Amazing Acts - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. God's good. Amen. Come on,

give him a hand. He's worthy. Can't give him

too much praise. Hey, before we get started going

into the word this morning, I'm going to ask

if the Tangier mission trip team would make their

way to the front. They're getting ready to leave

this week. to go out and do missionary work.

I don't know how many of them are here. We got

a couple. Could you give them a hand as they

come up? Come on. There's a few representing

from LifeHouse, but it is a large team. Charlie

and Laura are leading this team this year. There's

how many total this year going? 49 individuals

are going to be leaving for Tangier. And Bruce,

I know, is already down there. There's several

here that are here this morning. And here's what

we're going to do. Church, I'm going to ask you

to stand up one more time. As the team slides

together here, I want you to extend your hand

this way. A couple of you, if you're comfortable,

just jump out of your seats right now. Come up,

lay hands on this group. Come on, if you would.

If you're comfortable doing that, prayer team,

I know some of you are. We're going to pray over

this team. We're trusting the work that they

do. I got to go to Tangier just about a month

ago, and I understand now. It's one thing to

see a missions project. It's another thing to

go. And they're going down to do the work, but

more importantly, they're going down to be the

hands and feet of Jesus. Amen? That's what we

do everywhere. If you would, church, extend your

hand this way. And we're going to begin to pray.

Father, I thank you for the opportunity, God,

that has laid before us. God, I thank you for

this team who's made the commitment. God, they

have made the investment. God, they have prayed.

They have sought you. And they are going down

to work. And most of all, they're going down

to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Lord, we pray.

We're hands and feet. And then it's gospel all

the way. So, Lord, I pray that as this team comes

together, Lord, with so many others, God, from

other churches, Lord, as they go to serve, I

pray that you're blessed. would be upon them,

that your hand would be upon them. God, protect

them as they work, as they labor. God, as they

serve first and share the gospel right alongside

of that work that they're going to do. And Lord,

we give you praise. We give you glory. God, I

ask that your will and purpose would be done

in the work that they're about to do and will

not fail to give you praise for all the increase

in the kingdom of God. In Jesus' name, we pray

this. And the church said. Amen. Amen. God bless

you. Give them another hand as they go to serve.

They're leaving this week, and I don't know how

many of you have looked at the weather. It is

going to be hot where they're going. And they're

going to be fighting heat, the bugs, and every

other obstacle that comes up. But we're just

trusting that God's going to use them in a great

way, like He always does. When we commit, we

place our small effort in His hands. He does

something with it. I don't know how he does it,

but he does it every time. It's true. Well, we

have spent the last multiple months, actually

since the beginning of the year, working our

way through the book of John and completed the

book of John, and now we're going to slide into

the book of Acts. And I haven't preached every

scripture. We haven't gone down by scripture,

but we have worked down through chapters of John,

and now we want to slide into the book of Acts.

The book of Acts or the Acts of the Apostle is

the fifth book in the New Testament. And it really,

it ties the gospels of Jesus and the epistles

together. It's lodged right in between. It's

believed that Dr. Luke was the writer, the author

of this book as the Holy Spirit moved upon him.

And it really chronicles the birth of the church.

We are the church. Amen. All those thousands

of years ago, the birth of the early church is

chronicled in the book of Acts. And the key theme

that you're going to see all the way through

the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit empowering

believers to fulfill what Jesus called or what

we call that Jesus spoke is the great commission.

Jesus spoke a commission to the disciples. That

commission has been handed down to us as followers

of Jesus. And we hear that, the directive, the

orders, if you want, the mission that Jesus gave

his disciples to go and reach everyone across

the face of the globe, across this planet with

the message of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts,

like all books, will deepen your knowledge of

who Jesus is, what Jesus is about, and what God's

plan is for us personally and honestly across

the world. It really is. And I'm excited to jump

into the book of Acts. But before we go into

the book of Acts, we're going to rewind just

a bit. Anybody ever just rewind something? I

know we don't do that anymore, right? We just,

it's digital now. But how many remember cassette

tape player? Thank you. All right. Had a rewind

button. Some of you young people look it up.

