The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Holy Spirit

Episode Date: September 17, 2017

In a GOSPEL AWAKENING the Holy Spirit: 1.Initiates revival 2.Glorifies JESUS (not the participants) 3.Draws people to surrender their lives to JESUS.

Amen and amen. How we do it, church? Doing okay? You guys are looking good. If you got your Bibles and I hope you do, grab them. We are primarily going to be in Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. And if you're new with us, you're coming in on the tail end of a journey for three plus weeks.

We've been praying and fasting and studying in regards to what it means to be a part of a revival or a gospel awakening. And starting on Wednesday night and sort of culminating today, we've been a part of what we call saturated. but I want you to understand that what this week is about and what today is about, hopefully, is not the end of something, but it's actually the beginning of something, a revival, that Jacksonville might be ground zero for God doing an amazing work in us and through us and to us, and it ripples throughout the entire world. Amen, church? Amen. And so we started three and a half weeks ago or so talking about revival or gospel awakening or gospel renewal.

And we said that gospel awakening is always preceded by prayer and preaching. And so if you remember, if you were here, we gathered together and we did an elder-led prayer meeting where our elders led us in prayer. And then right after that, we jumped straight into 24 hours of preaching. I don't know if you were here, I know a bunch of you were. It seems like six months ago to me, partly because of Daniel and his fast. I feel like we're going to get to heaven one day, bumming to Daniel, and nobody's even going to talk to. him, all right? He's just going to be standing by himself, eating some grass or something. Anyway. And people ask me, so where do you get this idea that a gospel awakening or revival, which just

means new life, where do you get the idea that it's preceded by preaching and prayer? And, well, if you go back to Genesis chapter 1, the very first revival, the very first time life happens on the planet, two things preceded it. Preaching and prayer. You see, in the beginning there was nothing. And then God said stuff and stuff happened. That's what preaching is. That God said, let there be light. It was a really short sermon, but it was really good. Why?

Because light showed up. And when preaching happens, that's what happens. When we gather together in all of our locations every single weekend, this is what we do. We declare the words of God, and then God brings into existence things that were not in existence before, like forgiveness and reconciliation and peace. those are things that happen as a result of preaching. And so a way to look at Genesis 1 and the creation of all things is it was just the result of the greatest sermon ever when God himself spoke and things happened. And then when you get to chapter 1 verse 27, God says to God's self, let us create mankind in our image.

And anytime somebody talks to God, including God himself, that is prayer. Because Jesus would go up to the mountainside and pray. Jesus goes to the Garden of Gassimini to pray and the second person of the Trinity talks to the Father, the first person of the Trinity and that is prayer. So when God's help talks to God's self, that is prayer. And God's prayer unto himself is

let us make man in our image. God was not alone. God was not lonely. God was not needy. God is one God in three persons. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And God's love for God's self spilled out into creation and you and I are created in his image for his glory.

And the Bible says that God gathers together the Adam, the atom, the dirt of the ground. That's what Adam means. So he just gets this clay dirt deal and he creates like a form of a man, but he's not yet a living being until the Bible says that God breeds into Adam's nostrils, the breath of life, the ruah of life. It could be translated breath or wind. or spirit. And he gets really close into his nostrils. This is not Steph Curry deal from way back here. He gets really, really close and breathes his spirit into Adam. And the very first human being

opens his eyes. And the first thing he sees is the very face of his heavenly father. And then, and only then, does he become a living being, the very first revival. And then what we are going to look at in Acts chapter two is then God does a very similar thing to. his church. That Jesus has been crucified, resurrected, ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and he says, but hold on a second because the church is not alive yet. The church is not alive until I breathe the ruah or the breath of life, the spirit of God, into you.

So in Acts chapter 1, let me give you just a little bit of context before we hit Acts chapter 2. There's two things that always happen before the spirit of God moves, and it's all the believers are praying and preaching. In Acts chapter 1 written by Luke, Luke writes the gospel of Luke, which is about the person and work of Jesus. And then he writes the book of Acts, which is about the person and work of the Holy Spirit in his church. And it says this in verse 4 of chapter 1.

