Dry Bones: August Sermon Series

is is is house house come on oh he is jesus from [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do so [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] good morning thanks jake everybody ready to worship today stand to your feet [Music] step out of the shadows step out of the grave break into the wild and don't be afraid run into wide open spaces graces waiting for you dance like the weight has been lifted grace is waiting where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom there is freedom where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom there is freedom [Music] let that be freedom [Music] come back to communion [Music] is [Music] [Music] there is freedom where the spirit of the lord is [Music] let there be freedom [Music] shake at the sound of jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] jesus [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] dance [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] freedom [Music] oh let there be freedom in this place thank you jesus god we thank you for your freedom god god we thank you for your presence in this place lord jesus father we just worship you lord and we just praise you in this place god you're worthy of all of our praise lord jesus [Music] i don't wanna fear [Music] [Music] upon the sea till i'm dancing in the deep [Music] i will trust the voice that i speak [Music] i'm not gonna be afraid [Music] peace [Music] [Music] i will trust the voice [Music] [Applause] we speak your peace [Music] let faith rise up oh heart believe let faith rise up in me let faith rise up oh heart believe let faith rise up in me come on and sing it out [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are here so it is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] peace [Music] [Music] we're declaring peace through every storm however [Music] just declare peace right now over whatever you're going through whatever you're facing just declare it right now peace peace that passes understanding god we just declare your peace lord peace for our country right now god yes peace for every heart that has lost a loved one this week peace god god we depend on you we depend on your peace lord to get us through this life [Music] and you promised you promised us that god [Music] so let faith rise up oh heart believe and let faith rise up in me [Music] don't let faith rise up in me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] till i'm [Music] is [Music] oh my god [Music] [Applause] [Music] he's [Applause] [Music] please peace [Music] let his love wash over you today yes [Music] be still and know that i am god thank you lord thank you lord that we know that you're fighting our battles thank you lord jesus thank you lord that we know that you're fighting our battles all we have to do is be still be still thank you jesus [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] you have been so so good to me before i took a breath you breathed [Music] you have been so so kind to me [Music] before i spoke [Music] you have been so [Music] [Music] still [Music] reckless [Music] you have [Music] [Applause] [Music] you paid it off [Music] oh [Music] leaves the night [Music] never ending love god [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] there's no shadow [Music] coming after me [Music] coming after me [Music] tear down [Music] [Music] oh oh [Music] [Music] you [Music] god [Music] [Music] there's nothing like [Music] nothing like so many times when we sing this song i'm reminded this is gonna sound silly but bear with me my cousin at her wedding somebody passed out in the bridal party and my dad was sitting on the second row and the minute that person passed out that man leapt over the chairs and onto the stage like a maniac to save the day and whenever we sing this song i get that visual not of my dad but of my heavenly father jumping over rose to get to me because that's the god that we serve and i just feel so strongly that we need to get that image in our head don't just sing these words but get the image of that reckless pursuit our heavenly father is recklessly pursuing you he doesn't care if he kicks down every chair on his way over he does not care he wants to know your heart he wants to be close to you he desires a relationship with you and in your darkest moments when you feel so far from god he is pursuing you right then and that's what this song is talking about there's no shadow you won't light up mountain you won't climb up coming after me and that's not theoretical that is you that is you he is talking about you he wants to pursue you so get that image in your head and allow it to just truly wreck you allow it to really set in that there is a father who wants to be close to you so draw near to him you don't have to be afraid you don't have to hide your mess or your baggage but just bring it to him because he wants to take it from you [Music] [Music] there's no way [Music] can you see it there's no wall you won't kick down [Music] tear down [Music] oh he's climbing over chairs oh [Music] know [Music] [Music] father we thank you that you thought it not robbery to come in the form of man and to sacrifice your life for us you are fully god and you came down thank you for your grace jesus we thank you for your grace we thank you for your sacrifice we thank you for your mercy thank you we are not worthy of your mercy we are not worthy of your grace we are not worthy of the sacrifice thank you for your love thank you for your willingness to come down you know we said last week that we were going to keep baptisms going and we were serious about it what an amazing sacrifice jesus made for our lives what an amazing sacrifice and man getting baptized in the family of god there's nothing better there's nothing better than joining with the saints there is because we are going to do this for eternity i mean if you're a really believer if you really believe what jesus teaches this and even better than we got good worship but i think the worship in heaven might just be a little bit better you know they can sing but i'm talking like all the angels and all the saints giving glory to god come on man that is gonna be awesome that is going to be awesome so i want to invite you to be seated but if you're going to if you'd like to get baptized today please stay standing if you'd like to be baptized today we're going to baptize you right here right now if you want to be baptized you're standing you can come right over here to the left-hand side let's give it up for her saints come on anybody else [Music] feel free sir you can come on right up over here and again as we baptize these individuals yep come right over here to pastor anthony and as we baptize these individuals church we encourage you to be part of this process pray intercede and then and i invite you to stand and continue to worship with us as we do this so please feel free to stand our worship team is going to continue to worship and pastor anthony's going to tell us who we have