The Day Of Pentecost | Tyrone P. Jones | We Believe | Full Service

all right welcome church who's excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning amen amen well welcome my name is Markia I'm part of the team here at church for the city and we're so excited that you chose to be here to worship with us today if it's your first time with us we want to get to know you and we want to get to know your family so if you can fill out the connect card for us so we can stay in touch with you that would be great you can text guest to the number on the screen you can tap your disc on the chair or you can stop at the connect table in the lobby on your way out and let's give a shout out to our online campus this morning welcome guys are so glad you're here if you are watching for the first time please make sure to click that digital connect card and fill that out for us all right guys let's jump into the Word of God this morning our scripture today is Psalms 9 1 through 2 and it reads I will praise you Lord with all my heart I will tell of the marvelous things you have done I will be filled with joy because of you I will sing praises to your name oh most high amen isn't our God good what I love about that scripture is that it's reminding us that praise isn't just about singing but it's also about reflecting and declaring and rejoicing of the goodness of God so I invite you this morning as we worship reflect on the goodness of God reflect on what he has done and let's bring him on the glory amen all right let's pray together father we thank you so much Lord for another Sunday that we get to gather in your house we ask Lord God that your presence fills this room Holy Spirit change us as we encounter you we love you Lord in Jesus name amen all right church let's worship together There was no way until you made one Grace upon grace, hallelujah Even though I don't deserve it, you did it Even though I couldn't earn it, you give it Who am I that you keep me on your mind God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you All my life, you've been right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you Holy, holy, there's only one I'll give you glory for all that you've done

Even though I don't deserve it, you did it Even though I couldn't earn it, you give it Who am I that you keep me on your mind God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you All my life, you've been right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you Who am I that you keep me on your mind God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you All my life, you've been right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you And I, you've been here by my side You've been here by my side, by my side And I, I'm lifting both of my hands You give me chance after chance after chance And I, I'm giving all that I am Cause you give me chance after chance after chance And I, I'm lifting both of my hands You give me chance after chance after chance And I, I'm giving all that I am Cause you give me chance after chance after chance Who am I that you keep me on your mind God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you All my life you've been right here by my side God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you Who am I that you keep me on your mind God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you All my life you've been right here by my side God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you I surmise and I'm here to testify

God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you I'm alright if they say I'm out of my mind God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you I pour into the atmosphere Spirit of God you're here You have all authority I pray over my heart and mind I am healed by your stripes Your blood declares that I am free In the mighty name of Jesus I pray calling on the power of heaven I proclaim that every weapon formed against me Must break in the mighty name of Jesus I walk a permanent boundary line The enemy has no right to come near my family No scheme could ever undo God's plans No matter the circumstance The cross revealed my destiny In the mighty name of Jesus I pray calling on the power of heaven I proclaim that every weapon formed against me Must break in the mighty name of Jesus It's in the mighty name of Jesus That I know all the power of fear and darkness Oh it must go, it's every key to everything to me Oh I hope in the mighty name of Jesus I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life Is the blood of Jesus Christ

I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life Is the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ In the mighty name of Jesus I'll pray, I'll offend and I'll proclaim That every weapon from death gets me I must pray, in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus Oh, I know that all the power of fear and darkness In my soul is every key to every victory In the mighty name of Jesus It's in the mighty name of Jesus It's in the mighty name of Jesus There is power in the name of Jesus Restoration in the name of Jesus There is healing in the name of Jesus There is power in the blood of Jesus Oh, we exalt the name above all names With power over every thought, every mind Healing and restoration in the name of Jesus Every chain is broken in the name of Jesus Every burden falls off in the name of Jesus Every heaviness is lifted off in the name of Jesus Oh, we speak restoration against the mind We speak healing over every mind in the name of Jesus Every blood cell healing in the name of Jesus We speak against anxiety in the name of Jesus All oppression in the name of Jesus

Oh, every curse is lifted off in the name of Jesus We're entrusting in the name of Jesus Oh, your peace is restored in the name of Jesus Oh, your joy is restored in the name of Jesus Oh, your future's been restored in the name of Jesus Oh, the prodigal's returned in the name of Jesus All authority on heaven and earth is in the name of Jesus Oh... Holy Spirit, have Your way. I am an instrument of exaltation. And I was born to lift the name above all names. You hear the melody of all creation. But there's a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one other than You, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one other than You, Jesus. You are the end of the ages. Yet You chose to make my heart Your dwelling place. You heal my brokenness. You show me Your glory. So I have songs of thanks that even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one other than You, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one other than You, Jesus.

Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one other than You, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one other than You, Jesus. Come on church, let's continue to celebrate resurrection life. Let's rejoice with all the angels in heaven as someone goes under the waters of baptism. My name is Zach. I've been attending church for the city for about two years. Before I started going to church, I did not believe that there was a God and I had not followed a good path. During the summer of 2024, my mom realized how bad my language has been and she decided I needed to join her at church. I told myself that if I had to go, I might as well listen to the message to see if anything catches my attention. Nothing really sparked the first few times I went, but when Pastor Abel was a guest speaker, the energy he gave off completely changed my mind and attitude about Christianity. In the moment that I surrendered my life to Jesus, since giving my life to Jesus, I have had such a change in attitude as a person. I found joy in the Lord. I have met so many amazing people. I know that my journey will never end. In a recent dream I had, God told me to follow Him in obedience. Today I am going in public with my faith. Zach, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith today, I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to Scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come on church, let's celebrate that today. Come on. Come on. ♪ Through to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ believes it all ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪

♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, you're worthy, worthy, worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Sing it all to the throne above, holy, holy, holy, yeah ♪ ♪ Righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us ♪ ♪ The Father's love, Jesus Christ believes it all ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, Lamb of God anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Sing it all to the throne above, holy, holy, holy, yeah ♪ ♪ Holy, righteous one who shed his blood to prove to us ♪ ♪ The Father's love, Jesus Christ believes it all ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, who else is worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, who else is worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, who else is worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, who else is worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, who else is worthy, yeah ♪ Come on, exalt his name. Oh, let him inhebit the praises of his people today. Oh, we glorify the name of Jesus. Oh, we lift high the name of Jesus. We shout hallelujah. We shout hallelujah. The highest praise, be lifted up, be lifted up. Come on, let's just rest in this moment. ♪ Holy Spirit, we thank you for your presence ♪ ♪ And I exalt thee, I exalt thee, I exalt thee ♪

♪ And I exalt thee, oh Lord, we're in awe of your majesty ♪ ♪ And I exalt thee, I exalt thee, I exalt thee ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, I exalt thee, I exalt thee, I exalt thee ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, I exalt thee, I exalt thee, I exalt thee ♪ ♪ I exalt thee, oh Lord, we're in awe of your majesty ♪ ♪ Oh, be lifted up, and I exalt thee, I exalt thee, I exalt thee ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, I exalt thee, I exalt thee, I exalt thee ♪ I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee Come on, just shout the name of Jesus again in this place He is worthy and worthy to be praised I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee Well alright, good morning to you. Welcome to Church for the City where we'll teach the Word of God where we'll encounter the presence of the Lord. What a wonderful time in worship. Can you say amen to that? And we'll spread the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many of you are so grateful to be in God's house? It's so good, so good to be here. So I'll just tell you the same as the other services. Don't ask me about my hamstring. I cannot talk about it because I got legal action against the church for making me run. So I can't talk about it. But it's good to be here and grateful that you are here. Today is Open House. If you have been at CTC a while and haven't committed to making it your church home or a place where you want to invest in, Open House may be the thing that you need to see. You'll get introduced to a lot of the team leads

and get all the behind the scenes stuff of what we do here. If you've just been coming for a short time and want to know more about the church, again, Open House is the best way to do that. We feed you lunch. The gatherings are usually an hour and a half or so. So there's a QR code there that you can tap into to register. Also on the tap disk in front of you, you can follow the prompts there to register or even at the Connect table. And so we always look forward to those that are in Open House. Memorial Day is tomorrow. So I know that many of you will be off tomorrow. It's a day set aside, as you know, to just take a moment to honor those who have lost their life in some kind of battle or campaign or war that we have fought in. And also to pray for those families who are still grieving the loss. And I know obviously all of us here have some connection to someone on Memorial Day. And so I do pray you enjoy your day off, but also take the time to honor those. I also do, in the process of that, those are for the ones who have lost their life serving. But those of you that are still currently serving, I want to thank you. And we celebrate you for your sacrifice and your love for your country and for fellow man. There's a memorial service here every year that the Fraternal Order of Police put on that is set aside to remember those who have lost their life and those that are still serving. Pastor Ty had the privilege of doing that last week.

So again, we thank you for taking a moment to honor those who have done so. Now, as for generosity, of course, we love to do things in our community. Last week, or maybe a couple of weeks ago, a few weeks ago, sorry, it was Teacher Appreciation Week. And there was His and Her Coffee, which is a couple from our church. They provided coffee at Woodard Junior High and Ellis Burn for their staffs there. We're thankful that they did that. And I just want to say that if you, and I know school is out for most of you, but if you work in a school, whether it be an admin, administration, teacher, support staff, I want to thank you. It's one of the most underpaid positions, underappreciated. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It takes just as much as a commitment to go day to day. daily to serve other people's children. And I thank you for doing that. And hope now as you get ready to enter into this summer season that you'll enjoy your time off. Also, of course, there was many graduations on Friday night. If you're a grad here, God bless you, thank you. We celebrate what you've accomplished.