It's a thing. All right. You would rewind. We're

going to back up just a little bit, and we're

going to go into the 20th chapter of John, and

we're going to start at verse 18. And as you're

turning there, I'll pray, and then we're going

to set the scene a little bit, and we're going

to jump into Scripture. Lord, thank you for this

time together. God, we pray over our ears, our

hearts, our minds. God, as we take in the Word,

Lord, change us. Guide us, direct us. Holy Spirit,

fill us full. of your presence, God, that we

might go forward, God, in your power, Lord, to

reach others in Jesus' name. And amen. Amen.

So we're in John chapter 20, and we're going

John 20 · chapter mention

to pick up at verse 18. And I want to give you

just a little backstory to get to this place.

You need to know a little bit where we are in

the timeline of what's taking place. Jesus has

died, he's been buried, and he has risen from

the grave. That's what's taking place right when

this is all going on. He's completing the plan

of God to redeem us from sin. His shed blood

has become the sacrifice for sin, right? He has

conquered death, hell, and the grave, coming

out of the grave. It is now the finished, completed

work. Jesus did it all at the cross. He paid

all the price that needs to be paid for sin.

It all happened and took place when he stepped

out of that grave. And now Jesus is beginning

to appear. to his disciples. He's came out of

the grave. This is post -resurrection time, right?

And over the course of 40 days, Jesus will show

himself to more than 500 witnesses. So in John

John 20:18

chapter 20, verse 18, it says this, Mary Magdalene

was one of the first that Jesus showed himself

to. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples

that she has seen the Lord and that he had spoken

these things to her. And then the same day at

evening, being the first day of the week when

the doors were shut, where the disciples were

assembled for fear of the Jews. Now, let me stop

there for just a second. Jesus is risen from

the grave, but the disciples don't know it yet.

And they're actually, they're kind of freaking

out, all right? They're hiding. Jesus died. He

was crucified. The religious leaders, right,

they came and got Jesus, arrested him, crucified

him. He's in the grave. They don't know Jesus

is resurrected yet. And they're kind of worried.

They're like, we're probably next, right? They're

going to come after us. So they're in a room

with the door shut in fear. This is when this

is taking place. Jesus came. Now, Jesus, they

shut the door for fear of the Jews. Jesus came

and stood in the midst and said to them, peace

be with you. And when he had said this, he showed

them his hands and his side. Then the disciples

were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus is appearing

to the disciples the first time, post -resurrection.

And they're locked up in a room. They're worried

about what's going to happen next. All of a sudden,

he appears in the locked room, and he shows them

hands. Hey, guys, it's me. I'm alive. Here's

the holes in my hands from the crucifixion. Here's

the spear hole in my side. He's shown them, and

they're glad. They're excited to see him. They're

almost probably blown away, right? Almost unbelievable.

So Jesus says to them, now listen to what Jesus

says. Peace to you. As the Father has sent me,

I also send you. And when he said this, he breathed

on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.

It's Jesus' first interaction with the disciples

post -resurrection. And he first speaks peace

to them. He comes in and says peace. But then

he says two very important things. He said, as

the Father has sent me, I also send peace. you.

He's commissioning them. These are his 12. These

are some of his closest disciples, some of those

who followed him very closely all along for three

and a half years. He says, as the Father has

sent me, now I send you. He begins to commission

them. And we'll read in Matthew 28, he says that

further in a deeper manner in Matthew 28. And

then it says, then he breathed on them and said

to them, receive. the Holy Spirit. Now, I want

you to do something just to get the feel for

what's happening. I want you just to breathe

for a second. Go ahead. Just draw in and breathe

out. Just blow it out. Breathe in and blow it

out. Jesus comes in the room, he commissions

them, and he breathes on them, and he says, receive

the Holy Spirit. This is the same breathe that

you see in Genesis chapter two and seven, when

God breathed life into Adam, he creates Adam

and he breathes life into him. Jesus is breathing

new life into these disciples. These disciples

have been worried. They have been freaked out

about what's going on and they're locked up in

a room in fear. And he breathes into the new

life. And he says, be empowered, right? Receive

the Holy Spirit. go into all the world and preach

the gospel. He authorizes them. It's Jesus authorizing

and empowering the disciples as he's getting

ready to leave and ascend once he appears to

all these witnesses who are going to see him.

