spirit, fall like, come on and ask him. ♪ Holy Spirit have your way in us ♪ ♪ Let your glory, oh with hands lifted high ♪ ♪ We invite the Lord to fall ♪ ♪ Fall like rain right now, Holy Spirit fall like rain ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit fall like rain, Holy Spirit have your way ♪ ♪ And let your glory fall down, let your glory fall down ♪ ♪ Oh God I live to worship you, all my life I offer you ♪ ♪ Simple melodies of sacrifice, come on lift your hands and sing ♪ ♪ With open hands and open heart, you're the only one I want ♪ ♪ Your presence is my treasure, my delight, so we invite him ♪ ♪ Oh fall like rain, yes Lord, Holy Spirit fall like rain ♪ ♪ Your people are hungry today, Holy Spirit have your way ♪ ♪ And let your glory fall down, let your glory fall down ♪ ♪ One thing I ask, one thing I ask, one thing I seek ♪ ♪ So much more than anything, to dwell within your house for all my days ♪ Can we meet this part? ♪ Oh knowing you is everything, so I let go of lesser things ♪

♪ You alone are worthy of my praise, do you know he's worthy? ♪ ♪ Stir in me a passion for your love, oh stir it up Lord ♪ ♪ And fall like rain, we're asking Jesus, Holy Spirit fall like rain ♪ ♪ Let your Spirit rest on us like rain, Holy Spirit have your way ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit have your way, and let your glory fall down ♪ Oh I wonder if you're hungry for his presence. Sing fall like rain, sing. ♪ Fall like rain, we need an outpouring, we need a Jesus ♪ ♪ We want to be changed today, come and have your way ♪ ♪ And let your glory fall down, let your glory fall down ♪ Yes, yes, Jesus we're here for you Lord. Yes, yes, Jesus we're here for you Lord. We stand in awe of your presence Jesus and we receive it. ♪ Oh may I never lose the wonder of your presence ♪ ♪ May I always stand in awe of who you are ♪ ♪ Oh the beauty and the gift of your friendship ♪ ♪ Isn't like anything I've ever known ♪ ♪ Sing may I never lose the wonder of your presence ♪ ♪ May I always stand in awe of who you are ♪ ♪ Because there's no one like you ♪ ♪ Oh the beauty and the gift of your friendship ♪ ♪ Isn't like anything I've ever known, sing more ♪ ♪ Fall like rain, come and fall, don't miss a heart Jesus ♪ ♪ Come and fall, don't miss a heart Jesus ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit have your way, have your way, have your way ♪ ♪ Let miracles fall, let your glory fall, come fall like rain ♪ ♪ Come fall like rain, do you want it today ♪ ♪ Fall like rain, do you want healing today, then ask Him ♪ ♪ Have your way, have your way, have your way, have your way ♪ Do you want Him to change your mind?

Come on and invite Him. Come on, make that your prayer. Let His presence never grow old. Let it be my heaven on earth. So may I never lose the wonder of Your presence. May I always stand in awe of who You are. Oh, the beauty and the gift of Your friendship is unlike anything I've ever known. We sing for Thy grace of full life. Come on, lift your voice loud. Holy Spirit, for life. This church is hungry. Holy Spirit, have Your way. Spirit, have Your way and let Your glory fall down. Let Your glory fall. Sing, have Your way. Come, have Your way and let Your glory fall. Spirit of God, You're in control. Have Your way. Have Your way. Let Your glory fall. Let Your glory fall down. Have Your way, Lord. Let Your glory fall. Have Your way in this place. We've come hungry for You, Lord. We're seeking after You as we say, My soul longs for You as the deer pens for the water. Oh, my soul longs for You. My soul thirsts for You for the fount that won't run dry.

And so my soul thirsts for You. Won't you say? When I seek You, I know I'll find You. It's Your word, God. When I seek You with my whole heart. When I seek You, I know I'll find You. We declare. There's nothing else will satisfy me. If that's true, won't you tell the Lord today? I don't want to go one day without You. And I don't want to miss one thing You say. But I just want to know You more than I did the day before. Lord, I'm desperate for You. Let's cling to Him today. My heart clings to You. Because without You, I am nothing. Oh, my heart clings to You. My heart yearns for You. For the moment we are face to face, my heart yearns, Lord, for You. I believe that when I seek You, I know I'll find You. When I seek You with my whole heart. Come on, stand on this word and sing. When I seek You, I know I'll find You. Because nothing else will satisfy me. I don't want to go one day without you And I don't want to miss one thing you say I just want to know you more Than I did the day before Lord I'm desperate for you Hear our hearts cry today, God, as we say I don't want to go one day without you

And I don't want to miss one thing you say I just want to know you more Than I did the day before Lord I'm desperate for you You know you need Him more than anything, say Lord I'm desperate Lord I'm desperate for you Come on, if He is your way today, if He is the truth of your life today Can you lift your heads to heaven and declare to the Lord today I'm desperate for you Lord I'm desperate for you Oh we need you Lord, more than anything else Lord You've demonstrated to your people who you are And we declare it today as we sing You're the bread of life You're my heart's desire Oh I'm hungry for more of you And you're the spring of life The well that won't run dry Lord I'm thirsty for more of you You're the bread of life You're my heart's desire Oh I'm hungry for more of you We're pursuing you Lord today You're the spring of life The well that won't run dry Lord I'm thirsty for more of you You're the bread of life You're my heart's desire And though I'm hungry for more of you Only you satisfy our hearts God You're my spring of life

