“TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES”

Pentecost Sunday – 50 days after Easter.

INTRO.:

-What we define as truth will add incredible value to your life, or it will detract value which will be experienced as a consequence.

-What you build your life on will either serve as TRUTH or A CONSEQUENCE.

-Listening and adhering to a worldly system of man-made system of Broke, Woke Theology will add consequence to your life.

ILLUS.: THE ELCA just elected a Transgendered woman as the presiding bishop.

TRUTH: “The precepts, the principles, the truths of the word of God are inexhaustible in the benefit that it will provide to us.”

Psalm 19:8-11

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: There is great reward!

The precepts that disagree with the Lord’s truth are wrong.

If it isn’t in the word of God, then it is wrong. Religions that do not exalt the Lord’s precepts as right are wrong.

-Atheism is wrong, agnosticism is wrong, communism is wrong, socialism is wrong, Islam is wrong.

(Yes, I included socialism as a religion)

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, and in keeping them, there is great reward.

-We are trying to accumulate the passion of God, the blessings of God, and the victories of serving our God.

-The Day of Pentecost is a day that is integral to our faith and what we believe. We as a church are a people of the Spirit; we are a people that believe in the moving of the Holy Spirit.

-If there has ever been a time in human history that we need the stirring, the moving, and the power of the Holy Spirit-TODAY IS THAT TIME. The Church needs the gifts of the Holy Spirit!=

-The HS provides wisdom, knowledge, direction as we navigate a new normal in a new culture

Acts 2:1-4, 14-21

I love ROL, I love the Assemblies of God, I love what it stands for. We are a church of the Spirit. We as a people are classically evangelical, but we are also Pentecostal. 

Pentecost is not a denomination, it is not a religion, but it is a belief in the supernatural. You can be charismatic but not be Pentecostal. You can be non-denominational and not be Pentecostal. My roots were birthed in revival. I was introduced to the life of the Spirit early on. It is what I long for, and it is what we need as a church and a people.

We as a church have 4 main CARDINAL BELIEFS:

1. Salvation 2. The Baptism in the Spirit 3. Divine Healing 4. The 2nd coming of Christ.

-I believe these things, and I also seek these things.

1. The principles of a Spirit-filled Church, when honored, make compound blessings over time.
2. Each principle that is honored positions us for God’s rewards.
3. Each principle we violate robs us of the potential of those rewards.

Many in the city of Jerusalem had heard things going on and have asked what is this?

Acts 2:17 is the answer

1. God is saying that the gifts of the Holy Spirit and spiritual experiences are for believers.

Peter said: “It is a last-day experience.” 

If 2,000 years ago, it was considered the last days. Then certainly, it stands to reason that we are at the Pinnacle of the fulfillment of that scripture. Peter said, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

2. As you go down in that chapter, you will see that people are being moved on by the Holy Spirit as Peter was preaching.

They said: “What must I do to be saved?”

Acts 2:38-39

If you were called into the family of God by the spirit of God, God is saying that the promise of the Holy Spirit is for you.

Every spiritual age begins with a manifestation of the glory of God.

The age of the Father (God moved from creator to Father God, which happened on Mt. Sinai.) when He manifested Himself in glory. Exodus 19:18

God was saying: ” I am more than a distant God of the past, but I am a God of your present, in your midst.

The Age of the Son of God started with the birth of Jesus to a virgin named Mary. What happened? The angels showed up. An angelic choir began to sing about what God was doing.

They sang of the birth of the Son of God.

The Age of the Holy Spirit began in Acts 2:4-12, and it left the upper room, and it has gone out across the globe.

-The early disciples waited on God. That is what Jesus ordered them to do.

-From that moment, the Spirit of God was poured out, and signs and wonders were done in that experience. 

ILLUS.: It is a fact that Spirit-filled Churches the world over are the fastest ones growing.

In this passage we just read, we see 4 distinct events that are common in the life of a believer. These four events were used to change the 120 from seekers to preachers.

-They went from being isolated to evangelistic.

There are four events that will surround any believer and any church seeking a move of God’s Spirit.

1. THERE WAS A SOUND FROM HEAVEN. Acts 2:2; Malachi 3:2

One of the manifestations of God initiating a work from heaven is that He does it suddenly. Quickly. He just shows up. This bears the mark of God – He just changes things quickly.

