Here We Go | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from X Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Let's start reading X. Chapter one. I'm going to read

Versus one to eight and I'm going to teach from it,

and then I hope some things will come and become

clearer for all of us today. And it just from

the n LT. I'm going to be reading from the NLT.

If you have different versions, go ahead and have a

look at it. But it starts like this and the

title is the Promise of the Holy Spirit. Chapter one,

verse one. Okay, before I go into that very quickly,

this book is actually written by doctor Luke. Okay, together

with the Gospel of Luke, is actually a continuation if

any of y'all did SPM Bible Knowledge. How many of

y'all did ESPN Bible Knowledge? Here? Oh wow, hallelujah. Bruneiing

Sabayan Guy, ESPN BIB Knowledge. Praise the Lord Jason soon

ESPN by Knowledge. The only two books that you are

tested on in SPM Bible Knowledge is actually Leuke and X.

I don't know why they chose the two books that

were written by the gentle for yall to study really

really hard. But I'm sure there's a reason, and it's

two very powerful books. And how is written. It's almost

like he's actually presenting a case, a case for Jesus,

a case for Peter and apostles, a case for Paul

and the Apostles, because it's like a court document. He's

actually written in a way where he's almost like adducing evidence,

presenting it in court. And this is like the narrative

that we are seeing right now. So that's why you

see the name to your fellers. As I'm going to

start reading who is to your Fellers? I'm not sure

whether he's a judge or he could be the counsel

for the opposite side of the bench. But suffice to say,

think of all this that is being presented in the

Book of is actually a presentation of evidence, and it's

important for us to know that because that is what

it is. It is facts based evidence based on facts. Amen. Okay,

Verse one. In my first book, I told you Tolphilus

about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the

day he was taken up to heaven after giving his

chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. Okay, So

we take not that Jesus was giving his apostles further instructions. Basically,

he was teaching during the forty days after he suffered

and died. He appeared to the apostles from time to time,

and he proved to them in many ways that he

was actually alive, and he talked to them about the

Kingdom of God. This is Jesus. No, he never stopped.

He was continuing on teaching them even after the resurrection. Once,

when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do

not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the give

he promised, and I told you before John baptized with water,

But in just a few days you will be baptized

with the Holy Spirit. Amen. Then it goes on to

verse six, which is basically about the ascension of Jesus.

He says this. So when the apostles were with Jesus,

they kept asking him, law, has the time come for

you to be for you to free Israel and restore

our kingdom? Okay, again, the disciples and apostles very mind

you pick, They were very small minded in that sense.

And I will explain why I say that. 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, and you will be my witnesses telling people

about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and

to the ends of the earth. Amen. The Lord blessed

the reading of his word. And this is it. Chapter

one of X actually starts off with this team. The

ministry of Jesus continued. It did not stop by. But

what we see is actually a changing of the bodies.

And I think you will have to understand it from me,

as Jesus was with them for thirty three years. Of

course active ministry, probably about three years he was with

the disciples, with the people in bodily form. But that

will change after this. It will still be a body,

but no longer his body, but a body of believers.

That is the change of body that will take place.

But the ministry of Jesus continues, and that is why

until today I still h humanly tell people that there

is a role for the church, even though some people

are say no needland, don't need church anymore. Everything can

go online now, don't need people to come together. Just

listen to recordings read by bird by myself. It's okay,

less people to deal with, less people to interact with.

That's not how it works. We are the body of believers.

There is a purpose. Without the hate doesn't work, and

hate without a body also doesn't work. The body of

Christ has a hate. The hate is Christ, Jesus himself,

and we are the body representative in the world today.

Never forget that, as the Church. Amen. And so you

will see the work of God goes on, and it

did not stop when Jesus ascended into heaven. A lot

of times you all say bye bye. Jesus ascended into heaven.

The way he went will probably be the same way

that he returns as well. But off he goes, and

he's done and dusted. But you will never understand Christianity

until you see God as three persons in one. Very

important for us to understand the role of the Trinity

and the way it is because every time a Christian

praise all three persons are involved, the believer is praying

to the Father, true the Son in the spirit makes sense.

We pray to God the Father through the Son. That's

why it's in the name of Jesus that we pray

not just anyone's name, but in and through the name

of Jesus, that we are praying through the Son, in

the Spirit. Amen. As a believer, you will see that God,

the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit are

all involved in your life and seeking to help you

in different ways. Amen. And so Luke actually now indicates

Now Luke again he's the author of Acts of the Apostles.

He indicates that one of the greatest things that Jesus

ever did was to teach the holiest to teach, and

he never taught without the Holy Spirit being active in

his teaching. If you're ever going to convince anyone of

the truth of the Gospel, we have to do it

the same way that Jesus did it with the Holy Spirit.