The well that won't run dry Lord I'm thirsty for more and more and more and more of you Lord Lord if you're open to an overflow of the Holy Spirit today Won't you lift your hands as a sign of surrender And as a posture to receive what God is pouring out Because we believe that he's pouring it out today He says blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness For they shall be filled If anybody believes in the filling power of the Holy Spirit today Won't you declare who he is in your life Say You're the bread of life You're my heart's desire Lord I'm hungry for more of you Jesus You're the spring of life The well that won't run dry Oh Lord I'm thirsty for more One more time Say You're the bread You're the bread of life You're my heart's desire God I'm hungry for more of You Oh I taste it and sing You are good You're the spring of life The well that won't run dry Lord I'm thirsty for more of You That's why our hearts declare today I don't want to go one day without You I don't want to miss one thing You do say What do we want church?

I just want to know You more Than I did the day before Lord I'm desperate for You One more time I just want to know You more I just want to know You more I just want to know You more Than I did the day before Lord I'm desperate for You One last time If you're willing to grow in Christ today Can you lift your hands and say I want to know You more I just want to know You more Than I did the day before Lord I'm desperate for You I guess this is what we're saying God I just want to know You more I just want you. Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else will do. I just want you. There's no substitute, God. Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else will do. Nothing else. I just. I just. I didn't come here just for a gathering, God. I didn't come to see anybody else today, but I come to hear your voice. Nothing else will do. I just want you. I just want you. Nothing else. Nothing else. Only you can fill my heart. Only you have authority over my household. I need you more than anything else. I just want more of you, Jesus. Nothing else. Your spirit moving in my life. Nothing else. Nothing else will do. I just. I just. Let the hungry say, nothing else. Let the thirsty say, nothing else. Let the passionate believer say, nothing else. I just want you. I just want your glory in my life. Nothing else. Your will for my life.

Nothing else will do, Lord. Oh, God. I just want you to fill me fresh. Oh, God, touch my heart. Nothing else will do. Oh, Lord. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I need is you. All I. Can you stretch your hands to heaven once more? Just sing those simple words to the Lord. All I need is you. Is you. All I need is you. You're the reason we're here. Last time. All I need is you. All I need is you. All we need is you. All we need is you. All we need is you. Church, can I remind you of something? This is true at every location. There is such power in aligned desire. There is such a unity that comes when we all decide we want more of Him. That is what we need most. I am telling you, God shows up where He is wanted. There is something that happens. That is happening right now, honestly, at every location. We as a church at every location, we are just aligning our desire. We say, God, we just want you. We just want more of you. If you will just kind of join me in that because of the unity that it brings and the blessing of God that it brings. Would you just maybe lift up a hand to heaven? Let's reaffirm that right now. Lord, we as a church, we as individuals, we come together and align our desire. Align our hunger, Lord, to want you and to realize that we need you. To realize, God, you are all that we need. To realize you are the one thing that we truly want. God, as you are searching for a vessel to pour out your spirit, Oh, God, find it in me.

God, find a hungry heart in me. Find a desire for more of you right here. And, God, we just pray you would pour out your spirit in a mighty way as we hunger and thirst for you in Jesus' name. Come on, we can just celebrate the fact that God is here. We can celebrate the fact that God is showing up. Amen. God bless you. You can be seated. I am grateful for you being here, grateful for the presence of God. I mean, I'm glad you're here, but I'm really glad God's here. I'm telling you, like, I guess if I had to choose between, I don't have to, but I'm really glad that you're here. I just want to do something and continue. you our worship and all of our locations have joined this service at this time but I want to continue our worship across all those locations and it is a it is a different form of worship but it is worship none the same it's still the same but I want to continue our worship and worship the Lord through giving give you opportunity to give and so we can give God praise for that and thank God for having the opportunity to do that you go why do we clap our hands when we give it's because I listen I still believe the Bible and I believe that in the book of Malachi that God says when you honor me in this I'm gonna pour out I'm gonna open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on your life and it's not why we give we don't give to get that blessing but that blessing provides us the confidence to give and to honor God with our first and our best and that's our first that's the biblical first step of giving which is tithe and and so I want to say thank you to those of you that have already made that decision and I'm praying for for the for just God to bless you in every way and listen when you do that it does move the ministry of this local church forward but it's not about man I want this for you I just want you to walk in that level of obedience and watch the spiritual blessing and reap you'll reap