Jesus knows he's about to leave this group. He

knows that they're going to be on their own.

He knows that they're going to have to go into

all the world and preach the gospel. Jesus commissions

them, right? He gives them the objective. And

then he imparts the Holy Spirit. Receive. Now,

when we talk about the Holy Spirit, so many Christians

get a little tense sometimes. When we start talking

about the Holy Spirit, they're a little confused

sometimes. About what we're talking about, because

it's easy for us to understand the Father in

Scripture, right? The Creator, God of all. We

understand the Son, Jesus, who was Savior and

Lord and died on the cross. But for some reason,

people start to get a little murky when we start

talking about Holy Spirit and God's power in

our life. And He's in us, and He dwells in us.

And we talk about the baptism of the Spirit.

People start to get murky, and they start to

misunderstand. But Jesus was sent. Jesus sent

us the Holy Spirit. Jesus is sending us out to

bring people into the kingdom of God. Others,

right? Let me say it again. Jesus sent us the

Holy Spirit because Jesus is sending us out to

bring others into the kingdom of God. Jesus sends

the Holy Spirit. He imparts the Holy Spirit to

us. It's salvation. to empower and to authorize

us to begin to share the gospel with other people.

He breathed onto disciples at that moment in

time when he meets with them in that locked up

room. And we see later in Matthew 28, 18, he

speaks this same commission. that he spoke in

John. It says, Amen. Holy Spirit is given to

empower the disciples and to empower me, to empower

us, to authorize us, to minister to others. He's

there so that we begin our international ministry,

right? Our missionary work into all nations.

Now, most of you are like, wait a minute here.

I just came to hear a message. Now you're saying

I'm going to do an international missionary work.

What? Right? You talking about me? No way, pastor.

I just came to hear a message this morning. I

don't want to hear anything about an international

ministry thing. I don't know. Listen, if you're

saved, if you're redeemed, if you're blood -bought

and the shed blood of Jesus has saved you, he's

called you to international ministry. He said

to go into all the world, right? You're an international

missionary. Surprise! You're supposed to go everywhere.

Surprise. He might be like, I didn't even sign

up for that. Well, it's automatically assigned

to you as a believer, as a follower. Kevin and

Kayla, are they here this morning? Kevin and

Kayla, I don't think I saw them this morning.

But Kevin and Kayla are part of our church. And

they're in the process right now of becoming

international missionaries. They've been going

through a very long, arduous process of actually

being credentialed to be missionaries. Their

heart is to go to Italy. They're probably going

to start out in other locations first as they

go. And they're working through this credentialing

process. And it's a slow process. But the first

step in the process for them is the first step

in the process for all of us is that it is. heavenly

process. It's not a credentialing thing, but

it is defined authority where the Holy Spirit

is sent to us, and he commissions us, Christ

commissions us to go reach everybody, to go get

everybody, right? To go in places, and it might

not be an organization that you're going to go

and get credentialed with, but he commissions

us to go. It's one of the reasons, it is the

reason that Jesus breathed on the disciples.

He commissioned them, and he breathed the Holy

Spirit onto them and said, go. Right? No joke,

for reals. You're an international missionary.

Raise your hand in the house if you're a missionary.

Y 'all should put your hands up. I just told

you you were. All right? And listen, your international

ministry might be in your backyard. It might

be you just need to go to your neighbor. How

many know that's somewhere in the world, right?

That is somewhere in the world. You might need

to go to your backyard. You might need to go

across town. You might need to go down the street.

It might be in the next state somewhere. The

Tangier team's getting ready to go a couple states

away, right? It might be something like that.

