The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

He's the God of all the nations. He's the God of all creations. Lift him up. If you really think about it, I just know you're going to shout it. Lift him up. Let's lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up. Oh, God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Lift him. We paid the price. Lift him up. He is Lord and King. That's right. Lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up.

Let's lift Jesus up. Lift him up. He's the God of all the nations. He's the God of all creations. Lift him up. He's the way, the truth, the life. Lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up. Lift him up. We'll take your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. And we'll look at the first 12 verses again this morning. Luke writes, When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound like

the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. And when they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment

because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked, All these men who are speaking, Galileans, then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native dialect? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, What does this mean? My prayer

for us as we go through the book of Acts together is that we come to understand the blessing that we have as believers in Jesus Christ to have residing within us the Holy Spirit. We have God's Spirit living within us and understand the riches that are ours as a result of that. Too many Christians are living without the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Too many are living apart from the realization of the strength and the blessing that is God's.

Through the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so as we journey through the book of Acts, although it has a primary focus of the church, really the focus is that I want us to see, and it's there, is the Spirit of God living through the church. It's what makes the church the church. It's the life that's been given to us as children of God. And we are rich beyond measure, yet so often as

God's children, we live as paupers. And I'm not, I'm not in the middle of the church, but I'm in to riches and earthly riches. I'm talking about the riches of the blessings of God that far surpass earthly riches. And I, I don't know about you, but sometimes I have difficulty trying to imagine different spiritual concepts. I mean, you say the word faith. What do you picture? Do you

picture a shield? Do you picture a David and Goliath? What do you picture when you hear the word faith? When you hear the word grace, what do you picture? How do you associate that? You and I have received the grace of God. How do you incorporate that into your, into your person, into your daily life? See, sometimes we can have, we can know what the word means, but as far as walking in it, we have difficulty associating that. And so when I'm

talking spiritual riches in Christ, because we don't take time, I think a lot of times to think about those spiritual riches, we don't live in them. And we walk around weak as Christians when God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Here's a weak attempt, maybe, at trying to do some comparisons of our riches. Statistics on Michael Jordan and his riches. Michael Jordan will make over $300,000 a game.

That's $10,000 a minute, assuming he averages about 30 minutes a game. Assuming $40 million in endorsements next year, he'll make $178,100 a day, whether he works or not. Assuming he sleeps seven hours at night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugar plums dance in his head. If he goes to see a movie, it will cost him $7, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there. If he decides to have a five-minute,

egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it. He makes $7,415 an hour more than minimum wage after the wage hike. He'll make $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends. If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX, which is a $90,000 car, it would take him 12 hours. If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate

of $2 every second. He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but he'll be reimbursed $33,390 for that round. Assuming he puts in $3,000 a day, he'll make $3,710 a year. If he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into his tax-deferred account, his 401 , at the beginning of the year, he will hit the federal cap of $9,500 for such accounts at 8.30 a.m. on January 1. If you were given a tenth of a penny for every dollar

he made, you'd be living comfortably at $65,000 a year. He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100-meter-dash in the Olympics. He'll make about $15,600 while the Boston Marathon is being run. And while the common person is spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he'll pull in about $5,600. Next year, he will make twice as much as all of our past presidents for all of their terms

combined. That's amazing. But Michael Jordan will have to save 100% of his income for the next 270 years to have a net worth equivalent to that of Bill Gates. Now, as much greater as Bill Gates' net worth is than Michael Jordan's, so much greater are the riches that you and I have. I mean, we sit here in awe when I read dollar figures like that, and yet you and I have

the riches of Christ. Every spiritual blessing, Paul says, in heaven, every spiritual rich, rich, every spiritual riches that are available are available to you and I. And yet so often we let the things of this world overwhelm us and forget the blessing that God has given us. And so hopefully this focus in Acts will be an opportunity for us to spend time staying on that focus with where we are with the Lord.

