Isolated, Integrated & Intoxicated Dr. E. Dewey Smith
Transcript
00:00And every day of our lives, we ought to ask the Lord to fill us up, to fill us with his overflow, to fill us with his anointing, to fill us with his power, to fill us with the Holy Spirit.
00:11And certainly we thank God that that's what Pentecost is all about. It's about the filling.
00:17And Paul tells us that be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
00:24And I want you to know that the Holy Spirit is our comforter, our friend, our guide.
00:28And right here in your life, every area, the Lord can fill those areas in your life.
00:33Thank God that he's the God who can fill us. He is the God who can fill us.
00:37God, we thank you afresh for being the God who fills us, the God who baptizes us, the God who indwells us, directs us, and leads us, and guides us, and comforts us, and teaches us with the Holy Spirit.
00:49Thank you for Pentecost, this day that commemorates the birth of the church and the official dispensation of the Holy Spirit.
00:58Now, God, I pray that you would give me the power to proclaim you in search of riches.
01:03I pray, God, that you'd let me to share your gospel, to preach this word today so people can be inspired and be encouraged to have a closer walk with thee.
01:13We love you and we bless you now in Jesus' name. Amen.
01:16Amen. I want you to turn your Bibles with me today to the book of Acts.
01:20There's a word in the book of Acts that I'm so excited about sharing with you, and this is what Pentecost is all about.
01:27In Acts chapter 2 and verse number 1, you will see these words.
01:32In Acts chapter 2 verse 1,
01:34And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
01:41And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and they filled all the house where they were sitting.
01:48And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them.
01:54And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
02:01And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
02:06Now when this was known as the broad, the multitude came together and were confounded
02:11because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
02:14And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another,
02:17Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
02:21And how hear we every man in our own tongue which were in where we were born?
02:27And Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers of Mesopotamia, and all Judea, and Cappadocia,
02:32and Pontus, and Asia, and Phrygia, and Pamphylia, and Egypt, the parts of Libya about Cyrene,
02:37and the strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes, Greece, Arabians.
02:41We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
02:45And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another,
02:50What meaneth this?
02:52Others mocked and said, These men are full of new wine.
02:56But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them,
03:01Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem,
03:05Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.
03:09For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
03:15For these are not drunken, as ye suppose.
03:18I want to talk from these first 15 verses of Acts chapter 2, simply from this thought.
03:26Isolated, integrated, and intoxicated.
03:31I said isolated, integrated, and intoxicated.
03:35The first time that we are referenced about the Holy Spirit is in the very first book of the Bible,
03:42the book of Genesis.
03:44Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 tells us that the Spirit of God was there to hover on the face of premortal liquidity.
03:52That the Holy Spirit was there from creation to move upon the very face of the waters.
03:58We later discovered that the Spirit was not just there.
04:01In Acts chapter 1 verse 2, as it hovered on the face of the waters, was also there in Genesis 1 verse 26.
04:08When God said, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.
04:12That word there, Elohim, and God is the plural name for God.
04:18That God, as Elohim, implies plurality.
04:23That he was there from the beginning.
04:25That plural name for God, many scholars suggest, is a reference to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
04:32We see the Holy Spirit there, hovering on the face of the waters in Genesis 1 verse 2.
04:36We see the Holy Spirit being a part of the creation of humanity in Genesis 1 verse 26.
04:42Periodically throughout the Old Testament, we see how the Holy Spirit would empower different people for special assignments.
04:49We saw the Spirit of the Lord coming upon David in 1 Samuel chapter 16.
04:55After Saul had been dethroned and David was being enthroned.
05:00After the coronation by the prophet Samuel, does the Spirit of the Lord come upon David and goes with him for his entire life.
05:08Certain people in the Old Testament were empowered by the Holy Spirit.
05:13Even the Gospel of St. Luke, as Luke tells us about the narratives of two miraculous births.
05:20One being the birth of Elizabeth, who was old in age and had been barren.
05:27And her cousin Mary, who was a virgin.
05:30Both of them had significant conceptions and births.
05:34And so much that as Elizabeth conceives in her old age with her son, who was John the Baptist, who was going to be the forerunner of the Lord Jesus.
05:43And six months later, as Mary, her cousin, as a teenager, conceives and Mary goes to visit Elizabeth.
05:50And Luke tells us that baby John prenatally leaped in the womb of his mother as he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
05:59And so over and over again do we see references from Genesis to the Gospels about periodic moments where the Holy Spirit indwelled or empowered different individuals for different assignments.
