He's Coming in the House!

Hey my Gateway family.

I am so excited that I get to be with you all this weekend, Pentecost Sunday.

I'm so excited to give the word, but first can I say I miss all of you all.

I thank God for all of you all.

I love you, Pastor Robert.

I love you, Pastor Debbie, my entire Gateway family across all campuses.

I just want you to know that I miss you, and I can't wait to the family reunion.

It's going to be spectacular.

Right before we get into the word, I just want to let you know that I wrote a book and it is out.

It is called Upset the World.

You can get your hands on a copy of this by going to store.gatewaypeople.com.

I really do believe it'll bless your life so much so that we have a study guide to go with it.

I want to teach you how to literally turn the world upside down with the message, the love, and the hope of Jesus Christ.

So get your hand on the book.

If you're a real nerd like me, get your hand on the study guide because I do believe that it will bless your life.

Now, if you have your Bibles, I want you to go to the book of Acts, chapter number two.

I actually want to go to two different spots, but I want you to start in the book of Acts, chapter number two.

I want to read four verses there.

Then we're going to jump over to Acts chapter number 10, and I want to read you some verses from there.

Then I'll give you the title of the message.

You already know my MO.

And if you don't, if it's your first time seeing me, you've become a part of the Gateway family during uh quarantine.

I want to say welcome.

And uh my name's Tim Ross, and I am the lead pastor of Embassy City Church in Irving, Texas.

So uh if you have your Bibles, Acts chapter number two, starting at the first verse, here is what it says.

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 tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

Now I want to jump to Acts chapter number 10, verse number 24.

Here's what it says They arrived in Caesarea, this is Peter, uh, the following day.

Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and his close friends.

As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshipped him.

But Peter pulled him up and said, Stand up, I'm a human being just like you.

So they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled.

Now let's jump to verse number 44 in Acts chapter number 10.

Here's what it says Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.

The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles too.

For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God.

All right, so let me give you the title of this message for Pentecost Sunday, because I really do believe it's going to bless your life.

Now you might want to turn down the volume, because I'm gonna turn up my volume to give you the title of this message.

Are you ready for it?

Okay, here it goes.

He's coming in the house.

I'm gonna say it again.

He's coming in the house.

It's the title of this message.

Bow your heads.

Let's pray over the word before we get into it, shall we?

Holy Spirit, thank you for coming into our house.

Amen.

You guys know I love to pray quick.

What I love about uh this particular day is that we get to celebrate the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon his people.

For us as believers in Jesus Christ, as Christians, we call this day Pentecost.

For those that are my brothers and sisters of the Messianic Jewish faith, it is called Shavuot.

The day, a festival that they all came together to celebrate 50 days after Passover.

And in the scriptures that I read you in Acts chapter number two and Acts chapter number 10, it's a profound thing that is happening for both Jews and Gentiles.

For both those that God had covenanted with all the way back to Abraham, and those he would have covenant with because of the promise given to us in Jesus Christ.

In Acts chapter number two, it says that they were all in one place, they were all in one accord, and they were waiting for the Holy Spirit.

They were in the house of God.

And in Acts chapter number two, it says that the Holy Spirit came down and filled everybody that was in the place, in the house of God, the temple in Jerusalem.

And as they came out of that place, they began to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord and God raised him from the dead.

And it pierced the hearts of everyone that heard Peter preach this first sermon after Jesus' ascension, to the point that 3,000 people were baptized that day, and the church is off and running.

What's interesting is it is 10 years later before Gentiles would experience the same thing that the Jewish people experienced in Acts chapter number two.

Let me just stop and say, if you want to know how serious God is about his covenant with his chosen people Israel, look no further than Acts chapter number two.

Because in Acts chapter number two, the Holy Spirit came down and filled the Jews first.

Then it was 10 years before he filled the Gentiles.

And as it was in God's house, it came to Cornelius' house.

I'm gonna say that again.

As it was in God's house, in Acts chapter number two, it came to Cornelius' house and Acts chapter number 10.

And there's something about these houses.

There's something about these houses that I want to give you some revelation on, that I want to give you some context on, because I don't think it's by accident that the Holy Spirit came into the house of God to fill the Jews and Cornelius' house, a Gentile, to fill the Gentiles.