The blessing that God has given us through his Holy Spirit. Now, I purpose to study this section in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in three different sections. Number one was to first look at the setting of Pentecost. I think we'll understand more what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is as we look at the setting of Pentecost. And we did that last week. And I just want to kind of bring us up to speed where that was concerned, where the setting

of Pentecost is a celebration of the completion of the wheat harvest. It's a festival that the Jews have celebrated since the time of Moses. Moses was given the ordinances for the Feast of Pentecost. The book of Leviticus records that. We were there last week and saw all of that. It's a time when the Jew for 49 days would set himself apart unto God and seek to be purified,

seek the purifying of God or the Tahara, as Rabbi Joseph Stern mentioned in his book that I quoted from last week. The Tahara, the purifying of God, as he would pray and as he would seek the Lord in the Word of God. After seven Sabbaths, that last evening, the 49th day, would be an all-night service. An all-night vigil of prayer and waiting upon the Lord. And according to Rabbi Stern, it

was an anticipation of God pouring out his divine help on the sincere seeker, on the one who was sincerely laying his heart before the Lord, seeking that purification, that Tahara, that God on that last day would pour out this divine help where this blessing of separation was concerned. Now, the last night was to be an all-night vigil of prayer, an all-night vigil of prayer and setting their hearts before the Lord. So this last night, as they came into the 50th day, every Jew who had come to Jerusalem to worship would be awake, would be up all night praying and anticipating God's divine outpouring, God's divine Tahara, the divine purifying that was to happen at the end of Pentecost.

As dawn broke on the 50th day, according to Rabbi Stern, the Jews would begin to recite, begin to go through the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. And as I mentioned last week, I can anticipate this being done. Almost as a singular wave, as the people in the upper room, the 120 in the upper room would be reading it, as well as all of the thousands and hundreds of thousands of worshipers that were gathered for this Feast of Pentecost, reading the Ten Commandments together. It was at this exact time that it was believed that the outpouring of God's divine help was to come on the worshiper.

It's at that exact time we saw that God chose to pour out his spirit upon those waiting for his divine help. And as we begin today, I want to just refresh us with that and encourage you that no matter what you're doing, no matter where your life is right now, that God is very specific and God is very particular and God has a plan for your life and that he's on time with everything that he does and that nothing is outside of God's will or of God's plan that's happening. That as radical as things may seem, that it's part of his plan. There's a pastor named Pastor H.E.M. Snyder that's written a poem where that's concerned

and I want to share that. It's called, It Didn't Just Happen. Things just don't happen to children of God. They're part of a wonderful plan. The troubles, reverses, the sorrows, the rod are strokes of the great sculptor's hand. When some dread accident strikes you a blow and you worry and fret and demand, why try so hard the mystery to know? It's not just an accident.

It's planned. Have you been dropped from a place of power? Do you wonder and reprimand? Don't rebel, but look to him in that hour. This didn't just happen. It's planned. Persecution. Tribulation. Come down like a storm. Friends disappoint and withstand. At last, all alone, bewildered, forlorn. You look. He smiles. This is planned. Do you wonder why God to affliction should call and why you must suffer and moan?

No man should be moved by affliction, says Paul, for you know it's just part of the plan. Did some dear one stricken and finally die? Did your heart break with anguish and woe? Did you question your Lord and cry, my God, why? Don't question. He planned it. Just so. Things don't just happen to children of God. The blueprint was made by his hand. He designed all details to conform to his son.

So all things that happen are planned. No matter what happens to those called his own, events that are awful or grand, every trial of your life he sends from his throne. Things just don't happen. They're planned. If you and I can come to rest in that, you understand the secret of the power of God's Holy Spirit working in your life. That's one of the things we're going to look at today as we move into the second part of

our understanding of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that I've titled the sounds and sights at Pentecost. The sounds and sights at Pentecost. That's in verses two through four. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. First they heard and then they saw. I mentioned last week that this is contrary to the natural man. This is contrary to our flesh. We like to see and then hear. We want to see and then believe. If I don't see it, it's hard for me to believe it. Missouri is called the show me state.

That means I don't care what you tell me. Show me. If I don't see it, I won't believe it. And that's the natural tendency of man. When Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, you remember Thomas wasn't there. And although all of the disciples told him, Jesus appeared and we saw him and he ate. Thomas said, I won't believe it unless I can see the nail prints in his hands.

Unless I can put my hand in his side where he had the spear that pierced his side. I won't believe it. Show me. A week later, Jesus appeared to Thomas and the other disciples. And he said, Thomas, stop doubting. And Thomas saw the nail prints, put his hand in Jesus' side. And he responded, my Lord and my God. And Jesus. Jesus said, you believe because you have seen, but blessed are those who will believe having not seen that referring to all of us, to the believers that would come later that would receive God's word, receive the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ and what God has done for us through Christ, though we've never seen him.