Why do I say this, because Jesus not only taught

them until he died. A lot of times we always

think that Jesus then he was crucified, no more teaching.

He actually taught them during the six weeks between Easter

and Ascension. You'll know, there were about six weeks between

Easter and Ascension altogether about fifty days, that's why it

was known as Pentecost. And during that time he taught

more about the scriptures than during the three previous years.

You know, from the road to EMUs, when he was

walking already he was teaching them. And you look at

what he was referring to. He was referring to the law,

he was referring to the Psalms, he was referring to

the prophets, he was referring to the entire Old Testament. Actually,

until he taught, until they could handle the scriptures properly.

And at that time we know Jesus in his resurrected body.

While he could not be at two different places at

the same time, we knew he could move pretty quick.

How that is again, when we reach heaven, we asked

the Lord barn, how can we move so fast in

this new resurrected body. I think maybe less burdens, no

more seen, can run a bit faster. Amen. I don't know.

I don't I don't have the answers, but that is

the truth, because we see him moving very quickly. He

can be at one place and a boom, he's at

another place. This is after resurrection, before ascension, okay, And

he was going everywhere. He was moving quickly. He was

teaching no after his resurrection. He not only taught things

about the kingdom, he also showed them evidence that he

was alive. He was, he was, He met the disciples,

he showed them his hands. The scars were still there.

If Jesus didn't rise from the day, we might as

well close all the churches down, because there is no

evidence that he is alive. But Jesus rose from the day,

and that's why churches still exist today. That's why Christianity

still exists today. And our faith rests on those evidence.

It rests on the proof that Jesus is alive. Amen.

Because if it doesn't rest on that, then we are

basing our faith on nothing. It's a lie. But we

believe that that is a fact, and that is something

that Jesus was going around doing, showing them proof and

at the same time teaching them. Take no, not the

disciples didn't go out and preach after the resurrection. Do

You'll take none of that. No matter how joyful they

were they were happy that Jesus resurrected, of course they were.

I mean, they were said at the crucifixion, but then

the empty tomb, you can see they were all elated.

They were so excited. They went around telling everyone, Hey,

Jesus is alive, but they didn't go out preaching after

the resurrection because they could not have done it. It is

actually very important for us to realize that it is

not just knowing that Jesus is alive that will help

you to be a witness. You need much more, much

more than that. As they and we will see, it

is not so much what is needed, it is who

is needed in their lives for them to be a

witness of who Jesus is very important for us to

take notree of that. So Luke actually reminds us about

the promise of the Father. Read the scriptures. This is

just I'm just reading through X chapter one. Okay. He

was reminding them about the promise of the Father. What

was the promise that was made by God the Father?

Well way back in the days of the first ever baptist.

Who's the first baptist John? Okay, his name was John.

And to baptize is actually another word for uh submerge emerge.

Actually another word is to plunge. Plunge literally, no use

the plunger, you know, the plunger, the thing that you

use for your jumpan. Yeah, Basically to plunge is to

make sure that the person actually goes all the way

down into water. And so John plunge people in water

as a symbol of repentance, their desire to wash away

the past and to start clean and to start fresh.

And isn't that what the baptism is about? Because when

I explained, and I had to teach this to the

new believers in Indonesia to tell them that this is

an upa chater panna Boomian, this is a funeral service

because when you go down, you're saying, my old self

is dead. And when you come up, I come up new,

and I come up a new life. So it washes

away the past and it gets you to start clean.

But you realize it only deals with the past. It

is an act of obedience that deals with all that

has already happened. Until then you need much more than

that if you are going to be all that God

wants you to be. And that's why the teaching goes

on as such that you then need to be immersed

also in the Holy Spirit. That is what was being taught.

John said he could not do that, but there was

somebody coming after him who could. And God actually had

said to God the Father, say, when you baptize someone

in water and you see the Holy Spirit come down

on that person, you will know that this is the

one that can baptize people in Holy Spirit. Who was

there that John baptized and the spirit of God came Jesus.

You know kind of thing of it. Jesus, who did

not need to be baptized, God baptized himself in fulfillment

of the scriptures. Sometimes we will tell me that what

a baptism is not very important, is absolutely essential for

your faith. Essential. Amen. And we know that they came

when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. We knew that

they know, really the Holy Spirit of earth came upon Jesus,

and therefore he is now the only person who can

baptize humans into Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. And that is

why Jesus had reminded them time and time again that

in a few days time, God would keep his word

and they will be baptized into Holy Spirit as formally

as they were baptized into water by John the Baptist.

He told them, wait, wait, if you read the book

of John, you will see him telling them of who

the Holy Spirit is. And he was telling them wait.