1. When Paul and Silas were in the jail, they began to praise God, and a suddenly came.

(Acts 16) There was a sudden earthquake that caused the chains to be loosed.  Throughout scripture, there are several “suddenlies” where God decided to show up, and He manifested Himself in a sudden way to show and declare His glory and power.

The Bible says that there was a noise from heaven. It was not an orchestrated noise; it was not an emotional noise; it was not a mob noise, a concert noise, a crowd noise; it wasn’t music that got a bunch of people hyped up.

IT WAS A NOISE SENT BY GOD, to manifest on the people.

2. 120 believers began to “AWAKEN” to the spirit of God in that upper room. This is the real WOKE theology.

-They woke up!!-Jesus ascended-

After the noise came into the room, the Bible says “that it was noised abroad.” I can tell whether you have heard the noise. If you have heard the noise, you will be noisy in a world system that would like you to be quiet. If you have heard the noise, you will be noisy in a world’s system that is trying to stifle the church.   

One thing that I pray is that God will send a suddenly to ROL.

ILLUS.: I have been praying for a passion to arise into the sleeping, mediocre, lethargic, and complacent Christians. God wants you to hear the noise. Awaken to the reality of what God desires to do.

ILLUS.: The family goes through a medical emergency. People awake. They forgive quickly.

2. THERE WAS A WIND.

The sudden move of the spirit came on the wind. The wind seemed to be generated from within the room. It was a spiritual wind. It was supernaturally blowing through the room.

• They realized it wasn’t a wind blowing through the trees.
• It wasn’t a wind of nature. It was a wind of God that was supernaturally blowing through the room.
• They realized that something was different. The wind was in the upper room and not in any other room.

ILLUS.: I lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the tornados of the mid-’70s. 100’s of touchdowns in 1 night. They showed pictures of pieces of straw being embedded into telephone poles. Cows, being picked up into tall trees. Cars being found 5 miles away. They say that the 1974 tornado was an f-5+ on the Fujitsu scale.  It can cause steel girders to bend like pretzels in the wind. How does a piece of straw get driven into a telephone pole?

It does it by surrendering to the wind. 

Blow on me however you want Holy Spirit

-Seek Him, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart.

1. We, as New Testament Believers, want to submit to the wind.

We need to be like the 120 disciples in the upper room, who gathered together to allow God to blow on them.

“How He wills,” not “How we will.” When you look at who Jesus chose as apostles, you almost want to say…Lord, let me help you.’

ILLUS.: Jesus picked fishermen: Peter, who was volatile; John who was so docile that He wouldn’t ever confront sin in somebody’s life. Then you have Andrew, who was just glad to be there. Simon the Zealot belonged to a hot-headed group of revolutionaries.

The Bible says, “That these men were largely unlearned and uneducated.” GOOD SENSE would tell you. If you are going to gather some men together, who is going to make an impact, then gather some who had at least some credentials.   

PEOPLE WHO HAD A TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESS.

LORD SAYS: “All I need is 12 men, who will submit themselves, and let the wind blow them.”

     When the wind comes, it doesn’t matter what people have been because the wind of God will allow them to do that, which is impossible in this world.  We get busy trying to figure out “how to do something for God.” And we don’t let the spirit drive us or lead us.

ILLUS.: The early disciples were eternity conscious: 

“We count dollars, while God counts crosses. We count again, while God counted losses. We count our worth by things gained up in-store. He sizes us up by the scars we bore.

We covet honors and seek degrees.  He weeps as He counts the hours on our knees. ……I never knew until one day by the grave, How vain are the things that we spend life to save.

2. They understood that the power of God was now their power. The authority of God was now their authority.

The miracles of God were now their miracles.

They laid hands on the sick.

When they met people who were afflicted with the enemy, they cast those spirits outs.  They reached out through the power of God. “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

If your faith is low, listen for the wind of the Spirit. I believe I hear the wind about to blow.

“My faith level may be low right now, but I believe the wind is about to blow on me. I may have doubts, I may have fears, but I hear A wind coming.  I can’t change the world around me, but what I can do is get into the spirit, and when the spirit comes. I AM CHANGED.

If I get with the wind, I will receive His touch. Can you hear the wind a-blowing? The spirit is your power and energy.

3. THERE WAS A FIRE TO WARM THEM.

When the Holy Spirit works in your life, He will change your spiritual temperature. The HS will change the temperature of a church service. We have all been in Church services where the spirit of God began to move.