righteousness on your life it's just it'll it'll be a game-changer for so many of you and then that that second step as we continue in general generosity that second step is an area we call kingdom builders and that's where we're really funding the mission and vision of so many organizations all over the world and and it helps move the kingdom forward in a lot of different ways and so I want to say thank you to those of you that are kingdom builders and encourage you to be praying about what your part of that would be as well I'm just gonna pray and we're gonna give God this moment of worship through a tangible giving to him and and and I'll pray for you as you do that so pray with me if you would father thank you for just the opportunity that we have something to offer and something to give and I thank you God that we just live in a blessed nation and we just pray God you would take this this moment of worship unto you God I pray it would move the kingdom forward that it would it would mean souls that have find a transformation through the gospel and through your word and we just thank you for that in Jesus name and everybody said amen amen I did mention our campuses and so joining this service is our Red Bug Lake campus our Michigan Street campus our Narcoossee Road campus and today's service streamed at the Central Florida Reception Center our campus there in the correctional facility and so we're thankful for what God is doing across all those locations and so let me say this to everybody who's at one of those locations right now if today if this is your first time here with us at Faith Church I am so glad that you are here and my name is Johnny Wilson I just serve as the lead pastor but if you're at a campus I want you to meet your campus pastor today and if you're new here today I'd love to meet you after service but listen for all of our first-time guests we want you to just know a little bit about what we got going on and so here's what we want you to if today's your first time just unlock your phone and there's a little disc there on the seat in front of you hold your phone near that little disc and it'll pop up a chance for you to open up a little landing page you can click on there first time and and do a little bit of stuff there I promise this

is not a attempt for us to send you so many emails and text messages and whatever that your phone's gonna drain of all the battery like that we're not gonna play like that but I just encourage you to do that if you're a first-time guest if you are a first-time guest would you do me a favor across all locations will you just do this if you're first time would you just wave at me real quick so I'll see you first time here this weekend awesome awesome awesome all right awesome and I know I'm there's hands up at locations so we're so excited that you are here today you picked a good week to be here we are kind of smack-dab in the middle of this collection of messages that we're simply calling it's called pneuma pneuma is a Greek word and we'll get into kind of what it means and why we chose that to to be the theme of these of these messages that we're bringing but we're in the middle of that and I'm gonna read a passage from Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 today is in the biblical calendar today's kind of an important day but today is the day of Pentecost okay and so even that word Pentecost we're talking about we're talking about we got some Pentecostals that were glad I said Pentecost but even that word gets sometimes misunderstood or me and we think that Pentecostal means weird or something like that. Pentecost means 50, so here's how it works. 50 days after Easter is Pentecost Sunday, and it's that way every year, so you can know when it's coming. So that's what that word means, it's 50. So it's 50 days after Easter is Pentecost Sunday. But I want, today, we're going to read about the Pentecost Sunday, the birth of the church, the very first Pentecost Sunday that we're kind of honoring today. And so if you look around and you're experiencing this church at a location

or maybe on a screen somewhere else, what you're experiencing, this is really the birth of it. This is the birth of the New Testament church here, Acts chapter two, verses one through four, the very first Pentecost Sunday. It says this, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. There's that aligned unity, aligned desire. Look at this, suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came 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. We'll skip down to verse 12, because I want to get the crowd, some of the crowd's reaction to what was going on. So they're seeing this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, verse 12, and the reason why we read verse 12 is because it contains my title of today's message. But verse 12 says, these people that are seeing this happen, they're amazed and perplexed. And they asked one another, and this is the title of my message, what does this mean? Well, we're gonna get into what does this mean, this day of Pentecost and this Pentecostal experience, but what does this mean? We're gonna get into that.

And so let's pray one more time. And as we pray over this message, I also just want to thank God with tomorrow being Memorial Day, and I'm just praying you have a safe and meaningful Memorial Day. But we don't take for granted the fact that many people have given their lives to provide us the freedom to have a gathering like this and be able to preach the word of God and worship Jesus without fear of that being illegal or that being punishable. And so we don't take that lightly that we have that. And so we're gonna just thank God for the freedom we have today as well on this Memorial weekend. Let's pray together. Lord, I just pray you'd anoint your word in a great way. And we do thank you, God, for the freedom to dive in to your word. And I thank you, God, for those that maybe paid the greatest price to provide us this level of freedom, religious freedom and spiritual freedom. God, I thank you for the freedom that you give us, Lord, just to be free from our past and free from sin and free from misunderstanding. Lord, I just pray your truth would come in a mighty way. In Jesus' name we pray and everybody said amen. Amen.

There was a few years back, I mean, this would have been so long ago that I don't remember exactly which year, but it was at a camp service or a fall renewal service, but we were away from here and it was a bunch of students and there was a song that was kind of like the song of the season. Yeah, sometimes there's like a song of the season that just when you start singing it, man, people just connect to it and they, God, just, they begin to stir up a hunger for God. And so the song of the season, I think the song was, I don't remember, I'm not 100%, but there was this old song called Rain Down by Delirious. And if you haven't ever heard of that, you're welcome. Look it up, enjoy it. It's gonna be awesome this afternoon when you start dancing around your house to that song. We're talking old though, like maybe 03 or something like that. But I think it was maybe that song. And we were, I was leading worship that night and we were getting ready for that service and somebody was messing around on the keyboard and was like, oh, this keyboard has sound effects and it has the sound of like rain. You can do thunder and rain and stuff. We were like, oh, we had an idea. Like, let's put that in the song. It'll be cool, like it'll just add some effect