In other words, what he's saying was that his followers

need two baptisms. There are those who are baptized in

water and hope that it will bring them power. A

lot of times I get people asking me, I went

through water baptism. I come up, it's still quite challenging

in life. That's the reality of it, isn't it. Because

we are sometimes we are disappointed to discover that. No,

they're still challenges, still so hard to overcome certain things.

While it can bring us joy, it can bring us

peace because we are obedient to God's will to be

water baptized, but it also brings us temptation. Because realize this,

even Jesus after his baptism, it was when Satan tempted him,

and that is the reality of our lives as well.

Not even when we are water baptised we think that

everything is going to be okay. No, the temptations will

always be there. Again, we live in this world. We

are of flesh. This world has got all sorts of

things to corrupt us, to tempt us. And then of

course we have the most evil of all tempter, Satan,

trying to tempt us. And so what baptism doesn't bring

us that power. It brings us really the sense of

cleansing from the past and studying afresh and studying and

knew what the promise of the Father Man was that

to the baptism in water would be that a baptism

in spirit that would bring the real power. And Jesus

said that this baptism would be diast in a few days.

So he was talking to the early believers, and he

was telling them wait, wait, wait. And so just in

this few verses five verses, you have Jesus, his teachings

and his resurrection. You have God the Father, his word

and his promises. And now you have the Holy Spirit,

because he starts to talk about the baptism in the

Holy Spirit. So you have the Holy Spirit, his power

and his purpose. You see, the Trinity never works in isolation.

It's always together. Again. Remember Jesus, his teachings and his resurrection,

the Father, God the Father, his word and his promises,

the Holy Spirit, power and purpose, and all three persons

of the Trinity were involved. And the Church would never

have got going without the Trinity. Without the presence of

the Holy Trinity, the church would never have started back

then and we praise God and the Church will always

be unique because it is the Church of God, the Father,

God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To put

it in another way, it is the family of the Father,

the flock of the Son, and the fellowship of the

Holy Spirit. This is where we get all those terms

that we use sometimes even in your liturgical prayers. What

does it really mean? Well, understand it from that family

of the Father. The Church is the family of the Father.

It is also the flock. Jesus is our shepherd, and

so we are his flock. We are the flock of

the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit, because we

all today fellowship in spirit. I tell you, if it's

not because of the Spirit that gives us the similarity,

we will be fighting each other more than fellowshipping with one.

And that is the truth and that's the reality. And

so the disciples were asked to wait, wait, and that

man the Lord wanted them to not just wait and

do nothing. A lot of times we are like, oh,

be still, be still, wait, I can go into my

empty box and empty my mind and do absolutely nothing.

Don't empty your mind, Okay, it's very dangerous. No, when

when we the way we understand meditations. Sometimes I want

to meditate means I empty my mind. You're empty, or

my other things will go in. You're supposed to meditate

on God's word. It's very important. That's what meditation is

in the Christian context and a Christian perspective. But if

we are just there to empty our minds, which is

what sometimes we do in some different exercises, empty my mind,

rubbish will go in. Ah. That's the That's how it

usually works, because everywhere around us is a lot of temptations.

So wait. It's not just wait idly and do absolutely nothing.

He actually means there's a positive action to it, seeking

for something and praying for it to happen. That is

what wait really is. Because in the scriptures it says

those that wait on the Lord shall renew their power,

their strength. They shall rise up with wings as eagles.

It is waiting earnestly, expectantly, with open hands. So they

waited by praying together. That was how they waited. Back

then A lot as we wait by doing nothing, don't

wait by doing nothing. Wait by praying together. So very important.

And Jesus had been speaking to them for six weeks

no about the Kingdom of God. But you realize that

all they wanted to know is still about the Kingdom

of Israel. So this is Jesus going on and on

teaching them, telling them no expect this, teaching from the scriptures,

telling him that he is the fulfillment of the scriptures,

et cetera, et cetera. And then the next question they asked,

what's going to happen to Israel. Jesus did not say

that he was never going to restore the Kingdom of Israel,

because that would not be true. He was going to

do it, and he will do it one day. The

Jews at the time wanted freedom. The disciples will be

given power, but not power to get their little country free.

That was not the power that was going to be

released for them to do. They would actually be baptized

into the Holy Spirit, and they will get power to

go out to the whole world to bear witness to God.

That is what evangelism is. That is what X chapter

one verse means. It means you will have the power

to convince people about the truth of what you know

of God. And that is the power that we all

desperately need right because we can talk to our neighbors.

We can talk to our colleagues, we can talk to

our cossemates and our classmates. And we try to talk

to a group of people about Christ. We try to

answer all their questions, but we just cannot convince them

the truth and Jesus is the truth. What is it

that we need? We need power to do this that

a lot of times we depend on our own knowledge.

