- He's HERE ! (Acts 2:1-4)
- He's working through ORDINARY people! (Acts 2:5-7)
- He's after EVERYONE ! (Acts 2:8-11)
- He's POLARIZING ! (Acts 2:12-13)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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00:00-00:02
So Acts chapter 2, are you there?
00:04-00:06
Imagine if we had this conversation at our house.
00:06-00:14
Imagine if I came home, obviously from Target, and I said to my wife, hey, I got you something.
00:16-00:17
You guys all know what this is, right?
00:19-00:20
Right, OK, this is a blow dryer.
00:22-00:23
And do you know what this is for?
00:25-00:26
Yeah, it's for blowing your hair.
00:26-00:29
Imagine if I brought this home-- he's so smart.
00:29-00:37
Imagine if I brought this home and I said to my wife, Erin, I am so sick to death of you going out of the house with a wet head.
00:38-00:41
Because when I was a kid, my parents told me that I was going to catch pneumonia that way.
00:43-00:45
So did anybody else-- did your parents tell you that?
00:46-00:47
Oh my gosh, it wasn't just my parents?
00:48-00:48
OK.
00:48-00:50
So I don't know.
00:50-00:51
Is there a doctor in the house?
00:51-00:52
I don't think you can catch pneumonia that way.
00:53-00:54
But I'm not sure.
00:55-00:58
But anyways, Erin, you can't be leaving the house with a wet head.
00:58-01:04
So I got you this and Kate explains to Aaron that this is something to dry your hair.
01:04-01:16
So Aaron takes it and she's like, "Well, I feel a little bit of a breeze." Like, "No, no, no, no, that's not how you use it." And then she's like, "Oh, well, you know what?
01:16-01:19
I feel it getting a little drier now.
01:19-01:19
You know what?
01:20-01:22
This is a very ergonomic design on this thing.
01:23-01:24
Like, that's not how you use it either.
01:25-01:40
How do you use this thing?" like pastors, if this is so elementary, the way this thing works is it has to be plugged into a power source because unless it's plugged into a power source, the thing really isn't any good, right?
01:41-01:43
You're like, oh, my gosh, everybody knows that.
01:45-01:55
But sometimes in the church, we don't know that sometimes in the church, we forget the most basic principle and the principle is this, like the blow dryer, we are no good.
01:56-01:59
unless we are plugged into the power source.
02:00-02:18
You see, in this year at Harvest Bible Chapel, our theme circle is around Acts 1, verse 8, when Jesus promised the disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes." Why would you want us to have power?
02:18-02:22
Why would you want your Holy Spirit to be on us, Jesus?
02:23-03:25
tells us. You will be my witnesses. Locally and globally, you're going to demonstrate to the world the reality of the living God and he's going to do that by putting his power inside you. Okay? So in Acts chapter 1, Jesus told the disciples, "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You'll be my witnesses and then we saw that he ascended to heaven. Last week we talked about how they waited just as Jesus told them to and they used the time as they were waiting to replace Judas's vacant spot as an apostle and then the day came this power this Holy Spirit that Jesus promised arrives in jaw-dropping fashion So, on your outline, I encourage you to take some notes, because we have a lot to talk about today.
03:27-03:31
Four amazing aspects of the Holy Spirit.
03:33-03:35
Four amazing aspects of the Holy Spirit.
03:36-03:36
Why that title?
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Well, I counted five times in this passage that we're looking at today.
03:45-03:54
These words, verse 6, bewildered, verse 7, amazed, astonished, verse 12, amazed, perplexed.
03:55-04:03
It seems that in this passage there's a prevalent theme about the way people were reacting to the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
04:03-04:06
So what's so amazing about the Holy Spirit?
04:07-04:10
So much we could say there, but we're just going to take four things from the text.
04:10-04:11
Are you ready?
04:11-04:13
Four amazing aspects of the Holy Spirit.
04:14-04:21
one, he's here. He's here. That's the first amazing thing about God's Holy Spirit.
04:22-04:49
He's here. It says, "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
04:51-05:07
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." So the first amazing aspect of the Holy Spirit is He is here.
05:10-05:22
And you know, when you look back on your life, you can probably, like me, you can probably point to specific days, specific days in your life where everything changed.
05:23-05:34
Specific days that you can point to on the calendar of your past and say, "My life hasn't been the same since this day." I look at that in my own life, you know, for example, my wedding.
05:35-05:39
I can look at pictures from our wedding and say, everything changed for me that day.
05:40-05:43
My life has never been the same since that day.
05:45-05:46
I think of when Owen was born.
05:48-05:51
My life has not been the same since Owen was born.
05:53-06:00
I think back even sooner to those days, to 1995, when I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
06:02-06:18
I look at that day and think, "My life hasn't been the same at all since I received Jesus Christ." And understand that we can look at that from an individual perspective, but we can also think of it in a corporate perspective as well.