We haven't seen him yet, but we believe his word. So we hear and believe just as here at Pentecost. The first thing that we see or the first thing that is made. Young to us is they heard and then they saw also the Samaritan. Do you remember the Samaritan woman in John chapter four? She met Jesus at the well and had quite an experience with him. And he revealed himself to her as being the Messiah.

She ran back to town, told all of the people. And John four tells us that they came running out. And after seeing and hearing Jesus, they believed where they said, for now we have seen with our eyes and heard for ourselves and believe that this is truly the Messiah. So it's a natural. It's a tendency to want to see it before we believe it. But how blessed you and I are when we believe having not yet seen how blessed you and I are when we take God at his word.

You and I have the written word of God. And in any situation we can say, what would Jesus do? Lord, what would you have me doing this? And we can know basically we can know how to respond. We may not know what color of something to buy or whether or not we should literally buy this yet or not. But we'll know basically how to respond in situations. And how blessed it is to trust and obey first before the circumstances change, to just take God at his word and trust him.

How often I find myself in certain situations trying to analyze, you know, trying to figure out and understand the why rather than just, okay, Lord, this is part of your plan. Now, how do I respond in this? How will how should I respond that will bring you glory? And as I respond that way and nine times out of 10, I don't feel like it. Just like I wrote in the article for the newsletter.

When I start to sing. When I'm frustrated. When I start to sing a praise song deep inside, I'm still frustrated. But when I start to sing, it's like God channels that frustration out into praise. And I actually offer that frustration as a sacrifice to him. And he transforms. It's amazing when we hear and obey first. Romans 10, 17 tells us that that's how faith comes, isn't it?

Is by hearing. Your faith is increased as you hear a message about Jesus Christ. Now, it's as we hear and believe. That then God opens our eyes. That's how we begin to truly see. That's how we begin to, you know, when you go through a frustrating time at work. Listen, nine times out of 10, it's not directed specifically at you. It's usually an area where the enemy's moving, wanting to frustrate,

wanting to get your eyes off the Lord so that you act like a jerk. So that when people hear that you're a Christian, yeah, you're just like all the other Christians. You're, you know, whoopee in church. But then outside, you're just like everybody else. Well, as we understand. As we go for the Lord and ask his forgiveness, he opens our eyes to that fact. We can go back, apologize to those at the workplace, tell them that, you know,

we didn't mean to act like that. But, you know, we took our eyes off the Lord for an instant and our flesh got the better of us. And they see the reality of who we are. We're not trying to put on any kind of airs. We're real before the Lord. We trust God. We want to obey. And that means often asking for forgiveness for our actions and for our attitudes. It's then that we actually see what God is doing in the world.

So first they heard, they hear a sound. It says like the blowing of a violent wind in NIV. The sound of a rushing mighty wind that came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Now, notice your text says it's a sound like a rushing mighty wind. It wasn't necessarily a rushing mighty wind that filled that place. It was a sound. They heard a sound like that.

Throughout scripture, you're going to see these things described as best as the writers can describe them with what understanding that they have. When you go through the book of Revelation, and I encourage you to do that, take time to read it. You'll see John described many things with the limited understanding that he has. I saw what appeared to be stars falling from the heavens.

Now, were they nuclear missiles? Could be. He didn't know nuclear missiles back in 90 AD. To him, it looked like stars falling from heaven. And so he said they look like stars falling from heaven. And the descriptors are given to us as best as the writer could do at the time. So here. At this time of Pentecost, they heard a sound, then it sounded like a mighty wind, a violent wind that filled the room.

Now, one thing they could tell was that it came from outside the house. It says that it came from heaven. The violent wind came from heaven. That's good. That's good to know. Why? It wasn't generated within the house. It wasn't something that was just a natural phenomenon that happened in the other room. You know, maybe John Mark's mother's in there with an egg beater or something.