06:11Jesus prophesied in Acts 1 and 8, but you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
06:17And you should be with my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.
06:23It is in this context that we penetrate this particular pericope.
06:27At the time of this text, on the day of Pentecost, Pentecost, Penta meaning five, Pentecost was an annual Jewish festival that came 50 days after Passover.
06:38The Jews had several Jewish festivals, festivals like the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Unliving Bread, the Feast of Passover.
06:48And Pentecost was an annual festival that would take place 50 days after Passover.
06:53At the time of this text, Jesus our Lord has just been killed, if would, during the time of Passover.
06:59And here we are on the day of Pentecost, 50 days later.
07:04To have the 120 walk in obeisance to the commands of the Kurios Christos.
07:10They found themselves in an upper room and they found themselves in a place of isolation.
07:18In a world of Greco-Roman domination, when Jews were on the lower rung of everything that was statistically powerful.
07:24That everything that suggested justice and equality, they were on the lower rungs.
07:30They did not fit into the sociological prerequisites that allowed them to have the same type of access as those who were part of the Greco-Roman Empire.
07:39But in spite of that, these Jews, in obedience to what the Lord had commanded, found themselves at the 120 isolated together.
07:49Stripped themselves away from everything that was familiar.
07:52They pulled away for a moment of isolation so that the Lord could meet them in the area of their need.
07:58I want to say a word about isolation because when you typically think of isolation, isolation is something, as we talk about mental health, that is a negative.
08:09Often in our lives, the enemy wants to get us in isolation, to get us away from the crowd.
08:17Sometimes depression and anxiety does its best work on us when we find ourselves in isolation.
08:25And this word that I use, isolation, here was specific because I could have used the word alone or seclusion.
08:32But I use the word isolation here because these 120, they were together to isolate themselves from the rest of the world because the Lord had made them a promise.
08:43They knew that they were in the world, but not of the world.
08:46They knew something special was getting ready to be fomented.
08:49And often in our lives, God has to get you to steal away, not by yourself, but with those of like mind.
08:59I want to encourage you today that don't let the enemy get you away in singularity.
09:03But it's okay sometimes to isolate yourself, to come out from among them so that the Lord can speak clear revelation to your life.
09:11God often does his best work when people are alone.
09:14It's that great writer Richard Foster who tells us about the blessings and the discipline of solitude.
09:22Sometimes God gets you in solitude in order that you can have a more clear access and a clear focus on what he's trying to do in our lives.
09:32I'm saying it gets you in solitude in a moment of spiritual isolation.
09:36It was isolation that he got Adam away to and then made an incision in the side of Adam.
09:43And from Adam's masculine hardness, did he make Eve's feminine softness.
09:48And it was in that state of isolation that Eve comes from Adam.
09:52God will work sometime in isolation.
09:54It was in Moses on the backside of a desert in Midian where he saw a bush that was consumed but would not be extinguished.
10:03And God speaks to him in isolation on the backside of a desert in Midian as he's tending to his father-in-law's flock.
10:09And tells him to take off your shoes for the ground upon which you stand is holy ground.
10:14It was in the isolation that God spoke to Noah about a post-Diluvian dispensation.
10:19That the world was going to be baptized with the flood.
10:22And that Noah, his wife, and his boys Shem, Ham, and Japheth along with their wives and to the animal kingdom.
10:28That God was going to repopulate the world after a season of isolation for Noah, his family, and the animal kingdom.
10:35Sometimes God does special things when you're in a place of isolation.
10:40It was Elijah when he found himself in isolation.
10:43Under a juniper tree requesting ontological euthanasia.
10:47That he has to pray to God and request death from God.
10:51And God has to speak to him and tell him, Elijah, you're not alone.
10:55Eat for the journey ahead of you is still great.
10:57It was Habakkuk who got away to the watchtower.
11:00Sometimes God will get you in a place.
11:03And that's why even Jesus says, well, two or three are gathered together in my name.
11:07If one can put a thousand to flight and two can put ten thousand to flight, what can we do?
11:12If we find ourselves with like-minded people in a place where we can be encouraged and lift each other.
11:19This is what I love about this text.
11:21That when God wanted to do something special to allow the birth of the church and the Holy Spirit to make his official dispensation known.
11:29He got 120 together in a place of unity and isolation.