And while staying with them, talking about Jesus, Jesus ordered them the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water. but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. That word baptized just means to dip, dump, submerge, that I'm going to breathe the Holy Spirit upon you, and you're going to be, how about this word, saturated in the spirit of God.

This is what we have been praying and yearning for. You see, God always initiates a revival. He is not responding to us. This was not the strategic plan of the disciples, these kind of reject fishermen, to take this new religion to the ends of the earth. This was the ultimate plan of God. And so Jesus says, you're not ready yet, so go and wait, and I am going to breathe life into you via the Holy Spirit.

You jump down to verse 8 that says this, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That the reason God gives us the power of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to accomplish the great commission, which is to take the gospel to the very ends of the earth for the glory of God. and the reason is because there is not a square inch in all of the cosmos that Jesus does not rightfully declare mine. And when the Spirit of God comes upon you, you don't make much of you, you make much of Jesus. And so he says, this is why the Spirit is coming, because you are going to take, you're going to be a witness every single place you go. Then you drop down to verse 14.

And here's what it says, the disciples, all these with one accord were devoting them. themselves, here it is, to prayer. Because the Spirit of God is always preceded by prayer. They devote themselves to prayer together with the women and marry, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. And then the next thing that happens in the rest of Chapter 1 is they've got to fill the place of Judas because he didn't make the cut and he just hung himself and fell into a field and his guts busted open.

You can read about that this afternoon. But then we get to Chapter 2. And when the day of Pentecost arrived, after the disciples had been praying, in one accord praying and they'd heard the words of Jesus and they are praying and the day of Pentecost arrived and by the way Pentecost was like this big time festival in Jerusalem. It was like Mardi Gras. It was right before one harvest and right after a harvest and it's about 50 days after the day of atonement and people will come to Jerusalem for this big old party.

They were looking for Jesus man. They were looking for just a good time. But the day of Pentecost has arrived and they were all together in one place. This is all the disciples, not just the 12 apostles. It's about out 120 people that were followers of Jesus at this time. Verse 2, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rush of wind. In Hebrew, that word would be ruah, the same word that God breathed into Adam. In Greek, that word is numa.

And it can be wind or breath or spirit. Numa, like breath. It's where we get the term like pneumonia. Numa means breath and on you means messed up. I don't know what it means, but that's where it comes from. Like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each of them, verse four, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now, when the Bible talks about tongues here, because some of you people that grew up charismatic are like, finally, it's about time, you know? Well, here's the thing. This is not glossolalia like Paul talks about in Corinthians. This is not a prayer language. This is not a groaning of the spirit. This word in Greek is dialectos. It means literally other languages.

And in just a little while, when they're going to say, hey, aren't these all Galileans? What they're basically saying is, hey, man, this is a bunch of rednecks from Galilee. How come they don't have a redneck accent? The crazy thing is that these brothers are from Dillon, South Carolina, and yet they speak perfect Portuguese. How in the world is that happening? This is what's happening here. Verse five. and now there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

Why? Why? Because you remember Acts 1-8? Acts 1-8 is, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you're going to be a witness to people all over the world. And so the first time the Spirit pours out on the church and baptizes the church, what God did is he brought the whole world to Jerusalem. And at this sound, the multitude came together. They heard this speaking in other dialects. And so they were, were curious, and so they all kind of start rolling up here together, and they were bewildered because 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? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native tongues? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia and Judea and