over here so what's really great is that she's been talking to me at the door for about two or three weeks he says pastor i want to get baptized and i'm gonna bring i'm gonna bring an extra set of clothes and i'm doing this and i had it on my mind i thought to myself well we'll see we'll see and here she is [Laughter] i'm so proud of her so when did you give your heart to christ when did that happen [Music] [Music] and it has been opening in my heart and love is just unbelievable it's just so much i love it yes and reading the bible the chapter today i love it reading the bible at chapter day come on let's give her some affirmation for that wow that's great stuff yeah that's awesome so your friend sonia oh neighbor oh yeah sonya right there and tim you know what's really cool about what she just said and all your friends lyndon earl that whole row i love it you guys it's awesome so um wait let me just hold on these are your neighbors [Music] she said god moved them in for a reason for a reason what's your testimony with your neighbors [Music] do your neighbors make you want to go to church and come to know jesus they want to say bad words about you wow let's give these neighbors a big hand for letting christ shine through that wow that's awesome i love them amen so what she said that was really cool is that she's always loved jesus but it's been a private thing baptism is exactly exactly what she's doing she's going public saying this private experience i had now i want to let you i want the world know that i am a follower of jesus christ amen just hold your nose we're going to baptize her now upon the profession of your faith and obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right you just be seated there all right so is how many times have you come to abundant life uh this is my first time this is the first time wow so all right so what's really important is that that you have you committed your life to jesus christ yes i accept jesus christ as my lord and savior [Applause] [Music] so you didn't know we were going to do baptism today no he didn't even know we're going to do baptism day he just walked in this is so new testament so raw so real man we're just going to do this until we feel like the lord says it's over but maybe it won't stop maybe it'll just keep going on maybe this will be part of a big revival that kind of sweeps pinellas county how many want to believe god for that proud of you man what's your name uh alexander alexander that's a good one that's strong that's strong all right alexander we're going to baptize if you just come a little bit forward i want to bang your head on the back of that thing just hold your nose buddy upon the profession of your faith in an obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] so this is a sweet girl who i really like i got to know her just a couple months ago and i i just watched her you know she's got a great attitude she's a servant she's really uh what's the word um there's a word where you're just really alert you know and you see things you solve problems you're very helpful you've got a great attitude you know and so um tell everybody what your name is skyla that's right scotland your parents are um edward and jen jefferson edward and jenna and edward and gentleman coming for a couple months and man they are all in man i'm so excited about what god is doing in this family and just great to see you so you are have you committed your life to christ um yeah when did that happen about when i was seven years old about seven years old so now you really understand what baptism is all about you want to do it yeah did you just make this decision this morning were you thinking about it this week i was sort of feeling that my greatest fear was god himself but after this day i've wanted to do it today i've wanted to do it again hey man skyler right skyla skyla s-k-y-l-a e-l-a-h e-l-a forget the spelling i'll just say it right [Laughter] i'm so how are you proud of a teenager getting up here and want to just be a baptized man so proud of you everybody here is just so proud of you everybody just celebrating you and this decision you made we're going to be behind you supporting you believing in you and what god's doing in your life is hold you know as we are upon the profession of your faith and in obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Music] coming after me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] one more time [Music] tear it up [Music] come on church let's continue to sing this song we gotta celebrate what just happened we got a celebrity can you guys celebrate what just happened let's get god we give you the glory for the baptisms this week we give you the glory for the baptisms that will happen in second service we give you the glory for last week we give you glory for every single aspect of what happens in this house father we want your glory to show up here we want your power your glory to show up not just impressive wisdom not just our own words but father do something in our midst that people cannot deny people need truth people need something real in their lives today lord and we know that you are real you are truth you are reality you are the answer father so we lean into you lord we trust you trust in the lord we're going to trust in the lord with all of our heart and we are not going to lean on our own understanding in all our ways we are going to acknowledge you father you are the king of kings and the lord of lords and we thank you we thank you for who you are jesus in your precious name amen amen when you may be seated [Music] isn't it good to come into god's house and to greet people into his kingdom come on man that's awesome it's good you know i have a question for some people in this church today we're going to be baptizing every single week you know what we're going to need we're going to need people who are willing to walk hand in hand with people to disciple them right what good is it if we just baptize people hey you're dunked it's all good is that real no come on you're going to wake up at 4 a.m and your daughter's going to have a fever you got to do something about it right if you're the people in new orleans you got a hurricane that's coming at you life is going to happen in life life's going to happen and i just wonder if there's people here today that god is speaking to you even now that you're going to be willing to come alongside of people that are getting baptized every single week and disciple them and train them and encourage them and help them walk this life out just as a step of faith is there anybody in here right now you are strong in your faith you've been a believer that you would say you know what pastor you can count on me i want to talk to you at the end of this service you can raise your hand raise your hand i got one two anybody else three four if you raised your hand just then and you're willing to walk with people meet me at the connect 10 after service because i want to talk to you because we're serious about this we're