Or God might even call you to go international,

and you'll have to go through the credentialing

process. And you might say, well, I feel overwhelmed

by that. You should. I do. Right? That's way

bigger than me. That's something that's beyond

anything I even think. You might be thinking,

man, I don't know about that, right? You might

be thinking, I had a hard enough time just trying

to keep myself on the straight and narrow, let

alone helping anybody else. Some of you are like,

I had a hard time getting out of bed today, let

alone going and doing some kind of international

ministry kind of thing. I'm just trying to get

through another day. I'm with you. I hear you.

But Jesus said, he... The disciples were locked

up in a room, hiding in fear. And Jesus comes

in and commissions them, and he brings on them

the Holy Spirit. This is how he does it. Jesus

knew the commission was way bigger than they

were, right? He knew that they would need Holy

Spirit to overcome their fear. He knew that they

would feel super inadequate, super underqualified,

super underpowered. He knew we would be just

like the disciples, like hiding in a room somewhere,

like, I don't even know. I can't even take care

of me sometimes. Jesus knew this was way beyond

us. He knew it. He never, I can tell you, in

the halls of heaven, Jesus never looked at me

and thought, you know, international ministry,

I think he can handle it. He never did that,

right? He's probably looking at me and going,

he's going to need the Holy Spirit. He's going

to need them bad, all right? That's what he saw.

That's what he saw. Our whole lives are, hmm,

but God. Our whole lives. Our whole lives are,

hmm, but God. Our whole lives. Jesus breathes

Holy Spirit. He imparts Holy Spirit to the disciples

and commissions them. Peace to you. As the Father

has sent me, I also send you. Let that soak in.

Let that get in your spirit. But Jesus says something

really interesting a little bit later. He tells

this same group of disciples, after I leave,

go to Jerusalem and I want you to wait for a

promise. He says, I want you to wait for further

empowerment. Go and wait for the Holy Spirit

to show up in a different manner and in a different

way. And you might be thinking, well, wait a

minute. Didn't Jesus just breathe on the disciples

and they had a Holy Spirit? Yes. But he sends

them to Jerusalem. He says, go wait for the promise.

He says something different. If you're in Acts,

go to Acts chapter 1. We're going to dive into

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Acts verse 1. It says this, the former account

I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began

both to do and to teach until the day in which

he was taken up, after he through the Holy Spirit

had given commandments to the apostles whom he

had chosen, to whom he also presented himself,

we just read about it, alive after his suffering

by many infallible proofs, being seen by them

40 days and speaking of things. pertaining to

the kingdom of God. He talks about this, right?

And being assembled together with them, he commanded

them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait

for the promise of the Father. He says, after

I leave, after I'm gone, after I'm done being

seen by 500 witnesses, after you're done talking

to me and I'm talking to you and pointing to

you, go wait in Jerusalem. He commanded them,

don't depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the

promise. Say the promise. of the Father, which

he said, you have heard from me. For John truly

baptized with water, which is a baptism of repentance

in God's word, but you shall be baptized with

the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Once

Jesus leads the disciples, they are to go to

Jerusalem and they are to wait. For the promise,

which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or baptized

with the Holy Spirit, is really what the Word

of God says. It's what it says plainly, right?

Jesus breathes on them, and they receive the

Holy Spirit. Sometimes you'll hear that terminology

used, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That

happens in salvation. Holy Spirit comes into

your life. At salvation, He's there, right? But

then He instructs that there's a separate experience.

There's something different. Go be baptized with

the Holy Spirit. Go to Jerusalem and wait. There's

this separate experience. And we are to become

baptized with the Holy Spirit. Just like the

disciples were to become baptized. The word baptized

means immersed. We do water baptism here. We

do it by immersion, okay? I loved it. The last

time we did baptism, we had 14 people baptized.

And I loved watching some of them. Once in a

while, people, when I'm baptizing them in water,

they stiffen up. We tell them not to, but they

get stiff. And ours is a sitting down pool. And

a couple of them, man, they got stiff. And when

I dunked them, I saw their feet come up, whoop,

out of the water and right back down, right?