06:19-06:26
Can you think of a day - one day in particular - that changed life for everybody?
06:27-06:28
How about 9/11?
06:30-06:34
This country hasn't been the same since 9/11.
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It's a day that corporately changed everything.
06:38-06:51
On the grand scheme, what you have to see in this passage, what you cannot miss in this passage, is the truth that when the Holy Spirit came upon these disciples, nothing on this earth has ever been the same.
06:52-06:53
This changed everything.
06:55-06:57
God promised a day was coming.
06:57-07:01
Darren read it earlier, I want to share many Scriptures with you of God's promise.
07:02-07:03
Jesus's promise.
07:03-07:07
And John the Baptist also promised all through God's Word.
07:08-07:09
The Holy Spirit is coming.
07:09-07:10
The Holy Spirit is coming.
07:11-07:12
The Holy Spirit is coming.
07:12-07:13
And then we get to Acts Chapter 2.
07:14-07:20
And I cannot underscore to you enough how significant this passage is in your Bible.
07:20-07:26
The Holy Spirit of God has come to live in God's people.
07:28-07:31
I want to share another Scripture with you concerning this.
07:31-07:33
John 14, verses 15-17.
07:34-07:36
This is a significant passage concerning the Holy Spirit.
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Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
07:40-07:57
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
07:58-08:11
You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." The key word that I want you to focus on in that passage is the word "another." Jesus, talking about the Holy Spirit, listen to this.
08:11-08:23
He said, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper." The word "another" is huge.
08:24-08:25
What's so big about the word another?
08:26-08:27
Here's what's so big about the word another.
08:27-08:30
In the English language, we only have one word for the word another.
08:30-08:31
Do you know what that word is?
08:33-08:34
Another, right?
08:36-08:36
That was an easy one.
08:36-08:37
Now it gets harder.
08:37-08:46
But in the Greek, there were actually two different words for the word another, because they carried two very different meanings.
08:48-08:49
One was the word heteros.
08:50-08:51
We're familiar with that word, right?
08:53-08:59
heterosexual, meaning you're with another person.
09:01-09:05
But in the Greek, the word heteros means it's another of a different kind.
09:07-09:11
My wife is another human being, but she is completely different than me.
09:11-09:13
A woman is different than a man.
09:15-09:16
That's heteros.
09:17-09:23
The other word for another in the Greek was the word alas, which means another but exactly the same.
09:25-09:31
Or to illustrate it, imagine if you brought to church a big tray full of assorted cookies.
09:33-09:34
I recommend this, by the way.
09:35-09:44
But you bring a big tray full of assorted cookies to church, and you walk up to me, and you say, Pastor Jeff, would you like a cookie?
09:45-09:46
What do you think I'm going to say?
09:48-09:50
I'm going to say a little more excited than you just did.
09:51-09:52
You're going to say yes.
09:52-09:53
No, I'm going to say yeah.
09:54-09:54
Yeah, I want a cookie.
09:55-09:56
Hello.
09:58-09:58
OK.
10:00-10:01
Here's a raisin mayonnaise cookie.
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I'm going to say to you, I'd like another.
10:09-10:10
What do I mean by that?
10:10-10:12
I want a cookie, but I want a different cookie.
10:14-10:15
That's another of a different kind.
10:16-10:16
That's heteros.
10:17-10:18
I want another.
10:19-10:19
I don't want that one.
10:19-10:20
I want a different one.
10:21-10:22
I want another one.
10:23-10:23
OK?
10:24-10:24
That's heteros.
10:26-10:30
Or if you came with your big tray of cookies, like, Pastor Jeff, would you like a cookie?
10:30-10:32
I say, better.
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And you hand me a chocolate chip cookie.
10:36-10:40
I'm going to eat it, and then I'm going to say, can I have another?
10:43-10:45
What am I asking for there?
10:45-10:48
I want another one exactly like that one.
10:50-10:51
What were you talking about?
10:51-10:55
Oh yeah, Jesus said the Father is going to send another helper.
10:55-10:56
Guess which word he used?
10:57-11:04
He used the word alas, meaning the Holy Spirit is exactly like Jesus.
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Meaning, the Father is going to send a helper, another helper, and he's exactly like me.
11:15-11:15
That's the point.
11:17-11:19
The Holy Spirit is just like Jesus.
11:22-11:27
The Holy Spirit is not some lesser influence of morality.
11:27-11:35
The Holy Spirit is God himself, the spirit of the living God himself in dwelling man.
11:36-11:42
He's not this impersonal force like on Star Wars or just some moral consciousness.
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The Holy Spirit is as much God as Jesus Christ is God.
11:50-11:53
As God the Father is God.
11:54-11:57
And that's how the Bible has revealed God.
11:57-12:00
The Bible says He is Father, He is the Son.