There's something about this house that I believe that we need to pay attention to.

And so I want to give you the three reasons why I believe the Holy Spirit came in a house.

These are practical uh uh uh ideas that I want to share with you the three reasons why I believe the Holy Spirit came in a house.

Three reasons why I believe he wants to come into your house.

So if you're taking notes on this message, write this down.

Point number one, I believe that he came into the house because that's where we're comfortable.

I want you to think about this.

You are most comfortable in your own house, most comfortable in your surroundings that are familiar to you in your own setting, and the Holy Spirit wants to make sure that you receive what he wants to impart.

He wants to make sure that you receive what he wants to give you.

And so, what better place to come than to your own house?

I just want to uh submit to you that that perhaps one of the things that we could have benefited from during the time of quarantine is the fact that the Holy Spirit had time to visit us in our house.

Why?

That's the place we're most comfortable.

Now, for some of you extroverts, I know that you're probably going crazy and you want to get out of the house, but could it be that the reason why he brought you into the house is because he wants to fill you and empower you to do some great things.

Point number two, the second reason why I believe that the Holy Spirit came into the house, it's because that's where you're most vulnerable.

Now let's just be honest for a minute.

You know that you've been on more Zoom calls than you care to even count at this point.

And if you're being truthfully honest in this time, you know that you have been all business up top, but all quarantined on the bottom.

You've had your PJs on from the bottom down, you've had your nice little business suit on from the top up.

You're most vulnerable in your house.

That's where you're the most relaxed, that's where your guard is down.

And the Holy Spirit wants to come into a relationship with you and fill you with his power and his presence to go out and literally upset the world.

He wants to do that for you and in you.

So of course he would want to get you where you're the most vulnerable, where you have your guard down.

Point number three, the third reason why I believe that the Holy Spirit came into the house, because that's where we're most moldable.

Now, we don't use this word a lot.

Uh uh, you might use the word teachable or a place of instruction, but but this is the place where I believe that God wants to shape us.

This is the place where I believe that God wants to create uh in us a new mind and a new way of thinking, a paradigm of thought, so that when we leave the house, we have a kingdom mindset, a kingdom paradigm of thinking to go out and do what it is he's called us to do to influence who it is he has called us to influence.

That's where we are most moldable.

I remember when I gave my life to Jesus Christ, it was January 14th of 1996.

And it was a Sunday uh while I was in a church service where uh I was sitting in the back and and I grew up in a in a in a very expressive, charismatic Pentecostal environment.

And so uh I remember when the Holy Spirit made me aware of my disconnect from God as Father, when he made me aware of my sins.

And I remember standing up during testimony service and waiting for about four or five people that were in front of me uh to get done with their testimonies before I could confess Christ.

I could not even wait to a sermon and an altar call.

I actually stood up during testimony service.

And I gave my life to Jesus Christ on that day.

And I remember getting home, thought to myself, well, since I've come into this relationship with Jesus now, I should read the Bible.

And so on January 15th, which would have been that Monday in 1996, I took a King James Thompson Chain reference Bible and began to read it from the book of Genesis.

Let me tell you what was happening as I was reading words from the scriptures.

I was being molded.

My mind was being changed.

From the way I had been living my life for the last 20 years into the way that God wanted me to live my life for the rest of eternity.

I'm telling you, there is something that He wants to do that can happen in your house that won't happen anywhere else.

There is something that happens when we are in the house of God that doesn't happen anywhere else.

And there is something that happens when we are in our own homes that doesn't happen anywhere else.

That is where we're most comfortable, that is where we are most vulnerable, and that's where we are most motivatable.

This is good to me.

Hope it's good to you as well.

Okay, so so those are the three uh uh uh reasons that I wanted to give you why I believe the Holy Spirit came into the house.

For the Jews, he came into the house of God in the temple during Shavuot.

And and and for the Gentiles, he came into Cornelius' house because you were comfortable there.

You were vulnerable there, you were moldable there.

But what happens after this, this is where I get excited.

What happens after this is something that I believe we all should have a context for, because there's no way that the Holy Spirit can be outpoured into our lives and it can stay inside of the house.

There is no reason, there's no, there's there's no way that that you can have an experience with the Holy Spirit and you can keep it contained inside of the house.