We immersed them. I did. We got the first part

wet and then the second part wet. And they were

immersed into the water. They went down under

the water. And really, if you look this word

up here, it's to be immersed. It's to wash. It's

to plunge. It's to be imbued. It's to go. It's

saturated. It's deeper. purpose and significance

that affects throughout the whole. If you look

this up, it's what it speaks, right? Jesus told

his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait there

to be washed. Wait there to be immersed. Wait

there to be plunged. Wait in that place to be

dipped in the Holy Spirit's presence. Wait for

the baptism. You're going to be baptized. And

we all know this, right? We know that. How many

know you can be? There's a difference between

being in someone's presence. and being baptized

in their presence. I don't know if you know that

or not. There's a difference between the two.

I can be in somebody's presence and not necessarily

be baptized in their presence. If you're dating

somebody right now, you're in somebody's presence.

You're learning about them. You're getting to

know them. You're finding a few things out. But

how many know when you get married, you're baptized

into their presence? Amen? You start to see things

you never saw before. My wife's going, right?

Come on, right? When you marry them, some of

you single people need to listen up. All right,

this is true. You get baptized. You get immersed

into their presence. You can catch a sense of

what somebody's like in their presence, and you'll

learn about them, and there's this relationship

that takes place. But when you get immersed in

their presence, it changes. You find out what

they're really like. This even happens on a mission.

trip. We just got back from Guatemala a couple

of weeks ago. And when you go on a mission trip,

I know some of the people that before we go on

these mission trips, right? I'm in their presence.

When you go on a mission trip, you get immersed

in their presence. You really do. You're spending

every minute together. You're going, you're flying,

you're getting to the hotel or wherever you're

staying, right? Bunkhouse, wherever you're staying.

Where we went in Guatemala, there's a bunkhouse

for the men and there's a bunkhouse for the ladies.

So we're all sleeping in bunk beds in the same

room. I got immersed in some presence, some of

the people. I can tell you who went on the team.

I can tell you who snores. I can tell you who

talks in her sleep. I can tell you who grinds

their teeth. I can tell you some of them just

roll all night long, just flipping over and over,

right? We get immersed in, you know, when you're

in the mission ship and they're out there with

a hammer, swinging a hammer, and they hit the

wrong nail instead of hitting the nail, they

hit their thumbnail. How many of you get immersed

in their presence? You start to find out what

was in the inside, starts to come out on the

outside. It's true. Jesus told his disciples.

Go to Jerusalem and wait to be dipped in my spirit.

Wait to be dipped in my presence. It's going

to be different. 1 Corinthians 6 .19 says, or

do you not know that your body is a temple of

the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have

from God? You are not your own. You get immersed

in him. We fill up this temple with Holy Spirit.

It's not like out in the world, right? Baptism

isn't just bunking with someone for a week, man.

It is immersed. It's dipped. It's empowered.

It's authorized. And, you know, as you read through

Scripture, one of the interesting facts that

I caught reading through there is that we read

in Scripture that Jesus showed himself to over

500 witnesses following his resurrection. But

if you read in Scripture, there's only 120 that

go to the upper room. I thought that's interesting.

He shows himself to 500, but just 120 decide

to go, you know, into this upper room. Only 120

decide we're all in, right? We're going to go

up and be plunged. Jesus sent the promise of

God so we can fully immerse ourselves, so he

can further commission us, authorize us, empower

us by the Holy Spirit, so we can tangibly feel

his presence, so we tangibly know his power in

our life, so we're tangibly empowered to go,

to go reach someone else. So we influence the

world around us. We need him. We need Holy Spirit.

We need him as a guide. We need them as an empowerment.

It's true. Some years back, and I can't remember

how many years. I'm terrible with this sometimes.

Dixie will probably be able to say it out to

me. But we went on a family vacation, and we

had the opportunity to go on an excursion. We

were on a boat, and we got the opportunity to

go on an excursion. And it just so happened,

it was on January 19th, which is my birthday,

if you want to get me something, just saying.