12:00-12:03
We saw that for the last two years in the Gospel of Mark.
12:03-12:05
Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
12:05-12:10
But the Bible also says that the Holy Spirit is God.
12:11-12:17
The Bible calls them all God, and the Bible calls each of them God.
12:17-12:19
And you're like, "Well, hang on.
12:19-12:20
There's only one God, right?
12:21-12:31
So if there's only one God, how is that one God, like Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, like Pastor Jeff, can you explain that?" And the answer is, "No, I can't explain that.
12:32-12:39
But I believe it." And you don't have to explain something to believe in it and to trust in it, right?
12:40-12:43
I can't tell you how my car works, OK?
12:43-12:48
But I don't stand in my driveway for two hours every morning going, well, I really need to get to work.
12:48-12:54
But until I can figure out how this thing works, I'm not really sure that I'm going to use it.
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I can't explain to you how a cell phone works.
12:58-13:00
I have no idea.
13:00-13:02
But I use it, OK?
13:03-13:04
I believe that it works.
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And I watch it work.
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But I can't explain how it works.
13:09-13:16
And when it comes to the Trinity, can we please just have the freedom to say, "Look, I can't explain the Trinity. I can't. I live in time and space.
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That's all I've ever known. God lives outside of time and space.
13:20-13:33
And in His Word, He says that God the Father is God, and God the Son, Jesus Christ, is God, and God the Holy Spirit is God." And I'm just like, "Okay, I don't understand it, but I don't need to understand it because God didn't tell me to understand it. God told me to trust Him.
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Because He is God and I am not.
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Alright?
13:39-13:41
So the Holy Spirit is God.
13:42-13:44
He's another Helper just like Jesus.
13:47-13:51
Last week, we saw that the disciples were waiting.
13:52-13:54
Why did the disciples have to wait?
13:54-13:57
Why did Jesus make the disciples wait?
13:58-14:10
If you remember last week, I sang to you and I wish I could tell you about the dozens and dozens of emails that I got asking that I would do that more often, but I didn't get those emails.
14:11-14:14
Last week we saw the disciples waiting on the promise.
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Why did God make them wait?
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I'm going to explain to you why quickly.
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The reason Jesus had the disciples wait is because simply this - God has a calendar.
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God has a calendar. Did you know that?
14:27-14:31
I don't know if He has it like tacked to the refrigerator or hanging on the wall. I don't know.
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do know for a fact that God has a calendar.
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What do you mean by that?
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Well, if you go back to the Old Testament, the Old Testament, the Old Testament law, all of these things were a picture of the coming Christ, right?
14:44-14:48
All of the things in the Old Testament were to picture the reality of who Jesus Christ is, right?
14:50-15:06
Well, the events of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit were on God's calendar, which lined up with his calendar from the Old Testament, meaning this, Israel had national feasts that God commanded them to celebrate.
15:07-15:13
You can read about them, Exodus 23, I believe also Exodus 34, it's in Leviticus 23.
15:14-15:18
You can go to your Old Testament and read, but God says, Israel, you have to celebrate these feasts.
15:18-15:23
And one of the feasts was Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread.
15:24-15:27
They were day apart, kind of the same thing, same celebration.
15:28-15:35
But the Passover celebrated that God allowed the blood of a spotless lamb to save and rescue his people.
15:36-15:37
Going back to the days of Moses from the Exodus.
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Okay, Passover.
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On Israel's calendar, if you go, God said, seven weeks and a day after Passover.
15:51-15:52
What's seven weeks and a day?
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Quick math.
15:53-15:54
Seven weeks and a day, how many days is that?
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Fifty, right.
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50 days after Passover, there's another feast that Israel was supposed to celebrate.
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And that was called the Feast of Weeks.
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What was the Feast of Weeks?
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Well, 50 days after Passover, by the time you get to the New Testament, the Feast of Weeks had a different name.
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The Feast of Weeks was called Pentecost.
16:21-16:23
And do you know what the word Pentecost means?
16:23-16:24
It means 50th.
16:25-16:27
That's what Pentecost means.
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50th, meaning the 50th day after Passover.
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And it was actually a first fruits offering.
16:36-16:41
This is the thing that I was studying this week that blew my little finite mind.
16:42-16:46
When you do the math here, kind of look at this timeline.
16:47-16:53
Jesus Christ offered himself as the Passover lamb on Jewish Passover, right?
16:54-17:01
And then the Bible says, we saw this in Acts chapter 1, that Jesus appeared to his disciples for how many days?
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It says 40.
17:04-17:13
So, Passover lamb sacrifice, Jesus Christ, he appeared to his disciples for 40 days, and then he told them to wait.
17:13-17:15
What are we waiting for, Jesus?
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You're waiting 10 days to get to day 50.
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Because day 50, 50 days from Passover, is what?
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as Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, and that's the day that the Holy Spirit came.