11:34In an upper room on one accord.
11:37They had one sound and one mind.
11:40And let me tell you, the world can be changed when we get together in unity.
11:45When we isolate ourselves for the purposes of God.
11:48And we're not isolating ourselves so that we can't transform the world.
11:52But we isolate ourselves in order that we can have an incarnational moment.
11:55We get away to get sealed, to get instruction and to get revelation.
12:00So we can go back into those dark areas that need illumination.
12:04He pulls these 120 away.
12:06He said, I want to have a special Theophilus moment for you.
12:09Because that's something I'm going to do that's historic through you.
12:12But I got to steal you away.
12:14So that I can speak and commune with you all by yourself.
12:17That's why the hymn writer perhaps said, I come to the garden alone.
12:21While the dew is still on the roses.
12:24And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.
12:28And he walks with me.
12:30And he talks with me.
12:32And he tells me that I'm his own.
12:34And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.
12:39Sometimes you've got to learn how to steal away.
12:42Those moments when you're alone.
12:44You ought to have somebody in your corner.
12:46Who can intercede and stand with you.
12:48To pull you away from those things.
12:50When the world is too loud.
12:52And the white noise is so dissonant of the world.
12:55And it makes it incongruent and inharmonious for you.
12:58To hear the resounding chorus of divinity.
13:01Reverberating from the annals of heaven.
13:03Sometimes God wants to get you away.
13:06So he can deal with you specifically.
13:08And those with whom you are surrounded.
13:10So that God can empower you to take you to the next level of your trajectory.
13:14They're in a moment of isolation.
13:16These 120 have got themselves together.
13:19They're in one place on one accord.
13:21And that's why you all come to worship every now and then.
13:24To get away from the world.
13:26To be refilled.
13:27Because the church and worship is analogous to the gas station.
13:31Sometimes you're driving your vehicle.
13:33The more you drive, petroleum sometimes begins to become a necessity.
13:38And you have to pull into the service station.
13:40So you can be filled.
13:41So you can continue your journey.
13:43Sometimes the saints have to come.
13:45And get in one place to get away from the world.
13:48So that we can be filled with the power of God.
13:51To go out and carry the mission and the purpose for which we have been ordained.
13:55Here's the time of this text.
13:57We see that the 120 are in a place of isolation.
14:00They're together.
14:01In one place.
14:03On one accord.
14:04And Luke tells us that because they were in a place of isolation.
14:08Luke further says that suddenly.
14:10I'm here to tell you that sometimes when you get away with God.
14:13And you commune and focus and you walk with obedience.
14:16God has a suddenly blessing that he can send to your life.
14:20Or sometimes God can do something through progress.
14:23Sometimes God can move over time.
14:25Sometimes healing can come as we go.
14:28But we serve a God who also can do things suddenly in your life.
14:32And suddenly Luke tells us that there came a sound from heaven.
14:36I wish I had time to talk about that sound.
14:38But that sound came from heaven as a rushing mighty wind.
14:41And it filled the house where they were sitting.
14:43And there peed under them cloven tongues like as a fire.
14:46And it sat upon them.
14:48Oh my God.
14:49Because they were focused on God.
14:51The fire.
14:52The fire.
14:53This is not the fire of judgment.
14:54This is the fire of power.
14:56This is the metaphor of the spirit.
14:58Cloven tongues sat on them.
15:00And fire sat on each of them.
15:02Hallelujah.
15:03They said that they began to speak.
15:05They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
15:07And began to speak with new tongues that the spirit gave them others.
15:10They have been empowered here.
15:12But in their state of isolation.
15:14The Holy Spirit has empowered them on this day of Pentecost.
15:18And they begin to speak with new tongues.
15:21That word there for speaking tongue there is the word glossolalia in Greek.
15:25It's where we get the English word glossary from.
15:27They were empowered to literally speak literal languages.
15:33Are you listening to me here?
15:34And this is where we move from the isolation to the integration.
15:37Because on the day of Pentecost Luke tells us that devout Jews had made the pilgrimage here to Jerusalem for the purpose for the celebration of Pentecost.
15:49As a matter of fact he said in verse 5 of Luke 2 that devout men.
15:53That devout men out of every nation under heaven.
15:58They had come there for the purpose of Pentecost.
16:01And what happens the Holy Spirit shows up.
16:04And these 120 began to speak.
16:07And when it was noise abroad.
16:09That the multitude had come together.