serious about this christian life so i appreciate your faith guys this offering man off ties and offerings abundant life it is time for our ties and offerings [Music] it is awesome to give growing up in the church my entire life you know you don't always know what giving is all about you kind of do it culturally and then you get trained you start to understand it more but truly giving is about the church spreading the kingdom of god spreading the gospel that's what giving is we give so that can practically happen and if we don't give that doesn't happen it really doesn't happen i think that there's a direct link to christians not giving of their times talents and resources and the fact that church and christianity is in this situation that it is in our country i think there's a direct link to it and the word of god speaks to this in matthew the rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand the rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash when we invest in god's kingdom and we spread his kingdom and we spread his truth we are building a solid foundation for our lives the lives of our children and our grandchildren so we give to make that happen we give to bring people into the kingdom of god we give to see them discipled so that they stand on a solid rock amen let's pray father we thank you so much for the ministry in this house we thank you for pastor anthony who's going to come and share your word but we ask that people's hearts would be tender to that word lord we thank you for all that serve we thank you for all the outreaches in the ministry we ask you to bless every single giver in their work in their health and in their life in your precious name jesus amen hey pastor kirk here and i am excited to invite you to starting point you might be thinking what exactly is starting point well it's a place for you to come and get connected to amazing people and find out about the fantastic opportunities that we have to serve here at abundant life we do some cool stuff every single week we are really trying to make a difference in our community from our food pantry to the outreach that we have at coral way we're ministering and working with children in our community we have people here who invest time and energy and money and making a difference so if you want to make a difference i want to invite you to come out to starting point 11 o'clock i can't wait to meet you and connect you to how you can serve in order to keep distractions to a minimum and to be courteous to those around you we ask that at this time please silence all cell phones in addition if you have to exit once the message begins please join us in the cafe for the remainder of the service follow along with pastor anthony's message and take notes by downloading the youversion bible app lastly if you chose to forego or provide a child care we want to invite you to join us for service in our family room with your little one now please join me in welcoming our lead pastor pastor anthony mcdaniel praise the lord there it is i have to turn myself on good to see you this morning and uh what what a special time we are having an abundant life we had 20 people baptized in the last two weekends and they're great 20 people and and none of those were planned they were all spontaneous now there's somewhat now you have a little bit of a clue that it's happening so it's um you know this is for the uh we're the little ompalumpas the ump olympus what is that from what movie is that willy wonka we're bringing it back so couple things real quick um let's let's pray for um the was it 13 servicemen died in afghanistan let's pray that this president goes quickly serious if you were a service man or if you were parents of those people would you be ticked right now he's up there with jimmy carter right now maybe worse so if you're offended by that just think about the leadership that we need to protect our servicemen think about the families who lost loved ones and think about the inept leadership that we just watched that's not how you pull out of a country after being there for 20 years i make no apologies for that i am angry i'm upset about it this is not a time for people to play nice we have people that died and more people will die because of bad leadership everything rises or falls on leadership we need to pray that this country knows how to elect people to have competence and character because we don't have either one of those right now at least we had competence with the last dude some people worried about his character now we have o for two we were one for two last time can i get an amen on that all right i'm just saying so let's pray for i didn't mean i was i didn't know i was going to say that but i meant it um let's pray for the families of of the service people and not the afghans have died people pray for the ones that are stranded there let's pray for louisiana real quick louisiana is facing wow one of the most horrendous hurricanes let's pray for those two things right now god we just thank you father god for the power of prayer we just take just a moment to pray oh god for the families that are devastated because of these blasts in afghanistan lord the american service men and women of god who gave their lives they died a lot of them are just young men young women father my heart just breaks i pray for their families we pray together for comfort and strength of the lord we do pray for confidence in our american government for the national security of viruses oh god remove the incompetent people in jesus name and help this country to wake up i pray in jesus name they will be a wake up in this country and i pray oh god lord for the people of louisiana that are facing this horrendous powerful hurricane oh god we pray for mercy we pray that everybody would get out they've got a few more hours god may they get out get out get out and we just pray that this country will respond and love to help those that will be devastated because of this storm god and we thank you for all these things in jesus name amen amen praise god if you like a soft church a soft pastor that's politically correct you are in the wrong place if i haven't offended you yet i might you know we're way too easily offended right some we need to say what needs to be said we need to say what the listen the truth sets you free not some little uh you know storybook rhyme you know i'm trying to get my bible so it props up things right it's not working too good um so i think there was something else careful that's right care fest is the last saturday of september it's it's one of the greatest things we do because we show god's love in a practical way you know and i just encourage you to sign up today after service basically just going to work all day at somebody's house doing minor house repair yard work or painting it's one of the biggest outreaches that we do all year i need you to sign up because there's a lot of logistics involved to get the team leader with the number of people and what tools that are needed so it's it's