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Like, well what's the significance with that? I'm so glad you asked, because you see Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14, you can look that up. Remember I told you that the Feast of Weeks was to celebrate firstfruits. The Bible tells us that that we receive from Christ.
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So do you see how awesome God's timetable is?
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Passover, 50 days, firstfruits offering, Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, Jesus saying we're on the same calendar here.
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I offered myself as the Passover lamb.
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I appeared to you for 40 days, but you've got to wait 10 more days because your next big celebration is going to be a firstfruits celebration when God's Holy Spirit comes to be the first fruits of your inheritance.
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Isn't that awesome?
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That's why they had to wait until Pentecost.
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But you see, church, this is the power that Jesus is talking about.
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That God has chosen to personally live in the heart of everyone who receives Christ.
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Everyone who receives Christ receives the same Holy Spirit.
18:48-19:01
It's not like, "Well, I get a little bit of the Holy Spirit because I'm just a little guy in a little church in a little town and I get a little bit and you get a little bit and because you're a small group leader you get some..." It's not like that.
19:01-19:06
Like Billy Graham gets a lot of Holy Spirit and it's the same Holy Spirit.
19:08-19:12
All of God's Holy Spirit indwelling all of God's people.
19:14-19:17
The question isn't how much of the Holy Spirit do we get?
19:17-19:21
The question is always, how much of you does the Holy Spirit have?
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Just like we wouldn't use the hair dryer unless it's plugged into the power source, we can't do what God's called us to do unless we're plugged in to the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Everything that God wants to do in you and in this church comes from the power of the Holy Spirit.
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The first amazing thing in this passage is, he's here.
19:48-19:50
And somebody might say, "Wait, wait, hang on.
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"You didn't really explain the rushing wind "and the divided tongues of fire.
19:56-19:59
"What's that all about?" And I don't know.
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I really don't know.
20:01-20:08
But understand this, Luke here was describing the phenomenon.
20:09-20:11
He wasn't explaining it, and there's a difference.
20:12-20:18
You notice it says, there is a sound like a mighty rushing wind.
20:18-20:20
He didn't say it was a hurricane.
20:20-20:23
He said it sounded like wind.
20:24-20:27
He's describing the phenomenon, not explaining it.
20:27-20:37
And then he says, "Divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them." Like, what does that even mean?
20:37-20:42
It was some physical, visible manifestation of God's Holy Spirit.
20:43-20:49
And you can see from the language, Luke is like, "I'm just trying to describe what it looked like." I don't think their heads were on fire.
20:49-20:51
Okay, I don't think it looked like that.
20:51-20:55
Remember, was it Michael Jackson, you know, doing a commercial and his head caught on fire or something?
20:56-20:58
Younger people are going to have to look that one up.
20:58-21:01
But I don't think their heads were literally on fire.
21:01-21:10
I think Luke was just like, "Here's what it looked like." It appeared to be like these divided tongues of fire.
21:10-21:12
There was some visible manifestation.
21:13-21:14
Don't miss the point, okay?
21:14-21:21
Don't get caught up in trying to understand details we weren't really meant to understand and miss the big picture.
21:21-21:22
The big picture is this.
21:22-21:23
God's Holy Spirit is here.
21:25-21:26
That is amazing.
21:27-21:34
Secondly, what else is amazing about God's Holy Spirit He's working through ordinary people.
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He's working through ordinary people.
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Look at verses 5-7.
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It says, "Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
21:46-21:50
And at this sound," what sound?
21:50-21:51
The sound of the wind, right?
21:51-21:53
Whatever that wind sound was.
21:53-22:44
at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. Remember it says in verse 4 that they began to speak in other tongues after that sound. The crowd hears the sound they come out and they hear these people speaking in tongues and it says each one was hearing them speak in his own language and they were amazed and astonished saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" Stop there. Here's something else amazing about the Holy Spirit. He's working through ordinary people. These devout Jews from everywhere hear this sound.
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Obviously they were in town for Pentecost to celebrate God's holidays.
22:54-22:59
So they hear this sound and you can just imagine in your mind everybody coming out into the streets.
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The Bible says bewildered, amazed, and astonished.
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We would also add rubbernecking.
23:04-23:06
Like what was that sound all about?
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First of all, what sounded like the hurricane?
23:13-23:23
And second of all, how is it that there's all these people here from all over the world but everybody is hearing this little group of people talk in their own language?
23:24-23:33
Aren't these people that are speaking, aren't they just, aren't they just, aren't they just, what's your Bible say, aren't all these who are speaking Galileans?
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This was not a compliment, by the way.
23:41-23:49
This was like saying, "Aren't all of these people speaking just a bunch of rednecks?" I mean, these aren't men of the world.
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These aren't refined and dignified men that we hear speaking these exotic world languages.
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That's not what we see.
23:58-24:06
What we see is a group of hillbillies from Galilee speaking all of these languages.
