Empowered by the Holy Spirit

We began a brand new series last week that we kicked off for the entire month of June, five Sundays in June that I'm going to be talking about the tongue. Last week we talked about the fire within. James says that our tongue is like a small spark on the inside of us and it can do a lot of damage to others and to us. A small spark that can set an entire forest on fire. We talked about the dual potential of the tongue.

In Proverbs 18:21, it says life and death. Both are in the power of the tongue. And we know that the tongue can hurt or the tongue can heal. We know the tongue can encourage, it can also discourage. We know the tongue can build up or the tongue can tear down.

We know the tongue can bring hope or the tongue can instill despair. And we also know that the tongue can divide or the tongue can unify. I want to make something clear to you today as we dive into the message this morning. And that is under the power of the Holy Spirit and with the help of the Holy Spirit, your tongue and my tongue can be a great unifier. We're going to talk about that today.

I want you to take your device or your Bible and go to Genesis chapter 11. Genesis chapter 11. All the notes scriptures fill in the blanks are all on the Refuge app. I encourage you. If you have not downloaded the app, go ahead and do that.

You can pull up today's notes. Would you stand to honor the word of God this morning as we begin to read in verse one of Genesis chapter 11 talked about the fire within last week. I want to talk about the fire from above this morning. Genesis chapter 11 beginning in verse 1. At one time, all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words.

As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there. And they began saying to each other, let's make bricks and harden them with fire. In this region, bricks were used instead of stone and tar was used for mortar. And then they said, come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.

But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. Look, he said, the people are united.

I want you to notice the potential of unity here. The people are united and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them. Come, let's go down. Let's confuse the People with different languages, then they won't be able to understand each other.

In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world and they stopped building the city. That's why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way, he scattered them all over the world. Anybody ready for the word today? Amen.

Would you make some declarations with me this morning about the word of God before you're seated? Everybody together, even those watching online. You ready? Go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God.

This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the word, not a hearer only. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it in Jesus name. Hey, do me a favor before you're seated. We have men and women all over America that are incarcerated and through the help of the Pando app, get to watch our services every single Sunday.

Would you do me a big favor? Would you welcome all of our friends on the Pando app this morning. Amen. God bless you all. So glad you could join us.

Amen. You can be seated. Ethnologue, which is a widely recognized resource for language information, lists that Currently there are 7159 different languages being used in the earth today. 7159 different languages. In Revelation, chapter 7, verse 9 and 10, we find this.

These words. After this I saw a vast crowd. Two great accounts from every nation and tribe and people and language standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. And they were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb.

As best you can, I want you to imagine with me and picture in your minds the day that's coming, that Revelations chapter 7 just described that there will be at some point billions of people from every nation and every tribe and every ethnic group and every language that gather around the throne upon which is seated the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and all of those people. Now we know some 7159 different languages. All of those billions of people will gather around the throne of God and with one voice in one language, will begin declaring, along with myriads of angels, the worthiness and the greatness of God. How amazing will it be when we join those who have Jesus in their heart, when we join with people from all over the world? Who are all speaking these different languages?

And in one moment, our language is all the same. And we're not there for ourselves. We're not there to boast about the things that we've done, but we're there joining our voices with millions of angels declaring, there is no one like you, God. Worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who sits on the throne.

What a moment that's going to be. What an experience that will be. But do we have to wait until we get to heaven to somehow be unified with other believers from around the world? Even though we all speak different languages? Isn't that mind blowing?

7159 different languages. Is there no hope for us that until that day comes, that somehow we can be unified together as the body of Christ? Or will our tongues keep us divided because of the different languages that God used in Genesis 11 to keep mankind from making the same mistake that Lucifer, who is described in Scripture as an angel of beauty and as an angel of light, the same mistake that he made, which was to think that he could be equivalent or greater than God. The same mistake that they made in Genesis chapter 11, all speaking the same language. But notice the focus there was not on God.

They said, let's build a city for ourselves.