16:11They were confounded.
16:12Here's why.
16:13Because they heard every man's language.
16:16They heard every man's speech in his own language.
16:19Now you have 120 untrained Galileans.
16:25120 unlearned Galileans who were not bilingual by nature.
16:30120 who were not a part of the Greco-Roman aristocracy.
16:35Who had not been tutored at the feet of the Rabbi Gamaliel.
16:38Who had not studied at the University of Jerusalem.
16:42Who were not the pupils of Aristotle, Socrates, Plato or Euripides.
16:47But yet in spite of their lack of formal education.
16:51The Holy Spirit showed up.
16:53And integrate them in such a way that they were able to speak the literal languages of those other nations.
17:00Who had come also for the purpose of Pentecost.
17:03Luke further tells us who all was present.
17:06Look at the integration.
17:07He says there were Parthians.
17:09There were Medes.
17:10Elamites.
17:11The dwellers of Mesopotamia.
17:13In Judea, Cappadocia, Parthus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt.
17:17And in parts of Libya about Cyrene and strains of Rome.
17:20Jews and proselytes.
17:21Greeks and Arabians.
17:22Verse 11.
17:23We do him speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.
17:27The historian F.F. Bruce tells us.
17:29That at least 15 different provinces were represented here at the time of Pentecost.
17:35And these 15 different provinces that are mentioned here by Luke.
17:39Three of whom were African by the way.
17:41Just let me throw it in.
17:42You got Egypt there.
17:43You got Libya.
17:44You got Cyrene.
17:45I just want to throw that in there.
17:46You had Asians there.
17:48You got those who represented Crete there.
17:50You got those who were Libya.
17:51You got Elamites there.
17:53Mesopotamia there.
17:54You got Cappadocia, Parthus, Asia.
17:56All of them were there on the day of Pentecost.
17:58And what I love about the Holy Spirit.
18:00Is the Holy Spirit allowed each person who had gathered.
18:04To hear the wonderful works of God in their own language.
18:08You talk about integration.
18:10What a great word for those who have problems.
18:13I'm so thankful that those who have problems with us being unified.
18:18And together as races and cultures and ethnicities.
18:22Those who have problems.
18:23I don't understand how you can call yourself a Christian.
18:25But can't love somebody of a different race or culture and ethnicity.
18:29And then call yourself going to heaven.
18:31If you got problems with other cultures, other languages.
18:35Some of you who may live in the state of Georgia or the state of Florida.
18:38You don't want to hear about Rosa Parks.
18:40You don't want to hear about George Floyd.
18:41You don't want to hear about the nuances of the universe of Timbuktu.
18:44In the city of Son Corre.
18:45Because you call that critical race theory.
18:47If you can't appreciate the history without being offended.
18:51By your own sense of vulnerability.
18:53Based upon what your ancestors have done.
18:55I don't know where you're going.
18:57This is just a rehearsal.
18:58Because when we get to heaven.
19:00John tells in the revelation that in heaven.
19:02You have tribes of every kindred.
19:05Every nation.
19:06Every tongue.
19:07Being there together.
19:08Bowing to worship he.
19:10Who sits on the throne.
19:12We'll be there together.
19:13From every nation.
19:14From every tribe.
19:15We'll be there giving reverential adoration to the curious Christos.
19:20The one whose blood has made us white as snow.
19:23Brothers and sisters.
19:24I love this passage.
19:25Because it speaks to the multicultural nature of the Holy Spirit.
19:29But it also speaks to us in a variety of ways.
19:31That even our backgrounds and our churches are more segregated.
19:35Dr. King once said that 11 o'clock hour is the most segregated hour in America.
19:39At 11 o'clock on Sunday mornings.
19:41And I think to a great extent.
19:43A lot of that has to do with our cultures.
19:46A lot of that has to do with what we live.
19:49It's not necessarily because of a hatred of a different group.
19:52But sometimes neighborhoods.
19:54Communities comprise churches.
19:56Styles of worship comprise churches.
19:58But it is possible that you can be in a church with people who look like you.
20:03But yet you still don't know how to speak the language of all of those who are in that ministry.
20:07That sometimes in our churches.
20:09Some who are older.
20:11Who like the hymns.
20:12Who like it more traditional.
20:13We want to keep it one certain way.
20:15And not speak the language of those.
20:17Who don't wear suits and ties to church on Sunday morning.