24:08-24:09
What in the world is going on there?
24:10-24:14
I would just pause here and say this passage is a great encouragement to me and it should be for you.
24:15-24:23
Because we tend to idealize people from the Bible.
24:26-24:27
We should idealize Jesus.
24:29-24:37
But I'm saying other people from the Bible - we tend to idealize some preachers even today.
24:40-24:43
But you know, they were just regular guys.
24:44-25:09
us, right? The Bible says Elijah was a man with a nature just like ours. And David was an ordinary guy. And Peter and Paul, ordinary people! Somehow we tend to idealize them that they were, you know, they were eight feet tall and wore skinny and were just so cool and so trendy.
25:10-25:12
And they were just regular guys.
25:14-25:24
And preachers today, we tend to idealize our "insert favorite preacher." But they're just regular guys.
25:25-25:28
And understand that that was the thing that amazed the crowd.
25:29-25:35
That something big was happening, but it was happening through ordinary people.
25:36-25:37
That's encouraging.
25:40-25:41
Because if I were God, you ever play that game?
25:42-25:46
If I were God, I would use popular and influential people of our day.
25:47-25:49
I'd be like, you know what, I gotta get this gospel message out.
25:49-25:54
So I'm gonna find the coolest actors and athletes and supermodels.
25:54-25:57
I'm gonna find the people that like the general public already sort of looks up to.
25:58-26:04
And I'm gonna get my message through them because people will kind of automatically already listen to them.
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They already have the people's attention.
26:05-26:38
have the people's ear. God doesn't work that way, does he? God's like, "No, I just use ordinary people. That way people see my glory on display and they don't attribute my work to the person doing it." Confession time, there's not a There's not a day in my life that goes by that my inadequacy to do ministry isn't staring me right in the face.
26:41-26:49
There's not a day that goes by that I think about what God's called us to and what we've seen God accomplish.
26:51-26:54
There's not a day that goes by that I don't think, "What in the world am I doing?
26:55-27:17
do this. I'm not the guy for this job. I can't believe with all of the people on the planet that there's not somebody more qualified than me to be in this position. There are like seven billion people more qualified to be in this position. And what am I doing? What am I doing here? I wrestle with that.
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But you know as soon as I think that it's about the adequacy or the competency of the person, or as soon as I think in a moment of pride that I am adequate to get the work done, it's really for me to start expecting the glory. It's easy for me to lose my dependence on God, and it's easy for me to start doing ministry in my own power. Well, I guess I got something to offer. I guess I'm kind of intelligent and kind of creative, and I can kind of...
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Suddenly I'm not relying on the power of the Holy Spirit.
27:55-28:03
Suddenly I'm thinking that the reason God called me was because there was something He saw in me, which wasn't the case.
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It wasn't the case for me and it wasn't the case for these people in the first century in Acts chapter 2 here.
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It wasn't about them.
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It was about God's power.
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And I get a word from somebody here, maybe there's somebody sitting here today that needs to step up in ministry, but you haven't felt qualified.
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Maybe there's somebody here that's like, "You know, I really feel like God's been calling me to be a part of something in this church, or part of this ministry or mission, and I just really haven't felt qualified to do it.
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Maybe someday..." I get a word for you.
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That word is this.
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God still uses Galileans.
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Because it's not about what you bring to the table.
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God's not looking down from heaven saying, "I've got some work that needs done, let me see who's qualified to do it." That's not the case.
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God's looking down from heaven saying, "Who is willing to allow me to work through them?" That's what He's looking for.
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That's good news for me.
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should be good news for you.
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He's working through ordinary people.
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Thirdly, what's amazing about the Holy Spirit is He's after everyone.
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He's after everyone.
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Verse 8, continuing the roar of the crowd here.
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Not all these who are speaking Galileans.
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Verse 8, they continue.
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And how is it that we hear each of us own native language. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in their own tongues the the mighty works of God.
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Here's the next amazing thing.
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Number three, He's after everyone.
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All of these languages are being heard at once and each of these people groups that are represented - I have a page of notes of who these people groups were and where they were from and what that is today, but that's not really the point.
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The point is just simply this.
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The Lord is pursuing everyone with His Holy Spirit.
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The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone.
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You see, we saw in v. 4 that it said that they were speaking in tongues.
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And you're like, I've heard about that before.
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What is speaking in tongues?
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What does that mean?
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Well, when we look at this passage, we see that speaking in tongues was not some gibberish language.
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Speaking in tongues is somebody speaking an existing language that they don't know by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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I think that's pretty obvious from the text.
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They weren't speaking some gibberish language and suddenly the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to understand the gibberish language.
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It's very clear in the text that these disciples were speaking in tongues and the reaction of the crowd is, "We hear," verse eight, "each of us in his own native language." It would sort of be like, I'm going to Thailand in eight days or whatever.