to the moment and so we'll sing this rain down and we'll hit that and it'll have a rain sound effect. And that's just how we thought it would be. Just make it a little bit cooler, it'll be fun. So we did that in that service. I mean, that service was going bonkers and the person back there on that keyboard goes to that setting and hits that rain sound. And what we did not expect is for after the service to have such the buzz around all these students running around going, did you hear it? Did you hear it? I heard rain, it was supernatural. Like the rain of God, like I heard thunder. Did you hear it? Then the people were asking, was it raining outside? They're like, no. It was raining in here, I heard it. And so all these people coming to us tell us about this supernatural sound of rain that they heard put me in a real weird situation. I'm like, do I just let this go and let everybody's faith just go for it? Like, just let everybody's faith. I'm not gonna steal this from them, or do I tell them the truth and be like, well, actually, I mean, there could have been some of that, but also added to that was also the rain sound effect on the keyboard. But it was funny, because after that service,

everybody was just coming, and we told them the truth, by the way. But after that service, to have everyone come in and go, what does this mean? What does this mean? It was kind of a similar moment to what the disciples have after this encounter with the baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church and the birth of the church, the empowerment to do that, and people around are going, what does this mean? And where you go to get the answer to that question is important. Look at me, church. Where you go to get the answer on what does this mean is important. And so maybe social media is not the best place to go to find out what this means. And maybe not even a person, maybe not even a preacher is the best place to go. Can I tell you, the best place to go to find out what this means is the Word of God. And we're gonna go to the Word of God today. And when we go to the Word of God, here's what I'm asking from you. I'm asking you to have this attitude about the Word of God today. If it's in the Word, then I want it. Is that okay?

Can we just have that approach? Is that crazy? If it's in the Word, then I want it. And so we're just gonna go to the Word of God and see what does this mean. And the reason why we go to the Word is because around the Holy Spirit, which is what we've been talking about last week, we talked a lot about this, but around the person of the Holy Spirit, there's a lot of misconception and misunderstanding and misrepresentation. And so we come into maybe this idea of this person. And if you missed last week, I know we say this from time to time, but really important in this series, because last week I talked about the person of the Holy Spirit and who he is, and he's not an it, and he's not a force to be corralled. No, he's a person. And he is a person who also brings with us an experience of baptism and power that is really life-changing. And so it's important for us to, this series called Pneuma, and the reason why we called it that is because that's a Greek word. If you're reading in the English, you won't find the word Pneuma. But if you're reading a Greek New Testament,

you'd find the word Pneuma 385 times. And most of the time, it's translated breath. That's what it means. It literally means breath, wind, spirit. And so it's the breath of God. It's the spirit of God. It's the wind of God, which we just read about in Acts chapter two. And so as we start to figure out what does this mean, I think maybe the first part of that answer would be, it means this. It means this baptism is for you. This baptism is for you. We just read in Acts chapter two, verse four, that all of them were filled. Everybody say all. Okay, we understand what that word means. All of them were filled. This is not something that you have to earn in some sort of way. All of them were filled. So this isn't that we start to get this misconception and think, well, I have to be saved for a certain amount of time, or a certain amount of months, or a certain amount of years, and then I would be an eligible candidate for this kind of gift from God. Or we start to think, well, I haven't memorized all the scriptures,

or I haven't read through the book of Acts five times yet, and so I have to do these things before I'd be a candidate for this. Or sometimes we start to think that, well, I haven't attended church every week. I mean, I've missed a couple Sundays, and so therefore that kind of eliminates me as a possible recipient of this gift. And we think about it like we have to earn it, or we think, I haven't achieved my ministry goals that I'm trying to achieve. And then when I do that, I will have done enough that God will see fit to give that to me. Can I tell you that it might be that very gift that's gonna give you the power to achieve those ministry goals that you're trying to achieve without that? And so this is a gift from the Father, and that's the thing about a gift, is a gift is not earned. We know it's a gift, because Acts one, four says, this is Jesus talking, and he says, this is before Acts two, right? This is before the day of Pentecost, the birth of the church we just read about. But no, he's saying, go and do not leave Jerusalem. He says, but wait for the gift, there it is again, give to my Father promise which you've heard me speak about. It'd be like this, church. If I took off my watch today,

and I went to one of you here in the room, and I said, hey, I want to give you my watch. The rest of you that are experiencing this right now would think it was wild if I go to this one person and say, here, I want you to have my watch. You would think it was very odd if they were to say then back to me, please, please give me your watch. And I'm like, okay, that's what I'm saying. Here it is, and I'm giving it to you. You would think it was really weird if then they came back with me at this, please, pastor, like, I'll do anything to have that watch. I'm like, yep, I know, that's why, that's here, I'm giving you my watch. And then if they said, Come on, I've always wanted a watch and I need a watch so bad, sometimes I don't even know what time it is and I would be able to tell, if you would just give me the watch. I'm like, yes, I'm trying. I'm giving you my watch. And if they were dropped to their knees and begin to cry and say, I just want the watch. Some of you would finally get up and take the watch from me like, take it, just get it. He's trying to give it to you. Sometimes I think that's what we look like in this gift of the Holy Spirit