Sounds like a rushing mighty wind. We'll put that down. No. It came from outside the house. It came from heaven, it sounded like. And there's a reason for that. And it filled the whole house. Now, I asked the question last week, why a wind? Why did God do this this way? I mean, why not, with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, why not it just all of a sudden, all of them are sitting around and they're reading the Ten Commandments and finishing in prayer,

and all of them just sit upright and their eyes open and, hey, you know, all right, we're there. Why did it happen this way? Well. Well, let me share, and I shared this first service, and we'll talk about it more as we go into next week, talking about this area of the gift of tongues that were given at this particular time. Three other times in the book of Acts, this is mentioned.

And unfortunately, different denominations seek to build doctrine around the baptism of the Holy Spirit where this is concerned, rather than understanding that it was God's initiation of the church. It was God's building the foundation of the body of Christ in the world. And he uses certain identifiers to establish that fact at this particular time. It's not saying that it's going to happen this way every time.

Those that like to build a doctrine around the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues is necessary for you to be saved. And they build it around Acts chapter 2 and chapter 9 and chapter 10, and they say that's the way it was then. Okay, well, where's the tongues of fire and the wind? I mean, if we're going to be doctrinally correct, let's have it all.

Let's don't just... See, I can generate the tongues, but I can't generate the Holy Spirit. I can't generate the wind and the fire, necessarily. It's a mark of identification, and it's for some specific purposes that we're going to see. So, why the wind? What does the wind represent? Why a violent wind? Well, looking at Scripture to interpret Scripture, let me throw out some ideas, some suggestions.

In John chapter 3, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and talked to him about being a man of God. We know you're a man of God. We know you come from God, because no man could do the things that you do unless he's from God. And Jesus said a remarkable thing to Nicodemus. He said, And Nicodemus said, Well, how can a man go back into his mother's womb when he's fully grown?

How can he go back in to be born again? And Jesus said, explaining it further, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he shall not enter the kingdom of God. Now, we kind of know that from Sunday school and vacation Bible schools. Now, we know that from Sunday school and vacation Bible schools. We know John 3.16. It's down a couple of verses from there.

But I don't know how much time we've ever really spent, unless we've gone through a study of John's gospel, just really looking at what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus in those verses. He's talking to Nicodemus about the activity of being born again, about what happens in the born-again experience. And he says, Except a man is born of water and of the Spirit. He links those two together.

And that's exciting to me. And people go, Well, that means baptism and the Holy Spirit. Well, not if you realize what he's talking about. Because just a verse down, he talks about the idea of for the Spirit of God, where he says, For the wind comes, it blows as it will, and you see it not, except you see the effects. So also the Spirit of God. He compares it to the wind.

Duh. That's where we are in Acts chapter 2. A rushing, mighty wind came through. Now, what's Jesus talking about to Nicodemus? The word for spirit there in John chapter 3 in the Greek is the word pneuma. It's a neutered word. It means a man. It means literally breath or wind. And then Jesus down a verse talks about the wind. He compares the spirits moving in someone being born again to the wind.

And I like that. Because that helps me understand what he's talking about as far as except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he shall not enter the kingdom of God. And he compares this then with the Spirit of God, the breath of God, the wind of God. If we go back to Genesis chapter 1, we find that when God created man, he created him out of the dust of the ground and he breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul.

So we were born literally by the breath of God. That's one of the things that's necessary in being born again. You have to be born the first time. You're born of the breath of God the first time. And in the same way, you have to be born again by the breath of God, by the Spirit of God, by the wind of God blowing into you. See your life. Just as there was an effect when us mud balls became living, walking beings, so there's

a visible effect when we are born again by the breath of God. That's the comparison between the wind. You don't see the Spirit when he moves, but you see his effects. Just like you don't see the wind, but you see its effects. I see the winds out of the north. Well, how do you know that? Well, I'm standing here looking north. I'm getting hit in the face with this burst.

I look over at the trees and they're all bending to the south because the wind's out of the north. We see the effects. So too. With us as believers in Jesus Christ, if we have been born again, there will be visible effects of that in our lives. The Spirit of God producing the fruit we talked about in James as we went through the.

It's not being confirmed or christened or baptized that saves. It's being born again as God breathes into you again, new life through the Spirit. And that becomes evidence in your life because you have a hunger and a thirst for him. A hunger and a thirst. For his righteousness. A hunger for the word of God. A desire to do what he wants and find yourself letting him do that through you.

The evidences of the Spirit within you, just like the wind that blows. And so God's pneuma, God's Spirit, God's breath is active and equated in our lives like the wind. Also in John chapter 20, verse 21, it says that Jesus resurrected Jesus walking with his disciples. He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Now, how do you picture that? When you read the word of God, picture these things.