Cappadocious and Pontius and Asia and Fergie? Fergie's there. Everybody's there. People from everywhere. And Panfalia and Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Sirene and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytites, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our tongues the mighty works of God. Verse 12. And all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? Now listen, this is not just a historical event from 2000 years ago. This is a current reality for some of you right here today. Some of you've been coming to 1122 for a little while, maybe just a few weeks, or maybe today is your very first day. You didn't even mean to come here. You've been chasing this girl around and she's like, you want to go to brunch and you were like,

cool, you hop in her car this morning. She threw you a hot pocket and now you're sitting in church, okay? It doesn't matter. And this thing happened. And listen, if you grew up in Jacksonville, man, you've been to some kind of church. And then you came to this thing and you were amazed and perplexed. You're like, I thought we were going to church. There's no pews and where's the organ and nobody has a robe on and the brother doesn't have like a whole thing, you know, and all that kind of stuff. And it's more like a cold play concert with Larry DeCable Guy coming up at the end. You're like, what is going on here?

You're saying laugh at that, man. I hurt my feelings. What's wrong with y'all? No, pastor, you're brilliant. All right. And what you're asking deep inside is this? Like, what does this mean? Like the stuff they're singing and the stuff he's saying, man, I'm amazed and perplexed.

Like, it resonates. deeper than that. That was what was going on here. They are seeing a move of God. They don't even know what it means. I talk to people every single week that come down at the end of the service to talk to me and say,

Brother, Pastor, I've been here for three weeks. I don't even believe what you're saying, but every time I show up, I just cry. I'll see you next week. That's called the wooing of the Holy Spirit. What's going on from the inside out is you're amazed and perplex that the Almighty Sovereign God of the United Sovereign God

of the universe knows your name and invites you to be its friend. This is what they are seeing and they don't even know what to do with it. But others, mocking said, they're all filled with new wine. This makes me feel better about my preaching. Even on the day of Pentecost, all right, there's still some people are like, yeah, whatever. All right, so I ain't worried about you. But there's some people that are like, man, these guys are just drunk. Then what's going to happen is that Peter is going to see and see.

an opportunity to preach. He sees thousands of people gathered together, and some of them are amazed and perplexed, and they're saying, what does this mean? And so he is going to stand up and preach. And what we're going to talk about here in his sermon is that you see at least four things happen when the Spirit of God shows up. Now, depending on how fast you listen, we may or may not get through all four of those, but we'll do our best. Verse 14, but Peter, standing with the 11, lifted up his voice and addressed them, men of Judea. Now, by the way, in case you're new to Bible study, just a few weeks before this, Peter was to, he was afraid to admit that he even knew who Jesus was to a servant girl,

and now he's standing up on the southern steps of the temple in Jerusalem in front of men that had the authority to kill him, and he's going to talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do you know why? Because he came face to face with the resurrected Jesus Christ, and that changes everything. And so he says, man of Judea, and all who dwell in Jerusalem, Let this be known to you and give ear to my words, for these people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only the third hour of the day. That means that's only 9 o'clock in the morning, which my daddy always said, you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning, all right?

So that's a different sermon, but that's just what he said. So these people are like, well, these people talking different languages, man, they're just drunk. Peter's like, man, it's too early for that. Y'all crazy. Let me tell you what's happening. Verse 16. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And what Peter is going to do now in his sermon is he's going to preach from the scriptures, from the prophet Joel.

Revival, true revival is always rooted in the scripture. If you ever find yourself in a church, if you ever find yourself sitting in rows, listen to somebody with a mic on, and they are talking about things that are not getting this book, gather your things, get your children, and leave, don't ever go back, okay? Somebody is telling you a lie. This is why here we stand on the authority. authority of the Word of God. And here's what Peter says.

This is what the prophet Joel said. In the last days it shall be, God declares, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. The first thing that you have to understand about revival is this, is that God initiates revival.

God initiates revival. He is not responding to us by our good works. And even the desire that we have for God, God put that desire in us. And so it is always initiated by God. And he says, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants in those days, I will pour out my

spirit and they shall prophesy. And this is good news. You see, up until this point in the Old Testament, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit have been limited to prophets and judges and kings. And now, for every single person that believes, God says, I will pour out my spirit on you. So when the Bible in First Corinthians says this to the believers that your body is a temple, praise God, that has nothing to do with what you look like in a bathing suit. Can I get a witness? What it means is that God's permanent address on earth is inside the believer. And wherever the presence of God is, that is where the temple is.