It was the same song, the same preacher, the same people, but something supernatural began to happen. There were the same elements, but the HS began to stir. He began to purify the people.  God began to move on everyone’s life. God’s spirit began to add fire, the temperature of the meeting was changing, It was above and beyond.

ILLUS.: In Exodus 19-It was 3 months after the Pandemic ended. Every firstborn of Egypt died. God leads His people to Sinai to have intimate worship. -I believe God is saying it is time to get to the mountain. It is time to come out of Pandemic mode – It is time to ascend into the presence of the Lord.

1. Paul challenged the Church at Ephesus. Acts 19:1.

He observed the church service. He saw they had a form of religion.

“Have you received the Holy Spirit since you have believed?” You have received the Lord Jesus, and you were water baptized, but have you received the Holy Spirit? 

Paul said: “God has something far greater.”

2. The Holy Spirit gives LIFE to His people.

God has something better for us than a form of God. We must awaken our passion with the fire of God. That our life would do something greater than what it is. With that cry, the spirit of God begins to stir you… “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? ” That was the question.

Matthew 3:11

3. It will not be just a spiritual experience, but it will be a passionate experience.

The disciples had heard the noise, they experienced the wind, they felt the fire, and they were each one touched by fire.

Everyone was equally touched. Whatever you are excited about is your cornerstone of TRUTH.

-Your passion determines destiny.

-Your passion increases willpower.

-Your passion changes you.

-Your passion makes the impossible possible.

-What is missing in many believer’s lives today is Passion!

ILLUS.: I have seen people more passionate about cutting their grass than worshipping God

4. THERE WAS A SPEECH TO COMMUNICATE THROUGH THEM.

-The Holy Spirit gave everyone the ability to speak in a language known to the people on the day of Pentecost. It was multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual.

-God is not concerned simply with a manifestation of noise and display of human energy.  God is concerned about a work that has an eternal consequence. As we walk in the spirit and understand the Spirit of God, God is far more concerned about what the eternal consequences are.

He gave them a speech to communicate to the people and giving them an anointing for boldness.

It wasn’t a complicated message; it wasn’t a difficult message; it wasn’t an entertaining message, but it had a truth: “If you will come out of your religion and give your life to Christ -He will change you, transform you, and save you forever.

-The Spirit of God wants to manifest His presence in you.

-Spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

-Physical things are physically discerned.

**I well remember being ex-Catholic and saved American Baptist.

**I well remember people telling me that this Holy Spirit stuff wasn’t real. But I kept meeting all these people who had joy, a presence, an anointing that was undeniable.

The Holy Spirit communicates Jesus.

The disciples were worried about the eternal consequences of people’s souls. The HS empowers you to do something about the condition of men and women’s souls. God spoke. We have a record. Jesus spoke…we have a record.

The Holy Spoke spoke. We have a record.

-On the Day of Pentecost…we have a record of what HS did.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit helps you to speak about Jesus, and Him crucified, died, and rose again on the 3rd day.

ILLUS.: HS-It changed me.

Our passion and love for God are revealed in the person and work of the HS.

That is why Spirit-Filled music is known the world over for praise and worship. They want to get out of this world into His world, out of this system, into that system.

-This is why we have altar calls. We invite people to come and receive from things of His world, not our world. We want people to receive things from Him and anything else He has.

-Jesus is the one that saves, heals, delivers, transforms.

-Jesus is the one that went to heaven so the HS could come down from above. He is the one the scriptures speak about.

CONCLUSION

1. Where’s your fire at?

“How come I don’t see the fire? How come I don’t see the move of God in my life? When was the last time you stayed in a room and prayed for an extended period of time?

We want the same blessings, but we are not willing to seek God with all heart.

2. Wake up from the nap.

We could forget what God has done -Like the people in Jesus’ hometown; He could do no great work there. It was because of their indifference. They said: Oh, it is just Jesus again. When you get around the HS continually, you must be careful not to lose that reverence and awe.         

3. Return to your tenderness.

When I see someone touched by God, it excites me.

The day that you were saved -God deposited a portion of Himself just like He did with Adam.  

– God wants to baptize you with the HS and give you all the power, signs, and miracles that go with it.

God said, “Release in that human being, release in that flawed person…the spirit of God.  Put my spirit in that person so the world will see.

God stirs us. God moves us. God anoints us today!