Just stop for a minute and go, I wonder what that was like. How do you picture that? See, I'm kind of funny, I guess. I see Jesus walking with his disciples. Now, he already appeared to them in the upper room a couple of times, told them to go on to Galilee. He's met them there. And they're still, you know, fuzzy in their relationship with this resurrected Lord.

And I picture Jesus walking along like he did. And they're kind of gathered behind him, kind of grouped in. They don't want to miss anything, but they don't want to crowd him too close. I mean, after all, he might disappear again. You know, they're just kind of hesitant. And I see him stopping and turning around and going and saying, receive the Holy Spirit.

Now, if you're a disciple, what would you do? What's he doing? I don't know. And there's a big doctrinal argument. Did they receive the Holy Spirit there or not? Did it come? Some say they received the Holy Spirit there and then they were baptized in the Spirit in Acts chapter 2. And I think there's a whole argument of semantics there. I think it's in Acts chapter 1, Jesus tells them to wait for the promise.

So to me, it seems like they didn't get it in John chapter 20. Well, what happened then? Why did he do that? Well, see, I just kind of feel like they're there in the upper room and all of a sudden this sound comes in. Now, what's the sound going to sound like to them? To me, the first thing it's going to sound like is when Jesus was standing there on the beach and he went, only now you've got THX, angelic digital sound, you know, kind of blowing

through the room. But it's the same kind of sound. And to me, it's an identifier for them. This is what he was doing. This is what he was talking about. And it's like everything clicks at once. You ever, you ever kind of in the dark about something, maybe it's something your kids are doing and, and you're not really sure as they're growing up what they're doing.

And then you find out that they had this friend that said this or that, and then everything clicks. It kind of falls into place. Oh, that's why they wanted to wear the makeup early. Or that's why they wanted to, you know, it's like everything fell into place when you got that last piece of information. That's what I see them as here in the upper room. I mean, they're waiting for the outpouring of God's Tahara.

And all of a sudden. Here's the breath and they go, that sounds, you know, by the time they're doing that, they got these little tongues of flames sitting over their head. But it's like, it's like God's bringing it all together. The sound of the wind, the breath of God, they are being born again by the breath of God. They remembered him talking to Nicodemus and here's the breath of God blowing through.

It's starting to make sense. But why does it say now the sound of a violent wind or a mighty rushing wind? Well, I don't know about you, but a lot of people I talk to today. I think Christianity is kind of wimpy. And unfortunately, I think it's because a lot of us Christians act wimpy. We act defeated. I mean, not that we have to walk around with us, you know, but we let the things of this

life overwhelm us and defeat us rather than drawing on the strength that God has given us. I mean, all these hokey shows on TV touched by an angel. It's okay, but it's really new age. And you got to be aware of that. You got to draw from the power within. I mean, you watch Walker, Texas Ranger. And you get this. It's the same message, you know, draw from the power within.

Truth in that with Christians is we have the Holy Spirit. We release him. We let him have control of us. We yield ourselves to him. And he gives us the strength that's necessary. But unfortunately, too many of us in this country, at least, I mean, when you go overseas and you see the persecuted church, it's amazing. That's a powerful church. That's a church walking in the power of God's spirit.

And as more and more persecution comes, as it's going to here, as we take a stand for the things that are. Of the Lord and of his word, we'll be, we're going to be labeled. We're going to, you'll see us labeled as militia people here before long. We'll be associated with some militia group somewhere because we're taking a stand for the things of God that are right.

And as we do that, I think you'll see the power of God a little more evident in his church. But for a goodly part of Christianity, we're either wanting the goodies of this life for us. And so we're just a bunch of gimmies or we're spiritually impotent. We're spiritually inept. And when God's spirit moves through this room at Pentecost, it sounds like a. Mighty wind.

Now I want you to understand that when the breath of God comes upon us, when God's spirit moves in your life, when you're going through one of those discouraging times and you seek the Lord and his spirit applies his word to your life and you get a refreshing, it's like a breath of air, isn't it? It's kind of like, oh yeah, I needed to hear that Lord. I needed to hear that encouraging word again. And so the spirit can move gently like that refreshing, cool breeze on a hot summer day.