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It'd be like if I went to Thailand and I got up And I started speaking, but Thai came out of my mouth.
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Or some Lisu tribal language came out of my mouth that I don't know, but the Holy Spirit chose to express the gospel to them in their own language by me opening my mouth.
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That's what speaking in tongues is.
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You're like, man, I would love to know what they were saying.
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What did the people hear?
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Like all these languages were hearing a message.
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I wonder what they were saying.
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We don't have to wonder because the Bible tells you exactly what they were saying.
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Look at verse 11.
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We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.
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That's what they were preaching.
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They were preaching these sermons of praise.
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Okay, they were sermons of praise.
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Like, well what did that sound like?
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Here's what they would have heard in their own language.
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have been something like this.
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These disciples saying, listen, people, the Lord God reigns over all the earth.
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The heavens proclaim his righteousness.
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Great are the works of the Lord.
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Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
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His love endures forever.
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That is what they were hearing in their own language.
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Because this was setting the table for Peter to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
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And we're going to be getting to that next week.
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You see, He's after everyone.
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The promise of the Holy Spirit is for everyone - Jew, Gentile, male, female, black, white, rich, poor, pretty, ugly, pretty ugly, whatever.
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He's after everyone.
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There's no exclusion here.
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Okay, everybody's hearing in their own language, except like, you know, there's some, there's some like Latino people here that aren't hearing Spanish.
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Like what's going on here?
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Everybody was hearing the message and that was God's way of saying my gospel is for all people all over the world and it's got to get to them.
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And I'll show you how I'll get it to them.
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I'll perform a miracle so that they hear it in their own language.
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He's after everyone.
33:59-34:04
So if you're sitting in church today and you think, you know, there's some people in our church that go to the prison.
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I don't really know why we waste our time with those prison inmates.
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Or maybe you're sitting here thinking of that nasty neighbor that you have or that wicked co-worker that you have and you're looking at these people and you think, well, here's some people that are impossible to reach.
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Have you ever thought that about someone?
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Like that person's impossible to reach.
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God's never going to get after that person.
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That person's impossible.
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Well, when you start to think that about someone, I've got something I'd like to show you.
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It's right here.
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Because that was me.
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You see, it was at a low point, a time in my life, I wasn't seeking God.
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I was seeking a lot of other garbage.
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I wasn't seeking God.
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But oh how I discovered that God was seeking me.
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And He took a guy like me who was in sin and living a sinful, self-centered, hate-filled life.
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The Holy Spirit was after me and He's changed me.
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I still got a lot of growing to do.
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I'm not the person I want to be yet, but I thank God I'm not who I was.
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But as soon as I have that temptation to think, "Well, that guy's never going to get it.
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I just have to grab a mirror." You're like, "Jeff, that was you, man.
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I'm sure that if you would have interviewed people in 1994, you'd think that guy's ever going to come to Christ." No way.
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God's Holy Spirit is after everyone.
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He's after everyone.
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Is everyone going to respond? No.
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I think it's obvious from this passage that the heart of God is to go after everyone.
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That's why we go to Thailand.
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That's why we send a group of people to Romania.
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That's why we're talking about going back.
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Why? Because God's after everyone.
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He wants to use us.
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message out.
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What's so amazing about the Holy Spirit?
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Well, first, it's just amazing that He's here.
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It's amazing that He works for ordinary people and it's amazing that He's after everyone.
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Lastly, what's so amazing about the Holy Spirit is He's polarizing.
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He's polarizing.
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Look at verses 12 and 13.
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It says, "And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean?' But others, mocking, said, 'They are filled with new wine.'" As always, when God is at work, people fall into two camps.
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When God is very clearly and obviously at work, people fall into two camps.
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There are seekers and there are doubters.
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We see it in this passage, "Some people seek." What does this mean?
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Is this for real?
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Is the power of God really on display here?
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Is God's message coming after me?
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Does God really love me?
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Is God after me?
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Like, what does this mean?
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Why am I hearing this?
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Why am I seeing this?
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Why is God doing this?
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There are seekers.
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But then there are always those who are just going to explain it away.
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God clearly at work.
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And did you see some of the people who are like, "They're drunk!" Seriously?
37:47-38:25
That was how you assess the situation Dozens of different language groups were hearing in their own language and you're you you assess the situation by saying the preacher's been drinking Really that was the best you could come up with that's idiotic that is idiotic But that shows you how idiotic a sinful heart is Because a sinful heart would rather accept any explanation except Even to the point that you call the preacher a drunk.
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Just unbelievable.
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How can you just watch one of the biggest miracles in the history of the planet and just explain it away?
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How can you be so dismissive in the face of God at work?
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It's like that.
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I'm telling you, it's just like that.
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There are people that will see God so very clearly at work, and they will be so dismissive.
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I remember when I was saved in '95 and the radical transformation that I went through.