Hope you feel celebrated and looking forward to the next phase of your life. And every time you come into the building, as you know, there's opportunities to give and there should be list all the opportunities to give on the screen. So thank you for giving to CTC that allows us to do the things that we do. All right, we're gonna now go ahead and move into the word of God. If you would take your Bible and stand one more time, we're gonna go to Acts chapter two and we're gonna read verses one through four. Today is the day of Pentecost or Pentecost Sunday. The last time that I approached was Ascension Sunday. And so we spoke about the Ascension when Jesus lifted up. Today we'll speak about Pentecost. I do wanna take an opportunity since I have been gone, I do certainly once again wanna just take note on Mother's Day, Lady V's message was really outstanding. I'm so grateful for her and the work, the effort, the prayer she put in. And last week, the message that Pastor Phillip preached, I want you to hear me on this, it was masterful. It was masterful. If he was preaching in front of a preaching seminar, there wouldn't have been nothing they would have redlined. That was outstanding, outstanding and so grateful for him. I am grateful that when I'm not preaching there with Pastor Ty and Phillip and whomever we put up

the effort that they put in, the work that they put in to study the word and prepare, it's definitely our heart. I'm telling you, I don't ever wanna put no Looney Tune in the pulpit. This is too valuable to me. It means too much. Lawyers practice law, doctors practice medicine, but we cannot practice with people's souls. The word of God is critical and it's important. I'm so grateful for the message you gave, the message you gave, just outstanding. Thank you for adding to the body, just great. All right, Acts chapter two, verses one through four. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Can you say amen for the word? Well, Father, I thank you now for this opportunity, Lord, to bring forth this word. I pray, Lord, as with the other two gatherings, Lord, that you will help me, anoint me. May I decrease that you might increase. May the word go forth with authority

and yet clarity that people may know what it is that's being taught and be able to apply some principles to their life that we all may become more like you and be better in our faith, in our Christianity, in our expression. And so, Lord, I thank you for this time and, Lord, I also pray for every church that's gathered around Yuma County. I pray for every pastor, every leader of every institution, every, sorry, every fellowship here in our county that people's lives will be transformed by the preaching of the gospel and more people in our county will proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. It's in his name that we pray. May the people of God say amen. Men, you may be seated. Now, there's moments in time, as you know, that are marked, where history is marked. Probably one of the most obvious ones is B.C. and A.D., before Christ and A.D. Anno Domini, the year of the Lord. But even for Christians, you know, the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, ascension of Jesus, and even Pentecost, all of them give us some before and after that is well noted. And the day of Pentecost is one of those, and it's not just an emotional church service.

Many times when people hear the term Pentecost or Pentecostal, that's what they think of. But the day of Pentecost was not meant at all for it just to be a gathering of emotional church service. It's not merely a supernatural experience, though we're gonna talk about that. But it was a moment that heaven actually invaded earth. Heaven invaded earth with the power of God. And through that, the church was born. Christ gave birth through the church on the day of Pentecost. And so we're reminded when we read about the spirit of God and the outpouring of the spirit of God, that the same God who hoovered over creation in the book of Genesis, mind you, the spirit of the Lord hoovered over the face of the earth and caused it to be formed and to be shaped and for us to be created. That same God in the power of the spirit descended in a fire on Mount Sinai and gave the law. That same spirit also is the one that filled the tabernacle in glory when the temple tabernacle was finished. And so now this same spirit fills all of us as believers. The same spirit that hoovered over creation, that filled the tabernacle, that descended on Mount Sinai is the same spirit that is now filling our lives. And that is what really Pentecost is primarily all about. Pentecost is primarily about the outpouring of the power of God.

That's what it's about. Now I think all of us have probably had this experience at one time or another where you didn't know that your phone had died, battery went dead, and maybe you picked up your phone to use it and found out that it wasn't working, it was dead. All the capability was there, all the mechanisms was there, but there was no power to function. It does make me wonder how many Christians feel exactly just like that. That they know the scripture, they attend church, they believe the gospel, but inwardly they feel drained or maybe even dead, powerless, dry, unable to overcome fear or sin, or unable to overcome any kind of discouragement or spiritual apathy. Pentecost is not God creating a weird church service, and I've been in some weird church services, but Pentecost is God breathing power into powerless people, breathing power into powerless people. And so the history of Pentecost actually begins long before what we read in the book of Acts. The history of Pentecost begins with the Hebrew people in the command of the Lord that we read about in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, where after the Passover, they began what's called the Feast of Weeks. Shavuot is how they would say it, and the Jewish would say shavuot. And what it is, there's seven weeks that they're gathering their harvest.