But also second Thessalonians chapter two tells us that when Jesus returns to the earth, he is going to destroy the antichrist or second Thessalonians chapter two, verse eight by what? The breath of his mouth. That's power. That's a powerful breath. Revelation chapter 16 tells us that Jesus will come riding on a white horse, gives his description and it says out of his mouth comes a two edged sword.

Well, many times we see that as just being the word of God, just being the word itself, but it's the word of the spirit, the power of God through his spirit. When you and I are told in Ephesians chapter. Six to put on the armor of God, we are to take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. It's not just we take the word of God. It's not just that we carry a Bible around and act holy.

It's that we take time to get in the word, let God's spirit apply it to our lives. And then the breath of God moves through us and applies our applies that to our daily walk, to where we love our wife, to where we seek to, to, uh, submit to our husbands as under the Lord, where we love those that are. Our enemies, where we bless those that curse us, where we do good under those that despitefully use us and persecute us, where we seek to be servant leaders instead of demanding from others. We seek to let others progress, let others have center stage.

It's that's the move of the power of God, the move of the spirit of God. And it's powerful and it's mighty. And too often it's overlooked too often. It's the Christians are seen as, as weak. And you're going to see that concept more and more by the world, at least by the world in this country as more and more. The emphasis. Is on the Eastern mysticism and the, the power of Kung Fu stuff and all of that.

Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The breath of God, the spirit of God who moves in my life. You are rich beyond compare. You have the power of God residing in you. And also the violent, mighty wind, the sound of that was very attention getting. If you look down in verse six, just a minute. It says when they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment.

So they heard the sound of this rushing mighty wind. They come together and now they're bewildered because they hear each one of these men speaking in their own language. And we'll talk about that next week, but it's the sound of the wind that brought the people together. Listen, as you set yourself apart to unto the Lord and let him live through you, you will be like a breath of fresh air in the midst of a dying and perverted world.

And God's spirit will blow through your life into the lives of those around you. And you will be like that drawing wind of Pentecost. That's what he wants from us. That yieldedness to him to blow through us, to bring refreshing to those that he moves us around. Verses three and four quickly. It says, and they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on

each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit enabled them. Now, first they heard and then they saw. First they heard the sound and then they saw what seemed to be, it says here it is like it was like the sound. Now it's what seemed to be tongues of fire. The word tongues there in the Greek is the word globulin.

Glosa, which literally means a tongue. I don't think it was just a little flame, a cutesy little flame with a little line up the middle. I think it looked like a tongue on fire. In our study in James, remember chapter three, James told us that the workings of faith are revealed in the reverberation of our speech. We either have the power with the tongue to encourage and build up or it sets on fire

the fires of hell and we can destroy a life with our speech. Well, the word of God is powerful and sharp and it, and I think we fail to see it as a fire. It's a fire. The fire of God's love melts us, doesn't it? When God's love, when we receive God's love, we melt while it's the fire of his truth. It's the fire of his truth that's going to destroy the antichrist.

And so here you see these tongues of fire. Now God is calling his church to be witnesses, to tell others about Jesus, but he won't do that until he equips them for that task. And so you have the tongues of fire that sit over each one as God empowers them and us to be his witnesses. To be able to speak on his behalf. It says they, or the tongues of fire rested on each one, rested on each of them.

Listen, God empowers us to be his witnesses. Now I know a lot of you feel like me and we're like Moses. I have the Moses syndrome. God wants you to do something and you say, I can't talk good. Send somebody else. You know, I don't know what to say. I get my tongue all twisted up. Send somebody else. What did God say to Moses? He didn't say first, I'll send Aaron.

He said, I'll go with you. I'll speak. I'll speak through you. Oh, I'm still all tongue tied, Lord. You know, send Aaron. And it says God got ticked off at him and said, fine, I'll send Aaron, but I'll speak to you and you talk to Aaron. Then as you go through the rest of Exodus, you find that, yeah, Aaron raised his rod and all and touched the waters, but Moses is the one that spoke to Pharaoh.