a logistical challenge we want to help jeff paint out our care fest director so thank you for doing that if you've never done it just sign up just go outside or you can go on online right now it's on our website carefree sign up you can sign up to submit a project that needs to be done you can sign up to be a team member or a team leader okay minor house repair painting or yard work okay care fest the lot when is the corners care fest last saturday of september everyone say that the last saturday of september turn your neighbor and say you're going to do it [Laughter] i saw some funny faces like all right good so i've been talking about the holy spirit the immersion of the holy spirit and there's a lot of tension surrounding this thing because let me just say this the holy spirit was supposed to unite the body of christ jesus comes to earth he takes the mission of his father to come and redeem mankind or buy us back from the original sin we our dna got changed and we we became we have original sinful nature now and that's passed on uh to to every every human being we have this natural propensity to break god's laws and to do our own thing and and jesus says hey i'm gonna i'm gonna give you a new way of living the only way he could do that is to become that perfect sacrifice to forgive sins from the past the present future he had to meet the requirements of the law to be the firstborn male without spot or blemish so he had he lived a 33-year life without sin no one has ever done that ever before or since ever gonna do that so he qualified as the one that could say hey i offer if i give my life i i take the place of all these people who are guilty from sins and not only the ones that had lived but because he rose again now he's able to pay for the sins of moving forward and so jesus did that then jesus said okay now i'm going back to the father i want you to tarry in jerusalem until you're endued with power from on high or clothed with power from one high and i'm going to send you the comforter he gives you comfort and power come everyone say comfort and power and the holy spirit was poured out on action in acts chapter 2 it records that story after they had been there for 10 days praying and seeking god and so now we have the holy spirit the holy spirit was supposed to unite everybody you know one of the most controversial issues in the church is the holy spirit and the signs of the holy spirit speaking in tongues the gifts of the holy spirit they're divisive i mean there's people who just attack it you're demonic i was listening to a sermon by derek prince about two weeks ago he said that you know he's a very respected theologian he was educated in some of the greatest schools in england very very intelligent dude man and he said other theologians friends they had they would literally not even walk on the same side of the street because he was a crazy pentecostal but i will tell you what what are you going to do when the pentecostalism is the fastest growing segment of christianity around the world why is that why is it that it's exploding in china and africa and india if you're just like a realist you have to ask yourself why is it i'll tell you why people want to experience god knowing god is one thing but experiencing god is another that's why it's so important these services i'm starting my message about 15 minutes later than i normally do you know why because people are experiencing god and they want to get baptized and that's the most important thing because people are moved in their spirit and they move their emotions john 4 23-24 says this god is spirit and he's seeking worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth knowledge doesn't necessarily change people if knowledge changed people we would have a changed world there's thousands millions of people that sit and listen to sermons every week and where's the change you don't change until you see god experience god let me tell you what saul of tarsus was on his way to kill more christians he thought he was right until he had an experience with god almighty specifically jesus christ and from that point on he changed his tune completely in fact he asked two questions who are you and what do you want me to do i'm telling you we need an experience with the holy spirit so we are able to say who are you and what do you want me to do are you hearing me today we got enough religion we got enough knowledge we got enough stuff in our head we don't need it in our heads we don't act upon what's in our head we act and we move upon what's in our heart and it's time to get god in our heart it's like little children's church when i was a little kid is jesus in your heart and the little kid starts crying like six years old why because he understands that he understands that it's an emotional it's spiritual it's it's personal man and so i don't want to have some ex i don't want to have some exegesis about tongues because you know what if we're going to fight about tongues you're never going to get it amen you know what happened to me in this service i'm in this service and i'm beginning to feel the presence of god i'm beginning to worship god and i just wanted to pray in tongues because just from the holy spirit is here i feel him he's always here but i feel him why because we created a throne for him to sit in this place we honored him we respected him i felt him i felt the spirit of god so i began to pray in tongues i didn't pray loudly i was to myself i was encouraged i was lifted up when i don't know how to pray when i'm tired of praying when i'm just feeling the weight of afghanistan i'm feeling the weight of what's going on in our government i'm feeling the weight of louisiana today i just want to pray in tongues and say oh god pray through me take it to the father i'm concerned about these things the holy spirit is a person and you know what if you don't want to speak in tongues don't speak in tongues it's okay but you know what it's a gift it's a comfort it's a blessing it's an encouragement i'm not going to fight about this i thought to myself i've been preaching about tongues i did a dig series in 2006 i was looking through my notes i did a big old series i got a nice little dvd set it's about six or seven dvds i got all these power points of cool graphics and all that okay you know what it is in other words knowledge is important teaching is important i don't want to diminish that impact but here's what i felt like the holy spirit said to me this morning and i anguished a lot every week over preaching just so you know because this is important and i think to myself last night i think okay i can say a lot of stuff i've been preaching so long i don't even have to study that much i get up here and just go yeah we're done let's go eat lunch i can do that i don't want to do that i am concerned about every sunday about who's coming in here and why are you here what are you looking for because today is somebody's day to really get this about the holy spirit you're going to cross over today you're