Seven weeks of them preparing for what God is going to do for them. Times of praying and trusting and believing, cultivating ground, planting seeds. And during those seven weeks, they had moments of festivals and celebrations that they would go before the Lord thanking God along the process, but it culminated on the day of Pentecost. On the 50th day after the Passover, they would all gather in Jerusalem and they would bring the first fruits of their harvest, the first of the wheat sheaves, and they would go before the Lord and they would offer sacrifices and thank God that he provided them with a harvest. So that's one of the elements of Pentecost. It was a time of gathering to give thanks to God for his provision and to provide sacrifice. Another thing that took place on Pentecost was the giving of the law. When Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the law, it was 50 days after the Passover. On that day, that 50th day, Pentecost, is when Moses received the law on Mount Sinai. Now, if you read the Jewish history, even the history in the scriptures, of course, even after those original times, throughout their ages, the Jewish people would go to Jerusalem and they would gather and they would celebrate what God has done.

They'd celebrate the giving of the law and they also would celebrate the harvest that the Lord had given them throughout the generations. That's why there were so many gathered in Jerusalem on this particular day. It was not uncommon for that to be the case for people to gather in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost to celebrate. And so what you conclude with that is that Pentecost is not a religion. It's an event. It's a time when people gather together to go before the Lord in celebration, in thanksgiving, and to experience what he wants to do in their lives. lives. Now before Pentecost became a label, here particularly, it was a desperate answer to a desperate need because this is what's happening here in Acts chapter 2. The disciples had been with Jesus. They had the memories of Jesus. They had the resurrection of Jesus. They had the teachings of Jesus. But what they did not have was the power that Jesus promised them to carry out the mission after he was gone. And so they're gathering here on the day of Pentecost with the expectation of what God would do through his word. Now the term Pentecost has been pinned on us because many of us, individually and corporately, have experienced some of the things that the disciples experienced on the day of Pentecost. And so we see what happens here in Acts chapter 2, verses 2 through 4 that I read. And I'm not going to read it again. It should be on the screen in the New Living. But there's three elements that took place on that day. The first one was the sound of a violent, rushing wind. That's descriptive of the regenerative work of the Spirit of God. The sound of the violent, rushing wind. What is happening here?

The sound of the violent, rushing wind. Is there something I need to fix? I'm sorry. It's bothering me. Can you all hear all that cracking? Just me. Maybe something cracking in my head. All right. So if you all don't hear it, it's fine. I'll deal with it. I thought you all was hearing it too. So the sound of the violent, rushing wind, that is very much analogous of the regenerative work of the Spirit of God. It takes the Spirit of God to regenerate us. It takes the Spirit of God to change us. It takes the Spirit of God to make us new. So when the rushing, mighty wind came in on the day of Pentecost, that was God saying to the people, here, my regenerative power is coming through the Holy Spirit. Now, that's been seen throughout the Scriptures. As a matter of fact, the word breath, the word spirit in Hebrew is ruach, and Greek is pneuma, and Latin is spiritus. Anytime we see that God is doing something, He's doing something with His Spirit. In Genesis chapter 1, the Scripture says that the Spirit of God moved on the face of the earth. There was no ability for life and things to be shaped on the earth without the Spirit of God moving on the face of the earth. In Genesis chapter 2, Adam has been created, but he's lifeless. It took the breath of God, the ruach of God, the Spirit of God, to be breathed in him, that Adam becomes a living soul. As a matter of fact, just so you know, the reason that you are alive is because God has breathed His Spirit up in you. And when your life is over, God takes His Spirit back. There's no way you can leave here unless the Lord says, that's it. Nobody dies out of timing. The Lord is the one that gives life, and the Lord is the one that takes life, but we are living because of the breath of God that's breathed in us. In John chapter 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the only way that he can see the kingdom of God or enter into the kingdom of God is if the Spirit of the Lord comes in him and he becomes born again. So there is no life, there is no regeneration, there is no newness for us, there is not a life that's of vitality without the Spirit of the Lord coming in us. That is the analogy of the wind blowing on the day of Pentecost.

Are you with me so far? Now, one of the greatest illustrations of that is found in Ezekiel chapter 37. Ezekiel chapter 37, Ezekiel is an Old Testament prophet, and the Lord wants to show him the power of his spirit, the power of his spirit. So he puts Ezekiel, he places Ezekiel in a valley of dry bones. This is Ezekiel chapter 37. Now, what he sees is an army, it's an Israeli army that has been completely slaughtered, and they're dead, and they have been dead for a while. Bodies have just laid there, bodies are decomposed, and the only thing left is a bunch of bones. That's all that's left over from when this army was killed, how many ever years it was ago. And the Lord places Ezekiel in that valley, and he says to Ezekiel, as he's looking over a valley of dry bones, he says, can these bones live again? Can these bones live again? Well, of course, Ezekiel is seeing just a bunch of bones. So his reply to the... Lord is, Lord only you know, only you know. So the Lord tells Ezekiel, begin to prophesy to the bones. What he's telling Ezekiel is you begin to declare the goodness of me over dead bones. Now how weird would that feel if the Lord tells you just to preach? I was just telling the second service on some Saturdays, I'll take my sermon and I'll walk around the canals and I'll preach my sermon out loud and Tesla goes with me. And honestly, I'm just believing the Lord gonna give Tesla the spirit of the Lord when I'm preaching. But he places Ezekiel in that valley of dry bones and Ezekiel begins to declare out of his mouth, our God is a great God, he is a great Lord. He's able to restore you, he's able to renew you,