Let's do something so great that people are talking about how great we are had nothing to do with God. And because of that, God chose to divide them and scatter them around the world. Could it be that God divides all of us until we get to heaven? Or is there a way that we can somehow be united with other believers from around the world? I want you to know today that the very thing that God used to humble mankind is also the very thing that he uses to unite believers while here on the earth.

In its language, it's our tongues. And it's a day that we celebrate today known as Pentecost Sunday. People all over the world today are celebrating Pentecost Sunday, celebrating a day that there was instead of division, there was a unifying of one language, a heavenly language that came so that all believers from different regions of the world came together. Not so they could say, look how great we are, but so that together with one voice, they would say, wow, here on the earth, look how great God. Look how powerful and awesome and mighty.

And I know when I just say the word Pentecost, some people might start having some ptsd. They might start kind of jerking and getting nervous. And like, man, I grew up with some weird teachings about Pentecost.

I grew up being told, we don't really Talk about that. Maybe there were prayers in the back of the hymnbook that talked about the Holy Spirit and they never prayed those prayers. Maybe there were songs about the Holy Spirit and they always skipped over those. Maybe you were taught that's just something we don't really dig into a whole lot. Or maybe you had some bad experiences.

Maybe you've got some misconceptions about Pentecost because there were some abuses. There were people who just made it all about themselves and really nothing about God. Let me tell you what Pentecost is not. Pentecost is not legalism. Pentecost is not weirdness.

Pentecost is not some attempt to turn you into a freak.

No, listen, Pentecost goes all the way back to the day. It's a celebration of the day that the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai in Exodus, chapter 19. And the word pentecost just simply penta, which means five, and costi to the tenth power. It just simply means 50th. 50th.

There are seven celebrations that the Jewish people observe every single year. And all seven of those feasts fall under three categories. Three feasts. The feast of Passover, the feast of Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles. The first month, the third month, and the seventh month that the Jewish people would come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Passover.

And we know what the feast of Passover was about. It's the celebration that took place because God instructed the Israelites to apply the blood of a lamb, of a spotless lamb to the doorposts of their home so that the death angel that was gonna wipe out many of the Egyptians because of the plagues that the death angel would pass over their homes. And so every year after that, the Jewish people would celebrate Passover. And after that first Passover, 50 days later, 50 days later, the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai, Pentecost. And so in the third month, they would go to Jerusalem and they would celebrate the day that the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai.

And in the seventh month, they would celebrate the feast of Tabernacles. And all of these feasts have been fulfilled through Jesus.

All of the things that the Jewish people still celebrate, many of them not even recognizing that they've all been fulfilled through Jesus. But we understand and we know that Jesus became the Passover lamb.

Like that he shed his blood, and Passover was fulfilled through Jesus. So that now we don't apply the door, the blood, to the doorpost of our homes. We apply the Blood of Jesus to the doorpost of our hearts.

Pentecost was fulfilled.

50 days after Jesus was resurrected from the dead as the Passover lamb, the clock began ticking. And guess what happened? He was here on Earth for 40 days, and he instructed the disciples. And he said, I want you to go to Jerusalem and I want you to pray. Because there's a person who's coming.

There's a promise that's coming. It's going to be fulfilled. He didn't tell them how long. He just said, go, pray. So they go to Jerusalem, they find an upper room.

There's 120 of them. They gather in a prayer meeting and they begin praying. And they don't even know what it's going to look like. They don't know when it's going to happen. But guess what?

10 days later. What a coincidence. No, it was the perfect design and plan of God that ten days later there would be the outpouring and the fulfillment of Pentecost. We read about it in Acts, chapter two. Let's look at it.

Acts, chapter two, verse three and four. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Listen. In the original Pentecost, In Exodus, chapter 19, the Bible gives us a great description.

It's almost like a Steven Spielberg movie where there's an earthquake and there's a cloud that descends on Mount Sinai, and there's fire that comes down on the mountain, and there's a loud noise, there's thunder that's shaking. And then 3,000 people are killed on that day, and the law is written on tablets of stone. And then hundreds of years later, as people are gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem, waiting on a promise that Jesus said, I've got to leave so that he will come. He, the Holy Spirit, will come. And they're praying in an upper room.