going to move from a place from here to over here and i want to make sure that i am ready for what god wants to do in this place are you hearing me today is the day of salvation and now is the accepted time and today is the day for somebody to get baptized immerse in the holy spirit we had a great time in my small group tuesday morning some of the great guys of this church i have a great time we talked about all this stuff and the holy spirit and tongues and all that and we need to get the theology right we do we do it i'm going to give you some of that but i want to make sure if maybe i won't maybe this is all you're going to get i'm not even in my notes yet um you know here's the deal i want to make sure you understand it's the person of god manifested in the holy spirit so so if you think about it that way if you think about we are interacting we are receiving we are welcoming god the holy spirit everyone say the holy spirit is god it's important that you know that you have god the father god the son god the holy spirit there's only about one percent of christian religions in the world that don't believe in the trinity and we're not going to talk about them today but i think i've said enough that 99 of people who read this bible come up to the conclusion that there is this thing called the eternity god the father god the son god the holy spirit we're not going to fight about that that's one percent they're probably not here and if they are we'll just pray for them and smile it's all good we love them we're glad you're here amen seriously and so um the holy spirit is god and we need to understand that he is the part of the trinity that is amongst us he is the one that we interact with we need the holy spirit he comforts us he empowers us okay that's my introduction 11 minutes how was that praise god paul describes the work of the holy spirit this is picking up from last week paul describes the work of the holy spirit ii corinthians chapter 1 verse 21 says now it is god who makes both us and you stand firm in christ he anointed us listen verse 22 i've never preached it this way before so if you sat under my ministry for a long time you've never heard me preach it this way before he know he anointed us another way you could say he selected us set his seal god has selected us he set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirit capital s holy spirit god put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come now what is to come we're going to be eternal life eternal life eternal life he's going to take us out of this earthly place we're gonna go to the marriage support of the land for seven years on the earth there's gonna be this seven year tribulation the first three and a half years will be great the antichrist will be doing good things and um you know everybody thinks everybody is great in the last three and a half years terrible persecution there will be people saved during the tribulation they'll have to give they'll have to die a martyr's death during the tribulation but at some point we're coming back after the no not some point after seven years after seven years not ambiguous is clear after seven years we're coming back the earth second coming of jesus and we're coming to the earth and we are going to uh we're gonna jesus is basically gonna take everybody out who's against him and he's gonna he's gonna set up a thousand year reign on the earth and we're gonna judge the christians are going to judge the world okay there's a lot there so what am i saying that's what's to come and we're going to have a heavenly body my dad is 92 years old he's having stroke he's been in the hospital probably the last five or six weeks he's probably in the hospital two and a half three weeks he's been in and out i'm concerned i'm thinking here god i've cried a lot privately man i'm thinking y'all love my dad but you know what no matter how strong you are your body breaks down and we're all gonna die we're all gonna die and so like for people that are watching online or people flipping their channels on tv you're thinking who is this guy what's he saying you know you know here's the deal is there life after death and what does that look like this scripture is basically telling us that god has chosen us and when we accept his grace and mercy now he takes the holy spirit and puts a deposit deposit on us he puts a seal on us he puts a deposit on us for things to come and say this one right here i've already paid the deposit on this i'm taking this with me one day this was mine did you get that here today that's what the holy spirit does i've never preached it that way before and i will tell you in the bible the seal i believe is tongues and the gifts of the spirit that come out what are the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks when you are full of the holy spirit when you are immersed in the holy spirit or you are baptized in the holy spirit whatever's in you comes out and what's in you is god and he he comes out of you but i love this scripture he set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit everyone say deposit guaranteeing what is to come look at ephesians 1 13. when you believed okay you were marked in him with a seal not the ones that you know swim around you know it's like when you go to like uh what's good you know you go like some some theme park they put something on your arm you know like a little bracelet or you stay at a resort they give you a brace or you could have some place to give you a little stamp and you put it underneath the light and they see it oh there it is oh you paid whatever you're 144 dollars to help mickey mouse and his friends be rich again whatever that's ridiculous how much you have to pay now it's crazy nuts anyhow they put something on you they put a risk so now you know oh this person is paid for that's the way it is you know holy spirit scanner oh there it is there's some of mine there's someone there's someone there's someone i marked you with a seal you were marked in him with a seal the promised holy spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are god's possession to the praise of his glory i really haven't preached this because i didn't completely understand it it's not it's not one of those real uh highly trafficked areas where you uh you know you you know it very well so paul says the holy spirit is two things it is a seal and a down payment a seal is this you already belong to god but this is the public declaration of it you already belong to god but this is the public declaration of it look at it that's exactly right what happened in baptism this morning that's why i asked them i'm not going to baptize anybody unless they are already redeemed they've already accepted christ's grace and mercy and they've repented of their sins and they're saying i'm not going to live that way anymore i'm living this way anymore they are not to be baptized baptism is only an outward symbol of what's already happened the holy listen the holy spirit draws you to christ and you're redeemed