Therefore, your body, if you were a believer, is the temple of God because the Holy Spirit himself dwells inside everyone that believes in Jesus. Which is also why you can quit praying some kind of really uninformed sort of dumb prayers. Dear God, just be with me today. Because if God's going to be like, where are you going to be? Because I'm already there, especially if you're there because I'm in you. So I go, see how that works? And you don't have to pray like, dear Lord, just give us traveling mercies and watch over our car as we drive to Disney.

What? Do you want me to hover over the minivan on I-4? How about the Spirit of God works in you to produce the fruit of the Spirit so you will have the patience to deal with the idiot driving slower than he should in the left lane on the way? How about that? Okay? And so the Spirit of God is in every single believer because he has poured out his spirit into us. And the Spirit of God is not a potion that we get topped off with every week when we show up the church. The Spirit of God is the third person of the Trinity that dwells within us. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned to darkness. Well, we just saw that in Jacksonville like two weeks ago. So that was cool. And the moon to blood. No idea what that means. Before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day, and it shall come to pass that everyone, say everyone, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So if you're in the everyone category, I got good news for you. You could be saved. That means some of you, now remember, Peter is talking to some religious people that would have considered themselves righteous before God because of their religious activity. For some of you, that's you. You've been going to church, like you were in Sunday school with Moses, man. The moment I was like Acts chapter two, you went Pentecost.

I mean, you know, man, you know stuff. And honest of goodness, you're really good at this church thing. You are really, really good at this church saying. I've got good news for you. You could be saved too. You could be saved from your own religion and surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But then there's a bunch of 1122ers, man. And you think you're too far gone.

You think somehow that your sin is greater than the grace of Jesus poured out for you on the cross. And you're just wrong. No matter how far gone you think you are, you cannot outrun the hell. of heaven. That what Jesus, when he said it is finished, when he died on the cross, that counts for you too. See, a lot of you, a lot of us have like this T-Rex theology of God. We think that his arms of grace are too short to save and he's trying to reach us, but he just can't reach us. And so he gets frustrated and he just bites our head off with justice, all right? So what Isaiah 591 says, that the arms of the Lord are not too short to save. That everyone,

who cause upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Folks, this is why we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And he goes on in verse 22 to say, Men of Israel, hear these words. Now what he's going to say is, everything that you were experiencing here with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

is what the Old Testament was pointing to in the person and work of Jesus Christ that you've been studied in your whole life. And he says, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourself know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Again, God initiates revival.

That God had planned this from before there was time. It's not like God is playing chess against the enemy, and he creates, and then there's sin. He's like, oh, what am I going to do about that? I know, I'll create the Levitical system, the sacrificial system. Oh, that's not going to work. They don't obey. All right, how about I'll send my son? Okay, we're going to kill him on the cross.

All right, what about a resurrection? That is not how it works. This is all a part of the foreknowledge and definite plan of God, that God initiates creation, God initiates salvation, God initiates revival and sanctification, and God initiates consummation when all things will be made new. God is the initiating factor in all things, and he was never caught off guard.

You see, one of my takeaways that I, I will have forever in regards to this year saturated is when we did 24 hours of preaching. In case where you weren't around for 24 hours straight, man, from this stage, right here from ladies accessories at Walmart, we declared the goodness and the glory of God through his gospel. And so we live streamed it so a bunch of us could watch it all the time. And my family just kept it on the whole time. And so I kicked it off and then I closed it down. And when I got home after it was over, when I got home, Gretchen said to me that JP, my 11-year-old

looked at her and said, Mama, this is the best thing our church has ever done. And then I was like, well, where is he? I want to talk to him about that. And he's sitting in my office in JP. He's got his Bible out and he's got his little notebook out. And I'm like, hey, buddy, what you doing? And he's like, Dad, I'm writing a sermon.