You think, if you have all the knowledge of scripture,

if you think you are the most eloquent speaker, do

you think that we're convinced people to believe, Think again,

because the reality is what is lacking is power. He

would drop the power of the Holy Spirit into the disciples,

and the ripples would spread out in Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria,

and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. That

has always been the pattern of the Book of Acts.

And this is the program for the church today, and

it is still far from complete. Two thousand years later,

Christ is still waiting for his church to do the

one thing he told them to do the very moment

he left earth. We are still doing the work. Do

you know that? Of course, you think about all the

multiple legs languages there are, there are still many languages

that do not have the Bible in those languages, How

are we to reach the people who speak those languages.

That's why people are working really hard to translate and

to make sure that the Bible is in all sorts

of different languages. He is still waiting for us to

do this, and even though the Gospel has gone to

many parts of the earth, there are still many who

haven't heard about Christ Jesus. So why are we interested

in missionary world? It's a question that sometimes we ask

why why do we need to do missions? Well? Because

we are followers of Jesus and he told us to

do this. Basically, a Christian should be living on a map.

That is what we should be doing. There should always

be a map with us. No, it doesn't matter whether

it's a local map, a foreign map, or international map.

But the reality is it says to the utmost parts

of the world we are called to be His witnesses.

And there are certain texts in the scriptures which actually

also suggests that the Gospel must first be preached to

all the nations before the end comes Mark chapter thirteen,

and that by getting on with the task of spreading Christianity,

we are actually hastening, or we are expediting the return

of Christ. I know sometimes when people talk about the

return of Christ, they're like, stually, I don't Jesus wi

come back so soon? Jesus. Hang on a second, I

haven't lived life the way I should be living. Heard, partying, no,

embracing everything. Don't come back so soon. Don't have that mindset.

And no, I know I can imagine some people actually

saying that. I think, because I don't Jesus will come

back so soon, don't go and preach last you preach them.

The more you preach, the faster he comes. But you know,

the early believers, right from the very stunt, we're already

looking forward to the return of Jesus. All those scriptures

that you read about the second coming ute it came

two thousand years later. No, it's in the Book of Revelations.

It's all Then the most is like forty years fifty

years after Jesus Us a resurrection and ascension. That's the

reality of it. They were already looking forward to the

second coming of Christ. But they know that at the

same time, right now, Christ when he comes back the

second time, he comes back as a judge. The first

time he comes as a savior to the whole white world.

And I pray that we meet Jesus twice. That means

we meet him both as savior and then eventually we

will meet him as judge. Because if the first time

you meet Jesus is as judge, then the story and

the narration, the narrative is very, very different. So this

is why those of us who meet him as our savior,

we need to witness and tell others that Jesus Christ

is our Lord and our savior. You know, That's how

I that's how we baptize people. He is God and

our personal savior. Two hundane Juru Salama, every body, not

just a common savior, our personal savior. Amen. And so

the missionary task of the church is actually tied to

the end of history. The more we get on with it,

the more sure we can be that Jesus will return.

And if any of you tell me that I don't

believe in Jesus coming back, then I think you need

to check your belief system, because that is not what

Christianity teaches. We believe in Jesus returning. Go and look

at the Apostle's creed. It still says I believe that

one day he will return, and he will return to

judge all of us. And so you have one hundred

and twenty people here in the Book of Acts, okay,

And that was how the church started. The apostles were

there except for one. There was no Judas. And so

if you look at the team, while you can see

the ministry of Jesus continues, actually the ministry of Judas

also continues. No, because if you read chapter one, it

goes on to tell and talk about how they replace Judas.

They had to draw lots and said, okay, I won't

teach on that. There's a whole teaching on that, but

just understand this. The apostles had to be twelve and

they replace Judas, and the ministry continue in all twelve

of them going out and reaching out. And so Peter

of course was like the hate okay, he was hate Honcho.

And the one hundred and twenty actually met every day

and pray, and I hope that you will also meet

and wait on God and say, God, you have promise

to give me power. I need the power. Will you

do it? Because that promise is not just one that

is given to the early Church. I want you to

know that it is given to each and every one

of us. Because here is a picture of that early church.

They had so much, yet they had not enough. You see,

it was a church. The early church was studying the Bible.

We know they were studying the Bible. The Lord was

teaching them. The church believe in Jesus. They walked with him.

The church knows that he is alive. The church was

filled with joy, filled with faith. It was a church

that had seen the death and the resurrection of Jesus

and understands the meaning of those events. It was a

church of one hundred and twenty men and women who

were so eager to do everything that God wanted them

to do, but they were not doing it. What was

missing is the question. And I want you all to

know this. You will never turn the world upside down

until you turn the world the church inside out. As Christians,

that is what we are called to do. We are

called to turn the world upside down because this world

is so fixed in His ways. And when you come

in and you bring along your principles and your beliefs

and your convictions, it's always I don't know, in basa

science I call it. We were undercan the whole world.