So Moses finally got it, I think, by the time he got to Egypt and he ended up speaking to Pharaoh because he understood that God empowered him to speak. As you read Isaiah, as you read Jeremiah, you'll find that God tells those prophets that he will empower them. He will speak through them. They just need to trust him. Jeremiah had some pretty powerful things to say that the people didn't want to hear, but

he trusted God to speak through him. You and I have that same power, see, that same opportunity. As much as you feel like, well, I can't say anything. I don't, I don't know what to say and I'll get all tongue tied. Don't worry about it. God will speak through you. He'll take what you know and he'll use it. Now he expects us to get in there and learn more of him, but he'll take what you'll know,

what you know, and he'll use it. He will empower you. And so you see the individuality of this. Each one, it rested over each one. God is particular. If there would have just been a flash of light in the room, I can see people going, well, the flash was brighter on this side of the room. So we got more than you got, you know. I can see the men saying, well, you know, you ladies haven't been able to talk at the

temple or at the synagogue. So, I mean, you know, we men have it. No, they got the same exact thing. It's an identifier. And we'll see that in Samaria. And we'll see that in the house of Cornelius. And we'll see that with the disciples of John the Baptist. Each one got the identifier so that no one could say, well, we actually got more than you got or we got it better than you got it or whatever.

No, we're all the same. We're all the same. Same in the body of Christ. Empowered by him. Empowered by the Spirit. Real briefly, let me give you four things that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, first of all, is a separating unto God. And that's exciting to me because that's what they were doing at Pentecost. They were praying to be separated.

They were praying to be separated unto God, to be purified, to set themselves apart. A time of spiritual purification. And when God pours out his Spirit, that's exactly what he does is he separates us unto himself. Now, all of this in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I want you to understand, is the working of God. It's not the working of man. It's not the tarrying of man.

It's not the begging of man. It's not the asking of the man of God. It's God doing the work. God does it, period. He separates us unto himself. When you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart. You are separated unto God. You belong to him. He has separated you unto himself. You are sanctified, which means separated, called apart unto God. That's what sanctification is.

You will realize the fullness of that sanctification when you stand in his presence. Secondly, he seals you. We are sealed, marked by God. Just as the tongues of fire set individually over the heads of each one of these disciples. They were individually marked by God. So too, you and I. When we receive Jesus Christ. Paul says in Ephesians 1 verse 13. You were sealed at the moment you believed.

You were sealed with the spirit of promise. You and I are sealed by God the instant we believe. Now we may not see the little tongue of fire on us. That was a mark of identification for the beginning of God's church. And we'll talk about that more. But the same activity happens with each of us. We are set apart and we are sealed. And then we are submerged, if you will.

Submerged into the body of Christ. I didn't mention it today. But last week when we looked at the Feast of Pentecost. One of the differences between Pentecost and First Fruits. At the Feast of First Fruits, the initial cuttings of the grain, of the wheat, were brought in. And the priest would take a stack of the grain. And he would wave it before the Lord and ask God to bless the harvest.

At Pentecost, they would bring in two loaves. Two loaves of bread. They were symbolic initially of the Ten Commandments. Of the two tablets of the commandments. But they were bread. They were whole loaves made with yeast. Yeast represents sin in the scripture. Not only did the children of Israel sin against God by not receiving his word. Initially, they were down having a ball in idolatry while Moses was receiving the commandments.

But also the church is made up of sinners that are saved by grace. And that's evidenced in the fact of the two loaves of bread. But also that the grain that was separate when it was first waved at First Fruits. Has now been made a part of the loaf. It's indistinguishable now from the loaf. I mean, you could go in there and probably break down all of my new particles of each grain.

And find each grain. But it's together. It has lost its individuality in the whole. And that's you and I now. We still are individuals. But we are now. Part of the whole. Of the body of Christ. And you and I now have purpose. We have place. And we have purpose. We've been placed in the body. And we have purpose in the body of Christ. That's to minister to one another.

And to be witnesses out in the world. And I don't know about you. Maybe this morning you're sitting here. And you feel like you're a life without purpose. And a life without place. You don't know where to go. You don't feel like you're a part of anything. You just feel isolated and alone. If you're born again. You already have purpose and place. You're just not walking in it.

You're not realizing it. If you've not been born. By the breath. Of God. Let me offer that to you. Because he gives you then. Purpose. And place. When I was in college. The first of many times. I was at the University of Colorado. In Boulder. On the Boulder campus. Back in the 60's. Back during. In 1960. Well 1970 really. Well no. 68, 69 is when I started. 70 is when I flunked out.