because the holy spirit the holy spirit baptism is a sign of what's already happened the holy spirit's in you but you are not immersed and baptized until you yield yourself and say i want the fullness of the holy spirit i want this second work of the holy spirit so the down payment means that you're set aside the item exclusively for you jesus puts a down payment on you to mark you exclusively for himself you are marked you are the bride of christ when you think about this way i'm engaged now think about this way i'm engaged now when you when you come to christ christ puts his seal the holy spirit on you it's like you're being engaged you are betrothed to christ think about it that way now now it moves into loyalty and commitment hey i'm committed i'm not going out with the world anymore we're not hanging out anymore that doesn't mean you don't you're not a friend of sinners but you know what when you are a when your friendship of sinners causes you to act like talk like walk life be like sinners then you really are not redeemed you're not really transformed you know you need to come out of the world and be separate everyone say be separate that's why the bible says to be sanctified you can be in the world but not of the world that's the challenge that's the work of discipleship that pastor kirk was referring to we need to help people walk it out the first step is easy the wedding ceremony is always beautiful it's that thing called life that isn't so pretty everybody looks so good everybody's lost weight you know you look back five years later say whoa who are these people your kids are like wow [Music] you know everybody puts on a good front for the big you know the salvation is wonderful it's wow i'm feeling so good then you got to walk it out that's why we had the freedom group on wednesday night that's why we have parenting through the faces on wednesday night that's why we have the cultural engagement group right now we're going through the truth project we need to learn we need to be developed we need to grow listen every every every church that i've ever attended they've always said things like this people leave because you know i'm not just not being fed there and i say this a lot we need to learn to feed ourselves of course the pastor going gonna feed you the word he's gonna but you know we have to learn uh to feed ourselves it was so encouraging when she said in the water i'm reading a chapter a day every day i'm getting in the word every day if you haven't started reading your bible start in the book of john john was jesus best friend it's simple it's easy it's very personal it's a great place to start do not start in leviticus or revelation no in fact take their bible away no no no don't don't do that you're not ready for that it's like it's like saying okay i'm glad you came to school we're gonna start with algebra no how many hated algebra in school it was rough i mean wow wow a and b and c what are we doing this is math why we got letters in here what are we doing what is that what is all that you know so let's talk about this seal for just a moment what is the seal well the seal listen most mainline pentecostal denominations and most spirit-filled churches believe the seal is speaking with other tongues as the spirit gives the utterance that's the seal okay i've read two scriptures about that talk about the seal of ownership on us and the deposit okay what is that seal well we believe it's the speaking with other tongues as the spirit gives the utterance luke 11 11 says which of you fathers if your son asks for a fish will give him a snake instead i know you wanted like a playstation but i thought maybe like some of this good uh fertilizer would be really good no man you know in other words a loving father is going to give you the desires of your heart you know which of you fathers if your son asks for a fish will give him a snake instead or if he asks for an egg we'll give you a scorpion if you them though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give the holy spirit to those who ask him and let's just let's take the weirdness out let's take listen i will tell you that that's where that's where the wall comes the wall comes it's like oh man thomas gives the spirit says oh man it sounds like another episode of like supernatural one of those shows on netflix i go i watch three episodes i'm out seriously people are like no i'm out listen i learned as a kid there's a lot of things that happen in pentecostal churches are more about people than it was about the bible and they're good people and they love god man and they were they were sincere as can be but what they were doing wasn't really in here they're good people so don't let that just let the word speak for itself what is the holy spirit supposed to do he's to comfort us the paraclete that's a greek word he's supposed to comfort us he gives us power to serve power to to carry out the mission of jesus christ which is to make disciples of other other people and to reach people for him okay so if you then though are evil as fathers know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give the holy spirit to those who ask him you know it's something visible it's something audible it's something public it can't be secret or it doesn't accomplish its purpose if it's a seal if it's a sign then if it's only to you then it's really not a sign that you're marked if it's this private thing that we're ashamed of you know when people have sex you know what happens something comes out it's called a baby some of you are weird where i was going with that like oh my god really no man just relax it's just you know that's what happens when the holy spirit comes in you something comes out out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks when people have this private experience you know intimacy and they conceived guess what a baby comes out i was trying to explain that to emmett the other night we had a gender reveal for jake and brittany dodge and you know i said you know brittany's got a baby inside of her it's really good she goes i want to see i want to see you can't see it right now you know you can't see the baby and so you know it's it's uh but in other words there's a fruit of intimacy with god when you have intimacy with god the holy spirit something comes out something comes out you know so that just capture that exp that for just a moment four things about the holy spirit outpouring on the day of pentecost that was the seal they had received that was the seal that was referred to in those several scriptures it was the seal that they accepted in others oh they got the holy spirit that's the seal that was referred to they never asked for any other seal how do i know i've been baptized in the holy spirit you can know when you receive the seal of the holy spirit the new testament does not offer us any other seal i don't want to argue about that don't want to fight about that just it is what it is luke said in luke 24 jesus said in luke 24 after the resurrection of jesus they