And all of a sudden, just like what took place In Exodus, chapter 19, there's a sound. The Bible describes it as a rushing wind that comes through that upper room. There's fire that comes. There's a cloud that descends on that room. And instead of 3,000 people being killed, 3,000 people are saved that day.

And the law of God is written not on tablets of stone, but on the hearts of men and women. And Pentecost is fulfilled. And God unifies people once again through language and through their tongues. I've had the great privilege of worshiping with believers and ministering to believers all over the world. And even though I couldn't speak the language of the Chinese pastors that I ministered to in Hong Kong, even though I couldn't speak the language of Vietnamese believers that I ministered to in a house church, in a secret house church in the capital city of Vietnam, even though I couldn't speak the language of the Romanians, just years after the fall of Ceausescu, there worshiping with them and ministering to them, even though I couldn't speak the language of the Moldovan people that I've gone to visit many, many times, there was still a unity that we experienced through the person of the Holy Spirit here on earth.

Like, we don't have to wait until we get to heaven to experience that, because our tongues can become the great unifier under the power of the Holy Spirit. Are y' all still with me today? Now watch this. John, chapter one, verse 32. Then John gave this testimony.

I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove. Here's the key. And remain on him. Notice that word, remain. Now, many, many times throughout the Old Testament, we find that the Holy Spirit would come, would descend and remember, would anoint and empower and equip different judges or kings or warriors or priests for a certain assignment or a certain task.

But the Holy Spirit would come and he would anoint them for that task and equip them for that task. And then he would leave. He would visit and he would leave. Year after year, the celebration of Pentecost had come. For centuries, they celebrated Pentecost.

But now John describes in chapter one something different. He says the Holy Spirit came when Jesus was baptized. And he didn't just come for a day or for a month or for a week or for a moment, but he came and he sat on Jesus. He remained on Jesus. That was the game changer.

That was the difference we notice in the upper room. The Holy Spirit came into that room in Jerusalem. I got a text from a pastor friend of mine just this morning who was walking into that upper room in Jerusalem today, on the day of Pentecost, I had to battle some jealousy, man. I'm going to tell you, like, wow, how awesome is that?

But the Bible says that those 120 that were gathered in that upper room, that the Holy Spirit came into that room fire that separated and rested over the heads of all 120 of them. And the Holy Spirit didn't just come for a moment, but the Holy Spirit came and sat on them and remained on them and wrote on their hearts the law of God and began to tabernacle on the inside, inside of them, dwelling on the inside of them. And guess what? He desires to do the same thing with you. It wasn't just for Jesus at his baptism.

It wasn't just for the 120 that were gathered in that upper room in Jerusalem. But it's for you and I. Because Jesus said, listen, listen to me. Listen to me speaking to his disciples. I'm about to leave.

He says, I'm about to go away, but I have to leave so that one just like myself will come.

He describes him as the Parakletos in the Greek one who's just like me. And Jesus says, I have to go away so that he will come. Because he wanted his disciples to understand that the Holy Spirit inside of them was greater than Jesus walking beside them. Are you hearing me today?

And some people say, well, you know, I've never known about the Holy Spirit. I've never been taught about the Holy Spirit. Or maybe you were taught things that were in error about the Holy Spirit. Maybe, maybe your upbringing, you were taught that the Holy Spirit was just like some distant relative, and you knew he was an important member of the family, but you didn't really have much of a relationship with Him. Or maybe you were taught that the Holy Spirit's like the weird uncle at the family reunion.

You know, you're supposed to be courteous and polite to him, but you're going to be in any room but the room that he's in. And some of you have had that same conception or perception about the Holy Spirit. I know he's important. I just don't understand much about him. And I've just been taught we just need to kind of keep him at our own slings.

We need to just stay away from the Holy Spirit. See, I've learned in life that your perspective can change if your experience changes. Let me say that again. Your perspective can change if your experience changes. Let me give you an example.