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I remember very shortly thereafter I was called into ministry, which I was so not expecting.
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So not expecting that call.
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And I was sure it was the wrong number, and God would not let it go, so here I am.
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And I remember telling a close family member about it, I'm not going to say which one, it wasn't Darren, okay we'll put it that way, this story is not about Darren.
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But I remember telling a close family member about it because in my life God was just transforming me and things were so new and radically different.
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And I remember trying to tell this family member, like, "Hey, I got some news for you.
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God, I believe that God has called me to be a pastor." I remember being nervous to like tell this person, like, what are they gonna say?
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And you know, are they gonna think I'm weird?
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Are they gonna try to talk me out of it?
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Like, I just remember like getting up the courage, like, "I gotta tell you something.
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God has called me to be a pastor." And it's crazy, I know, I'm 100% sure that's what he's calling me to do.
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I'll never forget what this person said.
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They said, well, you know ministers don't make very much money.
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You know that, right?
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Somewhere off in the distance, I heard, wah, wah.
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That's kind of the thing that's going on here.
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It's like, God is so clearly at work.
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And then you just have Debbie Downer.
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Has there's no offense, Debbie, or anybody else if your name's Debbie.
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It's like Debbie Downer has to show up and be like, "Ministers don't make money.
40:42-40:50
They're probably drunk." Looking at the face of God, obviously, at work, and just being so dismissive.
40:52-41:01
I'm sure our church this year, we sent about $18,000 to Romania in three love offerings, We're talking about $18,000.
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And then to send seven people over, we raised about $19,000.
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Somewhere in that neighborhood.
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So in this little church, that's like $37,000-ish.
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Somewhere in the ballpark of that kind of money.
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And I'm sure as some people outside of the church heard about that, maybe you're talking with some of your coworkers about it or something like that.
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I'm sure there's some people that were thinking, "Oh, they must have some big givers at that church.
41:32-41:34
I wonder what the real story is behind that.
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I bet you they got probably just a couple people that were big givers." And just so quickly want to just explain it away, instead of saying, "Look what God did!" It's like, "Oh, I wonder what really happened." I am so down on people doing that to the Lord.
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God does something obvious and we just want to dismiss it?
41:55-42:04
The biggest example in my life, I remember in 2011, in March, Cade, who was four at the time, got kicked in the face by a horse.
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It was just a weird series of events.
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We got back from a four-wheeler ride, we were out at the in-laws, and one of the horses got out of the barn, and Aaron's dad and I were putting a new tire on the one quad, and Cade ran down to see this horse that was now in the yard, and ran behind the horse, and I just turned to Joe, He was far away.
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I just turned to Joe and I said, you don't think that horse will-- and as soon as I got that in my mouth, that horse reared back.
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And both hooves right in the face kicked Cade.
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And he flew across the yard, did one complete flip, landed face first in the dirt.
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Oh gosh, I remember screaming as I ran down the hill.
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Picking him up and his eyes were open.
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Nothing was there.
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His mouth was open.
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He had blood trickling out of his mouth and he wasn't breathing.
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Horrified.
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Long story short, we race him to Butler Hospital, which was closest.
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And we get taken to Children's Hospital.
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And one of the doctors at Butler said, "No four-year-old gets kicked in the face by a horse and survives." So we get him to the children's hospital and they fit him with this little neck brace and we're in the emergency trauma unit all night and they get a room ready for him and early in the morning they wheel him to the room and at the crack of dawn he jumps out of bed and starts playing like nothing happened.
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Ok now I tell people that story, the boast about the Lord, I'm like you're not going to believe what God did.
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And I tell people, I believe that God put His hand down and protected him in the moment of impact.
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You know, and he had a mom that was holding him and praying for him in the car the whole way to the hospital, just praying over him, praying over him.
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I believe that God did something absolutely supernatural.
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Not one broken bone.
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Not one.
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I tell that story to people, and you know what people say?
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Well, you know, kids are pretty resilient.
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Kids are pretty resilient!
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He got kicked in the face by a horse!
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Okay, resilient, yeah, maybe he falls off the couch and gets a booboo on his knee.
44:27-44:30
Okay, here's a lollipop, stop crying, we're moving on.
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He got kicked in the face by a horse!
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And the Lord protected him.
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And you have the audacity to sit there and be like, "Well, kids are pretty resilient." Pretty resilient!
44:41-44:45
And then I have people try to explain the event itself.
44:45-44:46
They're like, well, you know what?
44:47-44:49
Maybe the horse didn't catch him flush.
44:50-44:53
Maybe it was a bit of a glancing blow on the shoulder.
44:56-45:01
And perhaps an unusual wind pattern was what flew him across the yard.
45:02-45:06
And he landed on an especially soft tuft of grass.
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And that explains his well-being.
45:13-45:16
I'm like, well, I appreciate your theory.