20:20Oh, it's okay to sing a hymn.
20:22Or to sing pass me not.
20:24Or general savior.
20:25But there's also nothing wrong with learning worship songs.
20:28Like Elevation.
20:29And Maverick City.
20:31And Theo Wickham.
20:33And Matt Redman.
20:34And Chris Tomlin.
20:35Y'all not hear me here.
20:36Or Todd Galbraith.
20:38Or Tasha Cobbs.
20:39Because we got to learn how to speak the language.
20:41It's not just to speak the language to the old.
20:44But also speak the language to the young.
20:46It's not just speak the language of those who are learned.
20:49But also the unlearned.
20:51Can we have a ministry that meets those who have white dresses on.
20:56And those who have jeans on simultaneously.
20:58Because we have to learn that everybody hears and learns differently.
21:03Jesus called us to be fishers of men.
21:05And all fish don't eat the same type of bait.
21:07Paul says I have become all things to all men that I may win.
21:11We have to learn as the body of Christ.
21:14How to speak multiple languages.
21:16So that we can integrate the message of Christ.
21:20Whether you are in a crib as a child.
21:23Or in the cemetery as a senior adult.
21:26We have to be able to speak the language and the message of God in such a way.
21:31Where you hear it in your culture.
21:34Your language.
21:35Because although our taste may be different.
21:38The truth has to be the same.
21:40Can we speak the word in a way.
21:43So those who don't look like us can hear it.
21:46Can we speak it in such a way.
21:48That those who don't have the same appetites or taste buds that we have.
21:51Can hear the word of God.
21:52Listen don't ever allow your taste to become truth.
21:56And your preference to become policy.
21:59We've got to learn.
22:00Oh that there's some good in the worst of us.
22:03And some bad in the best of us.
22:04We've got to learn that everybody can hear the word of God.
22:07The way you may speak to an 80 year old.
22:09May not be the same way you speak to a 12 year old.
22:12Our message is the same.
22:14The methodology and the language.
22:16And the characteristics with which we deliver the message.
22:20We have to be willing to change.
22:22And so often in this day and time.
22:24Many of our churches that are established and historic.
22:27Are on the verge of extinction.
22:30Why?
22:31Because we can only speak one language.
22:33Stories told.
22:35I remember watching a documentary on the Discovery Channel.
22:40And I love watching anything about animal shows.
22:43And this had a show this time about the prehistoric time.
22:46And the dinosaur age.
22:48In this particular episode.
22:50They were talking about the Brontosaurus.
22:53And I'll never forget that episode.
22:55I love dinosaurs.
22:56I love the prehistoric times.
22:57It was talking about how the Brontosaurus went into extinction.
23:01Because the Brontosaurus was a herbivore rather than a carnivore.
23:05The Brontosaurus didn't eat meat.
23:07Ate herbs.
23:09And because of overpopulation of the Brontosaurus.
23:13What happened was all the foliage had been eaten.
23:19In so much that the Brontosaurus community began to eat in the same way.
23:26They would eat the vegetation that was high on the trees.
23:29High on the limbs.
23:30High on the vines.
23:32And what happened to overpopulation.
23:34Made all of the foliage that was high on the tree.
23:38High on the limbs.
23:39High on the vines.
23:41It couldn't grow back in time.
23:43Because they were used to eating the vegetation one way.
23:46High on the limbs.
23:47High on the trees.
23:48High on the vines.
23:50But sadly enough.
23:52If they had just looked to the lower part of the tree.
23:54The lower part of the vine.
23:56There was more vegetation down on the bottom levels of the trees of the vines.
24:02But you know what happened?
24:03This species of dinosaur went into extinction.
24:07Not because of predators.
24:08Not because of some climatic challenges.
24:11But this species of dinosaur went into extinction for one reason.
24:15Here's why.
24:16Because they refused to bend.
24:18They got used to doing things the same way.
24:20At the same time.
24:21For generations.
24:22And they didn't know that they had the propensity and the proclivity.
24:25And the possibility of just bending their necks.
24:28To get more vegetation on the lower levels.
24:31To allow the vegetation on the higher levels to grow back.
24:35And the science said the brontosaurus went into extinction for one reason.
24:39Because they refused to bend.
24:41How many of our churches.
24:42How many of our organizations.
24:44Are on the verge of extinction.
24:46Why?
24:47Because we're used to doing so much the same way.
24:49And not willing to bend.