Whether it's God's house or your house, it can't be contained in the house.

So I want to give you the three reasons why you can't stay in your house.

I want to give you the three reasons why we cannot stay in our houses.

Point number one, please write this down because I believe it's going to be a blessing to you.

We've been given power.

The reason why you can't stay in the house is because you've been given power.

Here's what it says in Acts chapter number one, verse number eight.

But you will receive power.

Let me just stop right there.

Uh, this is written in red.

This is Jesus that declares it.

So you have to understand and know that it is God who is making this statement, who is literally trying to fill you up so that when you come out of this, you come out with a context that can literally turn the world upside down.

Keep going back to that, with the message, love, and hope of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, Listen, I need you to go back to Jerusalem.

I need you to wait right there because you won't be everything you're supposed to be, and you won't do everything you're supposed to do unless you have the Holy Spirit's power.

So he says, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me where?

Everywhere.

And where is that?

In Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Let me pause and say that um when I was growing up in LA, I wanted to be a homicide detective.

I there's something about investigation, that there is something about um uh uh uh uh resolving uh issues, uh, and especially I wanted to be a homicide detective, resolving uh uh murders that that just appealed to me.

And so my mother worked for the LAPD for 30 years, and that's what I wanted to do.

I wanted to work in law enforcement.

That investigative side of me uh is still there.

And so when I look at Acts chapter number one, verse number eight, I understand that there is a sequence to what Jesus said was going to happen that actually happened when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

He said, Listen, um, I need you to go back to Jerusalem and I need you to stay there until you receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

Without that power, you will not do what you're supposed to do, you will not go where you're supposed to go, you will not say what you are supposed to say.

So I want you to wait there.

And they did.

When the Holy Spirit was poured out, something amazing happened.

They couldn't stay in the house.

He came into the house, but they could not stay in the house.

They had to literally open their mouths and declare, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.

He died, but he rose again.

He was dead, now he's alive.

Our lives have been changed, and we can't take away what we know.

So here's the first reason why you cannot stay in the house.

It's because you've been given power.

When you've been given power, you've been given a responsibility.

Let me just pause and give you the wise words of Uncle Ben, who told a young Peter Parker, that with great power comes great responsibility.

There's a responsibility we have once we have been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to go provide the mandate that Jesus gave us to literally send to the ends of the earth.

So point number one is the reason why you can't stay in the house, you've been given power.

Point number two, please write this down.

Second reason why you cannot stay in the house, it's because we're witnesses.

We are all witnesses to the resurrection, the power, and the life of Jesus Christ.

Now, I gotta take my time with this because this is one of my favorite points to uh break down.

When we talk about us being witnesses, uh there's always this thought uh that would come from the mind of an atheist or come from the mind of an agnostic that would say, uh uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, but you weren't there and you don't have proof.

And so how can you say that the invisible man is alive?

I'm giving you the perspective of somebody that does not have the faith uh and that might be cynical towards a statement that we are witnesses of his resurrection, that we are witnesses of his life.

Let me tell you why having the Holy Spirit was so important to these believers at the start of the church.

It's because when you talk about the fact that Jesus is alive, when we talk about the fact that we are his witnesses, who's the real witness?

It's the Holy Spirit.

The true witness to Jesus' resurrection was the one that raised them in the first place.

It was the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us is the one that testifies that he is alive.

So what it says in Romans chapter number eight, verse number 11 the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead lives in us.

He is the one that testifies that Jesus is alive.

And we're bold in that declaration because we have the person living on the inside of us that got Jesus up in the first place.

So when you open up your mouth and you say that he is alive, it is the Holy Spirit testifying through you to the resurrection power that he gave to Jesus' body in that grave.

I don't know who this is for, but but but I feel like there's some boldness that's gonna come to you as you as you stay in this house right now and as you receive this message right now.

I believe that there's a boldness that's coming to you.

That you're gonna be able to testify in ways that you've never done before, that you're gonna be able to witness in ways that you've never done before.

Here's what the enemy would love to turn you into a silent witness.

Here's what the enemy would love to do to you.

He would love to put you in a witness protection program.

He would love to turn us into witnesses that don't ever come out boldly to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Oh, oh, I'm glad you know that, but just stay silent.

Nobody wants to hear that.