But back during the time of the SDS. And all the Vietnam protests. And all that stuff. And I didn't know what I wanted in life. I had no idea. And so. I flunked out of school. My first year. I went back to summer school. Because I knew that wasn't a good thing. To do is flunk out of school. So I went back to summer school. And I pulled a 4.0 in summer school.

And got. Put on scholastic probation. My second. My first semester of my second year. And I found myself in the quadrangle. Which is the center section of the campus. At that time. Watching the students walk to and from classes. And I'd just sit there. For hours. I forsook all my classes. I didn't go to class. Because I was sitting there going. They all look like they know where they're going.

And I haven't got the foggiest idea. I mean I know I've got a chemistry class in there right now. That I'm not in. But why do I want to go? What purpose is it? Because I had no goal. I had no vision. No purpose in life. I felt empty and alone. And maybe that's how you feel this morning. Maybe you feel like you're just kind of plugging through life. If you're a Christian.

If the breath of God has blown into your life. You have purpose. And your purpose is to live for him. To be a witness. To let him fill you. You have a place in the body. And there are people that need encouragement. There are people that need the ministry. That your giftedness has for them. Look around. And let God move you where they are. Your work. And your school.

And all of that's gravy. Those are just places to function. And if you get your degree. And if you get paid for your job. That's gravy. Those are just incidentals compared to the place and the purpose that God has you. There are people here that need the ministry gift that you have. And you don't even know who they are. God's given you this wonderful place.

This wonderful area where the body of Christ is. It's a small group. It's easy to get to know. You just got to take the time you want to do it. You have place. And you have purpose. Because he has submerged you into the body of Christ. And he has not only separated you and sealed you and now submerged you. But he's supplied you. He's supplied you with what you need to minister.

Well I can't do anything. I don't know what to say or do. You haven't tried. Trust him. Believe what he says and act on it. And just get to know somebody here. And you'll find the encouragement that you can be. You can be a prayer warrior for them. You can be there to help encourage them through a particularly tough walk they're going through right now. You'll be amazing.

You'll be amazed at what God will do if you just make yourself available. That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now nowhere in Scripture are we told to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Right here in Acts chapter 1 Jesus said wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Father. You will be baptized by the Holy Spirit. Not many days hence. He doesn't tell us to seek it.

It's nothing we do. It's a one time occurrence. From this point on in Scripture you never see it mentioned again. It's something God does initially when we first come to Christ. When the Spirit leads us to that point we have surrendered to Jesus. We are baptized with the Holy Spirit. We are separated. We are sealed. We are submerged into the body of Christ and we are supplied with everything

that we need that pertains to life and godliness through the Spirit of God that lives within us. Now we are told over and over in Scripture to be filled with the Spirit. We have it as Christians. Now we need to be filled. We need to release. We need to let him have us to live through us. And that's where the body of Christ is weak. We don't realize the assets that we have.

We don't realize what God has given us. And so we tend to neglect it. We tend to set it aside and not realize the blessing of being filled with the Spirit. Brothers and sisters, let me encourage you. If you have been born again by the breath of God, God just wants you to trust him. God just wants you to take him at his word. If you haven't been born by the breath, born again by the breath of God,

that's an invitation that God gives to you this morning to receive the gift, to receive the gift of salvation. It's not wimpy by any means. And you and I are going to need it for the days ahead. It's going to be tough. You think it's been tough. It's going to get tougher. But in the power of God's spirit, we can rest. We can trust you are richer than Michael Jordan and Bill Gates put together.

Just trust him. Father, as we look at this section, you want to show us the amazing gift that you've given us. It's not something that's to be used to meet our own needs because you've already told us you'll take care of that. It's your power resident within us by which you can reach others through us. So, Lord, help us to be filled with your spirit. Help us to.

Help us to walk in that power that you've given us, not for self-exaltation, but to lift one another up, to bring the encouragement that's so needed in the fellowship, to exercise that giftedness that you've given each one of us, that each each of us needs, Lord, the body ministering to itself. Father, strengthen the downhearted this morning. May they see the power of your spirit that's resident within them, that they, too, can do all things through Christ who strengthens them this morning. Lord, you have given us everything we need that pertains to life and godliness.

Help us to walk in it, I pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand. In your own. Help me, Lord. With your spirit, touch my heart. With your love.