We will turn the world upside down. But you can

only do that when the church becomes inside out and

not just looking in. How do you do this? How

do you get a church to pray or how do

you get a church to reach out? How do you

get a church that is on fire for the Lord

and wants to bring all his neighbors to love Jesus' more.

Bible study will be part of it. Believing in Jesus

will be part of it. Joy and faith will be

part of it. The death and resurrection of Christ will

be at the center of it. But there is still

one missing link. And who is that missing link? Try

answering who church? Who's the missing link? The third person

of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. It is only when

a church begins to understand what it is to be

filled with the Holy Spirit that it gets inside out

and reaches out in power and effectiveness. God is the

same today and we need this power if we are

going to witness effectively. That's why X chapter one verse

it says you wait, and when the Spirit comes upon you,

you will be my witnesses. We can't do the work

of witnessing and evangelizing with doubt the spirit. We have

to be within the spirit. Let's read Honor X Chapter two,

and I'm going to read very quickly verses one to

twenty one. Okay, a lot of scriptures, but I'm trying

to pain this so that we understand and desire for

more of the Spirit, because if I tell you this,

I really think the church today has not ignored, but

somehow neglected the Holy Spirit. Our awareness of the Spirit

of God is really not there. Sometimes we are so

focused on God the fart, which is great. We're so

focused on Jesus. Everything is about Jesus, but then we

forget that the Spirit is whom God said. Jesus said,

the Spirit will be with you paraclectos, he will be

by your side, and so Verse one of chapter two

starts like this. 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 was 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 compared amazed.

How can this be? The exclaim? These people are all

from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our

own native languages. Here we are Patayans, Medis, Elamites, people

from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Ponts, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphilia, Egypt,

and the areas of Libya around Syreene, visitors from Rome,

both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. And

we all hear these people speaking in our own languages

about the wonderful things God has done. They stood their

amaze and perplexed. What can this mean? They ask each other.

But others in the crowd ridicule them, saying they are

just drunk, that's all. And then now we have Peter,

who starts preaching to the crowd. Verse fourteen says this.

Then Peter step forward with the eleven other apostles and

shouted to the crowd. Listen carefully, all of you, fellow

Jews and residents of Jerusalem. Make no mistake about this.

These people are not drunk, as some of you are,

assuming nine o'clock in the morning is much too early

for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago

by the prophet Joe. In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my spirit upon all people. Your

sons and daughters will prophesy, Your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams. In those days, I

will pour out my spirit even on my servants, men

and women alike, and they will prophesy. And I will

cause wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the

earth below, blurred and fire and clouds of smoke. The

sun will become dark and the moon will turn blood

red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.

But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord,

we will be saved. The day of Pentecost just means fiftieth,

and it was the fiftieth day after the past over fees.

This thing is special. It's a special day because it

had double significance. It was a harvest festival where the

first loaves of bread made from bali were offered to God,

so first fruits. And it was also very significant that

the very first fruits of Christian mission should come on

that day, because we read thereafter that there was when

those the early believers were safe, they were filled with

the Holy Spirit. The first fruits were on that Pentecost Sunday.

It's the Pentecost day itself. Secondly, Pentecosts also commemorated the

day when God gave the ten commandments to Moses on

Mount Sinai. And then we remember he was up on

the mountain and then he took a while. Eventually when

he downloaded everything. The people down there were already making

golden calfs and dancing away. And what happened. It took

them such a short period of time after receiving the

law to actually break the law. And then on that

day three thousand people lost their lives. And it is

remarkable not to see the contra where God gave the

spirit and then three thousand people were safe. You can

see the core relation and the resemblance from the old

and the new. It is as though God was saying

this is the new way. It's not a list of

commandments that you keep. You need the spirit within you.

That is what is needed. If somebody cuts out X

chapter two, we will not understand the rest of X

of the Apostles, because it would not make sense unless

we knew and know what happened on that day. It

was a significant thing that took place. And let's look

at three things. Now, what happened in X chapter two.

You got to look at the experience that they had.

You have to look at the excitement that it caused,

and then you have to look at the explanation that

Peter gave. Very important for us to look at it

all entirely. And so first, what was the experience? Okay,

very quickly, what was the experience? And so the Bible

actually says this happened one hundred and twenty. People were waiting,

their minds were filled with knowledge of the scriptures, their

hearts were full of prayer, there was love for one another.

They were fellowshipping nine am in the morning. And you

can actually divide their experience into three things. What they hurt,

what they saw, and what they did, what did they hear?