experienced great joy but this was not the seal or baptism of the holy spirit a lot of people think well i felt the joy of the lord that's not the seal you get joy from entering his gate to thanksgiving into his court to the praise i'm gonna make i'm amazed at what happens i've actually begun to uh say say to myself you know whatever saturday was like i'll say you know what tomorrow it's going to be different i'll say to myself how does that happen i'll come into the sanctuary i'll be just worshiping with other people and i would just be filled with joy and excitement and encouragement why because i'm with other people who love him and we're singing songs of worship to god and i'm lifted up does anybody have that experience you know and that's why we keep showing up we're excited but that joy is not the seal that is not the seal okay let me give you a couple examples um well let me just finish luke 24 after the resurrection of jesus they experienced great joy but this was not the seal or baptism in the holy spirit here's verse 52 of luke 24. then they worshiped him and returned to jerusalem with great joy and they stayed continually at the temple praising god now let me give you three examples of uh of of the seal here okay acts chapter 10 verse 44 while peter was still speaking these words the holy spirit came on all who heard the message the circumcised believers who had come with peter were astonished that the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles what you want me to tell me god is going to let these other people in yes and that's the wonderful thing about the gospel the good news of jesus christ he says whosoever will shall call in the name of the lord shall be saved you want to solve the racism problem in america any other country you just everybody comes level at the foot of the cross and says jesus is our savior and my lord and you know what you're now my brother and sister all those walls fall down even gender walls fall down ethnicity walls fell down and we are one in jesus christ and when one says that you're a follower of christ i don't care what color they are black white asian latino and a mixture you are my brother you are my sister and we stand together as one family can i get an amen there today praise god amen so they were astonished that the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles non-jews for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising god they knew the holy spirit had been poured out because they heard him speaking in tongues when they heard these gentiles believers speak in tongues they were convinced they had been baptized in the holy spirit there was no other evidence mentioned of the holy spirit what about the truth what about the fruit of the spirit well here's the deal fruit takes time to grow a gift is immediate so well i thought you know the sign of the holy spirit i got fruit you know these people got it right away no you didn't get fruit that quick takes you a while how many walk different talk different live different before you became a christian let me see your hand how many just came out the womb you were just good all the time liar liar life you raise your hand yo seriously now i'm having a little fun with it but you know that's the change that happens as there's a transformation that happens with this within us all right the difference between an orange tree and a christmas tree a christmas tree you open up a gift immediately there it is god gave it to us an honest treat you know you got to put the seed in you got water it takes years how long does it take for an artistry to go a long time how how long is it how long did it take you how long did it take you to really feel like and you observe that you are more like jesus than you are not like jesus how long did it take you probably years right is that safe to say now some people you know i felt like i made a pretty quick transformation like 80 pretty quick you know the first year or so then after that man that's working on that last 20 man it takes it takes some you know submission to christ fasting and praying being in the word being in bible study being with others serving you know you got to get those those edges rubbed off you learn how to really follow christ and be like him all right so then peter said continuing the scripture surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water they have received the holy spirit just as we have so he ordered that they be baptized in the name of jesus christ this is the one time in the bible these people got the baptism of the holy spirit before they got baptized in water in fact i had if i were to finish my message last week i had seven things you need to do to receive the holy spirit baptism one of them was to receive to be baptized in water i had to change it i thought no like you know no acts chapter 10 it says these people were baptized in water excuse me baptizing the holy spirit before they're baptized in water here's the deal god does what he wants to do and so we you know when you're trying to put god in a box it's not good now that doesn't mean we just make up stuff no we have an example here the one example where they were baptized in the holy spirit before baptizing water most people everybody else got baptized and water first then baptized in the holy spirit but that's what happened there acts 11 15. as i began to speak the holy spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning then i remembered what the lord had said john baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy spirit so peter confirms in this scripture the sign of the seal of the holy spirit is speaking in tongues speaking in tongues is considered strange unorthodox and some have even called it demonic i thought to myself anthony you've done the one you've done the one holy spirit sermon you're you put the check in the box you did the pentecostal thing you're good why preach another message on it it's divisive that was my thought this week my thought was if i preach on the holy spirit in tongues too much people can be like oh man this church is weird i thought they were good to do kids and everything but they're just weird seriously and so that's the tension i felt now i thought okay hold on this isn't my church this is my church i'm not going to just say well you know this i think about 90 of the bible the other 10 we're gonna we're not gonna really we're not going to talk about cousin willie his cousin willie's weird he's going to be coming over for thanksgiving but just he smells he does weird stuff that's why we treat the holy spirit sometimes what is that that's not good if you have experienced the holy spirit you have a personal relationship with him you have interaction with him you felt the comfort of the holy spirit and you felt the power of the holy spirit you're not going to treat him like cousin willie at thanksgiving you're gonna say hold on just a second this is what jesus said terry in jerusalem until you're close with powerful one high we're not gonna be ashamed of it we're