that we make this some sort of transaction, something that I have to earn, something I have to do a certain way or contort my face. Can I tell you that a gift, if I earn a gift, it's no longer a gift. It's compensation now because I earned it. But you can't earn this gift of the Holy Spirit. No, it is a gift from God the Father who knows how to give perfect gifts to his children. Jesus even said this in a place in the Gospels. He said, how many of you, you're bad fathers and you know how to give good gifts. He said, how much more will your Father in Heaven give you the gift of the Holy Spirit when you ask? It is a gift, it's not something that you can earn. You go, but is it still available for me today? Because I'm reading about that 2,000 years ago. Is it still available to me today? Let me show you in Scripture why it's still available for you today. This is Acts chapter two, 38 and 39. Repent and be baptized, Peter's talking. Every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now look what he says next. This promise is for you and for your children and all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. Peter's explaining who this gift is for.

He's like, it's for you, and then he goes generational. Your children, their children, all who are far off. They said for all, everybody God calls, this gift is for you. That's the beginning of what does this mean? It means this, this gift is for you. Quit disqualifying yourself because God didn't disqualify you. I'd say the only prerequisite is salvation, and we're gonna get right with God even today to be eligible for that gift. What does this mean? It means this baptism that we're talking about today is distinct. It's its own moment. It's its own experience. So in other words, this is different from salvation. It says here that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. We're gonna describe kind of what that means because somebody might say, well, Pastor, when I'm saved, aren't I filled with the presence of God? Didn't you say that the Holy Spirit lives in me when I get saved? Yes, the Bible is clear that when we accept and believe on Christ, that the Spirit of God does dwell within us, but then this experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a distinct moment in our spiritual journey. Can I just tell you this? God was not done with you at the point of salvation.

We gotta get us out of this mentality that we'll be thinking, well, yeah, I came forward, like, isn't that all I'm supposed to do? I came forward and I accepted Christ and I'm trying to live for God and isn't that the end of my spiritual journey? No, God is not finished with you at the point of salvation. God's got more and more that he wants to pour into your life, more refreshings and refillings that he wants to bring into your life. Let's look at it with Scripture. The Bible says it, I want it. John chapter 20. So Jesus is dealing with his disciples here in John chapter 20. He says, peace be with you as the Father has sent me, so now I'm sending you. Look at this. And with that, he breathed on them. Breath, pneuma. He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. And so they received the Holy Spirit. And if they received the Holy Spirit and then just a little while later, Jesus is going, I want you to go wait for the gift my Father promised, the gift of the Holy Spirit. So obviously these are two different things because Jesus wouldn't have forgotten that he did put the Holy Spirit in them, he did. But now it was time to have an experience

and a baptism in that Holy Spirit that would bring a power that they were not operating in in that moment. God is not finished with you at salvation. Actually, we see in Scripture, there's actually three biblical baptisms that we see in Scripture. Can I break it down for you real quick? And you gotta hear me close on this because this first one can get confusing. The first baptism, it sounds, just stay with me, it's a baptism of blood, okay, now stay with me. Because when we come to Christ, what's really happening is without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. So we are saying, Jesus, your shed blood on that cross was enough for me. And you took the penalty of my sin and so I am coming under the blood of Jesus and so that I can be cleansed from my sin. The old hymn said, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So that first baptism is a baptism of blood, it's coming to Christ's salvation, it's believing on Jesus. The second baptism, which we already, we see all the time around here, is water baptism. That's the second scriptural baptism. We are commanded to be baptized in water, and let me just mention this. We're about nine weeks away from Baptism Sunday.

It's July 12th, and if you've not been baptized in water, that is the day to do it. It's gonna be incredible, and you'll be joining with hundreds of other brothers and sisters in Christ, just making that public declaration. That's what water baptism is, a public declaration of the commitment that you've made. That's the second baptism. And the third baptism is this one that we read about today in Acts 2, Holy Spirit baptism. Let me show you where all three baptisms are in the same passages, okay? Acts chapter two. I just read this a second ago, some of it. It says, when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what should we do? What does this mean, what should we do? Peter's advice here, repent. That's the first baptism. Come under the blood of Jesus and be cleansed. Turn around, repent, and then he says, be baptized, every one of you. He's talking here about water baptism. And then he says, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. What's he talking about there? Third baptism, yeah, spiritual baptism. All three we find in Acts chapter 19. This is 20 years later, okay?