And the scripture she tells us that they hurt a

loud gaile okay. Gail is another term for win okay

strong win. This is a win that you don't normally

hear inside a building when you hear outside. But the

interesting thing is the word spirit in the Old Testament

also means the guill forced breath of God. That is

what ruah means gail win in easy kill. God's spirit

blows and then you see dry bones becoming alive. There

was what was happening on pentecosts. You see. The thing

about win is this, You don't know where he came from.

You don't know where it is going to, but you

know when it hits you, you will know it. It

is like that with the spirit of God. You cannot

explain it, you don't know how, but when he comes

to you, you will know it. I assure you of that.

Nobody can be filled with the spirit and not knowing.

Nobody can have the spirit palled out on them and

remain unconscious of this experience. What did they hear? They

heard that strong wind? What did they see? Well, God

has time and time again true. The Ages demonstrated his

presence in fire. Moses saw the burnning bush the Israelized

where in the wilderness, being led by earth pillar of fire.

Elijah had fire sent down to prove that God was there.

And so on the day of Pentecost, when the fire came,

they knew God was there. They knew what it meant

because it was God's power, was God's purity. It was

God's passion coming down on the people. And the description

look gifts is actually amazing. They saw tongues of flame

and not a hair on their body was singed. Can

you imagine that, It's amazing. This was God's fire, just

like shadrack mission and abbet Nego God's fire. What happened next?

What did they do? Well, their mouths were affected. That's

what we are told. And you think about it. If

you are feel until you're overflow flowing versus humans, where

do you think the main outlet would be. It's usually

our mound. When we are elated and extremely happy, we

will be praising and singing and dancing and really just

everyone gets praiserus. When we are paced, everyone gets curses.

It flows out from our mounth. That is the reality

of it. And so really when they will feel it overflowed,

usually in the mound. And you will notice that almost

every time the people will fill with the spirit in

the New Testament days, they usually overflow from the mounth.

Whether they start prophesying, whether they start speaking tongues, whether

they start giving words of encouragement, whether they start interpreting tongues,

whether it's word of faith, it all usually overflows. And

what exactly happened that day, Well, their mounts opened and

they spoke, And it just stays quite simply that they

opened their amounts. They spoke coherent words in languages they

never learned before. Hallelujah. They open their mounts now. And

you know, humanly speaking, that is absolutely impossible, no matter

how drunk you are. Okay, I know after that some

smart Alexey they were drunk. But no matter how much

you drinker, you won't speak a different language. And if

you think you can do that, you quite love to

be a salah. Okay, I don't. I don't think that

has happened. But realize, what what do you think God

was doing? It was almost as though God was bypassing

their intellect. He was using their mouths, not their minds.

That was a miracle. It was a supernatural event. Something

that proved God could use ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

And you are probably asking, by now, why on earth

should God use bypass a person's mind to give him

words from his mouth to praise him. It's a strange

thing to do. Why bypass the mind? Well, think about it.

The biggest blockage in us praising and praying is usually

our mind, don't you think so? I think so because

usually when I pray, the doubt that comes in comes

into my mind. First. If I'm praying big prayers, Lord

give me let me pass, knowing that I didn't study

it at all. Oh, the faith is going to dwindle

and diminish right from the very goal. That's the reality.

The mind is probably the biggest blockish and time and again,

we want to be free to pray, and many of

us actually find our mind wandering. Right more than that,

Sometimes we want to pray, yet we don't know how

to phrase it. How many of you I don't know

how to phrase And it's true it happens to the

best of us. We don't know. The worst just don't

come up. We don't know how to keep going, though

we want to do that. God, in his infinite mercy,

gave them a gift that bypassed their mind and enable

their spirit to address God with their mouths. I believe

in the gift of tongues until today I do, and

one hundred and twenty people started praising God as they

had never praised him before. Is there a way in

which tongues are to be exercised. I believe in that

as well. I leave that for another day. But this

is a lesson where I want us to desire the

Holy Spirit, and foremost desire the Holy Spirit, because we

are still not even at the heart of the main experience.

They heard, they saw, they started doing things, but the

heart of it is not just the wind, it's not

just the fire, it's not just the languages. But for

the first time God was right inside them and had

complete control of them. That is the meaning. You see.

The tragedy is that most of us would have to

admit that most times in our lives God has got

control over certain parts of us, not all of us,

and there are parts that He doesn't control in our

lives because we are saying that, Ah, you ain't going

in there. And so the real meaning of Pentecost is this.

They now had met the third person of the God.

Here they had always believed in God the Father. They

had met God the Son, and after three years they

had come to realize that this human being was divine. Hallelujah.

But the night before Jesus died, he said, don't worry.

