Replay | Come Holy Spirit with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

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If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

change me to 970-00. Thank you and enjoy the message.

Hey, good morning Hub City. How's everybody doing?

Great!

Alright, that's better. It's good to hear. First service actually, I had to ask that

question twice because they weren't awake yet. So it's good to see that you're alive

and kicking here this morning. If you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into

your home. Now, have you ever tried to talk to someone who just wouldn't listen? Have

you ever tried to teach someone who didn't want to learn or correct someone who preferred

doing wrong? Now, if you're anything like me, I'm raising children and there's those

teenage years where they just seem to know it all. And you share with them and you're

trying to help them, you're trying to help them improve and it just seems like it's an

argument every time. Chances are you've been one of those people that's been unwilling

to listen, learn or make a change. But the truth is, it affects the relationship. The

effects of the relationship are just painful because the relationship becomes stagnant.

Sometimes the relationship ends because where there is no humility, there cannot be intimacy.

See, refusing to receive instruction or hear someone out is in its basic form pride. We've

all experienced it because we're all human. We were born into sin, which means that humility

doesn't come natural to us. We're people that have focused on ourselves. However, I believe

the goal for every Jesus follower should be that we may grow less impressed with ourselves

and more in all of God. John 3 30, we read this, John the Baptist makes a statement.

He must become greater and greater and I must become less and less. See friends, every time

we listen to God's voice, follow his instructions, accept his correction, we fight against our

natural tendency towards pride and our relationship with God strengthens. Today we conclude our

series Miracle Grow where for the last several weeks we've been looking back to look forward.

We've been discussing the values that make HCV HCV, kind of the vision that God gave

us 15 years ago. We kicked off our series talking about passion and how we will continue

as a church to pursue God, to connect with God as a community of faith. That it's our

desire weekly to read the Bible, to pray, to worship. Two weeks ago we discussed how

we relate to others in community that we need each other to grow together. Last week we

discussed Jesus's mandate that he gave the church called the Great Commission and how

we serve the community by serving others. I'm going to challenge you, if you didn't

hear any of those, go back and listen to them on our YouTube channel and today I want to

challenge our community of faith to not stop, to constantly grow in our pursuit of God,

to not become stagnant, to not hit the pause button, to pursue him throughout our lives

which leads to our first thought. See God desires that we pursue him more. All that

we have, right, all that we've been giving, our house, our job, our children, is not all

that God has for us. God has so much more for us. And for so many people though, when

it comes to Jesus and their relationship with Jesus, their approach to it is, well if I

can just get enough. There's so many people that just go through the emotions when it

comes to God. Sunday gatherings become a to do rather than a must have. Growth groups

become non-existent because of a busy schedule. Prayer, worship, Bible reading is a thing

of the past because it's just forgotten. That's just not God's best for you. Because all that

I have, all that we have, is not all that God has for us. He has so much more. Listen

to Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2, 9 through 10. That is what the scriptures mean when

they say, no eye is seen, no ear is heard, no mind is imagined, what God has prepared

for those who love him. Now see, Paul is quoting an Old Testament statement, but it's kind

of a sad statement. And he's quoting it because Paul is basically saying God has all these

plans, he's prepared all these things for his people, but they're missing it. They're

missing out on it. Now some biblical teachers believe that this verse is referring to heaven,

like we're going to eventually get it. But you see as we continue the verse, it's not

referring to heaven, it's talking about today. But it was to us. See, it's present tense

that God revealed these things by his spirit. See, God has given these things to us. And

the word that Paul used for spirit there in the Greek is the word Pneuma. It's where we

get the English word pneumonia, which many of you know is a breathing disorder. The original

meaning of the word in Greek for Pneuma is breath, energy, life, wind. You know, wind

is so unique because it could just come out of nowhere and you can feel it. I was going

to run this week and I was going up this hill and I was just cruising along and this big

wind just came out of nowhere and it just presses against you. So here within this verse,

we're introduced to that term spirit that so many followers of Jesus just don't know

much about. Right? They just don't know much about it and not only do they know much about

it, but they kind of make things up and if anything, avoid it. So when we finish the

verse, Paul says it this way, for his spirit searches out everything and shows us God's

deep secrets. The spirit. So this morning, if it's okay with you, I'm going to go a little

deep. Okay? I'm going to have a theological discussion with you and for those of you that

like the deep talks, this one's going to be deep. So is it okay if we go there? See, there's

so many people that simply do not understand or are afraid of the word Holy Spirit and

it's my goal to make you not only understand it this morning, but want more of it because

I believe living connected to the spirit is not a luxury, but in these days, a necessity.