he's able to rise you up, he's able to give you new life. As Ezekiel is preaching, the wind of God begins to blow. The spirit of God begins to blow on those dry bones while Ezekiel is prophesying and next thing you know, hand bones start connecting to the arm bone and arm bones start connecting to the torso. And next thing you know, you got a whole army of skeletons standing there and then the Lord says, you keep prophesying and the spirit of the Lord keeps blowing and next thing you know, those skeletons got sinew, those skeletons got skin, those skeletons is a living army, why? Because the spirit of the Lord is able to give you new life, can you say amen? Now listen, you may not be some dead bones in the valley but you were dead, you didn't have any life. You were living dead in your sins, separated from the Almighty God. It wasn't your good thinking, it wasn't your religious upbringing. It wasn't some sage word of wisdom that gave you life. The only thing that gave you life is the same thing that gave those dry bones life. That's the spirit of God that rose you out of your dead, sinful, sick condition because that's what the spirit does. Can you say amen? So that wind is the regenerative power of the spirit and then the second element you see there is the flames of fire. And that's analogous of the abiding spirit of God.

The abiding presence of God, sorry, the abiding presence. Matthew chapter 3, 11, John the Baptist is speaking and he says, I baptize you with water for repentance but one who's coming after me, who's mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. That fire is representing the abiding presence of God. Lady V mentioned it when she talked about the pillar of fire that guided the children of Israel. It reminded them of the abiding presence of God but that fire also, the scripture tells us, it's the abiding presence of God within us that actually makes us better. The Lord works on us by his spirit. You know as well as I do, when you do something that you know you feel guilty of, condemnation will cause you to turn away. You don't wanna be in relations with people that you've done something wrong with, your guilt does it. But conviction, whenever we do something wrong as believers, the Lord doesn't give us condemnation, he convicts us. He convinces us that what we've done is wrong and that conviction doesn't turn us away from him, that conviction actually leans us into him and that abiding presence of the fire of God purifies us and makes us better. That's the Holy Spirit with fire, the abiding presence of God, can you say amen? And then that third element is the speaking in other tongues by the ability of the spirit.

It seems so clear throughout the scripture that speaking in tongues was a regular thing for the early church believers. It was not unusual, but a sign, one of the signs of the spirit of God coming. And it's no wonder that when we see the various times when different people came to the Lord that one of the responses was, after being filled with the spirit, was speaking with other tongues. We see it with the Samaritans in Acts chapter 10 verse 46. It says, for they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. They gave their lives to Christ, the spirit of the Lord came, they spoke with other tongues. We see the same thing with the Gentiles in Acts chapter 19. It says, when Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking with other tongues. Now what I want you to note about this is understand what God is doing here with these tongues. Remember I shared with you earlier that Moses received the law from on Mount Sinai. He received the tablets. His job was to go down to the people of Israel along with the priests and take the law of God. that they were given and to share that with the nation. And God was to use the nation to spread his law and his will, his way to other people as they engage them. So one man receives a law, gives it to one nation,

and that nation is to spread it. Well, with the day of Pentecost, the Lord outdid himself on that because what he did was use the tongues of others to get the gospel out to 15 different nations at one time. So here on the day of Pentecost, people are there from all different places, 13 to 15 nations. And here is the need that was undertaken, that the message of God was to be declared to many nations so the gospel can begin to be spread. So you have 120 people that was in this room. They experienced the wind, they experienced the fire, they experienced the tongues. And they come out and they're now speaking a language that they don't know to 15 other different nations of people who have a different language than they have. It was such a marvel that even the people were marveled that they're hearing these folks that only know Aramaic speaking in their language. It was the power of God being poured into these people so that the gospel can be declared and spread to other places. We hear it here in Acts chapter two, verse number 11. We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. So these folks in other places were saying, oh man, I hear them talking about the goodness of God in the language we know, but we know it's a language that they don't know.

How did that happen? The spirit of the Lord came upon them and used them to declare this thing with an unknown tongue. Now, that is not the experience that everyone has in the kingdom of God. It's not saying that God can't do that. He can do that at any given time and still does, but it's not an experience that everyone has. It's not an experience I ever have that I know of, but I've heard it done. I've been in places where it was done, but one of my favorite stories, though, is one by Jack Hayford. He shared it, but he wrote it in one of his books, and he talks about being on a plane going from L.A. to Portland, and that's about, I don't know, two-hour, two-hour-and-15-minute flight. A guy sits next to him, and sure enough, they both sit there. They do their normal greetings, and both of them are reading a book, and somehow or another, they got to talking about literature and Jack Hayford talked about C.S. Lewis, asked the guy had he ever read anything by C.S. Lewis, and what he's hoping to is to see if the guy says he's read C.S. Lewis, then he's probably thinking he probably is a Christian and if he's read C.S. Lewis, but the guy had never read C.S. Lewis,