Oh, he's awesome, right? So he sits down and I look over it. And at the top of his notes, it just says, God's plan. And he's got Genesis 315, the proto-evangeli-leon. That God's plan before there was sin is that God put enmity between Eve's offspring and the enemy. And that enemy would bruise his heel, but her offspring, a single Jewish male,

would crush his head. And so when Irma wiped us out, we had church at my house. And J.P. preached his first sermon. Took his little coffee table, put it over there. Reagan's like, we've got to have worship first. I've got to leave some worship. So Reagan led us in worship. Your Charismatics would have loved it, man.

I mean, there was gymnastics and singing and cartwheels and splits. I mean, she was a banner and a tambourine from going for it. All right. And so it was awesome. Then J.P. preached. He started in Genesis 315, and he went to John 1930, where Jesus pushes up on his nail-pierced feet and says, it is finished. And here was his point.

He said, God executed his plan with the execution of his son. Brother, that'll preach. This is what Peter is saying. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and forenuch. knowledge of God. You crucified and killed him by the hands of lawless men. You think I'm rough. You think because I call you a wretched, blackhearted sinner, I'm bad. This brother, it's in a secret sensitive sermon, you know what I mean? They ain't three steps to improve your finances. He looks at people and says, you killed Jesus. Now, the reality is every person in this crowd

was probably not there the day that Jesus got crucified, but what he is saying is true of them is also true of us that it is our sin that put Jesus on the cross. Verse 24, and God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning Jesus, now he's going to go back to the scriptures again. David says, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced.

My flesh also will dwell in hope. hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Verse 29, he's going to unpack this. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us today. In other words, Peter is like, look, you all know David?

Remember him? He's awesome, but he's gone. And these things that he's talking about, he can't be talking about himself. because he has seen corruption. He's in that box over there rotten right now. So who is he talking about? He must have been talking about Jesus. Verse 30, being therefore a prophet

and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his, one of David's descendants on his throne, David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Verse 32. this Jesus, God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. So what Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost is this,

listen, I'm not asking you to just believe. I'm not asking you to just conjure up some warm, fuzzy feelings about the Almighty. That as Christians, we don't put our faith in faith. That we trust in an event. The reason that we believe that Jesus is who he says he is and always keeps his promises is because the biggest promise that he ever made, and the biggest claim that he ever made is Jesus himself claimed to be God,

and Jesus himself claimed that he was going to the cross to pay for our sins, to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And the only reason to believe it is not because he walked on water, not because he knew a bunch of Bible verses, not because he was sweet to little children. The reason to believe it is because on the third day, he said he was coming out of the grave and the stone was rolled away and the tomb is empty.

That's why we believe it. Because Jesus himself accomplished the greatest prophetic utterance of all time. He said, you can hang me on that tree, but three days later, I am coming out of there. And if the tomb is empty, then anything is possible, including your salvation. That's why we believe. Verse 33, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

So remember Peter talking to a bunch of Jewish experts and saying, don't you remember Sunday school? Don't you remember the prophet Joel and King David? Jesus is the personification and the fulfillment of everything that the Old Testament was pointing to. Verse 34, for David did not ascend into heavens. But he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord. He's talking about Jesus. Sit at my right hand. until I make your enemies your foot stool. Verse 36, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify.

So the first thing the Spirit does is the Spirit initiates revival. The second thing is the Holy Spirit always only glorifies Jesus, not the participants. Do you know why we do this saturated thing? this saturated thing is always only about Jesus. It is not about Matt Chandler. It's not about J.D. Greer. It's not about Dr. Mason. It's not about Shane and Shane. It most definitely is not about me.