24:51Not being with the integrity of the message.
24:54But being with their approach and the style with which the message is delivered.
24:58We can't do things the same way in 2023.
25:02As we did in 1963.
25:04And expect to remain relevant.
25:06That's why the old hymn writer said.
25:07A charge to keep I have.
25:09A God to glorify.
25:11Who gave his son my soul to save.
25:13And fit it for the sky.
25:14Here the stands I love to serve.
25:16The present age.
25:18My calling to fulfill.
25:19Oh made all my powers engage.
25:21To do my master's will.
25:22When Pentecost is about isolation.
25:25To get away.
25:26To get the power of God.
25:27But it's also about integrating.
25:29It's about integrating all the languages.
25:31Because everybody has a seat at the table.
25:33Oh Pentecost ain't Pentecost.
25:36If some people are excluded.
25:37Everybody has a seat at the table.
25:40The old lady.
25:41The old man.
25:42Come on to Pentecost.
25:43You got a seat at the table.
25:44Because now Peter stands up.
25:46And Peter makes a declaration.
25:48Peter says what you see here.
25:50Is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.
25:54Here's what Joel said.
25:55Joel said that was going to come a time.
25:57That the spirit was going to be poured out upon all flesh.
26:00Let me tell you more about this integration.
26:02He said and the old men were going to dream dreams.
26:06And the young men were going to see vision.
26:08The old man dreaming dreams is a reference to the old man looking back on life as it was.
26:14The young men seeing vision is a reference to the new generation seeing things for as it will be.
26:20Notice on Pentecost the old and the young are integrated together.
26:24The old men and the young men.
26:26But then he also says that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
26:31Did you get that?
26:32Your sons and your daughters.
26:33Pentecost is about inclusion.
26:36In a day of patriarchy and misogyny and toxic masculinity.
26:42I love Luke's presentation of the universality of the gospel of Jesus.
26:46Where he does not lift up male dominated milieus.
26:50He says your sons and your daughters will be filled.
26:54Pentecost is not Pentecost if it's exclusive.
26:57Everybody have a seat at the table.
27:00Young man you have a seat at the table.
27:02Young woman you have a seat at the table.
27:04The rich the poor you have a seat at the table.
27:07The learned the unlearned you have a seat at the table.
27:10Those are no criminal record.
27:11Those are criminal record.
27:12Pentecost is about you coming together.
27:15Because we all need the blood of Jesus.
27:17Oh and what can wash away my sins.
27:21What can make me whole again.
27:23Pentecost is about us being together.
27:26Because when we get to heaven.
27:28Everybody's going to be there.
27:29And so that's isolation.
27:31That's integration.
27:32But then third and finally.
27:33I want to notice that what I want to call here intoxication.
27:37Yeah I said intoxication.
27:38Yeah because what happens when they saw and heard the 120.
27:43Speaking in these different languages.
27:45Somebody had the ingenious idea.
27:48And somebody who was not tapped in.
27:50Stood by in verse 13 mocking them.
27:53Making fun of the early church.
27:56But I love Peter's response.
27:58Verse 14 says but Peter.
28:00Peter stood up with the 11 and lifted up his voice.
28:02And said to them you men of Judea.
28:04And everybody who's here in Jerusalem.
28:06Let me make a disclaimer.
28:07I hear the mocking.
28:09I hear those of you who are making fun of our spirit indwellment.
28:13But let me make a disclaimer.
28:15These are not drunk.
28:17As you suppose.
28:19He said it is but the third hour of the day.
28:21At this time of the text.
28:24The day started at 6 a.m.
28:27And so the day didn't start at midnight like our day does.
28:29It started at 6 a.m.
28:31So the third hour of the day which would be equivalent to the 9 a.m.
28:34He said no they're not drunk.
28:36It's too early to be drunk.
28:37It's 9 o'clock in the morning.
28:38No they're not drunk as you suppose.
28:40He says they're not drunk with alcohol.
28:43They're not drunk with Hennessy and Kavasi or Patron Silver.
28:46They're not drunk.
28:47Y'all not helping me here.
28:48They're not drunk with bourbon.
28:49They're not drunk with margaritas.
28:51They're not drunk with Long Island teas.
28:53They're not drunk as you suppose.
28:56Well Peter says but they are drunk with something.
28:58What these have had, they've had an overdose of the Holy Ghost.
29:02And that has given them the power to speak multiple languages.
