Filled with Fire

Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 2, and we'll read through verses 1 through

Acts 2 · chapter mention

6, Acts chapter 2, 1 through 6.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And the word of the Lord says, written by the physician Luke,

inspired by the Holy Spirit, verse 1, when the day of Pentecost.

Somebody say, day of Pentecost.

Day of Pentecost. Say it one more time. Day of Pentecost. Day of Pentecost. That's today.

Had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there

came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,

and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them,

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other

tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven, verse 6.

And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused

because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

Let me give you some background on this passage of scripture as we dive deep

into the day of Pentecost.

The day of Pentecost is 50 days, seven weeks and one day after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

We celebrate the day of Pentecost because the day of Pentecost is when the promise

from the Father came into the earth by the precious Holy Spirit.

It is also the day that we celebrate the birth of the church.

The church started on the day of Pentecost.

And so the day of Pentecost is a celebratory day, a day in which we received

the Holy Spirit and the church was birthed.

And on this day, there were 120 people in a room all in one accord.

Now, imagine 120 people in a room for 10 days waiting for a promise.

They don't know exactly what they're waiting for. And they all have one mind

and they all are in one place and they're all in one accord, unity.

That is a miracle in and of itself to get people on one accord and in unity.

And we see in verse two that suddenly somebody shout suddenly that's without

any sort of notice ahead of time suddenly a sound.

Cain, not from the earth, but from heaven.

And the sound filled the room of this 120 people.

Some theologians believe that the place that they were in was Mary's house.

So 120 in the mother Mary's home, 120 people are gathered together waiting and

a sound like a sonic boom took place.

And it shook the entire house and filled them with the Holy Spirit.

And then there appeared in verse 3, divided tongues as of fire. Somebody say fire.

Say it like you mean it, fire.

And one sat upon each of them in verse 3. The Holy Spirit came unannounced,

unexpectedly, a sound, a sound like a wind.

It wasn't a natural wind. It was the Spirit filled the whole place.

And on top of each one of them was divided tongues as of fire.

Now, notice that they had an individual experience in a community.

See, when the Spirit of God hit the house, all of them were filled,

but each of them had an individual experience.

In today's society, people don't feel like we need to come together in community.

They want to have individual experiences on their own.

But if we look at scripture, individual experiences with God always came in a community,

always came in a gathering of people, and God individually gives you an experience

with him, and it was as if fire was upon. I want you to say the word upon.

Say it one more time.

Upon. That means upon. A fire was up on them.

And verse 4, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with

other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now, I don't want you to be afraid of the word tongues. It just simply means languages.

Tongues means languages and tongues is in your Bible. 1 Corinthians 14 is all

about tongues, the entire chapter.

On Wednesday night Midweek Boost, we probably will talk more about tongues,

but I don't want you to be afraid of that because tongues is in your Bible.

But notice when the Holy Spirit came, the first thing that he changed was their mouth. Right?

They started to say things differently than they did before.

As they begin to speak, the Holy Spirit begin to give them utterance, syllables, words.

As they begin to open up their mouth to speak, the Holy Spirit feel their mouth.

And so this is miracle speaking.

And if we skip in verse six, and when this sound occurred, the multitude came

together and were confused because everyone heard them speak his own language.

Notice here, this is miracle hearing.

So a couple of verses, it's miracle speaking. They begin to speak in tongues

in languages they've never spoken before.

1 Corinthians 13 tells us that as we begin to speak in tongues,

that we can also speak heavenly languages.

And so then there was miracle speaking and miracle hearing took place.

And as they begin to speak and they begin to hear, miraculous things begin to

take place in their life.

The Holy Spirit changed their mouth.

Now look at Mark chapter one. Stay with me. We're working on something this

morning. Mark chapter one. And let's look at verse eight.

John the Baptist says, I indeed baptize you with water.

But he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

So I want you to notice what the word baptized means.

Baptized means to be fully immersed, to submerge, to dip and to die, D-Y-E, to dip and to die.

I mean, you know, in Easter times, sometimes kids will stain Easter eggs.

They dip them and die them. You could say that Easter eggs are getting baptized. Okay?

They've been dipped and they're died and then they begin to be stained.

They were white before they went into it, and then now they're blue,

yellow, orange, whatever color you want to dip the stain into.