And it has nothing to do with 1122. Really smart, like marketing people all the time, talk to us about the brand of 1122. I don't give a care about the brand. It is all about Jesus. That's why no matter what campus you can, to this big 40-foot red cross as to make no mistake about what this thing is. All we do is point people to the cross of Jesus Christ. That's what the Spirit does. And if any preacher, if any pastor,

if any speaker ever uses the house of God or the Word of God to make much of themselves, they are out of line with the Spirit of God. This is why, for example, you cannot come up to me and say, I go to your church. Please come up to me and introduce yourself, but this ain't my church. This is his church, literally on our org chart. Jesus is the senior pastor. Chief Shepherd is his title of our church. If you're here and I'm here, we're here, okay?

We're all part of this thing together. But we are here to exalt one name, and it ain't my name. His name is Jesus. The Spirit always glorifies Jesus. Verse 37. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, brother, what shall we do?

So let me ask you, are you cut to the heart? See, because some of you, some of you grew up in Jacksonville and you've heard for a long, long time. You actually heard a twisted version of the message of Jesus. You grew up here and God is good, you were bad, try harder, see you next week. You tried that. You probably flaked out in college, didn't you had kids? you're like, uh-oh, we don't want to raise village idiots. Let's go back to church, all right?

It's that kind of thing. And even though you may have heard the message of the gospel a million times, sometimes by the power of the Holy Spirit, today you're cut to the heart. Listen, in my theological education now, I have words to describe what was going on, but for 20 years I didn't have words to describe this. But I remember the day I was cut to the heart. I ended up at this Baptist camp, Baptist summer camp, led by my coach that I talk about all the time.

And I grew up in the South, man. So I had heard the Bible preached a million times. I mean, I went on Christmas and Easter. So I knew it. We fished the rest of the time, like Jesus. And I heard about Jesus down on the cross. And I thought I was a Christian because I thought, man, I'm Southern. I believe in God and college football and NASCAR, okay?

Like all good southerners should. And yet, when I was a teenager, I found myself through some pretty difficult circumstances. I find myself at this summer camp. And the counselors of the camp, these college students from around the Carolinas, they reenacted the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. They just read the end of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they just, they did it.

Before Mel Gibson did his thing, these kids in Venezuela, South Carolina, they're doing there with like bed sheets and torches. So you can imagine the artistic grandeur that was put on display in this presentation of the gospel. And yet, as a teenager sitting there, when Jesus pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and said, it is finished into the hands I commit my spirit. Somehow I was cut to the heart. And I didn't get any new information, but by the Spirit of God I had a new revelation. That when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me.

and Coach Lee stood up in front of us about 100 high schoolers and he said for God so loved you that Jesus died on the cross that anyone who would believe, anyone who would trust anyone who at a heart level would say okay I don't know why and I don't know how but that counted for me and he said tonight you could be saved

and then we were Baptist so you know what song we sang just as I am. And we just sang it and sang it and sang it. About 17 verses. Either the spirit would wear you down or just pure exhaustion would, but eventually you're giving in. And sure enough, man, I had wrapped my feet around the little seed I was sitting on. I was sitting on my hands and I was, ain't no way I'm standing up in front of these people, man. And sure enough, God drew me unto himself like a tractor beam.

And in that moment, I quit. I gave up. I admitted it. I need him. I put my trust in him, and I confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I was talking to Shane E, one of the chains, you know, there's the one that sings high, and then there's the one that sings real high. And nine o'clock, I almost said the real high one, but that means something different,

and I don't want to put that on him. I was talking to him last night about how he came to the Lord, and he got saved when he was in college. He was a senior in college, and the way he was paying him for college is that he would put on these big old college parties. He'd rent out these facilities and buy a ton of alcohol and overcharge people to come in and they throw these big parties. And he was going awesome. He had a ton of friends, sort of, and he would sing in this cover band thing, and that was awesome.