20 years after Acts chapter two that we read about the birth of the church. This is 20 years later in Acts chapter 19. Paul asked these hungry people who were trying to live for God, he asked them where they were at on their spiritual journey. He said, well, what baptism did you receive? See, because there's multiple baptisms. And so they said John's baptism. So then Paul says, oh, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. There it is again, blood baptism. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is Jesus, on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They were water baptized, that's what they're talking about there. And then Paul places his hands on them and the Holy Spirit comes on them and they speak in tongues. What's that? That's Holy Spirit baptism, 20 years after the day of Pentecost. Now, all three we find in John chapter five, verse seven and eight. There are three that testify. What are the three that testify? We have the spirit, that's the third baptism, baptism in spirit. The water, that's the second baptism,

baptism in water. And the blood, that's the first baptism. All three are in agreement. You were always designed for more. This is not God's plan C. Oh man, it wasn't working out, so we had to send this Holy Spirit power thing because they weren't making it on their own. No, this was always God's plan for you to house the spirit of God in a way that it's power flowing out of you, not just coming into you. When you get saved, I would say, maybe you could simplify it this way. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit, yes, is coming in and residing in you. And yet, when you get baptized in the Holy Spirit, you become a conduit for the power of God to flow out of your life in ways that you are not experiencing otherwise. We can give God praise for that. Yeah, that's good. And some of us need that kind of power source in our life. What does this mean? It means this baptism has a sign. And that sign is this praying in tongues, this praying in an unknown language. And I know what happens when we get to this part. I know that some of us are like, oh man, I'm down for more of the Holy Spirit even.

You got me ready for that. But pastor, I don't know about this praying in tongues. Why is that a part of this? It feels so weird to me. It feels so unusual to me. Well, let me just tell you kind of some of the reasons why I've heard that this is part of this. So we see it in Acts 2 as part of it because the Holy Spirit comes on them. They see what seems to be tongues of fire coming on them. And then the Bible says that they are, they began to speak in other tongues. And so why is this part of this? Now, it's not the purpose of this. It's not the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not so that you can speak in tongues. That's not the purpose. We'll get to what the purpose is. But the purpose of this is not just so you have a prayer language. So why is the prayer language a part of this? Okay, I've heard people say stuff like this. I've heard people say, well, that's there because it takes bold, deliberate faith to pray in tongues and so it's an exercise of your faith. I'm like, all right, I can live with that. I've heard people say, it's because the tongue is the most unruly part of the body. And if God has your tongue, then God has all of you. I'm like, okay, that got some amen.

So I'm down, like I'm, I think, and maybe it could have something to do with that. I've heard people say it's because tongues is beyond human understanding and so we can't rely on ourself for that. It's beyond our understanding, I've heard that one. I like this one, I've heard people say, it's because when you pray in tongues, when you pray in that unknown language, it's like a secret language between you and God. and the devil doesn't know what you're saying, it's like a secret decoder ring between you and God and you can pray stuff and the devil doesn't know what you're praying. Oh man, that sounds so great and it might be true. Here's my only problem with that one is if me and God agree on something, it doesn't matter if the devil knows or not, he can't stop what God wants to do, come on. So sometimes if I'm praying in the spirit and I pray in the spirit all the time, but sometimes when I'm praying in the spirit, I'll switch over to praying in English just to make sure the devil, I'll just say stuff like, by the way devil, God's getting ready to pour out his spirit in this place and there ain't nothing you can do about it and God's gonna show up and be real for people. And you know what?

Maybe we'll never understand why this is part of it. And we, church look at me, we gotta be okay with that. That there might be some mystery to this. That's what 1 Corinthians 14 tells us. It says when we speak in a tongue, we're not speaking to people, we're speaking to God. This is our private prayer language. And indeed no one understands them. They utter mysteries by the spirit, we're uttering mysteries and so maybe we won't understand. We gotta be okay with that. But you know what? The one that I lean on the most as to why this is part of it, I lean on the wise praying in this unknown language part of this and the sign that I have received this power is because there is power in the tongue. We know that. I mean, we were created in God's image and Genesis goes on, does tell us that we were created in God's image. But like the book of Hebrews for instance, tells us how this whole universe, we've got this vast universe that's bigger than any of us can even comprehend. And it was all formed at God's what? Command. The universe was formed at God's command. Genesis 1 verse 3, God says,

let there be light. And just as he says it, light happens. What power in those words. And we were created in his image. And so there is power in your words as well. And if you don't believe me, I can kind of probably say something that kind of gets you started there. Like we're all a product. Sometimes we're all victims of the word spoken over us and the word spoken by us. So some of us grew up in homes with a lot of encouragement. Man, you're the best. You're the prettiest. You're the smartest. And at some point in your adolescence, you're looking in the mirror, you're like, I really am the best and the smartest and the prettiest. Like, it really is true. My parents are right. Like, what happened? There was creative power in those words. Some of us grew up in it. Maybe some of you grew up in a different environment where it was the opposite of that. And it was, man, you're worthless. Wish you were never born. You're good for nothing. We spent our life trying to crawl out from under

what those words have created in our heart. What is that? It's the power of the tongue. So is it that wild that God would go, I wanna fill your life with power and I'm gonna use this weapon called the tongue. And as you pray in the spirit, I'm gonna be just springing some spiritual strength to your life like you've never known before. That's what first Corinthians 14, four says. He who prays in a tongue edifies himself. What's that word mean? Strengthens. When you're praying in the spirit, there is just spiritual muscles that are just forming. You're talking about working out in the gym. This is the best, do that. But I'm telling you that this is the best workout you can do is learn how to pray in the spirit, yield yourself to the spirit as he prays through you. And there is power that comes into your life as a result of that. This baptism has a sign and it is that prayer language. And this finally, as we answer the question, what does this mean? And if the word says it, I want it. This baptism has an objective. And the objective for this baptism is not praying in tongues. The objective, the purpose is power.