And so baptize means to stain. And in Scripture, I want you to understand that

there are three different baptisms in Scripture.

The first baptism is you are baptized into the body of Christ, which is salvation.

You heard about the wondrous works

of the gospel and the Holy Spirit convicted your

heart and he baptized you when you believed and received you confessed with

your mouth and believed in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead thou

shalt be saved you got baptized into the body of Christ the first baptism the

second baptism is being baptized into water,

we are baptized in the water as an outward display of an inward change.

Or you can say, I believe baptism in the water is also a cutting away of your sinful nature.

You have been dead with him. And when you get in the water, you've been buried with him.

And when you come out, you come out a new person, a new man,

a new man, a woman, and you left that sinful nature in the water. Glory be to God.

And I believe there's a third baptism and that is being baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Being baptized with the Holy Spirit. And we're going to talk about that a little more today.

Look at John chapter 1 verse 33. John chapter 1 verse 33.

John 1:33 John 1:33

John the Baptist tells us, I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize

with water said to me, upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him.

This is he who baptizes you with the Holy Spirit.

Now notice in Old Testament times, the Spirit of God will come down and get

on people for a temporary period of time.

And then he will ascend off of them. So the Holy Spirit would come and somebody

may have a prophetic word or Samson did some kind of mighty act or all these miracles took place.

But the Holy Spirit came, rested

upon them, and then he would come up off them and ascend off of them.

But John tells us that the Holy Spirit is going to come on you and remain.

Put 33 on the screen one more time, guys. John 1 33 that the Holy Spirit will

come upon you watch this descend on you and remain.

This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

Let's go to the next verse there. The next verse that we have on the screen is Luke chapter 3, 16.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 3, 16.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

John answered saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water,

but one mightier than I am is coming whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Somebody shout fire.

So not only will you be baptized with the Holy Spirit, you're going to be baptized

with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Matthew 3.11, Matthew 3.11. John says again, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.

But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandal straps I am not

worthy to carry, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Somebody shout fire.

Now, I was praying at the church earlier this week, and the Lord gave me a word for you.

He says, filled with fire.

I heard that as I was walking, praying in here. He says, filled with fire. I said, that's it, Lord.

We are filled with fire. One of the most powerful ways scripture describes the

Holy Spirit is he's fire.

He's fire. And when the Holy Spirit comes, he's not just coming to visit.

He comes to fill you with fire and purpose and power.

We're not just some weak human being walking around, boat busted and disgusted.

You got the fire of the Holy Ghost in you. You got

the power of God in you You got a purpose and a mission That you must fulfill

on this earth And the enemy wants you to feel like you're a nobody And it ain't

going to work out And you're forgotten and you're stuck And you're complacent

and stop trying to act like you're somebody you're not No, you have the Holy Ghost,

And you're filled with fire Somebody with fire say amen A Christian is not permitted to be lukewarm,

I'm going to get on you today,

God said he's going to spit you out of his mouth.

I don't want nothing lukewarm in my mouth either. Praise God. Make it hot or cold.

But I don't want it lukewarm. We're not permitted to be lukewarm.

Well, sometime I'm part of the world and sometime I'm part of the body of Christ.

No, I'm on fire for the Lord. Amen.

You were designed to burn, to radiate with God's presence, power,

and purpose for your life. You're

supposed to have passion in your life because the Holy Ghost is on you.

At home, you should be on fire.

At work, you're on fire. At the gym, I said yes, at the gym.

Let me say it again, at the gym.

Some of y'all ain't going to be at the gym. You better get to the gym.

Get on fire at the gym.

At church. I said at church I said at church Can I get seven people at least to say I'm on fire,

Glory to God Wherever you go Whatever you do You should be on fire Because you've

been baptized With the Holy Ghost And fire Hallelujah When I go by my parents

house They keep the thermostat hot,

I mean, I go in there and it's like 78 or something in there.

I'm like, don't y'all know that it's hot up in here?

I mean, I'm sweating and they're like, it feel good to us? I'm like, it's hot.

I'm telling you what, the temperature of the kingdom is not hot. It's fire. Hallelujah.

You're on fire in the kingdom of God because fire consumes, fire purifies, and fire empowers you.

Say, I'm on fire.

I know, what is the Hunger Games movie?