I mean, we're living in difficult times. It's a lingering pandemic. It's political chaos,

right? It's the right versus the left. It's negative people everywhere we go and I don't

know about you, but I can't do it in my own strength. I need God's power living inside

of me. This church needs God's power to make a difference in our community. Paul says that

he's desperate for this power. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2, 4 through 5. My message, my

preaching were very plain rather than using clever and persuasive speeches. Now remember,

Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He knew the Bible or I'm sorry, the Torah, right?

He knew it in and out. He was a scholar, but notice he says, it's not about my speeches.

I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human

wisdom, but in the power of God. Paul goes on and writes a few chapters later in 1 Corinthians

4, 20, the kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk. It is living by God's power. So this

morning I want to invite you into that power and I want to challenge you that God has so

much more for you. In fact, I want to look at three specific things that God wants for

us and if I was to use the correct theological term given to us biblically, it would be the

term baptism. Now immediately when I said that word, many of you think, well, there's

baptism today. People are going to go under the water or come back up or some of you thought,

well, my infant was sprinkled. Now most people don't know this, but baptism doesn't necessarily

refer to the moment when a person is in water. In fact, the word itself has nothing to do

with water. The word for baptism in the Greek is the word baptizo, which means to immerse

yourself in. In our modern day culture, we would use the term just go all in, you know,

sell out, just be committed. Don't just put your toe in the water like a reference I used

a few weeks back at the start of summer when you kind of dip your toe in the swimming pool

and you think it's just too cold. No, you're like my daughter and my son, you just go all

in. Don't matter how cold it is, you just jump. That's what baptism means. And the Bible

actually refers specifically to three different baptisms that are available to every Jesus

follower and we're going to look at them this morning and the first is this. Baptism into

the church or salvation. Now some of you have never heard salvation referred to as baptism,

but we read this in first Corinthians 12 13. But we have all been baptized, immersed in

one body by one spirit and we all share the same spirit. See, when we give our lives to

Jesus, we don't just begin a relationship with him. We join his family. We're a part

of something bigger than us. Now hear me out. We need Jesus to connect to the father. We

need one another for support, encouragement, prayer. That's why we gather on Sundays. But

God, right, he doesn't want us separate, isolated, alone. What's he desire for us? He desires

that we connect to one another because we're the family of God or the body of Christ. Galatians

three says it this way. You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For

all of you who were baptized, what is it? Immersed in to Christ have clothed yourselves in Christ.

So salvation is the first baptism, which leads to our next baptism or experience, if you

will. And before I make this statement, let me be very clear. These are all separate.

So our second one is water baptism or a public declaration of faith. These two are not together.

We don't have to be water baptized to be in a relationship with Jesus. Now hear me out.

You should, which I'm going to challenge you to do later, and we're going to celebrate

later this morning, but it's separate because if it was together, it would contradict what

is written in the Bible. Ephesians two eight says God saved you by his grace when you believed.

And you can't take credit for this. It's a gift from God. So if the church, if we include

something we have to do to receive salvation, guess what? It removes what Jesus did on the

cross. It removes that connection with God. Now hear me out. There's some denominations

that teach and believe if you're not baptized, you can't get to heaven. In fact, some denominations

teach that if the right words aren't spoken over you while you're being baptized or under

the water, you can't get into heaven. Man, I feel bad for that person being baptized.

They don't even hear what's being said. Right? And they teach that he can't get to heaven.

But listen, we can't give more. We can't serve more. We can't pray more. We can't worship

more. We can't be baptized enough to be in a relationship. It's simply Jesus. It's what

he did on the cross that connects us with God. So that's why they got to be separate.

Now in Acts 2.41, we see the first and the second baptism. Those who accepted his message,

right, they believed, were baptized. That's the second baptism. So you have one and then

two. So what is the second baptism? It's simply letting others know that you are now in a

relationship with Jesus. It's a public declaration and it means you will experience more of God.

It's just not good enough to be a private Jesus follower who keeps everything to him

or herself. God wants more for you. I mean, after all, a practical example, it's why couples

have a wedding. What is a wedding? It's a public declaration of their love for one another.