And he said, one night, he's sitting on the stage in one of these venues when the party was over, and he's just waiting for the owner of the facility to bring him his paycheck, give him his cut of the door and all that. And he's just sitting there, and he said he's kind of looking out over this dark room. And it's still got like neon lights and some of the stage lights and a little bit of the hay. is still left over. And he's saying, man, this is awesome. And then the cleaners came in, and they flipped the lights on,

and the fluorescents go, boom, and he could see it. He could see the room for what it really was. And then he began to see how he was just taken back when the light invaded the place. And he said it was just a mess. It was nasty. It was puke over here and people's clothes over there. And, I mean, it didn't smell the same anymore. When he could see it for what it actually was.

and these guys came in with water spickets, and they were just like hosing the place off. And in that moment, the Spirit of God, without even a sermon, spoke to his heart and said, brother, this is your life. If it's dark enough, you think it's awesome. But when the Spirit of God shines on it, you can see it for what it really is. And that night, in the truck on the way home, he called everybody and said, I've got to repent.

I am doing something different with my life. He was cut to the heart. How about you? if you come to that place in your life where the gospel has cut you to the heart and you think uh-oh oh i have been the boss of my own life and i am not a mistakeer in need of a life coach i am a sinner in need of a savior god i need you to rescue me not improve me this is what this is what these thousands of people here on the day of pentecost they are cut to the heart and then they asked Peter a very important question. What do we do? What do we do? And so if you are cut to the

heart with the gospel, then the answer is here in verse 38 and following. And Peter said to them, repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin. And you will receive the gift of the spirit. Not you might, not there's three steps to get the spirit, but the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, the promise of God is that you will receive the spirit. Verse 39, for the promise is for you and your children. In other words, if you grew up in church and been around this for a long time, I've got good news. You could surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

And for all who are far off, far off. You see, that's some of you. Some of you feel like you were so far off that God couldn't save you. I mean, honestly goodness, some of you are still a little bit hung over from the last night. And you're like, how does he know? I know, okay? I know. When your team threw that Hail Mary and y'all caught it, you were like, drink up, you know,

and then you tried to come to nine and now here you are, right? That's just what happened. Yeah, and all you people talking, y'all are drunk ones. All right, so I got good news. You could be saved too. No matter who, what, when, where, how, why. That the grace of Jesus poured out at the cross is greater than anything that you have done. I mean, Spurgeon said, I am a great sinner, but praise God, I have.

a greater Savior, a greater Savior. And so Peter says, whether you've been around church forever or you're far, far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. So what do you do? You repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and you will receive the gift of the Spirit. The third thing that the Holy Spirit does is the Holy Spirit is a tractor beam to people to surrender their lives to the Lordship of Christ. And sometimes it's by signs and wonders of the miraculous, but most often it is by the greatest and only eternal miracle when lives are changed.

And so I would ask you, do you know him? Do you know him? And not by anything that I've said, but because the spirit is regenerating your heart, ripping out your heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh. For the first time, you feel like scales have fallen off of it. your eyes. And even though you've heard you've been to church a bunch of times, but maybe for the very first time you were cut to your heart and you say, what do I do? You repent. You surrender your

life to the Lordship of Christ. Peter goes on to, the Bible goes on to say about Peter, and with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized and they were added that day about 3,000 souls. There were these ceremonial. baths at the foot of the southern steps in the temple in Jerusalem called Mikva. And so right then and right there, Peter says, whoever is ready to surrender their life to the Lordship of Christ, go public with it, and it's time for you to get baptized.

And so what we are going to do today to finish up this series and hopefully start something brand new for all eternity is this. And just a second, I'm going to give you an opportunity to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And I'm not saying being a Christian is easy, but it is simple. It is not complex. It is as simple as ABC that you admit it. I'm a sinner. I am not just a mistakeer.

That I am a sinner in need of a savior. That's A. And that B, you believe. You believe somehow that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, that counted for me. Not just church people or good people or bad people, but that counted for me. And then C is you confess. you confess Jesus as your Lord and you're saved. And then to call somebody your Lord means you do what they tell you to do.