You're gonna ruffle up feathers.

If you say that, you're literally gonna upset their world.

It won't be by Tim's definition of turning someone over.

It's gonna be by the definition that you've frustrated them, you've made them angry, you've caused a fight.

But I can give you scripture after scripture, page after page, in the book of Acts, where the men and women who had experienced the Holy Spirit's power could not stay silent after they received the Spirit's infilling.

And I want to say to somebody that's watching right now, you cannot stay silent once you know that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and the Holy Spirit has infilled you with his power.

You can't keep it a secret.

The reason why we can't stay in the house is because we've been made witnesses.

Point number three, it's gonna be so anti-comatic, you're gonna be like, really, Tim?

Point number three, you got you ready for this?

Please write this down.

The third reason why you cannot stay silent, the third reason why you cannot stay in the house.

It's because you have to testify.

We have to testify.

God's given us the ability to open up our mouths and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Here's the thing that was amazing.

Acts chapter number two happens.

They get filled with the Holy Spirit.

Peter preaches his first.

Sermon.

Can you imagine he's preaching his first sermon?

All these people are hearing their own language as Peter is uh preaching the gospel message.

They are pierced to their core to find out that they are disconnected from God as Father.

That they didn't believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And they're pierced to their heart and they say, What do we need to do now?

He says, You need to repent and be baptized.

And he goes, There's some water right over there.

Down the steps, there's some water right here.

We can baptize you right here.

They all get baptized.

And the church starts growing.

They start meeting in homes everywhere they go.

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria.

They start going to the uttermost parts of the world.

I want you to think about how systematic Jesus was with how the gospel is going to be communicated.

He said it's going to come down on my chosen people, the Jewish people first in Jerusalem.

And then you're going to go to Judea, another region where there's Jewish people, my covenant people.

And then I'm taking you to Samaria, another region where my chosen people are.

And then you're going to go to the uttermost parts of the earth.

And for the last 2,000 years, that's what's been happening.

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, South Lake, Tennessee, New York, Ohio, Hawaii, Malaysia, Singapore, England, Japan, Australia, you name it, the gospel is still going out based off that one verse.

You shall be my witnesses, where?

Everywhere, starting here, then there, then there, then everywhere.

There is a God-fearing guy named Cornelius chilling in his house.

He gets this dream that he needs to call a guy named Peter to come to his house.

Peter, who's been filled with the Holy Spirit for a decade and has been evangelizing the chosen people, the Jews, gets a vision, an open vision of all of this food that he was told that he could never eat, according to Scripture.

And God says, Don't call what I've made clean unclean.

And he says, I want you to get up from where you are, and I want you to go to this guy's house named Cornelius.

And Peter's like, Am I supposed to do this?

Because we're now at the part where we're about to take the gospel everywhere.

We've had 10 years, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and now we're about to hit the uttermost parts of the earth.

They go into Cornelius' house.

When Cornelius sees him, we read it.

He kneels down.

He's like, oh my goodness, I don't even deserve for you to be in my presence.

And Peter really quickly, stand up, man.

I'm just a regular guy like you.

Do not worship me.

And they sit down and they start talking.

Peter starts sharing the gospel.

And as he is sharing the gospel message, the Holy Spirit falls in Cornelius' house in the same way it happened in Acts chapter number two.

And they start speaking in other languages, and Peter looks around at his friends, he's like, oh boy.

Oh, this is, oh, it just got real.

It looks like uh God wants this same covenant with Gentiles in the same way he has it with us.

He says, We can't keep this in the house.

It's happening in our house, but we can't keep it in the house.

Could it be?

And should it be?

That the Holy Spirit should be visiting us in our house, filling us in our house, where we're comfortable, where we're vulnerable, where we're moldable.

Why?

So that we could be infused with power, filled with it, then understanding that we are witnesses that have to testify to the goodness of God.

I want to share this with a couple of people because when it comes down to testifying, uh uh I've grown up in church, and I don't know how many of you all have actually grown up in church like I have, but when you've grown up in church, uh what you usually hear are like the worst testimonies of all time.

Right?

Like those are the testimonies that get all the mic time, those are the testimonies that get everybody's attention, is the worse the testimony is, the more we want to hear it.

I don't, I don't know what uh that's a whole thing we need to evaluate later, but I won't do it now.