so somehow or another, Jack actually asked him about his faith or what does he believe, et cetera, and the guy said that he wasn't, he wouldn't call himself a believer or a Christian. He said, it's not that I don't believe there is a God, but I don't follow God. I don't have a life where I would say that I'm a person that goes to church or have any kind of faith of that nature. Well, what was going on at the time when Hayford was speaking to him, he said from the time the guy got on the plane, he kept hearing this phrase, these phrases going over in his head that he didn't know, phrases going on of a language that he didn't know at all, and he kept hearing the Spirit of the Lord say, just say these words to him, say these words to him. Now, I could imagine, even me, being someone who does pray in tongues and speak in tongues, it would be uncomfortable for me if the Lord is telling me, tell somebody what's going on in your head. I don't like to tell people what's going on in my head at all, no less when tongues is going on in my head, but so he kept telling the Lord, he said in his head, he kept saying, oh, man, I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna do that, this is gonna seem weird, but he kept hearing it, and so he hears the pilot say

that they're gonna start descending, so he knows he's only got about 30 minutes, and he says he wants to obey God, so he turns to the person and he says, I just, this is gonna sound strange, I just gotta tell you, since we've been talking, I keep hearing these phrases going on in my head, and I just, I wanna know if it's okay if I just tell you, say this phrase to you, and the guy said, sure. He said he was a little embarrassed, Jack was a little embarrassed to look at the guy in case he says something that just sounds like gibberish, right, and then the dude look at him like a weirdo, so he says he just looked straight ahead at the seat in front of him, and he said it was. about a paragraph of phrases that he said, and then he turned to the guy and he says, does any of that mean anything to you? And he says, it actually does. So he said he was thrilled that, first of all, the guy didn't think he was crazy, that he actually said something. He says, can you tell me what I said? He says, well, I can't tell you every phrase that you said, not every phrase that I understand, but I can tell you what you just spoke is Kiowa language. He says, I'm a Kiowa Indian.

I come from Montana, my people now are mostly in Oklahoma, and what you just said to me in my language was that God said to me, I'm shining a light that reveals myself to you right now. That's how the power of tongues can work. Now, again, not all of us will experience that. Honestly, my experience in tongues, honestly, is more in prayer and more in worship, where there's a sense of intimacy, a sense of joy, praying to God in the language that I don't know, but seeking him in the heavenly language and just feeling an intimacy with the Lord. And there are times when that probably needs to be interpreted depending on the setting, but primarily it's to edify me in worship and in prayer as we read about in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14. But here is the bottom line as we as Christians. We ought to be constantly seeking to recapture everything that Pentecost signifies. Everything Pentecost signifies, the vibrant intimacy with God, the joyful worship, the things that glorify him, we ought to be wanting to recapture those things. And so any of this stuff that seems a little bit strange to you, let me just tell you, don't be afraid of it and don't dismiss it. Let God work as a gift in your life as he desires to do. Be aware that there is a gift and be open to it. Now I'm very much aware that there is such thing as charismania, where people can just act like maniacs.

I get it. But I tell you what I also see more of lately is charisphobia, where people are afraid of the things of the spirit of God. Afraid of the things of the spirit of God. And so let me just tell you what Paul said. And just in case you have never given this any consideration, I didn't write none of the Bible. None of it. So what I'm gonna read to you was not written by me. It was written by the Apostle Paul. Listen what the Apostle Paul said in first Corinthians 14, one through five. Let love be your highest goal. Hear this, but you should also desire the special abilities the spirit gives. Did you hear that language? The Apostle Paul said you should desire the special abilities that the spirit gives. I'm gonna say it again, because I ain't getting enough amens and I don't care what time you get out of here, this is the last service. So I'm gonna say it again. But you should also desire. He ain't just talking to Tyrone P. Jones. He ain't just talking to the staff of CTC. He's talking to you. Hear it again. But you, turn to your neighbor and say you,

should also desire the special abilities the spirit gives, especially the ability to prophesy. For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God since people won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the spirit. So he's telling us speaking in tongues is yes, also by the power of the spirit, but it will all be mysterious. But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. Now look at verse five. He wish, I wish you could all speak in tongues. Turn to your neighbor and say you. He wish you all could speak in tongues. But even more, I wish you could all prophesy so that the church may be built up. Can you say amen to the word of God? That's the word of God. And so when the day of Pentecost fully came, it accomplished a few things. It accomplished the fulfillment of the promise to pour out his spirit upon his people. It fulfilled it. From the beginning of time, the Lord was laying out to the people of God that he was gonna pour out his spirit upon his people.