It's why a man and a woman wear a wedding ring when they get married, right? This ring,

it doesn't make me married to Jessica. What is this ring? It's a public declaration of

my commitment that I made to someone 24 years ago. Now could you imagine, could you imagine

if I said to Jess 24 years ago, hey babe, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my

life with you, but we don't need a wedding. We don't need to spend all that money. We

don't need to let people know we're married. We don't need these rings. We can just keep

it to ourselves. Now I don't know about you, but if I would have said that to her, I would

have lost that fight. All right. I would have lost that fight and I would have been beat

up and black. It would have been, it would have been ugly. It doesn't work. It doesn't

work. It's not any different with Jesus. Once you make the commitment to follow him, it's

time to let everyone know that you want more. You desire more of him. Jesus says it this

way in Matthew 10, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will acknowledge

before my father in heaven, but everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny

before my father in heaven. So let me encourage you this morning. For some of you, you may

be in a relationship with Jesus and you may have been putting off that baptism, right?

I don't need it. I know I'm right with God. I checked that box. Maybe some of you were

baptized as an infant. Dude, you got to make that public commitment. You got to make it

personal. You got, you have to step out and allow yourself to be changed. Now some of

you are like, well, Chris, I'm just not prepared. I don't have the right clothes. Doesn't matter.

Right? It just makes it more memorable. Okay. Just makes it more memorable. We got a shirt

for you. We got towels. We got it all covered. It's the choice of being responsible to God

in stepping out in faith. But it doesn't stop there. The Bible talks about another baptism.

In fact, it talks about this baptism by multiple times more than the first two, which leads

us to our next baptism. That's the baptism in the Holy Spirit. See the first baptism

into a relationship with Jesus. It's about eternal. It's about the kingdom of God. It's

about being with God for eternity. The second baptism is about our public declaration. The

third is about your everyday life, how we live a spirit empowered life. Cause remember

at the beginning I said, God has so much more for you. And remember all three of these are

separate experiences. But again, there are some denominations in the church that teach

if you're not baptized in the spirit, you're not going to heaven. For example, some Pentecostal

denominations teach that if person does not speak in tongues, they're not saved. It's

just not true. It's just not biblical. It's not there. Jesus paid it all when he died

on the cross. Then you're, then you're looking back, okay, Chris, then why should I be baptized

in the spirit? Because God has more for you. He has so much more than you could ever imagine.

Listen to the words of John the Baptist, Matthew 3 11. Listen to this. He says, I baptized

with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God, but someone is coming soon

who is greater than I am. So much greater that I'm not even worthy to be a slave or

carry a sandals. Notice what he says about Jesus. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

and with fire. Now the cool thing is we can read about all three of these baptize baptisms

in one story recorded in the book of Acts. Remember the book of Acts, if you don't know

anything about the Bible, it's a written history of the early church. And in Acts 8, 5 through

6 and 12, we read this. Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people

there about the Messiah. So Philip, this was right when the disciples were scattered, persecution,

you know, they were facing death. So they scattered, but notice while they scattered,

they didn't isolate. They didn't hide. What did they do? They were preaching. They were

sharing the good news. That's what that's what Philip was doing. Crowds listened intently

to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he

did. But now the people believed Philip's message of good news concerning the kingdom

of God and the name of Jesus Christ. What is that? That's the first baptism. They were

baptized into the church. They were immersed into the church. As a result, many men and

women were baptized. That's the second baptism. So they were water baptized. They made that

public commitment. Now let's continue on Acts 8, 14 to 17. When the apostles in Jerusalem

heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there.

Remember in Jerusalem, that was kind of the mothership. That was the big church and they

were sending people out. So they heard that all these people were giving their lives to

Jesus in Samaria. So they sent Peter and John to teach them. As soon as they arrived, they

prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet

come upon any of them for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then

Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers and they received the Holy Spirit.

All separate experiences. The third baptism though, why did they lay hands on it? So that

he could live a Spirit empowered life. Now there's so many people and you may be one

of them here this morning that struggle with this teaching because there's so much misunderstanding.

Let me just say, you don't have to be weird to live a Spirit empowered life. You just

don't. We can live naturally supernatural lives to make a difference in the lives of

others. This, that naturally supernatural, that's one of the vineyard distinctives that

drew me to the movement. Like there isn't any reason to be weird. We can just be natural.