I'm going to go, but I will not leave you

alone like orphans. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. He says that

there will be someone that I will leave behind it.

They did not understand at that point of time, but

the Holy Spirit was not someone outside them whom they

could touch. He was going to be someone right inside them.

He was going to possess them. He was going to

control them and enable them to speak as they had

never spoken in their lives. That is what was happening,

and the power had come, and so these ordinary people

could now do extraordinary things. You see, to the great

commission of our Lord, go into the world, preach the

Gospel to every creature. That must actually be added this

he must be added the great compulsion because all of us,

all of us know the commission. All of us have

been commission as believers of Christ. Jesus, your commission is

go into the world and preach disciple people that is

what we are supposed to do. But until unless there

is a real compounsion within us, we will always not

be on the move. If you say, God move me.

That is why I always ask us that question. If

God moves you at the worship service, or at a concert,

or at the revival meeting. If God moves you, my

question is always where has He moved you too? If

we remain seated, then we are not moving. We are

stationary and we are stagnant. And God is always on

the move. The Great Compoulsion must be added to the

Great Commission. The Great Commission alone was not enough to

make the disciples open their mouths. They needed the great

compoulsion from within. And they did and they were all

filled with the spirit and began to speak. You see,

when the great compountion of the Holy Spirit is inside you,

you will do it. You will speak. They were on

fire for the Lord now. And notice that they didn't

have to go out. People were coming to them. And

that's why sometimes I don't know how to explain it.

I mean, I go out on missions fear and trembling,

because a lot of places that I go I don't

speak the language that I am comfortable with whether it's

in Indonesia bus it's not my first language, or if

I go to Thailand or to Myanmar, it's hard, it's

hard to communicate. But always I go in complete dependency

on God, and I tell God, God, it's not me.

It's not whether I can master the language also or not. Ultimately,

I just want to be able to share the gospel

if someone needs to translate it for them, translate it

for them if they need to get the right interpretation.

And no, I pray that every Indonesian hearing me speak

will have that just my Basa Malaysia translated into Basa

Indonesia in their years somehow and they catch what I

have to say. That is my prayer. The team that

went on had limited, limited command of the language, but

yet when call upon they actually initially they used to

look at me, what do we do now? And I say,

pray and ask the Spirit to feel you so that

you will witness God's goodness to the children. And that

is exactly what they did. They just witness. It just

comes out. And I believe that's why I say, when

the spirit feels us and we're baptized in the spirit,

you will know it, you will know it, and you

will speak in a way that it's not you. Amen.

And this is where sometimes no, it gets a bit

more interesting because also take note that it was a

point of time. That time. It was a big festival

in uh Jerusalem, the main festival best attended. It was

somewhere in June, I think June July, around the summertime,

and people were traveling. So millions of people visited the place.

And you can imagine, you know, out of the millions,

there one hundred people there who were really just filled

with the spirit. No one could ignore it, and they

all came. They all came because they were curious. They

were curious. There were people from all walks of life.

There were Jewish people, there were Jewish converts, and there

were people who were just interested in Judaism and like

to practice. You always see those three they go hand

in hand. The Jews, the Jewish converts and the ones

who are really keen in the religion. They follow everything

it is, but they are not circumcised, et cetera, et cetera. Okay,

so everyone started crowding around, they were so curious, and

you know, for once there was again a reversal because

we know that during the Tower of Babel, languages was

brought down to separate people. But ye, when the spirit

came upon the people, they realized that they were speaking

in their own tongues, tongues in which they never had,

but they could understand. Basically, they were glorifying God, glorifying God,

and it brought such a unity. I believe we are

living in these times where when God has now introduced

language to us, it's so that we can come together.

Because the language that we will all speak ultimately is

the language of love for Christ Jesus. That is what

we share. That is the common language in which we share.

And that is amazing because instead of judgment, which is

what thou or bebbel represents, now, is God's mercy taking

place here in x chapter two? And what did they

think of everything? You know, it was a miracle. It

was an amazing miracle. There is no natural explanation. Even

though they were trying to explain it. They were trying

to say that they were drunk. But no way, no way,

you can be drunk and speak another language. It's impossible.

I think. The only thing is I shared with the

morning crowd as well. The morning congregation. The only thing

in common being drunk is usually you'll talk more well

for some people at least, because some always are very quiet.

Put a few jobs on alcohol and start talking non stop.

I think I believe that when the Spirit feels us

that that would probably be one common thing that happens.

We will start talking, and we will start witnessing, and

we will start sharing. Of course, I don't have an

explanation for the quiet drunks, because there are some people

they drink a bit and then they remain absolutely quiet.

But majority of them though, okay, anyway, nothing natural to explain.