First, for Isaiah 44, three says, I will pour out my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. And thank God that he has. And thank God he's pouring. and the Spirit upon us, and thank God that blessing goes on down to our descendants. Joel 2, 28 and 29 says this, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my flesh. That's the promise that he gave to the people of Israel in the Old Testament, and he proved that and carried that out on the day of Pentecost when he poured out his Spirit upon all of us. The second thing is the writing of the law on our hearts. Now I need you to think about this again in contrast to what I told you earlier about Moses receiving the law. So remember again, God gives Moses the law, so one man receives the law. That one man has to teach others with the hope that those will teach others. But when he poured out the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, his law that is written on tablets is now written in all of our hearts.

So it's not just one man who gets the law to go around and teach others. As a matter of fact, in those days, they would have to write down the Scriptures over and over again. They would wrap them around their arms or around their forehead to remember the Scriptures because the only way they got the law was it being passed down orally, so they had to write it, they had to note it, and had to do what the law informed them to do. And believe me, reading the Scriptures and memorizing the Scriptures is still good to do. But here's the good news. Now the Spirit of God pours his law into our hearts. So even if we're not in front of a Bible, our hearts and our spirit is the Word of God. It's in the Word of God. Here it is in Jeremiah 31, 33. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they will be my people. Now I believe, I'm hoping you've experienced this in your life, that there's a time that you're speaking with someone, you don't have no Scriptures in front of you, you may not even have a Scripture memorized,

but you hear what's coming out of your mouth is the Word of God. Why? Because the law has been written on your hearts. And so now what comes out of your mouth is what the Spirit of the Lord has poured into you. Am I talking to the right church? Same thing with Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27. It says, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit and I will put within you and I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, which every one of us needs. Every one of us needs a new heart. Every one of us needs to be regenerated. Every one of us needs to be renewed. You can't live unto God with the heart that you got before the Lord changed it. The Bible says this, but do you know your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked? You need a heart change. The Holy Spirit poured out in our lives on the day of Pentecost is that heart change. So he says, I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and watch this, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Do you know why you're becoming better as a Christian? Do you know why you're becoming a better woman,

a better man, a better brother, and a better sister in Christ? Because the Holy Spirit that's in your life. It's not because you've memorized a whole lot of scriptures. It's not because you read your Bible every single day or whatever the things that you do. All of that is good and all of that is true, but remember the Spirit of God has poured his word in you. So there's things that you would have done before. Hopefully everybody you're sitting around can say you're a better person, and you're a better person because of what the Spirit of the Lord is doing. There's some things that you would have done before and didn't even think about it. Now you get ready to do it and say, oh, wait a minute, I don't feel like I should do that. It's not because you know a Bible verse or you remember the Bible verse, but because the word of God is written in you, the Spirit of the Lord is teaching you, that's not something you do as a believer. That's not something you say. He causes us to fulfill his word and fulfill his will because of the day of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Are y'all doing all right out there? And here's the third thing. It's the forming of the New Testament church,

which I would love to spend more time on because it really is a big deal. The church was actually given birth when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened on the day of Pentecost. That's when people went from all walks of life, all cultures, all ethnicities, all backgrounds became one in Christ Jesus with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That's why we can be in this building together as people of God and not be looking at each other based on. on a different race, or a different culture, or a different status, or a different background, or a different religious upbringing. None of that matters to us, why? Because we've been all baptized in the same body by the one spirit of God. We're one family, one church, part of the New Testament church, given birth to Christ, and so, by Christ. So here's the issue on the last thing that I wanna bring out. The importance of Pentecost for us today is that we would not have the power of God to carry out the commission that he's given us. The commission we have in Matthew 28, 19, and the commission that we have in Acts 1, verse eight. It says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And by the way, Yuma's the end of the earth. So we'd be witnesses. We are the witnesses wherever we go, carrying out the gospel in all places. We are the witnesses of God, and there's no way we can do this without the power of the Holy Spirit. The mission would be inconceivable. It would be impossible. There cannot be new life without the life giver. There can be no understanding of God's word without the spirit of truth. There can be no fellowship and unity among us as a body without the spirit. There can be no Christ-like character within us. No fruit. There can be no witnessing the power of God. There can be no life among us without the Holy Spirit. And I'm telling you, a body without breath in it is just as dead as a church without the Holy Spirit. And I'm telling you, I've been in some dead churches, churches that I've walked off and think the best thing they can do is to shut this thing down. There ain't no spirit moving in this place at all. We cannot be who God called us to be without the Holy Spirit. Can you say amen?