Power of God. It says that as the spirit enabled them, and of course here it's talking about it enabled them to pray those things. It doesn't say that the spirit made them pray them. No, the spirit empowered them, gave them what to say and they stepped out and prayed it. But that's just one of the many ways that the spirit enables us. Or we could say the spirit empowers us, which is the point of all of this. That's why in Acts 1, 8, Jesus said, you will receive power. Like you can't really focus in on Acts 2, 1 through 4 without first going to Acts 1, 8 and it tells you the purpose of it. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses. Power to be a witness. And so, in other words, this baptism of the Holy Spirit, this life of the, this Pentecostal life, if you want to say it that way, it's not about showing off. It's not about looking some sort of way. No, it's about power to actually accomplish something and do something. It's about power to be able to stand up against the temptations of this world. It's about power that the same things that took you down last year

aren't gonna take you down this year. Why? Because there's power in your life now. That's the purpose of this. That's why it's so dangerous for some of us to keep this at an arm's length because there's a part of it that we're not sure about. Yeah, but the part we are sure about is that you need the power of God. That's that part we are sure. I don't know if, like, you needed to get some work done at your house, and the first thing you did was go to Home Depot, and as you're walking in the aisles of Home Depot, you see these gloves hanging up, and they say, work gloves, and you're like, this is awesome, because I need work done, and apparently, those gloves do work, so I'm gonna get me some work gloves, I'm gonna get home, and I'm gonna turn these gloves loose, and so you get home, and you got your hammer out, and you got your nails out, and you got your, whatever you're putting together, and you're like, all right, work glove, do it. Maybe you gotta prop it up a little bit. Come on, work glove, do it, and that glove's just lifeless.

That glove just, I try to get it started, and it just collapses. It's collapsing under the pressure of gravity, and like, why isn't this work glove working? Of course, none of you would actually have this conversation, but there's a reason why this work glove is not working, is because this glove was never designed to work on its own. No, this glove was designed for somebody to come in and put their hand inside of this glove, and now, because of what's inside of this glove, well, this glove can get some work done now. Can I tell you this? You were designed to have a power source within you. Of course, without the power of the Holy Spirit, that's why some of you feel like you just flop around, and somebody tries to run around and prop you up all the time, and you feel like every pressure of life is just, it just takes you out. It's the pressure of work all the time. It's the pressure of these temptations all the time. It's the pressure of the fear that's on my life. It's the pressure of my past, that just keeps on knocking me down. Can I tell you what would lift you up? If you had, watch this, if you had a pressure inside that was stronger than the pressure from without, like, I know that there's gravity here,

but there's something inside this glove now that's stronger than gravity, and now I can move this glove. Some of us, we were praying, we were saying, God, will you just make all the external pressure go away, and I just, I'm waiting for the pressure to go away. It won't go away. God knew it wouldn't go away, so you know what he did? He built a stronger pressure within that is gonna be equal to the test of whatever pressure you face, and it's called the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's for you, and it brings power, and yes, it has a sign, and it's a gift, and it's not something you earn. And here's what I wanna do to kind of end this service. I want us to have a moment across every location where we allow and open ourselves and get in a posture of just hungering for him. And at every location, the altars will be open, but here's what, I'm telling you this, we're making the whole room an altar at every location right now. It's just so important that we, he said, if it's in your word, God, I want it, and it is. God has more for you, and whether you're, maybe you go, I pray in the Spirit all the time. Guess what? God has more for you, and the assignment is still the same. I want more of God right now.

Some of you go, I've never experienced this before. Assignment is the same. Want more of God. I don't even want you to seek a gift. No, seek the giver of the gift. God knows what you need when you need it, but I'm gonna tell you this, we open, and as we begin to seek for more of the presence of God, what's gonna happen is some of you are gonna get baptized in the Holy Spirit right now, and you're gonna switch from praying in English or praying in Spanish, you're gonna switch, and the Holy Spirit's gonna prompt you with something you could say, a prayer that you don't understand. You're gonna begin to pray that, and what's gonna happen? Spiritual muscles forming in your life. Why don't we stand to our feet, everybody, in this holy moment? We're well before our normal scheduled time. We did this on purpose so that we'd have time to wait on him. We'd have time to do what Jesus told the disciples to do. You go, and you wait for that gift that the Father promised. Don't go anywhere else. You get in there, and you see what God has for you, and they did. And it was a game changer for all of them.