29:07That is the power that's given them an intoxication.
29:10They are drunk off of love.
29:12They are drunk off of hope.
29:13They are drunk off of expectation.
29:15They are drunk off the dreams of tomorrow.
29:17And you know what the problem is today?
29:19The problem for us is too many of us are leaving home sober.
29:23Yeah we leave home sober.
29:25And I'm not talking about alcoholism.
29:27I'm saying we leave home.
29:29We live our lives not under the influence of the Holy Ghost.
29:33But may it be found of each of us that when they see us, they see us drunk.
29:38They see us staggering because we're under the influence of something.
29:42Of a power that helps us to rise above pain.
29:45A power that helps us to rise above depression.
29:48May it be said of all of us that we are filled with something that's going to sustain our lives.
29:54And today I came to tell you on Pentecost, Paul said in Ephesians 5.18,
29:59Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
30:05That you've got to redeem the time because the days of evil.
30:08You've got to be sure that you walk circumspectly in the world.
30:11And today I want to invite you, come on and take a drink.
30:14Yeah, come on and take a drink.
30:16Yeah, let us drink from the fountain that shall never run dry.
30:20Come on, come on, take a drink.
30:22Ask Him to let some drops now fall.
30:24Come on and ask the Holy Spirit to come and to indwell you.
30:29To fill every area that's empty.
30:32Ask the Holy Spirit to come and heal every circumstance that's broken.
30:36Ask the Holy Spirit to come to reveal purpose and destiny for your life.
30:41Come on and take a drink.
30:43Take a drink from that spirit that moves on the face of premortal liquidity.
30:47Come on and take a drink.
30:48Come on and take a drink of Him who is a part of Elohim.
30:51Who created man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
30:55Come on and take a drink.
30:57Come on and take a drink from that pneumatological power that came in 1 Samuel 16.
31:02That empowered David when he had been dismissed by his brothers and his own daddy.
31:07Come on and take a drink.
31:09Take a drink of this same Holy Ghost who made His dispensation known on the day of Pentecost.
31:14Who walked with us and talked with us and guides us into all.
31:17Come on and take a drink.
31:19Come on and get intoxicated.
31:20Not off of your own whims.
31:22Not off of your own ESP.
31:26Not off your own gut.
31:28But be, come on take a drink of a Holy Spirit who can lead you into God.
31:33There have been times in my life I've been on a road driving.
31:36And something told me don't keep going in that direction.
31:39I found and I found myself taking another route.
31:42Now you might say that was to let there be.
31:45You might say something told me.
31:47Now it wasn't something it was someone.
31:49The Holy Spirit can guide you around truth.
31:52There have been some of you who tried to date people.
31:54But something just didn't feel right.
31:57Sometimes I want to make sure you properly categorize it.
32:00Sometimes you call it your vibe.
32:02The vibe went off or the energy ain't right.
32:05No it's not a vibe.
32:06It's not an energy.
32:07It was the Holy Spirit coming to remind you of what to stay away from.
32:12And what to engage.
32:13Come on and take a drink.
32:14I tell you if you come on and drink of the Spirit.
32:17And drink of this water of the Spirit.
32:20And ask the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me every day of my life.
32:24I came to tell you he'll lead you.
32:26He'll guide you.
32:27Oh come on take a drink.
32:28Oh yes.
32:30What, what, what, what?
32:31Drink, drink of what?
32:32How do I drink of it?
32:34Yeah it was early one morning.
32:36Just about the break of day.
32:38Jesus came in my room in touchment.
32:40And washed all my sins away.
32:42I started running.
32:43I started shouting.
32:44I found no doubt about it.
32:45I found nothing but the Holy Ghost.
32:48If you're here today.
32:50That Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you.
32:52And right now he's speaking on somebody's heart.
32:55To tell you give me a chance.
32:56Let me come in your life and save you.
32:59Man, woman, boy or girl.
33:01Jesus pointed to the Holy Spirit.
33:03The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus.
33:05If you want to accept the Lord Jesus Christ.
33:07Maybe right now you're watching.
33:09I see the tears coming down your face.
33:11Because you've been going and making so many mistakes.
33:14Fall on your face.
33:15Here's why.
33:16Because you've been trusting everything else except the Holy Spirit's voice.
33:19But today I want you to say.
33:20Oh come into my heart.
33:22Allow me to accept Christ as my Lord and my Savior.