You know, it was my birthday, and we went on

this excursion for the day. And I was pumped

because where we were going was Belize. It was

a little country of Belize. And we were supposed

to go, and the excursion was this. We were going

to get off the boat, and we were supposed to

go and tube through the caves in Belize. And

I'm like, I'm in, right? There's water. You get

on a tube. You swim some. And you do a little

tour through the tropical forest, getting to

the caves. I'm all about that kind of thing.

I'm like, let's go. This is awesome. And so we

signed up for this thing, paid for it. And you

know what the first instruction was for this

particular mission for the day, right? This thing

that we're going to go do. They tell you, get

off the boat. There's going to be a van that

you're looking for with your guide inside. So

we get in this van, right, with, I don't know,

half a dozen other people. I don't remember how

many were there. But there's this guy inside

that we begin to get to know. And he's the guide.

And I find out that he's a survivalist. He's

the kind of guy, he's an expert in the jungle.

This is the kind of guy that can go into the

tropical rainforest. You drop him in by helicopter,

he can live there for a year, come back, and

he's got a tan and he's good, right? The rest

of us die, right? This was the kind of guy. And

he was the guide. He knew the tropical rainforest.

He knew where we were going. He knew all of these

things. And he walked us through as we did the

hike. He walked us through when we got up to

the boats. He knew what to do, what to touch,

what not to touch, what was poisonous, what was

not poisonous, right? All of it. He knew which

tree you could eat off of, which one you should

never even get near. He knew all of it. He knew

the bugs, the animals, anything that could harm

you, the things that, I guess you could eat bugs,

I don't know. But he knew all this. And the thing

is, the guide, he could not just survive out

there, but he could thrive. And because he was

with us, we didn't just survive it, but we thrived

that day going through this little tour that

we did through the tropics and then on these

floaty things going through the caves. Nobody

got injured. Nobody got hurt. We all enjoyed

ourselves. We all learned a bunch of things.

That's what the Holy Spirit, God instructs him

to go to Jerusalem. And he says, you need to

wait because I'm sending you out to do something

that if you don't take the Holy Spirit with you,

if you do not get empowered by Holy Spirit in

this new way, you're going to get taken out,

man. You're going to go into the jungle and your

knees are going to get taken out from under you.

You're going to go share the gospel and they're

going to eat you alive. But the Holy Spirit will

not only help you survive, but you will thrive

wherever you go. Amen? He's the guy. I need that.

I don't know about you, but I need that. Every

week I stand in this pulpit, I pray, Lord, Holy

Spirit, if you do not come with me, I'm just

going right there and sitting down and somebody

else can do it. I need him. I need him. I need

him. I need to be immersed. I need to be dipped.

I need a different experience because it's not

easy sometimes. I can't see what's out ahead

of me. Holy Spirit can. I don't know what's in

my future. Holy Spirit does. I don't even know

what's around the next corner. Holy Spirit does.

And he sends them to Jerusalem. And the disciples,

while Jesus is telling them this, just like the

disciples, I love the disciples because they're

so real. They're a lot like me. They don't get

it the first time around. Dixie says things about

three times because I don't get it the first

two times. And that's kind of how the disciples

work. Because if you read Acts 1, verse 6, Jesus

Acts 1:6

is talking to them. He commissions them, right?

He tells them about the Holy Spirit. You know,

he talks about the Holy Spirit. And then listen

to what... you know, the disciples begin to say,

they don't get it. They don't even catch it quite

at first. Because in Acts 1, 6, it says, therefore,

when they had come together, they asked him,

they asked Jesus saying, Lord, will you at this

time restore the kingdom of God, of Israel? Jesus

talking about the world, going into everywhere,

sharing the gospel. And they're like, hey, Jesus,

back to Israel. By the way, we have these Romans

that keep, you know, lording over us. You know,

is this the time where we rise up? You came back

from the grave. Is this a time we get empowered

by the Holy Spirit and we take out Rome? They're

not even totally getting it yet. And Jesus said

to them in verse seven, he says, it's not for

you to know the times of the seasons, which the

father has put in his own authority. And he gets

them right back on track. He goes to one eight

and he says, but you shall receive power when

the Holy Spirit has come upon you is when you

go to Jerusalem and you shall be my witnesses.