gonna say this is this is the joy of our relationship with god you're going through a tough time right now mona how many are how many have some roots in louisiana right now how many have roots some roots all right louisiana i know a number of people i've talked to four or five people in the last couple weeks they're from louisiana i'm telling you right now this week they have been heavy-hearted when they saw that storm coming i guarantee you there's tons of people praying in the holy spirit right now they're praying in tongues and they're not worried about the theology of it they're thankful that they can say holy spirit pray for me in fact they don't even have to say anything they just sense his presence and they begin to pray unto the tongues as the holy spirit gives the utterance and they feel the comfort of god within them they're not worried about some five-point sermon on tongues they know he's real and they've experienced them in his heart can i get an amen here today all right praise god all right this experience of the immersion of the holy spirit is a stumbling block for many american christians we think we should be dignified and this experience doesn't fit the biblical picture is different we need to be free to express what god is doing in us like what they did in the new testament they cried they danced they groaned they shouted they clapped their hands they sang they got excited and they were enthusiastic when you come to church you shouldn't change who you are you don't compartmentalize if you're a joyful person yeah you don't come to church god is serious he's not happy and we must be quiet that's weird really so who gave me those emotions to go nuts when the lightning won who gave me those emotions went nuts when you know the bucks won you know who gave those emotions with the raised one it is we got tampa bay here it is great champa champa bay hallelujah we got great sports all that emotion so god wants you to bring it all he wants you the empirically the the confident then the power the dunamis para dunamis those two greek words describe the holy spirit i'm out of time but here's the deal there is no substitute for enthusiasm if you want other people to believe what you believe one of the best ways is to be enthusiastic if you look at the root the origination of that word it's in theos god in you when you're enthusiastic you have god in you let's forget the theology when you really are filled with god the holy spirit there's something that's going to come out of you and for me it's prophecy it's tongues it's deserting of spirits it's working of miracles it's all kinds of things it's the gifts of the godhead it's a gifts of god gifts to the son gets to the holy spirit and i preached that message last year you can catch it on youtube the bottom line is when you get him stuff comes out and i'm tired of the church trying to do supernatural things in a natural way we cannot deliver the power of the gospel unless we're empowered by the holy spirit and we need him we need to seek him we need to be afraid of him we need to celebrate him and we need to walk with him let's stand together and close this service today i'm so glad you came today i i i didn't get everywhere i wanted to go but hey what's new i'll slide in another point there are two ways the holy spirit is experienced it comes down from heaven and we saw that acts chapter 2 on the day of pentecost and in cornelius house it just came down from heaven as people were seeking him the other way that the holy spirit arrives in people's lives is the laying on of hands that's why for example we had 65 ladies here yesterday and a wonderful women's breakfast that's going to happen every month i was so excited about that i just felt the presence of god and amen let's give god praise to what's going on amongst the ladies in this church you know what was happening they were doing what the bible said they were laying hands on each other and there is an impartation of the holy spirit are you hearing me it's kind of like spiritual osmosis where a greater concentration of the holy spirit goes to a lesser concentration of the holy spirit until you reach equilibrium thank god i paid attention to school that day i was actually a very good student i remember a lot of stuff but here's the deal we need to have understand there's a laying on of hands when you need more of god that's why at the closest service i know it's late but everybody's going to go but if you want to come our prayer team is coming right now all right in fact i want to make sure all of our elders are coming all of our prayer team just come and i want you to lay hands on people if you want the baptism the holy spirit just throw your hands in the air and say fill me lord and just say lord i want all of you i want that comfort and i want that power i want the paraclete i want the dunamis i want it all does anybody want all that god has for you or you just want no i don't want i don't want the whole deal god i just want like i want you to wa i want you to dial it down i want you to give you like just a little bit because i can't hit all or do you want all that god has for you amen let's throw our hands in there and just read after me this prayer we close this service say dear god i want all that you have i want to be baptized i want to be immersed in your holy spirit i need you i want you i need that comfort and i need that power i open my heart to you holy spirit in jesus name amen let's give him a clap off and praise hallelujah amen like pastor said every single week we want to be able to partner with you in prayer so you will see our prayer team has come forth at any time you're welcome to come up and get prayer if today was your first time we just want to welcome you we believe you chose an amazing place to come and worship today because jesus is here amen wherever jesus is everything changes so i'm excited to be in his presence every single day every single sunday and so we just want to welcome you if it's your first time you can reach in front of you there's an orange card that reads connect fill that out bring it out to the orange tent as you exit they have a gift for you and you can also fill that out by hovering over the qr code in front of you can do it digitally we are so glad that you joined us let's give our first time guest a round of applause [Music] we are so excited that we've had the privilege this month to start doing weekly baptisms how crazy and amazing is that so with doing baptisms we want to be responsible with what we're doing and if you want to be a part of helping disciple people who have been baptized or who are beginning their journey with christ you can see pastor kirk out at the orange connect tent as you exit i believe that's all we have for you this morning so we hope that you have a wonderful week [Music] coming after me

Channel: Abundant Life Ministries

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Id: yfCN7ltjVGM

Length: 89min 17sec (5357 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021