It's the producer of fruit in our life, according to Galatians chapter five. The fruit of the spirit comes from this day of Pentecost movement of God and also cultivating an intimacy. The Bible tells us in Galatians 5.5 that the love of God is poured out into us by the Holy Spirit. And so in closing, let me just say this to you. We are probably the most connected generation in history with all the ways that we can be connected with people. And yet, I'm gonna say this generation is the most emotionally depleted. We are the most spiritually anxious people. We're the most relationally fragmented and the most deeply lonely. We got a whole lot of information, but not a lot of transformation. Whole lot of stimulation, but not a lot of peace. We got a whole lot of expression, but no power. I'm telling you, Pentecost and what the Lord done on the day of Pentecost is to remind us as human beings that we can't operate in this life on good ideas or better ideas. We need the breath of God. We need the breath of God. We need the spirit of God. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one-time act, but to be continually filled is something that every one of us as people of God ought to do.

You start your day asking God to give you grace and wisdom and whatever your prayer list, but seeking God to be filled with his spirit that you may live this life in the fullness of him, in the expression that he can give us through the power and through his spirit. It's here in Ephesians 5, 18 through 20. And it says this, don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. You see the counter there, the contrast. He's saying we ought to be filled with the spirit. He said, don't be drunk with wine, it'll ruin your life. If I can rewrite this, I would just say, don't be drunk. Period. Don't be drunk. It always leads to bad stuff. You know that, it leads to bad stuff. Some of you have been drinking long enough. You know when you get ready to cross the line. Nobody should have to take the keys from you. You know when you've had too much. Nobody should have to tell you, you don't need another one. It never leads to good. Just hang with me in a minute. You should have said more amens. This wasn't part of the sermon, but you asked for it. But here it is. But don't be drunk. Look how many people die

because of drunk drivers on the road. And look how many of us have woke up. with folks we wouldn't have never gotten to bed with if we were sober I'm including me BC and BV but it it ruins your life you make the you make decisions you take action actually half the time my grandfather called it ignorant all half the time you out of your mind and you say things do things that cause people harm why don't you trade that life for a life full of the Spirit of God trade that for a life full of the Spirit where you can sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves making music to the Lord in your hearts and give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ he never intended for us to be powerless some believers aren't rebellious some believers are just simply exhausted they love God but they just feel dry they pray and they they just feel empty they attend church but in really they feel powerless Pentecost is not about God doing some strange experiences with strange people no Pentecost is about God refusing to let his people live powerless he wants us to live in power he tells us that he's not just giving us surviving waters he's filling us with living waters that's the promise it's living waters listen to what John Jesus said in John 738 he says whoever believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water rivers of living water now this he said about the Spirit and those who believed in him were to receive we are to receive the Spirit of God and be people of living waters flowing powerfully full of joy full of excitement full of adventure when you got the Spirit of God in your life every day is a new adventure you never know what the Lord is going to do you posture yourself and say Lord what is it that you want I'm giving myself to you you don't know who God will send in front of you you don't know what encounter you'll walk into where it needs a word of peace or a word of hope you never know who God placed in front of you to lay hands on them or just to share your testimony or share your word you never know when you're in the right place right time as the Spirit of God has given has placed

you there because why we're living full of the Spirit and we're living waters living waters there was a the Celtic Christians they use an analogy of the Holy Spirit of the of a wild goose in in their in in their languages geogloss and I may not be quite saying that right for a for a Celtic but they but they typified oftentimes the Holy Spirit is a wild goose because they knew that a wild goose could hardly be domesticated and and they use that language to say the Spirit of God leads us on an adventure from day to day the Spirit of God just takes us from being ordinary people and fills us with courage and holiness and and joy and places us on mission you never know what's going to happen next but it's a life of fullness it's a life of excitement it's a life of energy it's a life of passion I'm telling you the Holy Spirit will disrupt religion if you want your life shake shaking up posture yourself before God and let the Spirit of the Lord fill you up he will shake you up and by caught because of the power of the Holy Spirit according to the book of Acts the world has been turned upside down because of the power of the Spirit of God everybody stand if you would here's the issue it's not a matter of question did Pentecost happen the real issue is prayer team you can come the real issue is are you living the reality of Pentecost are you living reality of Pentecost have you settled to be a believer without power some people have settled to be in the church without power religion without fire activity without anointing but I'm here to tell you because Pentecost has happened your life your heart will be awakened your life will become revived your joy will be full your worship will be dynamic because everything about you will exalt Jesus and I'm telling you your family your household your life will never be the same if you let the Spirit of God fill you up day by day I'm talking to the right church father I thank you now for this opportunity to share your word I thank you for the message of truth and Lord I pray that every one of us Lord that's heard this message and will hear this message for people that understand the power of Pentecost the power of God the work of the Holy Spirit in us and Lord let us posture ourselves and

subject ourselves to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to do that you may be glorified and Jesus will be exalted but we thank you for your grace and for your love in Christ's name we pray amen amen amen the altars are open if you want to commit your life to Jesus or maybe made a commitment and want to share that we're gonna prepare you for the next steps and baptism if you want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit that that's what they're here for or any prayer need that you have the team was here to pray for you God bless you have a great day to us see Jesus Christ There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus There is no one, only you Jesus There is no one, only you Jesus May God bless you church, we'll see you next Sunday Amen.