And we can look at the theology. Let's look at the theology of the three baptisms. You

can read about that in 1 John 5, 7 through 8. Someone's alarm's gone off if you can't

tell. 1 John 5, 7 through 8 we read this. For there are three that bear witness in heaven.

The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one. Okay, it's getting

louder. Polo. And these three are one. So it's referring to the Trinity, which is now

in heaven. You have the Father, of course God the Father, the Word. And you say, well

the Word, what's that mean Chris? That's Jesus. Because John when he writes his gospel refers

to Jesus as the Word and then the Holy Spirit. Then there's three that bear witness on earth.

That means here with us. The Spirit, the Water, and the Blood. And these three agree as one.

And you say, Chris, what's that mean? The Blood obviously is salvation. Jesus died on

the cross so that we could connect with God. The Water is that public decoration of water

baptism and then you have the Spirit. The Spirit is the breath, the energy, the wind

if you will, that empowers our lives. There's three. They're all one. They're all together.

But there's so many people that leave the Spirit out. They don't tap into God's power

for their lives. When in reality, what does Paul do? Paul challenges us to be filled.

It wasn't even option. Look at Ephesians 5.18. Don't be drunk with wine because that will

ruin your life. Instead be filled with the Holy Spirit. He says it's not even an option.

You don't choose it. You just make it happen. It's a command. Now I grew up, my church history,

I grew up in a liturgical church. Okay, from four to fourteen for almost ten years or five,

something like that. I was an acolyte. I served in the church. Carried the cross, lit the candles,

prepared communion, did all of that. It was in that church setting, within that liturgical

setting, there was really no teaching of the Holy Spirit. There was really no teaching

about salvation, about a relationship with Jesus. I didn't really understand that because

it was just a lot of religion. It was a lot of up, down, kneel, sing songs, hymnals, and

there's nothing wrong with that, but it just wasn't what I wanted or needed in my life.

I really didn't grow up with a relationship with Jesus and then I began to live life on

my own terms. Fast forward, after many mistakes, hurts, hang ups, questions, you know, whatever

it may be, I was introduced to the Holy Spirit in a charismatic Pentecostal church. Right?

Now my first reaction was, whoa, slow down. I have no idea what's happening here and I

don't like it. Just being honest, you know, I roll into this church service, there's an

evangelist there, he's praying over people, there's people flopping around on the floor

like fish out of water. There's just all this strange stuff happening around me. And in

my mind, Chris said, don't you touch me or you're going to have a problem. And I meant

it. I didn't want anything to do with that person and what was happening around me. Because

it was just weird. It was strange. I didn't understand it. Now, hear me out. I eventually

gave my life to Jesus in that church, which I'm thankful for. Okay, I celebrate it. But

all throughout my time at that church, I was very unsettled. Right? Because I really didn't

fit. It just kind of wasn't me because I found myself dressing up for God and I was in a

suit and a tie every Sunday. And it just, to be honest with you, just really became

religious. You know, just a lot of rules and you put on a mask and you pretend everything's

okay. And I just didn't want that. I just didn't want it. Unfortunately, the church

went through a split, just kind of fell apart. And at that point, God led my family to move

to Syracuse. So we moved to Syracuse and that's where we became a part of the Vineyard. And

that's where I met a family that I fit. Right? I met John and he's kind of my spiritual mentor,

my pastor, if you will. And he's just a normal guy. But he was a normal guy that prayed for

people and we saw healings and he said, hey, Chris, you do you, you be you. And I was able

to bring in secular bands and Christian bands and we packed out auditoriums this size with

five and six hundred kids at these concerts. And it was amazing. And it's like that's when

God called me, spoke to me and he said, you are called to reach people like you. You are

called to reach those that wouldn't go to church. You know, those people that think,

if I walk in the church, the roof's going to fall down on me. I just had a conversation

with that about a guy, a guy coaches my daughter's softball team. And you know, if I walk in

there, the roof might fall on me. I said, don't worry. It falls on all of us every week.

We'd love to have you. But it took me, hear me out. It took me being willing to say yes,

God, in order for that to happen. Yes, God, I want to follow your lead and plan a church.

Yes, God, I want to reach those outside of the church that, let me be honest with you,

it makes church kind of ugly and difficult because we're dealing with people like me

that was full of baggage, right? And struggles and addictions and hangups and hurts and all

those things that we bring into this place. But the last time I checked, that's who Jesus

hung out with. That's who he spent his time with. Now for some of you, just being honest

here, your spiritual life is lifeless because you have prayed and are praying conditional

prayers, especially when it comes to the Holy Spirit. You've seen things, you've heard things,

so your prayer life is kind of like, well, God, I believe in you. I believe in your Son.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. I'm not raising my hands. Whoa,

whoa, whoa, I'm not praying for somebody. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not going out

there and inviting people to church. Whoa, hold on now. I'm not going there. You're only

going to go so far with God if you pray conditional prayers. Does everyone hear that? If you're

not open to all that God has, then God's going to stop in your life. But when we're open

to all that God has for us, you will be overwhelmed with his love and more importantly, his power

and you will make a difference in the lives of others. And I want more of God's power

in me. I want more of God's power in this church and I desire that all of you have that

same passion because I want to be a church where there's signs and wonders and miracles

and healings and it happens time and time and time again because that's what we're called

to do. That's what we're called to do. And it doesn't have to be weird. It can be just

really simple and practical so we can see lives change, which leads us to the question,

well, why are some reluctant? Like, why are you so reluctant, some of you so reluctant

to the Holy Spirit? Well, first one's, some of you are just uninformed. Like you didn't

even know. And if you're here this morning and you're hearing something new or you're

watching online, you're hearing something new, you're in good company. Now towards the

end of the book of Acts, there are still people who don't know about the Holy Spirit. And

if you read through the book of Acts this week, you'll read about people being filled

again and again and again and again, just the filling of the Holy Spirit. It was constant

theme throughout Acts. But then in Acts 19 towards the end of the book, while Paulus

was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus

on the coast where he found several believers. So here you got Paul, he's out sharing, right?

And he runs into believers, Jesus followers, and he asked them a question. Did you receive

the Holy Spirit when you believed? He asked them. No, they replied. We haven't even heard

that there was a Holy Spirit. See, these people have not experienced more of God. They were

believers. They were, they were in a relationship with Jesus, but they weren't filled with the

Spirit of God. And we have to understand salvation is just the beginning of all that God has

for you. It's the starting point of your eternal life. And as you start with salvation, there's

so much more of Him as you experience Him daily. Some are just uninformed, just uninformed.

For example, some of you here today, and when I mentioned the word charismatic earlier,

immediate year your mind went to, oh, charismatic, I know all about that, right? There's this

weird horn that gets blown, or there's people running in circles around the church, or they're

gonna put me in a seat and I'm gonna put my, they're gonna put my hands, their hands on

me, or they're gonna make me say things that I don't really believe, or do weird things.

Or worse yet, they're gonna make me handle snakes. Now, some of you thought that, right?

When you heard charismatic, listen to this. The word charismatic comes from the word charisma,

which simply means to be gifted. That's all it means. It means receiving God's spiritual

gifts. That's all charismatic means. But yet there's all these misinterpretations based

on what you've seen, heard, or experienced that don't line up with what the Bible teaches.

All charismatic means is being full of God's spiritual gifts, which I believe in 100% and

one for you. The Holy Spirit is so much better than you think. Don't be uninformed, desire

to be filled with his power, which leads us to our next misunderstanding, if you will.

Some are apathetic. Some are apathetic. Listen, Jesus warns us not to be lukewarm or

lazy when it comes to the kingdom of God. In fact, he says, if you're lukewarm when it

comes to my kingdom, I'm gonna spit you out. Jesus desires that we go all in, right? He

doesn't just want our toe in. He wants us immersed, right? He wants us a part of it.

He doesn't want us just showing up to church on Easter and Christmas and when there's a

baptism or a special occasion, oh, it's Crumpy Sunday, I gotta get there, get my Crumpy Fill.

Now he wants more of you. There's a scientific term called entropy. Entropy is how energy

is measured and dispersed. And entropy's thesis statement says that if you leave anything

alone, it doesn't stay there. It gets worse or declines. It gets less than. And that is

what some of your spiritual lives look like. You just allowed yourself to become stagnant.

And if we're able to operate and function with the gifts of God and have so much more

with the Holy Spirit, why wouldn't we want it? Romans 12, 11 says, never be lacking in

zeal but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Which leads us to our next reason

or misunderstanding. Some of you are just fearful. Some of you think, well, if I go

all in with God, he's gonna ruin my life. You know, I might have to quit my job. Oh,

my gosh, I'm gonna have to change my habits. I'm not gonna be able to watch that TV show.

Man, I'm not gonna be able to drink as much as I do. I mean, Chris, I ain't going all

in. I mean, he might move me and my family to Africa and I'll have to live in a hut.

Listen, man, you're just making stuff up. You're making up excuses. That's all that

is. Now, I'm not saying God won't call you to Africa. Maybe he will. But I haven't seen

any yet, right? Some of you are just scared of the things of God. You're scared to operate

in his power. And can I be honest with you guys? If you're fearful, you're believing

a lie. The enemy is whispering in your ear saying, you can't do this, you can't do that.

Don't go all in. Who have you doing this? And then the enemy's blaming me and you're

all looking at me like, see, I knew he would say this, that, and that. They're just lies.

And you say, well, Chris, how do you know that? Well, James 1.17 says, whatever is good

and perfect is a gift coming down for us from God our Father who created all the lights

in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. When it comes to the things

of God, he can't produce bad. It's all good. It's all good. So my point is, what are you

waiting for? What are you waiting for? The only thing that can come out of going all

in with God is good. Don't allow fear to lock you down in your relationship. So I'm going

to charge you this week with one action step. Right? I'm not going to have three or four

and let you choose which one you want to do. One. Are you okay with that? Because I believe

that if you walk this out this week, your life will be changed. Daily be filled with

the Spirit. Daily be filled with the Spirit. And you're just like, well, can I really do

that, Chris? Yeah, look, Paul commands us to do it in Ephesians 5.18. Don't be drunk

with wine because it will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. We read

this in Acts 4.8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and

elders of our people, Peter, right, how many of you experienced a stressful situation this

week? Put your hand up. Some of you that don't, put your hand up anyway because I know you

did. Thank you. Okay? Like all of us went through some form of stress this week. I get it. Peter

was in this stressful situation. He was standing before these powerful men. They could literally

sentence him to death. And at that critical moment, Peter was what? Filled with the Spirit.

Now the crazy thing is, listen, that wasn't the first time that Peter was filled with

the Spirit, right? He was filled with the Spirit multiple times before. In fact, Peter

was filled with the Spirit in John 20, 22 when Jesus breathed on them. Look, again,

he said, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. Then he

breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. That was before it even happened at

Pentecost in the book of Acts. But then in at the book of Acts, at Pentecost, Peter was

filled with the Spirit with all the other disciples than what looked like flames or

tongues of fire, appeared on each of them and everyone present was filled with the Holy

Spirit, began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them the ability.

Right? So there it is again, filling. Peter in Acts 3, 6 through 7 is walking down the

road towards the temple, of course. Right? And notice what it says. Peter said, I don't

have any silver or gold for you, but I'll give you what I have in the name of Jesus

and Nazareth. Get up and walk. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think Peter did

that in his own strength? What was he full of? Whew. Because last time I checked, I didn't

see you guys walking around saying, hey, get up and walk in Mike's name. Nothing's going

to happen. Nothing's going to happen. Peter took the lame man by the right hand, helped

him up, and as he did, the man's feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened.

Right? The filling of the Holy Spirit is not a one time event. It's something that we need

to experience all the time so that we're living in God's fullness. It's literally a constant

filling. It's continually asked to be filled. It's a repeated receiving of the Holy Spirit.

Why do you think we pray? Come Holy Spirit. Because in our weakness, right, we need his

strength. Listen, I want to challenge you today. If you're skeptical, I don't care who you

are, I don't care how long you've been here. If you're skeptical, if you're wondering,

will this work for me? This is my challenge for you. Give me one year of your life. Give

me one year of your life. Now, do we have the flower thing, the spaceship thing? If

you give me one year of your life and you go all in and you go to start with why and

you go to team up and you become a part of now what? You get in a group, you help others

grow, you begin to pray for others to speak in others' lives. You give me one year and

you commit to it full time going all in. You don't make excuses on Sunday. You're here

when you can be, unless you're sick and then I'll come and pray for you. It's all right

and then you'll come. Sorry, that was tangent. But anyway, you're just all in. You'll have

the best year of your life. And then if you don't at the end of that year, go do something

else. Go do something else. Right? Go talk to Tom Cruise. He'll tell you all about Scientology.

It won't work. But you go all in here. You go all in with God. You have the best year

of your life. I believe that. Do you? Again, it's a choice. And I would close with a story.