It is a supernatural event, Amen, And the Holy Spirit

will naturally make us want to tell others about Jesus

and what he has done for you. That is why

we need the Holy Spirit. Because that was Peter's message,

you know, he started to explain, hello, hello, Hello, let

me tell you what happened. What is happening is not

something that has not been talked about because Joel, the

prophet Joel actually mentioned this before. If you think about it,

in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon selected

people and you can't study. You can study, and you

will be able to count with your not hands up,

but you can you are able to count who is

it that the Holy Spirit came on. And usually when

the Holy Spirit came upon the people in the Old Testament,

it was for short periods of time, not for their

entire life. And they started doing extraordinary things, whether it

was Bazillel he could create, became creative, or even the

different prophets that came about. They started writing. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Isakael, Amos, Hoseiah,

and Micah, all of them spoke through the spirit. Then

we come to what the prophet Joel said, and he said,

this God makes a promise to you that in the

last days, the last spirit of human history, he will

pour out his spirit on a very ball, d on

all his people, on all flesh, regardless of gender. Your

sons and your daughters will prophesied, regardless of age. Your

young men will see visions, and your old men will

dream dreams. Regardless of class. Your man servants, your maid servants,

your slaves, they can have it too. That is what

Joel predicted. And this was the great dream of the

Old Testament. A day when not just a few special

prophets have the Holy Spirit with them, but everybody who

belonged to the people of God could be filled with

the spirit and therefore open their mounts and have God

fill their mouths with words to witness all of us today.

And the armies began to be fulfilled on the day

of Pentecost, fifty days faifety days after the crucifixion and

the resurrection of Christ. Jesus was when the Pentecost took place.

The promise began to be fulfilled. And Peter continued and

he said, Joel said, this is going to be what

will happen ultimately last spirit in human history. We are

living now in the last days, and it will begin

first with the Holy Spirit pought out, and then at

the end of it, there will be a change that

will eventually take place, and we will we will not

go into that that is basically the Second Coming, but

the signs of it have begun already and now we

are looking towards the science of the end of it.

I'm not saying all this to scare us. I'm not

talking about the end of the world to scare us,

because there's always hope. Because realize what Joel said. The

proper Joel says is during that period of the last

days between Pentecost and the end of the world, anybody

who calls on the name of the Lord can be safe. Anybody.

We are still living in this in between period. That's

why I say there is still an opportunity for many

more people to not just meet Jesus one time in

their life at Judgment Day. But it takes us, the

body of believers, to have the courage, the bondness, and

more importantly, the power to witness to as many people

as we can. It is as though he's showing that

history is tied to our actions. Right now, whoever, anybody

who calls on the name of Jesus will be safe.

The bank can come up. I'm done. I pray that

we realize that A lot of times when we talk

about witness evangelizing, oh so difficult. I don't even know

where to start. Can I encourage all of you church,

start with desiring the Spirit of God to feel you,

to baptize you. And it is Jesus that baptizes in

holy spirit. Ask Jesus, you'll may be a believer. And

that's why I say it. You will know when the

Spirit has filled you. You will know it because alone

comes the power and the power is usually evident. It's

not something that is not evident in our lives. And

if you have not experienced that power, then I pray

along with you that you will continue to pray and

desire for the power of the Holy Spirit, because we

can't say that. God, just give me the ability to speak,

so that I can speak so eloquently. I can click

on the internet and you can get many, many people

who can present the Gospel to you in such eloquence.

Such brilliant minds can present it to all the Augians

have done it. I've washed it. I mean, all I

can say is that I probably would have been super

convinced if I really wasn't convinced. But the truth is,

it is not how elucn you are. It's not how

much knowledge you have of the Gospel that will cause

you to be effective in the work of evangelizing and witnessing.

It is really the power of God that is needed.

And you know, sometimes you can be sharing and sharing

and sharing with your love ones, with your friends, with

your colleagues. You may go out, you may think that

it's like such a waste of time. No no one,

no one seems to be responding desire the Holy Spirit,

because I tell you what, if the Holy Spirit is

in you, even if people, and even if the multitudes

reject what you have to say, you will keep on witnessing.

That is our purpose. The power is tied with the purpose,

and the power comes from the Spirit of God. Hallelujah.

You know a lot of Christians are living on the

right side of Easter, but the wrong side of Pentacost.

Why do I say that? Because they understand the death

and the resurrection of Christ, They know their Bibles, they pray,

they are full of joy and believing in the Lord.

But somehow they don't understand what it is to be

filled with the Holy Spirit until you start overflowing. Really,

our lives, our body, our mouths is a vessel for

God to use, a channel of God's word itself. You

want to be effective evangelists. You want to be able

to carry out the commission and fulfill God's commandment and

do it well. We can't do this on our own.

We can't do this with our intellect. We need the

Holy Spirit.

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