33:25The Holy Spirit is telling you the day you hear his voice.
33:27Harden not your heart.
33:29As you're watching today.
33:30If you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior.
33:33Do me a favor.
33:35As you're watching.
33:36I want you just to text.
33:38Right now.
33:39The word salvation.
33:40678-201-1351
33:42Text that right now.
33:43As you're watching.
33:44Text salvation.
33:45678-201-1351
33:47You can be saved.
33:48Or maybe you want to be connected.
33:50With this isolated group.
33:52That God pulls together.
33:53So we can go out and have a transformational.
33:55Incarnational approach.
33:56We come together.
33:57To worship.
33:58We lead the service.
33:59We come in isolation to worship.
34:01But we leave empowered.
34:03We leave not sober.
34:04To go out and bring others with us.
34:05So if you want to be a part of a local church.
34:07Whether you're in Atlanta or Alaska.
34:09Decatur or Dubai.
34:10Georgia or Ghana.
34:11I'd love to be your pastor.
34:12If you want to be connected with us.
34:13Come on text the word connected.
34:15678-201-1351
34:17Or maybe.
34:18You just need prayer.
34:19As these 120 will gather in the upper room.
34:21Praying and waiting.
34:22We have some intercessors who are standing right now.
34:24Maybe like me.
34:25You've been led by so many other things.
34:27Other than the Spirit.
34:28But I'm here to tell you.
34:29Change your life around.
34:30If you want the Holy Spirit to lead you.
34:32And you want some prayer.
34:33Some people to pray with you.
34:34And stand with you.
34:35During these moments of waiting.
34:37Text the word prayer to 678-201-1351
34:40Our team is standing by.
34:41And then lastly.
34:42If you missed the first offering.
34:43You want to give.
34:44Let the Holy Spirit lead you.
34:46Something was said.
34:47You learned something.
34:48Something that was said.
34:49That touched your heart today.
34:50The Holy Spirit wants you to invest in ministry.
34:52You can give today by text to give.
34:54Information is on the screen.
34:56You can text out those codes.
34:58678-201-1351
35:00You can give via cash app.
35:02Dollar sign H-O-H-A-T-L
35:04You can give through Zelle.
35:06Finance at gtrbc.org
35:08If you want to give through the website.
35:10It's www.hohatl.org
35:13Click the given links.
35:14And follow the prompts accordingly.
35:16Or if you want to send it to the PO Box.
35:18PO Box 361-499
35:22Decatur, Georgia 30036
35:25PO Box 361-499
35:27Decatur, Georgia 30036
35:29Hallelujah.
35:30Father we thank you for this day of Pentecost.
35:32Thank you for the movement of the Spirit.
35:35As we close this service out.
35:37May you indwell us.
35:40And empower us.
35:42May we feel the same unction.
35:44That John the Baptist felt prenatally.
35:46In the womb of his mother.
35:48May we have the same power.
35:50Spirit.
35:51That you put on David in 1st Samuel 16.
35:53The same breath that Jesus breathed on the disciples.
35:56In Saint John 20, 19-22.
35:58Would you empower us.
36:00So we can finish the assignment.
36:02Empower us.
36:03So we can run through troops and leap over walls.
36:06Empower us.
36:07That we can rid ourselves from depression and stress and anxiety.
36:10Empower us.
36:12We can be your people.
36:13To go out to this mean and lost world.
36:15To let people know the wages of sin is death.
36:17But the gift of God is eternal life.
36:19Thank you for this worship experience.
36:20Now God as we close this service.
36:22Dismiss us from this place.
36:24From this experience.
36:25But never dismiss us from your presence.
36:28And now.
36:30May.
36:33The grace of our Lord.
36:35May the love of God.
36:37May the grace of Jesus Christ.
36:39And may the sweet communion.
36:41Of the Holy Spirit.
36:43Rest.
36:44Rule.
36:46And abide.
36:47With these your people.
36:49Now henceforth.
36:50And forevermore.
36:51Amen.
36:52Amen.
36:53I love you.
36:54God bless you.
36:55Have a great week.
36:56I love you.
36:57Have a great week.
36:58Don't you leave home sober.
36:59Take the spirit with you.
37:00I love you.
37:01Have a great week.
37:02I love you.
37:03Have a great week.
37:04I love you.
37:05Have a great week.
37:06I love you.
37:07Have a great week.
37:08God bless you.
37:09I love you.
37:10Have a great week.