This is a cool story. I was reading it this week. It's from the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel

47, you can go back and read it yourself, but it talks about, it refers to this river

that was flowing through the temple, which it was a prophecy speaking to the Holy Spirit

flowing through the church and being a part of the church. And in Ezekiel 47, 3, it says,

measuring as he went, he took me along a stream. And he took out a tape measure and he measured

1,750 feet and he led me across this river, if you will, and he led me into the water

and it was up to my ankles. You know what that's a picture of? That's a picture of salvation.

You're in. You're in a relationship with God. You're eternal. You're going to heaven. But

then it didn't stop there. He measured another 1,750 feet and led me further out. This time

the water is up to my knees. That's your water baptism. Right? You see it? You see it happening?

But it doesn't stop there. It's another 1,750 out and it's up to his waist. Maybe you're

in a group. Maybe you're committed. You're going all in. You're serving others. Then

he mentioned another 1,750 feet and he said, it's too deep. I can't walk anymore. He was

swimming. He was swimming in the river. And it says this, there will be swarms of living

things wherever the water of this river flows. Living things. Fish will abound in the Dead

Sea for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. And

friends, that's a picture of going all in with the Holy Spirit. Amen. Will you stand

with me? Will you stand with me this morning? Listen, it's going to be a real simple request,

like a real simple action step. If you're here this morning and you're like, Chris,

I want to go all in. I want more of God. I just want you to put your hand up. I'm going

to pray for you. Yep. Put them up. Put them up. If you're here and you want more of God,

just slip your hand up. Now hear me out. Keep your hand up as I pray because I believe for

some of you that God is going to fall on your life. It's going to be immersion. That the

Holy Spirit, some of you are going to experience the Holy Spirit like you never have before.

You may weep. You may feel chills. You may feel or sense. It's almost like the wind blowing

against you. That's God saying he's walking with you. Amen. So Holy Spirit come. You see

the hands fall on each and every person that says they want more now in Jesus name. Rest

on us. Rest on us, Spirit. Lead us and guide us, God. Make us a people that is desiring

so much more. Your signs, your wonders, your miracles, God. Praying for others, sharing

with others. Allow us to be a people of your Spirit in Jesus name and we said together.

Amen. Now, now hear me out. Now listen. Some of you just need to get your ankles in. Right?

If you're here this morning, no one looking around. It's a private thing. You know I do

it every Sunday morning. It's a private thing between a person, between someone and God.

If you're here this morning, you haven't made that first step. You haven't been baptized

into the family of God. Maybe you've walked away from God. You're questioning God. You

turn your back on God. Whatever. Maybe you're just lazy. You don't want to be spit out.

Today's your day. No one looking around. It's personal. If there's anybody here like that,

today's your day. Slip your hand up so we can pray with you. Yes, God. Come Holy Spirit.

Yes, God. Yes, God. You know we all pray together. Jesus, I'm broken, full of sin, doubt, shame,

regret. I need you. I believe you're God's son. I believe you died for me. Make me new.

Fill me now with your Holy Spirit. Allow me to impact others. In Jesus' name. Amen. Yes.

Amen. That's awesome. Now listen, if you're getting baptized, if you could make your way

up here to the front row, if you signed up to be baptized, cool. We're going to do it

here in a minute. If you didn't sign up and you're like, Chris, I want to get baptized.

Maybe you just gave your life to Jesus. Come on up, man. We got you covered. All right.

We're going to baptize you right now because that's what they did in the Bible. That's

what we're going to do here. Okay. So if you signed up, come over here. Now listen, there's

one other thing I want to mention before we sing. Is there any way if we sing to close?

Can we get a little rowdy? All right. I got a new song for you I'm excited about because

I want you guys to get a little rowdy. But anyway, there's a guy back there named Dalton

and he wants to start a young men's group, 18 to 25. If you're 18 to 25 and you want

to get around other like-minded guys to pray for each other and encourage each other, see

Dalton at the well going afterwards. But this is a new song. It's called rest on us. It's

been wrecking my life for the last two months. And I want to encourage you. It's a simple

song, right, Lauren? Simple song. But if you sing the words, if you extend your arms, if

you allow God to use you, man, you're going to be changed. It's all about the Holy Spirit

falling in this place. So can we sing out loud? Is that all right? All right, let's

do it.

All right.