I know Rachel likes the Hunger Games. I like the Hunger Games.

Zayvon does too, the Hunger Games and the good stuff, the Hunger Games.

One of the girls, Katniss, she's the girl on fire.

Well, hey, pastor, he's the man on fire, praise God.

I'm on fire because I'm excited that the Holy Ghost is on me and in me.

And the gift of the Holy Ghost was not meant to be just a one-time event.

Look at Acts chapter 2, 38 through 39. Acts chapter 2, 38 through 39.

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 2 · chapter mention

Then Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the

name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,

and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 39.

For the promise, watch this, is to you and to your children and to all who are

far off, as many as the Lord God will call.

See, there's some teaching out that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was only for the apostles.

No, it's for you and your children and whoever else God says is for, amen.

It's not just a one-time event. The Holy Spirit is not limited to the early apostles.

He's in me too. He's on me too.

I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. Say that. I'm filled with the Holy Spirit.

He's in me and he's on me. Now, let's look at Acts chapter 2, verse 12.

Acts 2:12

Acts chapter 2, verse 12. We'll read through verse 15. Watch this.

Acts 2:12

Are y'all with me today? So they were all amazed and perplexed,

saying to one another, whatever could this mean?

Verse 13, others mocking said, they are full of new wine.

But Peter, standing up with the 11, raised his voice and said to him,

men of Judah and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words.

For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only 9 a.m. in the morning.

And so they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The fire of God was on them.

There was a difference because they were praising God in another language that

they were unfamiliar with.

And the mockers said, these people must be drunk.

So they compared being filled with the Spirit with being filled with being drunk.

Now, I want you to notice something for a second.

Why would they compare being filled with the Spirit with being drunk with alcohol?

So let's go through this because there are some comparisons here that I want you to see.

When you choose to drink alcohol, you yield your members under the control of the alcohol.

And I want to say this. Can I just say this? I'm going to say it anyway,

whether you say yes or no.

It's interesting that they call alcohol spirits. You want to go to the spirit store?

Spirits. Y'all trying to figure out why you handling and dealing with all this stuff?

You might be inviting spirits into your life because you're consuming the spirits.

Let's go to the ABC spirits store. My daughter, she saw the ABC store.

She says, Daddy, I want to go to the ABC store. I said, no, babe,

no, no. Why can't we go to ABC?

I want to go to ABC. I said, it's not what you think it is.

It's full of spirits. And so when you choose to yield yourself to alcohol, right,

and consume it, then you are yielding your members under the control of the alcohol.

And then the alcohol begins to change.

Your words and your actions and your behavior.

If you've ever been to anybody that's under the spirits of alcohol,

they begin to say stuff, crazy stuff, act crazy.

And a lot of times I think they tell them the truth. You better listen,

when they're under the influence, listen, I hate you.

Well, yeah, you probably do because now you didn't let the guard down.

But when you yield to the Spirit and you choose to allow the Spirit to be a

part of your life, you yield to the Spirit's control.

And the Holy Spirit will begin to lead, guide, and direct your life.

And then he will change your behavior, your words, your thoughts, and your actions.

So the comparison was they must be drunk because they're yielding to something.

But they weren't drunk. They were yielding. They weren't drunk with the new wine.

They were filled with the Spirit because they yielded to the Holy Spirit.

And he changed their way of thinking. He changed their mindset.

He changes your words, and he changes your behavior when you begin to yield.

So they were mocking, thinking these foolish folks is drunk with the wine.

No, we drunk with the Holy Spirit.

I thought I'd get a better amen to that.

We're filled with him, and he's going to change the way we view,

we think, we see, and we act.

Some of you should be accused of being drunk while you're at work. That woman is drunk.

No, no. Why is she drunk? Because she's acting differently than I'm at.

She's on fire about something that she can't pay for. Glory to God.

I want to talk to somebody that's on fire about something you can't pay for.

That's vision. That's the Holy Ghost telling you, I got this.

If you get on fire about it, somebody say amen. Now watch this.

Ephesians 5.18. Turn there. Ephesians 5.18.

I'm going to read this from the Passion Translation. He says there,

Paul tells us, the writer of the book of Ephesians, the epistle,

don't get drunk with wine.

Well, there it is. Don't get drunk with wine. Why?