45:19-45:25
However, we have the hoodie that has two hoof marks on it.
45:28-45:31
So don't give me this glancing blow theory, JFK, all right?
45:31-46:43
I don't want to hear your little theories about how you think it happened because I watched it happen and I got a theory how about this one how about the Lord showed up how about the Lord intervened how about the Lord protected how about that theory because that's the only one that makes sense when people try to offer their silly little theories I just grabbed them by the collar of their shirt and I say you're not going to rob God of his glory in this story. I don't really do that but I do that in my mind. I promise you I do that in my mind. What's the point? The point is church, listen, we live in a world that looks at God's creation and says you know how it happened it was it was all by chance, evolution, millions of years and we just live in this world where we look at the work of God and come up with some stupid explanation and we see it at Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes and they're like they're drunk God at work a few people are going to be interested to dig deeper and a lot of people just going to be meh. The church is time to get gripped again.
46:45-47:01
not trying to trudge through life, or try to conduct business in the church, but to cry out that God's Holy Spirit accomplish what only God can do.
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He's here.
47:04-47:05
He's working through ordinary people.
47:05-47:06
He's after everyone.
47:07-47:08
He's polarizing.
47:10-47:11
I brought something else with me today.
47:13-47:16
This is one of my work gloves here.
47:17-47:18
I have two, for the record.
47:19-47:23
But I just want you to imagine with me that we were going to interview this glove.
47:25-47:34
We're going to interview this glove, and we say, glove-- looking great, by the way-- tell me what your life is like.
47:35-47:38
You know, this glove might say things like, you know, I'm pretty useful.
47:40-47:46
If you were hanging around our house, you would see I do a lot of stuff.
47:47-47:51
You would see that I'm pushing the mower.
47:53-47:54
You would see that I'm pulling weeds.
47:55-47:56
And I don't just work at home.
47:57-48:02
You know, sometimes if people need to move, I carry mattresses.
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I carry dressers.
48:03-48:04
I carry boxes.
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I have a pretty busy and fulfilling life.
48:11-48:15
But the truth is, left on its own, it just sits there, doesn't it?
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It just sits there.
48:18-48:22
Because reality is, this isn't really the thing that does stuff, right?
48:23-48:24
You get that.
48:24-48:25
This isn't the thing that does stuff.
48:26-48:29
You're like, "Pastor Jeff, we're moving.
48:29-48:31
"Will you help?" And I'm like, "Oh, you know what?
48:31-48:32
"I'll send my glove.
48:34-48:34
because it's great.
48:36-48:38
This isn't the thing that does the work.
48:40-48:43
On its own, it's useless and quite ordinary.
48:45-48:52
But you know, when I put my hand in it, it seems to do all kinds of things.
48:54-48:59
But the truth is, it's not really the glove doing it, but it's the power of what's inside doing it, right?
49:01-49:02
This is the point of the Holy Spirit.
49:05-49:07
Here's your self-esteem pep talk for the day.
49:08-49:10
You, you are a glove.
49:12-49:13
You are ordinary.
49:16-49:17
And you are useless on your own.
49:20-49:22
What matters is what's inside you.
49:25-49:35
Because with God's Holy Spirit, He can use you to accomplish incredible things for Him.
49:37-49:40
But the glory never goes to this.
49:41-49:43
The glory belongs to what goes inside.
49:44-49:45
Let's pray.
49:46-49:53
Father in Heaven, we want to close this time today thanking You for the power of Your Holy Spirit.
49:54-50:27
Rejoicing at the truth that Jesus didn't say, "Go be my witnesses. Best of luck to you." But Jesus said, "Wait. My power is going to come upon you. My Holy Spirit is going to dwell inside you and then in that power you are going to accomplish big things." Father, it's easy for us to get a little further down the road and We start to lose the awe and the wonder of the truth that you personally have chosen to dwell in the hearts of your people.
50:28-50:29
We start to feel in despair.
50:30-50:31
We start to feel weak.
50:31-50:38
We start to turn our eyes on ourself thinking that we are going to somehow manifest the power to get your work done.
50:39-50:47
That this church is somehow going to pool our creative resources and get some work done when the truth is nothing happens outside of the power of your Holy Spirit.
50:50-50:53
So, Father, again, grip us in the awe of your power.
50:56-51:01
Let us present ourselves to you, Father, just as gloves.
51:03-51:13
And might your Holy Spirit, working in us and through us, accomplish things that can only be attributed to you.
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We praise you in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior.
51:18-51:19
Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 2:1-13
What's the significance of everyone hearing in their own language (Acts 2:6-11)? What does this say about the biblical phenomenon of "speaking in tongues"?
Why do people try to "explain it away" when God is so clearly at work (Acts 2:13)? (Hint: See John 3:19-21, Romans 1:18) How should we respond to that as Christians?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another to be walking in the Spirit.