Many of you know when my kids, and they've all passed this age now, but when my kids turned 18, five kids when they turned 18, I took all of them skydiving when they turned 18. It was kind of a rite of passage. And really it was very selfish. It was just fun for me.

But before the first time that I ever went skydiving, I had a perception of skydiving. And my perception was all based on just the knowledge that I had, the limited knowledge that I had. And the perception was that when you jumped out of the airplane, you really were just floating on a cushion of air. And the reason I had that perception was every video I'd ever seen, that's what it looked like.

But when I jumped out of the airplane for the first time, my experience changed my perception, because I discovered you're not floating on a cushion of air. You're actually falling at 120 miles an hour through open space. How many of you know that'll change your perception just a little bit?

But it wasn't until I had the experience that I had a different and more accurate perception. Let me give you another example. You know, years ago, I had been to some NASCAR races, and I gained somewhat of an appreciation for the skill of the drivers because, you know, the first time a race car at 200 miles an hour hugging the wall past me, my heart started beating a little faster, and I could feel some adrenaline pumping. And so I realized right then it was different. My experience prior to that was just watching it on tv, which would last all of two or three minutes because I was bored out of my mind.

And really, I just had a perception that all of those guys that were driving those cars were just a bunch of good old boys who most of them probably never made it past the fifth grade.

I didn't realize they had skill. You know? And forgive me for those of you that are involved in nascar. We have drivers who attend this church. We have crew chiefs who attend the church.

But let me continue to explain, because I had an opportunity, my brother and I, years ago, to actually drive a race car at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And I drove a race car at 150 miles an hour around the track. And all of a sudden, my experience changed my perception, because in that moment, I realized they weren't just a bunch of good old boys. They were athletes who had skill that most human beings do not possess. My perspective completely changed after that.

And the reality today is that some of you have a perspective of the Holy Spirit. And it's limited because you've never experienced him. You've kept him at arm's length. You've treated him like the weird uncle at the family reunion and said, you know, I'm just not really open to this because I'm afraid he's going to try to turn me into a weirdo. I'm afraid if I open myself up to an experience with the Holy Spirit, he's going to try to make me a freak.

And many of you have never even realized he's a person. He's a person, and he's an equal member of the Trinity. And just like you can have a relationship with God the Father, just like you can have a relationship with Jesus, you can have a relationship with a person of the Holy Spirit. Because all three members of the Trinity are equal in power. They're equal in position.

They're just different in function. And the Holy Spirit is equal to God. He's equal to Jesus. He's just different in his function. And some of you need to understand and realize that you can have a relationship with the person of the Holy Spirit.

But here's the reality.

Your perspective will change when your experience changes, but your experience won't change until you are open to having a relationship with Him. I'm not saying that you have to understand everything there is to understand about the person of the Holy Spirit. Because still, after all these years of preaching the Gospel, after all these years of having a relationship since I was a little boy with the person of the Holy Spirit, I still don't understand everything about Him. But I don't understand everything about the truck that I drive. I don't understand everything about the microwave that I use almost every day of my life.

But it doesn't keep me from using it. Come on, are you with me? And some of you are waiting. Because in your mind you have to understand I have a logical explanation for everything there is about the person of the Holy Spirit. And that's probably not going to happen.

What I'm saying to you today is, are you willing to just say, even though I don't understand everything about Him, I know that I need Him. I need him in my life. The Bible says in Joel, chapter 2, verse 28 and 29, and afterward I will pour out my spirit on all people. All people. Notice the Bible doesn't say there that there's a promise for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on charismatics.

It's not a promise for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on the 4 square denomination or on the Church of God, or on the Assemblies of God, or on Pentecostal denominations only. No, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is for all believers everywhere, which includes you. If you're open, if you're willing, if you recognize I can't do this without him. Back in the early part of the 1900s, revivals began to break out in America and Wales and India and other places around the world. January 1, 1901, in Topeka, Kansas.