Same for us today. I said the only problem would be that if we're not right with God, if we're not living for Jesus, that would certainly block this gift. So I'm gonna lead us all in this room in a prayer of cleansing, a prayer of recommitted belief on Jesus. And when we get done with this prayer, we're gonna go for it, okay? We're gonna go after more of God. We're gonna seek God and allow Him to give us the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit. But let's pray together. All of us across this room, across every location, pray this with me. Say, Jesus, cleanse me now. Wash me under the powerful blood of Jesus. I believe on you. I believe you are enough. I believe your word. And if your word says it, I want it. And so today, baptize me. Holy Spirit, baptize me in power. I will speak in new tongues as the Spirit enables me. And I will walk with power in my life. In Jesus' name. Now come on across every location. Will you just lift up both hands to heaven? Come on, let's get in this posture of just hunger.

And I want you to begin to lift your voice and say, God, fill me. God, fill me. God, move upon me. God, baptize me. God, I'm ready for more. God, all you have is all I want. All you have is all I want. Oh, this isn't about getting something from God. This is about getting everything that God has for you right now. So come on, let's do that. Oh, Holy Spirit, come. Holy Spirit, come. Baptize now. Baptize. Holy Spirit, we just release you. I come against every fear. I come against every intimidation. I come against every block in the spirit realm. Oh, God. Come on, church, would you lift your voice? Because God's gonna use that voice. There's power in that voice. That's why it's important that we don't just think these prayers. Come on, it's important that we articulate what the Spirit has given us to pray. Come on, will you pray right now? Pray right now.

Even if it's just words of hunger, words of desire, words of more of you. We need you, God. We hunger for you, God. Oh, that's it. That's it. Come on. Come on, fill this room. Fill this room with a hunger. This is our posture. This is our place. This is who we are. We stay hungry for you, Jesus. Fall in this place, Holy Spirit. Come down. Fill us to overflow. Oh, now. Kappa tolo robo, sapapa. Ababa bababo, soto roko. I'm telling you, the baptizer is here, and he's baptizing some of you now. Come on, just begin to pray in the Spirit. If you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, pray in the Spirit. This is not a public utterance. That's something different. This is our personal prayer language. This is what Ephesians talks about, that sometimes we sing in the Spirit, sometimes we sing with understanding. Sometimes we pray in the Spirit.

Sometimes we pray with understanding. Come on, this is that prayer language that we don't understand, but we're uttering mysteries. Come on, begin to pray in the Spirit, if that's you. Thank you, God. Fill us, O God. Baptize us, O God. Fill us, O God. Come on, the best you can. Take your focus off somebody around you. Put all your focus on him. Have your way, have your way. These altars are open. Come on, make an altar right there where you are. Fire, God, come. Father, I pray this section right now. Fire of God, baptize now. Lord, I pray for this section right here. Holy Spirit, now. O God, we receive the gift. We receive the gift in Jesus' name. Lord, for the risers right now, in Jesus' name. Wind of the Spirit blow. Lord, for this center section, God. We receive now the gift. We receive this gift. So, God, for this side of the room, even now, God, baptize us. Fill us. Fill us to overflow.

Come on, continue. Oh, this is, this is time well spent right here. Do not grow weary in this doing good. We need you, Jesus. We need you, Holy Spirit. That's it. Come on, pray in the spirit. Thank you, God, thank you, God. Glory to God. Oh, glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. More of you, more of you, more of you, more of you, God. Holy Spirit, have your way, have your way. I want you to hear me and I want you to stay locked in in this same, this same focus of hunger. I want to tell you something, what's more important than whatever kind of level you hope to achieve today or whatever, can I tell you what's most important when you walk out of a, when this service is over, is that you maintain and you learn to maintain this posture of hunger, this posture of desire for more. That's why, that's why I said, if you've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, the assignment tomorrow is still this, more. If you've never have, then the assignment is still the same, more of God. God's got more for you.

He's not done with you, no matter where you are in this journey. And I want to say this, this coming Wednesday night, because when we were, when we were planning and praying through this, we were figuring out what, what is the, what is the additional moment besides just even in this altar's response to which we knew God was going to show up in a mighty way. But I'm going to tell you, this Wednesday night is a night of prayer. And on this Wednesday night, we're going to carve out some serious time to pray with those who are seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit, seeking this gift. And listen to me, I know you might have a million reasons why Wednesday night doesn't work for you. And what I'm asking you to do is cross out all million of them. I don't care. Like some things are worth making an adjustment to your calendar and schedule. And some of you might go, well, I, I work until 6.30. All right, come late. I'm supposed to work that night. See if somebody else switch with you. I'm telling you that just even sometimes making the adjustment, but get here Wednesday night and we're going to pray with everybody until they don't want to pray no more. We're going to pray that God would show up in a mighty way. And so be praying and be, be, be ready for that. And we're going to end this service kind of a little bit different than normal, but we're just going to end still right here. And like I said, these altars are open. And so if you want to come to this altar and continue to seek, the worship team is going to continue to lead us in, in, in, in this atmosphere of great faith. If you still want to hunger for God, then I encourage you don't leave this place until God's finished with you. If God is finished with you, you can slip out and go, but father, just continue to stir up a great hunger in us.

We pray. Jesus. God bless you.