And you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem

and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends

of the earth. What am I trying to say? Holy Spirit.

puts the amazing in our witness for Jesus. He

does. He puts the amazing, right? Spirit baptism

puts the amazing in our witness for Jesus because

he's amazing. He's the one. And I know, as I

look out over this crowd, maybe those listening

online, there's hundreds of stories in here of

Jesus' redemption, right? You might have got

saved, and he might have pulled you out of the

ditch. He might have pulled you out of the mess,

the mud, the sin, the mire. And if you tell your

story, we're going to be in awe of what Jesus

did. You might be able to detail what a train

wreck you were spiritually and emotionally and

physically and the bondage. that you used to

be under and the trauma that you've walked out

of, right? And you were going down for the third

time and he pulled you up. You might have an

amazing testimony to share of God's grace and

you should share it. You should tell people what

Jesus has done for you. You have a testimony,

give it, right? And God needs to empower that.

Or you might even have a boring testimony. How

many of you feel like you got a boring testimony?

You grew up, come on, thank you, all right? You

grew up in church. You're like, I got saved at

seven. I went to the altar. That's it. God's

awesome, right? I think that's the most awesome

testimony in the world, honestly. He kept you.

He saved you. And you're like, people telling

all these, like, he drugged me out of drug abuse.

And, you know, I was down. And you're like, yeah,

I got saved at seven. It's been awesome ever

since. That's an awesome testimony, by the way.

And your testimony might lead somebody to Christ

and it might inspire them for a moment to follow

Jesus. But how many know sometimes people hear

your story and they're like, man, that's awesome

for you. I've heard that so many times. That's

awesome for you. Man, I'm so glad God did something

in your life. That's awesome for you, right?

Sometimes they're inspired for about 10 minutes

at a time. Sometimes it's not even that. And

I need the Holy Spirit in my story. I need, you

know, the witness of Christ. I need the power

of God somehow on display in a story. And sometimes

it's just a sense that people have, like, I don't

know why, but God's in it. You feel kind of like

what you felt in praise and worship this morning.

You can just feel them moving. You can feel him

shift. Sometimes he does so much more. Because

if you go to Acts chapter two, verse one, the

120, they go to the upper room and they get baptized

in the spirit. Look what happens. Watch what

happens. When the day of Pentecost had fully

come, this is Acts chapter two, verse one, they

were all in one accord in one place. And suddenly

there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty

wind. Now you got to remember, the author here

is trying to describe what this looks like. There's

120 people in his upper room. Holy Spirit shows

up. He's baptizing them in the Holy Spirit, and

they're trying to come up with words. Did you

ever try to describe something? You're like,

well, it's kind of like this. It's kind of like

that. That's what he's doing. That's what's happening

right here, right? It says, when they were in

one accord in one place, and suddenly there came

a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind.

So it sounded like wind. And they filled the

whole house where they were sitting. Then it

appeared to them divided tongues as of fire,

and one sat on each of them. It's kind of like

there was wind, and it kind of felt like there

was fire on each one of them, and they were all

filled with the Holy Spirit. They were baptized

in the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other

tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And

they were dwelling in Jerusalem. Now, and all

of Jerusalem around them, devout men from every

nation under heaven. And when the sound occurred,

the multitude came together, and they were confused

because everyone heard them speak in their own

language. And when they were all amazed and marveled,

here's the amazing part, this is Holy Spirit,

not them, right? And marveled, saying to one

another, look, are not all these who speak Galileans?

And how is it that we hear our own language in

which we were born? Parthians, Medes, right,

and Alamites, those who were dwelling in Mesopotamia

and Judea and Cappadocia and Pontius in Asia

and Pamphylia, I got them backwards, in Egypt

and all the parts of Lydia joining Cyrene, visitors

of Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and

Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues

the wonderful works of God. So they were all

amazed and perplexing to one another. Whatever

could this mean? These individuals are baptized

in the Holy Spirit, and they go out into the

streets, and they begin to witness. But they're

going out to witness to people they don't know

the language of. They speak a different language.