Revival breaks out as some young people who were just hungry for God are touched by God. They've been praying all night in 1904, again, some young people gathered that were just hungry, just praying. And revival breaks out. And God raises up a young evangelist by the name of Evan Roberts. And all of a sudden, churches are filled and 100,000 people get saved and bars closed and houses of prostitution closed.

In April of 1906, a young black pastor from Houston, Texas, by the name of William Seymour is invited to Los Angeles to preach for a month in a series of revival meetings. And as he's leading a prayer meeting at 214 Bonnie Brae street in Los Angeles, revival breaks out. And people began showing up to that house until they outgrew the home. And they moved that prayer meeting, that revival, to a church on Azusa Street. And all of these revivals and many other revivals that I could talk about, all of them were characterized by something new.

And that was people being baptized in the Holy Spirit, not of the Holy Spirit, but people being baptized in the Holy Spirit with the manifestation of this heavenly language, this new language that would unite them with believers from around the world. And some of you, sadly enough, have been taught that that language is of the devil. Some of you have been taught that that language is only reserved for certain people. And According to Joel 2, no, it's for everybody. The Holy Spirit's for all of you.

He just wants people that are hungry, just wants people that are open.

I would say, how in the world could I ever do this without Him? How could I live my life without the person of the Holy Spirit? If Jesus would say, I've got to leave so that he will come, what's that say to you? And I, it says to me, I need him.

John said I have to decrease so that he might increase. I need more of him, more of him in my life. Even though I don't understand everything there is about you, I just know that I need more of you. And the Bible is clear in Acts, Chapter 2 and Acts, Chapter 9, Acts, Chapter 10, Acts, Chapter 19. Yes, you receive the person of the Holy Spirit when you're saved.

He comes in and regenerates your heart and changes you from the inside out. But those chapters that I just named and other things in Scripture give us a clear indication that there is an experience that goes beyond salvation. And it's called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, rest on believers and remains on believers. And guess what?

If you're open, if you're hungry, if you're willing to put the welcome mat out at the front of the door of your heart and to say, holy Spirit, I'm open. The door's open. I welcome you. Guess what? There are five things at least.

I think the list is much longer. But there's five things I believe that you'll experience very quickly. Number one, you're gonna experience a deeper connection to God. You may have a great relationship with God right now, but let me tell you something. When you experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit, all of a sudden, that intimacy with him is gonna go to another level.

Secondly, it's gonna revolutionize your prayer life. According to the Apostle Paul, there's just moments in life I've experienced in my own life where I just did not have words for the anguish of my soul. I didn't have words to adequately express the depth of my despair. And it's in those moments that the Apostle Paul says, there's a helper. His name is the Holy Spirit.

He'll come and he'll give you the ability to pray with groanings in a language. That's your spirit communicating with the very Spirit of God. The third thing you're going to experience is the power to overcome sin.

Some of you are stuck in these repeated sin Cycles. Now, 10 years later, you're still doing the same thing things over and over. Let me tell you, the beautiful person of the Holy Spirit wants to come and break that sin cycle in your life. And if you'll open yourself up and say, I'm tired of this. I'm tired of repeating the same things over and over.

I need the help of the Holy Spirit. He'll come in and break that sin cycle. Here's the fourth thing that'll happen. He'll give you the ability to represent Jesus in an authentic way. Let me tell you something.

You can't do that on your own. No. Jeremiah 18 says, Our heart is deceitful and wicked above all else. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit, you shall receive power. Greek word dunamis.

An excellent spirit. After the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Why? To be my witness, to authentically represent who Jesus is. Here's the fifth thing that'll happen.

You'll experience a unity with other believers from all over the world. Where? It doesn't matter the denominational differences. What matters is that we bring glory to him. What matters is that we lock arms so that we can take ground for the kingdom.

The Holy Spirit's the great uniform fire. And he'll use your tongue and your language to unify you with others. My question to you today would be this. Why in the world would you try to live life without him. Why in the world would you try to do this without him?

Come on.