And so you you have people that say, hey, listen, I got shot five times, and then you know, I went to prison for 11 years, and I came out and Jesus saved me.

We're like, oh, we're so happy.

And then somebody else has a testimony that, man, I didn't go through any of that.

Gave my life to Jesus when I was 12 at a youth camp, and I've been serving him ever since, and everybody's like, Yeah, I don't want to hear that testimony.

As if it's not as important as the other person's testimony.

Let me clear this up for you real quick, because I need everybody to testify according to scripture, everyone has a testimony.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna uh fly really, really high, 40,000 feet, and give you the the the kingdom perspective on testimonies on earth.

There's only two.

God either saved you from something or he saved you through something.

Those are the only two testimonies in the entire earth.

God either saved you from something or he saved you through something.

The subcategories of what he saved you from are endless.

The subcategories of what he saved you through are absolutely endless.

But there's only two testimonies.

So whether you have the worst testimony of all time, you were so far from God that you were railing against Christians and you were in the bar drinking until you blacked out and you snorted all the lines of coke, and you you you went and did all the most horrible things.

You cheated on your taxes and you stole money, and whatever you've done, I'm here to tell you that's a testimony of God's redemption in your life.

Don't edit that testimony.

Don't try to blot out parts of it.

Even the stuff that makes you look bad makes him look glorious.

So share that testimony.

We need to hear that testimony.

But we also need to hear the testimony of the person that says, you know what?

God didn't save me through any of the things that you just heard, but God saved me from a life of pain, a life of brokenness.

He was just so gracious to me.

I think about my testimony and my wife's testimony.

I think about the fact that Juliet gave her life to Christ when she was nine years old.

It's a beautiful testimony.

It's not that she didn't go through some bad uh uh seasons in her life, she just said that she had committed to Christ at such a young age.

She was able to walk with God through things that other girls her age wouldn't have been able to have a context for.

Whereas myself, I didn't give my life to Christ till I was 20.

By that time, I had experienced so much that the world had to offer that there were a lot of things that I had to have God help me purge and cleanse myself from to enjoy the relationship that I had with him.

He saved Juliet from something.

He saved me through something.

Those are the two testimonies, y'all.

And I I want you to hear me say to you that there is somebody whose world would be literally turned upside down if they heard your testimony of God's faithfulness in your life.

Not passing off a podcast from Pastor Robert, Pastor Jimmy, or myself, or others, not fording them a link to the last sermon that they heard, they need to hear the sermon that you are.

They need to hear the sermon of your life.

God's giving you relational equity with this person, God's giving you a history with this person, and they need to hear the gospel message according to you.

We are Christ's written epistles to be read of all men.

And I'm encouraging you, nope, I'm exhorting you to get that testimony out.

Become a bold witness.

And with the power the Holy Spirit has given you in the house to get ready to upset the entire world.

So excited.

Okay, so uh uh I'm I'm I'm I'm amped right now because I really do believe that somebody's gonna get this message and it's going to be something and do something, not just inside of you, but for others around you, it's gonna be a difference.

This is Pentecost Sunday, the day that we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Fifty days after Passover, the promise of the Holy Spirit came down to the Jew first, to the Gentile.

For us to literally spread the gospel around the world.

Get out of your house.

He came in so that you would be powerful enough to walk out.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes?

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

I really do feel like there's some people that have a relationship with Jesus that have maybe been apprehensive of what the Holy Spirit's work is supposed to look like in your life.

He came to give you power, authority to be a bold witness and declare with your testimony that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised him from the dead.

You may be watching and you have never given your life to Jesus Christ.

I'm telling you, it's so simple.

According to Romans 10:9, all you have to do is confess with an open mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and that he is Lord.

Romans 10:9

And you'll be saved.

Repent of the way that you've been living your life.

That's all repent means is to change your mind about the way you've been living or thinking you should live your life.

And submit your life to be lived for Jesus Christ.

And I'm telling you, your whole world will change.

Let me pray for you.

Holy Spirit, I'm so grateful for each and every one of my brothers and sisters.

As we celebrate Shavuot, as we celebrate this incredible day, Pentecost, I pray that you would do something in our house that will empower us so greatly that we have no choice but to run out.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.