And what Jesus says is the first thing you do as your first act of obedience as a follower of him is you get into that tub and you get baptized. Baptized comes from a Greek word baptizo. It just means to dip, dunk, submerge. That's what it means. And so everywhere in the New Testament where people got baptized like these folks at Pentecost, were always baptized as believers because baptism does not save you. Man, this is just water in a tub with some cool stuff around it to make it look better.

That's it. But what baptism is, it's a public declaration of what has already happened in your soul. That you'll get into those waters and one of our pastors will say to you, who is Jesus to you? And you will confess Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. and they will say something like upon your public profession of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you my brother or Christian sister in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And when they dip you back into that water, it is to show there's a whole world, I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live.

The old me is dead and gone. And I don't have to do the stuff I used to do because I'm not the person I used to be. That old me is dead. that the record of debt against me has been nailed to the cross once and for all. And they bring you back. And that water is a representation of what the blood of Jesus has already done in your life. All of your sins are washed away. Cleanced of all unrighteousness.

And then when they bring you up out of that water, you join with Christ in a resurrection like His so that you and I walk in a newness of life. And so that's the way this saturated experience is going to culminate. Now listen, who should get baptized? Every single one of you that know Jesus is Lord and you've never stepped into those waters to be baptized as a believer. If you got baptized as a baby and your parents did that for you, man, praise God. Your parents were trying to set you on a trajectory that led you to this moment right now. Why don't you seal what they started decades ago and step into the waters and with your

own mouth in your own life confessed Jesus as Lord. And so, and if you're like, well, I didn't bring her right clothes, man, we got big black t-shirts for you, okay? And so we will drape you in those things. All right, ladies, you look great. I know some of you didn't dress for baptism. We will dress you up in the love of Jesus. It looks like a black shirt today. Some of you college guys with those little your mama shorts that you've been wearing lately. We'll dress you up too because you look terrible, all right? Cover up that man thigh for the glory of God. Seriously, fellas. Get a grip. I'll tell you this, I can promise you this. If you think, should I get baptized, the Spirit of God will not give you an excuse.

He will not. That is not your Heavenly Father speaking to you. So in just a second, we're going to bow our heads. We're going to close our eyes. I'm going to give you the opportunity to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And then right after that, if you are ready to get baptized, you're going to get up in all of our locations, get up from where you are, walk kind of out and around to the baptismals here. And we've got some staff folks that will give you some brief instructions. and then, you know what the church does when somebody comes up out of that water?

You lose your mind for the glory of God. Because when one was lost and is now found, one was dead and now is alive, you throw a party where you can hear the dancing. That's what the Bible says, you understand? And so we're going to celebrate like crazy for that. Let me ask you, so do you know him? Do you know him? Are you ready to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

Would you please at all of our locations? Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if today, for the very first time, the Spirit of God has cut you to the heart, and you're ready to say it, I admit it. I'm a sinner and even a Savior. I believe somehow when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me. And today I'm ready to confess him as Lord. If that's you, raise your hand, huh?

Right where you are, say, here I am, God. Save me. I repent. Forgive me. Amen and amen. And as I begin to pray, don't wait. As I begin to pray, if you are ready to get baptized, just stand up. right where you are and begin to make your way at all of our locations,

make your way to the baptismal tubs. All right, let's pray. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you and we praise you because you loved us first. God, we thank you for pouring out your Holy Spirit on this church and the individuals that make it up that join together as your body. God, we celebrate like the prodigal father in Luke 15 celebrates. When his son who was dead is now alive, he was lost and he has come home. And that demands a celebration.

God, I pray for every man, woman, and suited in this place. God, many of them you are calling to take a step of obedience to go public with their faith and water baptism. And, God, I pray that they would know that you have not given them the spirit of fear of trinity, but of power and of love and of self-discipline. And, God, we celebrate because of who you are and what you've done. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen.