Come Holy Spirit Part 2 | Are You Empowered? with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected

or to give online, please go to hdv .church .connect

or hdv .church .give. If at any point during

this message you feel called to make a change

in your life, text CHANGEME to 97000. Now enjoy

the message. Hey, good morning everyone. Sorry

about the parking issues. You can blame that

on me. Actually, you can blame it on God. He

had something going on during our first gathering.

Just a couple quick additional announcements.

There is no car wash today because there's thunderstorms

all afternoon. We are going to try to schedule

one for the Youth Missions Trip, maybe next Sunday

or the following. Also, too, next month, we would

like to launch some summer growth groups. If

you'd like to open your house, invite people

over. have some relationship with them, maybe

eat together and then discuss Jesus. We have

everything that can make that work based around

our series, God's at War. We'll put it in your

hand. You don't have to prepare anything so that

that can take place. See Rudy if you'd like to

start a growth group next month. So last Sunday

was supposed to be our communion Sunday, but

I wanted to open our series with some worship

at the end so that we could just wait. on God.

And I thought a great way to kick off week two

of our Holy Spirit series is just to open with

communion because this is a great way to just

lay aside any distractions. It's a great way

to get ourself right with God before we launch

into this challenging talk that I've been challenged

with all week. So if you need an element, put

one hand up. If you need gluten -free, put two

hands up. And Rudy and the crew is running around

now. So as they're getting you your elements,

please remember here at the Vineyard, we practice

or share communion together as a community of

faith once a month. We don't view this as just

something that we do. This is actually spoken

to us from Jesus, commanded to us that we do

this regularly. And why do we do it? Because

we can have an encounter with God. We come before

God. We bear our heart before him. We have him

search our heart. If there's anything that's

between us and God, I want to challenge you,

lay it down before we partake so that you can

be made right and be living an abundant life.

Amen? So Holy Spirit, come. God, search our hearts.

If there's any sin, if there's any unforgiveness.

If there's any judgment in our hearts, God, reveal

it now to us so that we can be made right with

you. May we lay it down at your feet. May we

be a people of your presence. On the night he

was betrayed, Jesus took bread. He broke it.

He gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat.

This is my body, which is broken for you. Do

it in remembrance of me. Let's eat. Holy Spirit,

we lay down anything that's between us and you.

God, we want to be made right with you in this

instance, in this moment. If there's anything,

if there's a barrier, if there's sin, if there's

shame, forgive us. Allow us to be real with you

this morning. Likewise, after supper, Jesus took

the wine. He said, this is my blood, which is

shed. For you and for many, for the forgiveness

of sins. Drink it often, and when you do, do

it in remembrance of me. Let's drink. God, have

your way with us this morning. Open our ears,

our minds, more importantly, our hearts to receive

all that you have for us, God. I just pray that

you would silence distractions now in Jesus'

name. We just silence those distractions in Jesus'

name. And we ask that your Holy Spirit would

come and have your way. In Jesus' name. Amen.

So the book of Acts is the original template

for the church. The blueprint, if you will, that

Jesus himself laid down for all of us to follow.

Today... Many churches move away from this blueprint.

And remember, this is the church that we read

about in Acts that changed the world through

prayer, preaching, and power. But it seems the

opposite is happening in the church today. You

look around the United States, there's double

standards, moral compromise, failure, and little

to no power. It was said in the early church

that they turned the world upside down. You can

read that in Acts 17, 6. And by the way, that

was a criticism, not a compliment. They were

frustrated at all that God was doing. The book

of Acts is the story of a handful of men and

women who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, didn't

leave their world the same as they found it.

They were ordinary people who, again, empowered

by the Holy Spirit, were able to do extraordinary

things. It records the beginning of a movement

that continues to this very day, which we are

now. a part of. So we are in the middle of our

June series, Calm Holy Spirit, and last week

we answered the question, who is the Holy Spirit?

If you missed that, you can go back to our YouTube

channel, sign in, check it out, and listen in.

But we discussed that the Holy Spirit is actually

the third person in the Trinity. And here at

HTV, we believe in the person, the power, and

the presence of the Holy Spirit. Now, one of

the biggest misconceptions in our culture today

is that true maturity is independence. I can

do anything by myself. I don't need anyone to

help me. See, there's this movement within our

society that says, just do it. Do you. You are

powerful. But the reality is, apart from the

Holy Spirit, whatever we gain in our own power,

we have to sustain in our own power. So let me

ask you, how's that working in your marriage?

How about raising those little children in your

house? How's that working in your own power?

What about our work or our school or our finances

or even our relationships? Whatever we gain in

our own power, we have to sustain in our own

power. And this is why the Holy Spirit is so

important to our lives. He, meaning the person

of the Holy Spirit, empowers us daily. So we

don't have to live life in our own strength.

Randy Clark says it this way. The Holy Spirit

is not a doctrine to be studied. He is a person

to be experienced in power. This is the same

power that filled Jesus as he was led into the

wilderness in Luke chapter 4 to be tempted. This

Luke 4 · chapter mention

is the same power that rose Jesus from the dead.

Jesus instructed his disciples, don't move. Wait

for the power of the Holy Spirit to fill each

of you before doing anything else. See, I believe

today God desires to empower all of us. Gathered

here, even watching online. Thank you for joining

us online to be empowered by the Spirit, which

leads us to our first thought. See, the Holy

Spirit empowers. followers of Jesus. Let's first

define the word empowers. To empower means to

give someone the authority or power to do something.

To give someone the authority or the power to

do something. So I want you to keep that definition

in mind this morning as we discuss how the Holy

Spirit empowers the church. Remember, the church

is you and me to turn our community upside down.

To transform it for God's kingdom. Jesus spoke

these words to the disciples in Luke 24, 49.

And now I will send the Holy Spirit just as my

father promised. But stay here in this city until

the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with the

power from heaven. Now notice Jesus says that

they and we will receive power from heaven. Now,

these words have been studied and discussed for

hundreds of years by scholars that are much smarter

than me, leaving us with two distinctly different

viewpoints or categories, if you will. The first

being, although the Holy Spirit's position in

the Trinity, meaning the Father, Son, and the

Holy Spirit, has not changed, his power or manifestations

of his power has ceased with the early church

that we read about in the book of Acts. This

viewpoint is called sensationalism. For our community

of faith and those churches that are part of

the Vineyard Movement, we believe the Holy Spirit's

position in the Trinity has continued, meaning

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the third

person of the Trinity. But also, his manifest

power and presence has continued into today.

This is called continuationism. meaning the miraculous

signs, wonders, and miracles that we read about

in the book of Acts are still in operation or

available today. Again, Jesus' words in Acts

1, 7 through 8. And please remember, the author

of the book of Acts is the same author as the

book of Luke, right? So this is essentially Acts

2 .0 or the gospel of Jesus 2 .0. And Luke writes

this. He replied, the Father alone has the authority

to set those dates and times, and they are not

for you to know. But you will receive power when

the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You will be my

witnesses, telling people about me everywhere

in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and

to the ends of the earth. Now notice in both

of these instances, it is recorded that the disciples

had to wait. They had to wait to be filled with

the Holy Spirit. And if we're honest with our

lives, and especially in this culture, we no

longer understand what it means to wait. We are

a very impatient people. Simply think about your

microwave. We can now cook food in a matter of

minutes. True or false? But for many of us, we

open that microwave door with at least 10 seconds

left because we're so impatient. We're hungry.

We're ready to eat. We can't even let it fully

cook. We have to grab that food out and start

eating. And then we burn the top of our mouth

and the skin flies off of it because we are what?

We're impatient. Waiting is hard. But here's

what happens when we don't wait on the Holy Spirit.

That's when we begin to move in our own strength,

bringing with it frustration, anger, resentment,

unforgiveness, and all the opposites of a spirit

-led life. And like I said earlier, when we move

in our own strength, then we have to sustain

on our own strength. And for too long, the church

has been sustaining life in their own strength,

and we have been given a bad image. Because that's

when the relationship with Jesus becomes frustrating.

When we try to do it in our own strength, we

quickly become frustrated. Paul writes these

words to Jesus' followers in Rome, Romans chapter

Romans 8:10–11

8, verses 10 through 11. And Christ lives within

you. So even though your body will die because

of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you

have been made right with God. The Spirit of

God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in

you, church. And just as God raised... Christ

Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your

mortal bodies by the same spirit living within

you. So here's the reality. This morning, I believe

God wants us to have an encounter with him that

is unexplainable. An encounter that changes the

very course of our life. And this happens when

we realize, maybe my view of God is not big enough.

Maybe I've placed God in a box, in my perfect

little church box, and I want him to stay there

because I'm afraid what the full picture of what

he wants to do in my life looks like. To that

I say, there's always more when it comes to our

relationship with Jesus. We should always be

desiring more and more and more, which leads

us to our second thought. You see, Jesus followers

choose to be empowered. Everyone say choose.

Yes, we're filled with the Spirit when we believe,

but we choose to be empowered by the Spirit.

Now, what I'm about to read to you actually happened.

This is an actual account. So as I read these

words, I want to encourage you, close your eyes,

silence any distractions. And remember, this

is 120 people gathered in an upper room and listen.

As God breaks in. Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through

Acts 2:1–7

7. On the day of Pentecost, all the believers

were meeting together in one place. Suddenly,

there was a sound from heaven like the roaring

of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house

where they were sitting. Then what looked like

flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled

on each of them. And everyone present was filled

with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other

languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

At that time, there were devout Jews from every

nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the

loud noise, everyone came running and they were

bewildered to hear their own languages being

spoken by the believers. They were completely

amazed. How can this be? They exclaimed. These

people are all from Galilee. Then verses 12 and

13, they stood there amazed and perplexed. What

can this mean? They asked each other. But others

in the crowd ridiculed them, saying they're just

drunk, that's all. See, I believe that was the

birthplace of supernatural ministry. Those people

gathered around the disciples. Some were amazed.

Some were perplexed. Meaning, some understood

and were in awe of what had just happened. They

heard the good news being shared in their own

language, which made no sense. While others were

confused to the point that they began to ridicule,

mock, and judge the disciples. They're just drunk.

See, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, and particularly

Holy Spirit encounters, we don't always understand

what's going to happen. But we have to be open

to allowing God to move in our life. And the

most important thing we read here is that the

filling of the Holy Spirit was a personal encounter

for each of the 120 disciples. Did everyone hear

that? What looked like flames or tongues of fire

appeared and settled on each of them. And that

tells us that the filling of the Holy Spirit

is a personal encounter for each of the disciples

and friends. It's a personal encounter available

for us today. But we have to choose to be open

to that encounter. See, we can choose to live

our everyday lives without the Holy Spirit. But

unfortunately, that leads to rules -based religion

that turns away from God. And more importantly,

it turns others away from God and makes them

judge us and not want to be a part of our community

of faith, especially our young people, especially

our children. See, Jesus promised this life of

abundance, and we're only going to walk in this

abundance when we choose to be filled with the

Holy Spirit. We can't do it in our own strength

because we're a sinful, broken people. Paul had

this encounter in Acts chapter 19, verses 1 through

Acts 19:1–6

6. While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled

through the interior regions until he reached

Ephesus on the coast, where he found several

believers. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when

you believed, he asked them. No, they replied,

we haven't even heard there is a Holy Spirit.

Then what baptism did you experience, he asked,

and they replied, the baptism of John. Paul said

John's baptism called for repentance from sin,

but John himself told the people to believe in

the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.

As soon as they heard this, they were baptized

in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul

laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came

on them and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.

See, in our culture today, many people believe

or have this idea that if we don't know it already

or we haven't read about it, we can't experience

it. But in this encounter, Paul says to them,

did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were

baptized? And notice that simple question within

it. They were not arguing about the Trinity.

They were not discussing the theological framework

for the person of the Holy Spirit. They didn't

even know there was a Holy Spirit. But God still

moved in power. See, God is changing the lives

of people that many of us have counted out long

ago with our labels and judgments. See, God touches

people that may not have the right theology,

but they have the right experience with him.

What does Paul do? Paul shares the good news,

right? He points them to Jesus. They believe

and are baptized. Then what does he do? He lays

his hands on them and they receive the Holy Spirit.

In other words, they chose to receive the Holy

Spirit. These believers wanted more. And in so

doing, they said, yes, I choose. And this morning,

my question to you is, will you? Will you? Which

leads us to our final thought this morning. See,

the Spirit -empowered life is for others. The

Spirit -empowered life is for others. 1 Thessalonians

1 .5. For when we brought you the good news,

this is Paul writing to the church. It was not

only with words, but also with power. For the

Holy Spirit gave us full assurance that what

we said was true. And you know of our concern

for you for the way we live when we were with

you. Paul, when sharing the good news with the

church in Thessalonica, shared it with words

and power. Meaning, he shared the good news.

He pointed people to Jesus. Then he moved in

the power of the spirits and signs, wonders,

and miracles. See, when a person receives the

Holy Spirit and is walking in the authority,

they can literally airdrop it into other people.

See, remember, Jesus tells the disciples, freely

you have received, so freely give to others.

But unfortunately, quite often, this is where

the church gets it wrong. And it's okay if I'm

going to step on some toes, because I will. See,

many in the church believe that encounters with

the Holy Spirit are for themselves. And they

travel all around the country, even all around

the world, for more and more Holy Spirit encounters.

When in reality, a Spirit -empowered life is

for others. We're supposed to freely give it

away. And so many people get frustrated with

the Spirit and the moving of the Holy Spirit

because they only see this craziness and they

don't see it being given away. But think about

how airdrop works in our phones. It's kind of

an amazing phenomenon that I don't truly understand,

just being honest. But you literally can touch

your phone to another person's phone and you

can share a contact. You can share. Like a website.

You can share a picture. Whatever it may be.

Just by touching a phone. It happened. I was

doing a wedding two weeks ago. And I was sitting

beside a gentleman. He wanted to know about our

YouTube channel. He wanted to watch online. I

hope you're watching online. God bless you. Because

you know who you are. And he goes, just touch

my phone. So I airdropped it. I touched his phone.

And sure enough, our YouTube channel went into

his phone. He's like, yeah, I got it. I'm like,

wow, that's cool. But we also must remember when

we airdrop something, the other person has to

accept it. So my question to you, are you accepting

all that God has for you? See, God wants to airdrop,

wants to empower you with his presence, with

his spirit. But quite often we hit cancel because

we're afraid of all that God has for us. Now,

it's interesting. I was studying this week Jesus'

discipleship model for his disciples. If you

go through the Gospels, you'll quickly realize

that Jesus' discipleship model is nothing like

ours. It's not the flower of power. See, Jesus'

discipleship model for the disciples was, I'm

just going to release you and your God -given

talents and abilities and go out and bring heaven

to earth. When in reality, much of today's discipleship

in the church is telling people, hey, you're

doing it wrong and this is how you need to change.

accountability has become focused on, hey, you're

doing it wrong. And it's strictly focused. Accountability

is strictly focused on a person's character.

Now hear me out. I believe character is very

important. Let me say that. We have to live and

walk out what we believe, but I also believe

that accountability should be about pushing one

another to be filled with the Spirit and to be

on fire with God. But see, it's constantly pointing

to people, you're not reading the Bible enough.

You're not praying enough. You're not doing enough

devotions. You're not, you're not, you're not,

you're not. No wonder people don't like the church.

See, the gospel has to be character and power

flowing together. And I believe we have to get

back to that way of leading in the church. Now

hear me out. Our flower of power is a way for

you to get involved in our community of faith,

use your gifts, give back, and ultimately serve

others. Because I believe when you give your

life to Jesus, you're a new person. So if you're

here this morning and you're in a relationship

with Jesus, you're online and you're in a relationship

with Jesus, you're a new creation. You are a

new creation. So since you're a new creation,

allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you

need to change while you're out in the community

serving the poor. It's both and. How do I know

that? Well, Jesus spoke these words in Mark 16,

15 through 18. And then he told them, go into

all the world and preach the good news to everyone.

Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved,

but anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.

These miraculous signs will accompany those who

believe. They will cast out demons in my name

and they will speak in new languages. They will

be able to handle snakes with safety and if they

drink anything poisonous that won't hurt them,

they will be able to place their hands on the

sick and they will be healed. Now notice, notice

what Jesus said. He who believes and is baptized

will be Saved. Did Jesus not say that? All right,

let me say that. Let me ask you the question

again so that you're engaged because I think

you're getting a little off. Notice, did Jesus

say he who believes and is baptized will be saved?

There we go. That's salvation. Then in the next

verse he says, these are the signs that will

follow those that believe. These are the signs

that will follow those who believe. That means

those that were believed and baptized are saved.

Notice what Jesus didn't say. They will argue

and convince people that they are wrong and believe

truth. He didn't say that. Notice Jesus didn't

say they all have a theology that is perfect.

Didn't say that. Notice Jesus didn't say they

will read their Bibles for two hours a day. Did

he say that? These are the signs. They will speak

in new languages so that they can share the good

news. They will cast out demons. They will lay

their hands on the sick and they will be healed.

They will have an unstoppable faith. So now,

ask yourself, are you a follower of Jesus according

to that definition? Because that's a big difference.

Are you walking in the power of the Holy Spirit

or do you simply have a good philosophy about

it? See, the goal of the Bible is not that you

just know the Bible, it's that you know the author

of the Bible. And the author of the Bible is

God. Again, Jesus challenges his disciples. You

ready? You ready? We're going to keep going.

To move in power, Luke 9 .1. One day, Jesus called

together his 12 disciples and gave them the power

and the authority to cast out all demons and

to heal all diseases. Pause. Please understand,

these guys are fresh off the boat. What I mean

was, they were just fishing. He calls them out,

says, follow me. Now here we are in Luke 9, 1,

and he says, oh, I'm giving you power and authority

to cast out demons and heal diseases. Then he

sent them out. To tell everyone about the kingdom

of God and heal the sick. Now, in just a few

verses, the disciples return from their assignment

and they're blown away. They're full of excitement.

They're like, Jesus, we did the stuff and it

worked. We did what you told us to do. And these

disciples were not mature believers. Did everyone

hear that? They're learning to follow Jesus.

I mean, they're not even saved until he's risen.

And one of the first things that Jesus does is

to send them out in pairs, expecting the kingdom

of God to come to earth and to do the stuff.

That's what he tells them to do. Fast forward

to today. So many in the church believe that

a person has to be discipled, trained, worthy

of walking in God's power. Are you saved? Have

you been in the church for a year? Okay, then

you can pray for someone. Did Jesus do that?

No. You read all through the gospels. The disciples

go out. They make all kinds of messes. Then he

brings them back, he corrects them, he teaches

them, and then he sends them out again. The point.

In the Gospels, in the early church, Jesus' followers

were people who actually walked in the power

of the Spirit. They were seeing signs and wonders.

Not just people who understood how to read the

Bible really well. Or do devotionals. Again,

are they important? Yes. I'm not shortcoming

any of those things. But what I'm saying is a

lot of times we put all these roadblocks in front

of people to live in the abundance that God has

for them. Then they get frustrated. They throw

their Bibles down. They leave the church. Put

your hand up. Some of you are that way. You're

like, I'm sick of church. They're trying to tell

me how to live my life. They're trying to do

this and that. And Jesus just says, go do it.

Now, the funny thing is, the funny thing is,

this is how our community of churches, the Vineyard,

began. On Mother's Day, 1980, John Wimber, who's

the founder and the most influential leader of

the Vineyard movement, invited Lonnie Frisbee

to share a message that I'm going to share with

you right now. Now, please understand, hear me

out. This is from 1980. Which means that many

of you weren't even born yet. So, bear with me.

The audio is not that great. It's crackly. But,

listen to the story. Are you ready? Alright,

let's watch. The first time that the Lord Jesus

Christ sent His Spirit in great power among us,

I was fit to be tied for days. I was so angry.

I was so upset. I wanted to get out of a ministry.

I said, no way am I going to put up with it.

Why, that's absurd what God did. Of course, I

wasn't absolutely sure it was God. But even after

I was convinced it was God, I had difficulty

with it. And I want you to know that. When God

began moving among us, this particular night,

we were having a church service, and in fact,

that Sunday afternoon, I was coming out of the

church service. It was Mother's Day of all days,

Mother's Day. If you think you'd be safe in church

on Mother's Day, I'm walking out of the church,

and God says to me, tell that young man to preach

tonight. Well, I'm not in the habit of just telling

any old young man. to preach in my church. And

I said, and particularly that young man, because

I heard he was a little strange. And I said,

Lord, do you want me to have him preach? And

the Lord said very clearly to me, yes. So I went

up to him and I said, Lonnie, would you like

to preach tonight in my church? He said, oh,

yeah. I've been waiting for the chance. I thought,

oh, no. Lonnie, he's given his testimony and

his pathos in it. a time you weep a little bit,

and you salute a couple times, and he's telling

you some great verses, and you're laughing, and

just having a wonderful time. I'm thinking, what

was I worried about? This is great. You know,

God, you're so good. And then he does the weirdest

thing I've ever even heard of. Everything's going

good, you know, and all of a sudden he stops

and he says, well, that's it. He says, you know,

the church has been offending the Holy Spirit

a long time, and he's quenched, but he's getting

over it, and we're going to invite him to come

and minister now. Come, Holy Spirit. Whammo!

The Spirit of God comes. And people start fighting.

Well, first of all, he says, everybody 25 years

and under, come forward. Well, in our church,

that's everybody. You know, they're all coming

up there. There's hundreds of them up all crowded

around the stage. And he says, come Holy Spirit.

And the next thing I know, people are falling

and bouncing in there. And they're laying on

the floor and they're talking like turkey. And

one kid, he falls, and the microphone falls with

him. You know, and it's laying right in front

of his face. And he's speaking in tongues, you

know. I mean, I'm not talking about two minutes.

I'm talking about 45 minutes he's talking through

that microphone. And we're wading through bodies,

you know, trying to get over to him. And we can't

get the microphone off, and we can't get to him.

And Lonnie is going like a banshee. You know,

he's running through the crowd. and raising his

hands and you know and i'm thinking he's pushing

people over he's knocking them down but he's

not even touching them he's walking by and they're

going wham wham you know and falling everywhere

and i'm and i'm thinking oh god oh god oh god

oh god get me out of here well over the next

few weeks and months the phenomena continued

to occur often unrehearsed often without any

kind of bleeding from us it would just happen

in places our young people began roaming the

community in packs. We would see them sometimes

in parking lots and in front of houses, raising

their hands and praying for people, and wham,

they would go. That was in May. By September,

we had baptized over 700 new converts. Evangelism

was occurring everywhere. Those were the ones

we baptized. The best we can figure, there may

have been as many as 1 ,700 new converts in that

three and a half month period. But the ones that

we baptized, the ones that came toward us and

became involved in the fellowship, was approximately

700. God was on the move. I had never seen evangelism

like that. I had never known that there was that

kind of power. Now notice, notice how Wimber

shares. I was freaked out. I mean, he was honest.

He was like, I wasn't excited about all this

happening. I didn't know what was going on. I

was trying to turn microphones off. Everything

was out of control. But when God's in control,

what did it lead to? Incredible growth. Could

you imagine what would happen? Could you imagine

what would happen if we saw 1 ,700 people experience

Jesus over the next three months? Think about

what would change. Think about... Think about

how we would respond. Because here's the reality.

Some of you would leave and not come back because

you lost your seat. Well, Chris, there's a homeless

guy sitting in my seat. But dare I say that's

my desire for our community of faith. I desire

that each of you walk in your calling in following

Jesus' mission on this earth. And what was Jesus'

mission? Luke 14. The Spirit of the Lord is upon

me. He has anointed me to bring good news to

the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives

will be released, the blind will see, the oppressed

will be set free. And the time of the Lord's

favor has come. So that means if you're here

this morning and you're in a relationship with

Jesus, we are called to share the good news.

We pray for the sick, the lame, the broken. We

see them healed. We see them set free. We feed

the poor. We serve the forgotten. See, church,

we're going to have a voice and speak into our

culture when God moves in power. Because when

those things start happening, culture, our people

in our community, they start taking notice and

they think, what is going on there? Because the

power is not just for here. It's for others.

It's to see God change our community. Leonard

Ravenhill says it this way. The world is not

waiting for a new definition of the gospel, but

for a new demonstration of the power of the gospel.

And he's inviting all of us to participate in

my question to you this morning. Will you respond?

Will you be empowered? Three simple steps. Are

you ready? First, you have to say yes. The Father

alone has the authority to set those dates and

times, and they are not for you to know. But

you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes

upon you. You will be my witnesses, telling people

about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout

Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

See, Jesus won't force you to accept an abundant

life. Jesus won't force his power on you. Jesus

won't force you to walk in your calling. We always

have the right to say no, but also remember Jesus

won't force his blessing on anyone either. See,

we can daily walk through this life refusing

the power of the Holy Spirit while pretending

to say yes to God, but God says there's so much

more. Get to choose. Which leads us to our next

step. Once you choose. Once you say yes. You

receive God's authority and power. These miraculous

signs will accompany those who believe. They

will cast out demons in my name. They will speak

in new languages. They will be able to handle

snakes with safety. And if they drink anything

poisonous. It won't hurt them. They will be able

to place their hands on the sick. And they will

be healed. See accepting God's authority and

power. Means that we have this inner freedom.

Where his power and his guidance. allows us to

trust in the Holy Spirit. See, he opens our minds

and our hearts to believe the truth of the Bible.

He speaks through us the words of life and freedom

to others. He leads us to serve, to pray for

the sick in Jesus' name. Will you walk in that

authority? And finally, our final step, you follow

the promptings. You say yes. You receive that

authority. You walk in it. And you follow the

promptings. For all who are led by the Spirit

of God are children of God. So you've not received

the Spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead,

you received God's Spirit when He adopted you

as His own children. Now we call Him Abba, Father.

And that means we surrender our right to try

to be perfect in our own strength. And we only

operate and invite the Holy Spirit to empower

us to move forward so that we can release others

from the bondage that they are trapped in. Amen?

All right, so listen. I need you guys to make

me a deal, okay? I don't want to end yet because

I want to pray. But after we pray, I need you

to get out of here because the parking lot's

going to get jammed again, okay? But that's okay

because I believe this is important, okay? Yesterday,

I was at a baseball game for about eight hours.

It was a doubleheader. And it was hot and it

was sunny and I was texting people and encouraging

people and studying and reading and doing all

these things. And my phone got to that point

where it said, low power. Do you want to switch

to power safe mode? Or whatever it says. You

know what I'm talking about? Power safe mode.

And I said, sure, because I had another two hours

at the field. And when I hit that button, I felt

like God said to me. That too many in the church

have been operating on low power for too long.

Will you stand with me? So listen. Here's my

call. If you're 26 or younger. If you're 26 or

younger, I want you to come up here right now.

26 or younger. See, I love young people. I mean,

they like run to the front. Like you old people,

you'd be like, oh, it's not me. Look at this.

26 or younger. Fill it. Come on. Come on, guys.

Get all the way up front. There's a lot of people

coming. There you go. It's awesome. Yeah, you

can come over this way, guys. Come over this

way. There's plenty of room over here.