I was just in Guatemala. I was on my app, man,

like trying to bumble through getting through

three or four words. They get moved on by the

baptism of the Holy Spirit. The power of God

comes upon them, and they speak in perfect dialect

to the people that are in Jerusalem. And they

talk about the wonderful works of God, and it

blew people away. They're like, what? These are

Galileans. They don't speak our language. What

is this? 3 ,000 people come to Christ that day.

This is the first church plant. This is the first

church. 3 ,000 people are saved because the disciples

went out commissioned, right? Full of the Holy

Spirit. Immersed in the Holy Spirit. Full. Not

worrying about their inadequacies because it

wasn't them. It was Holy Spirit. Worship team,

if you'd come. If you go further into Acts, and

we'll hit this eventually as we work through

Acts. In Acts chapter 4, it starts with verse

Acts 4 · chapter mention

5. Peter and John one day as disciples and followers

of Jesus. Jesus is in heaven. Holy Spirit's come.

They've been baptized in the Holy Spirit. They're

walking into the temple and there's a lame man.

And they stop and they're like, hey, you know,

the lame man's begging. And they're like, we

don't got any money, but... but we have, we'll

give to you. And they grab his hand and they

pull him up and he's healed instantly. And the

word of God says that, you know, everybody's

rejoicing, but the religious leaders are not

rejoicing because they didn't like Jesus. They

don't like the disciples and they arrest Peter

and John. And the word of God goes on to say,

if you go further down in that chapter in verse

eight and then down into 13. It says that they

brought him in before these religious leaders,

these educated. Now, these are people, in modern

days, it would be people who have doctorates

in ministry. They're drugged before these people

who are educated, who are, you know, they're

versed in the Old Testament. A lot of them have

to memorize, I think it was the first five books

of the Bible, some of the people that were in

these courts. They're drugging before these people,

and Peter and John begin to speak, and they're

amazed. Because they know these are uneducated

men. These are fishermen, right? Peter's a fisherman.

And they come in, and Peter and John begin to

speak and answer for the power of God and Jesus

who healed this man. And the Word of God says

that they were stunned. They were amazed, right?

I'm paraphrasing. What was that? It was the Holy

Spirit. Luke 12, 11 says, when they bring you

into the synagogue and the magistrate's authorities,

when they bring you before the authorities, do

not worry about how or what you should answer

or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will

teach you in that very hour what you ought to

say. He's the power of God. He's the amazing

in your testimony. He's the only way, right,

that we can go and be completely empowered. So

I'm going to ask you to stand this morning. I

just got a question for you. And just be honest

with yourself. You don't got to be honest with

me. I want you to bow your heads. But you got

to ask yourself the question, do I want to be

immersed in the Holy Spirit? Do I want more and

more and more of his amazing in my testimony

of Jesus? Do I want more of that? Do I want to

be baptized, immersed in his presence? The Holy

Spirit's amazing in my acts of service to God.

Do I want that? And as your eyes are closed,

I know some of you right now, your heart's leaping

right out of your chest. You want immersed. You

want more of the Holy Spirit. You want to be

baptized fully in the Holy Spirit. You need more

of that. Some of you, it'll be for the very first

time. Some of you, you've experienced what I'm

talking about, and life is just... drug you down,

and you're like the disciples, man. You're hiding

in a room. You've locked the door. You're freaking

out in fear about some things in your life, and

you just need Jesus to come and breathe on you.

and fill you for it and begin the process of

baptizing you. Some of you are listening to me

this morning and you're like, I'm not sure about

this baptism stuff, Holy Spirit baptism. I need

to learn more. That is perfectly okay. I tell

people, dig in, man. Go into God's word, research

it, find it. You'll find it there. Just look

at what God has to say. Research for yourself.

If some of you are in curiosity stage, awesome.

Love it. Just keep seeking. Just keep looking.

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