Because it'll put you under the control, and you'll be under the influence,

and then when you're under the influence, you would yield to the decision-making of the wine.

Amen. Don't be drunk with wine, which is rebellion.

Instead, be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

So instead of reverting to the alcohol, just get full of the Holy Ghost.

And when you get full of the Holy Spirit, he says there that you need then to be continually filled.

Somebody say continually filled. Continually filled.

See, the Holy Spirit is going to change your thinking and your walking and your

talking and your behavior, but we must be continually filled.

The Greek word be filled in that verse, it means the present continuous tense

indicating an ongoing process.

Okay, the present continuous sense, it's an ongoing process.

This suggests that being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time event,

but something that should happen continually.

We should be continually filled with the Spirit.

The ongoing feeling empowers us for boldness in proclaiming the gospel and a

spirit led life, continually filled with the spirit.

How many of you know that we live in this life and life can be difficult? Life can be hard.

There's a lot pulling on us. I mean, we got to we got to continually be filled with the spirit.

We have to continually be full of the spirit because a lot of information and situations,

a lot of predicament and circumstances is pulling on us, tugging on us,

causing us to try to act out of character.

But we got to continually be filled with the spirit so we can stay full of the

fire of the Holy Ghost. that song of life.

Everything's trying to take your passion away from you.

But we've got to be continually filled so we can be passionate about life and

about what God's called us to do.

We've got to be filled with purpose because everything is a distraction.

Everything's trying to distract us. I mean, family members and Pookie and Ray

Ray, they're trying to distract us.

But we've got to stay full of purpose and be filled with the fire of the Holy

Spirit because we are people called, set apart, anointed, and appointed to do

God's bidding in the earth.

And if you're an employer, do you want your people just coming in late and tired and complacent?

And I just hate being here and I don't want to be here no more and surfing on

Facebook the whole time.

And do you want to hire folks like that?

No, we got to be about the kingdom is is business.

The kingdom is business. God wants his his children to be passionate and full of fire and full of.

Purpose and full of boldness so that we can do what he's asking us to do it and do it well.

And at the end of the day, get well done, good and faithful servant. How many want well done?

How many online? You got to get well done. I mean, I don't want to do this without well done.

There was one particular guy. Let me tell you the story.

Hopefully he doesn't listen to this podcast. All right.

We were talking one time and talking about just the Lord, this and that, and the third.

And I asked him, I said, you know what? You know what just kind of keeps you

going? What are you passionate about?

He said, me and Jesus had a conversation one day. I said, glory to God. What did he say?

He said, Jesus said, would you serve me even if you still went to hell?

And I said, well, first of all, Jesus didn't say that to you.

I ain't no fool. Jesus didn't say that. And he turned, and guess what?

He turned to Jesus and said, yes, I would. I said, come on, man.

Let's stop it.

Jesus asked you, would you serve me and still go to hell? And he said, yes.

So who are we going to praise in this story?

We're going to praise him. This man will still serve Jesus and go to hell.

I said, come on, man. I said, that's not that. None of that is true.

He said, it is. I said, it's not.

I said, it's not. I said, no, no, no.

We should be anticipating going to heaven. We should be excited about the day we go to heaven.

We shouldn't be like, I may go to, I'm going to do all this,

but I'm going to go to hell anyway. No.

No, we should be excited about seeing him, seeing his face and him looking at

us and saying, well done, Robert. Well done, Patricia.

Well done, Gloria. We should be excited about that because that's what motivates

us to stay on fire for him and to do what he's called us to do, to be passionate.

The world is trying to dampen your fire, trying to throw water on your fire,

trying to get you to think like they think, trying to consume you and devour

you and wants you to die without passion in your life.

But you and I are going to have to continually, somebody shout continually,

be filled with the Spirit.

It's an ongoing process, continual. So let me ask you this.

Are you, don't answer it, but think within yourself. Are you filled with fire?

Or are you just consumed and settled for smoke?

Do you want to experience fresh fire from God?

New passion, new energy,

new boldness, new courage, new excitement, power over consistent sin that's

trying to overwhelm you.

Free from mental illness.

Are you ready to receive a fresh fire?

In Acts chapter 8, look at there in verse 17. Acts chapter 8, verse 17.

Acts 8 · chapter mention Acts 8:17

Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Hallelujah. And the Holy Spirit comes with fire.