LED - Week 2: Power to the People
Tim Ross | January 9, 2022
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Transcription
I want to jump right into this message. We started a series called LED. The entire message in the series is about being led by the Holy Spirit. Last week, we talked about promise to the people and the fact that the person of the Holy Spirit was promised to us by Jesus to live on the inside of us so He can guide us through our lives. Today, I want to take that further. I'm giving you the title upfront because I want you to write this down. The reason why we write this down is why?
Because nerds rule the world. I just want to make sure I still have my people here, okay? All the people that are taking notes, we'd write things down because nerds rule the world. I want to give you the title of it first because once I start, I got a lot of ground to cover. I'm reading about three-and-a-half chapters of the Bible in this message and you are going to deal with that, okay?
As I was preparing for this message, I felt like the Holy Spirit let me know that, "Tim, you're going to be able to show them better than you can tell them what I mean by what I want to say through these points." If you're taking notes on this message, this is the second message in the LED series. The title of it is Power to the People. Now, if you're of a certain age, John Lennon might come up to you in your mind when you think about power to the people.
If you're of a different age in this room, Chuck D might come up to you when you think about power to the people. I want to talk to you about the person of the Holy Spirit and the power He gives His church, the power that He gives believers in His church. The reason why I feel like it's important to cover this is because I personally grew up in churches that were Pentecostal and charismatic in their expression and in their theological framework.
Power was always talked about. "Power. Power, Lord. Holy Ghost, power. Whoa, there's the power. The fire of the Lord. Power." They talked about this power, ran around the church around this power, jumped up and down with this power, sang about this power, and walked out without it. It was evident in the way they talked, in the way they lived, in the way they acted, in the way that they behaved.
I'm not saying everybody, but everybody jumping about that power on Sunday was not living with that power on Monday. They weren't living with that power on Sunday afternoon. I want to calibrate what this power is for because we could be talking about it. If we don't have context to it, we can't use it in our life. Understand that everything that you receive in teaching, you cannot really do and walk out if you don't have context to it, okay?
Most people have a really bad context on the Bible and they get frustrated with God thinking that, "Well, I'm doing what you said to do, but if you do it out of context, it will not work for you." I'll give you one case in point. "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me." No, you can't. "Well, the devil is a liar, Tim. Yes, I can. The scripture says it right there." If you have it out of context, it won't work for you. If you don't believe me, when this church dismisses, fly home.
You can do all things, right? Don't get in the car. Don't reach for your keys. Walk straight out this door and "da-dada-da" see if you can get seven seconds of hang time. If you can, I will back down on what I've said. If you have it out of context, it cannot work for you. I want to give you the power in its context so it can work for us on a day-to-day basis. Y'all ready for it? All right. The Book of Acts 1, starting at the sixth verse. The Book of Acts 1, starting at the sixth verse. Again, part two of Power to the People. Here we go.
Here's what Luke writes, "So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept on asking Him, 'Lord, has the time come for You to free Israel and restore our kingdom?' He replied," this is Jesus, "The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times and they are not for you to know." Can I just stop and say this should free about 100 people, that you are not going to know everything on this side of heaven? A lot of questions that you want answered by God, a lot of questions you're demanding the revelation to, you will not find out until you are with Him face to face.
It would behoove you to have a little bit of peace about the season that you're in right now, understanding that you will not get all your questions answered and you're not the first disciple of Jesus to be in this situation. They were too. Here's what Jesus says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." You will receive what?
Power.
"Power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses." "You will be my witnesses." Only have two points to this message. Here's the first one and then we're just going to cover a lot of ground. Is that all right? Because I can show you better than I can tell you. Point number one. Oh, no. You know what? I'm too excited. I'm too excited. Calm down, Tim. Calm down, Tim. Calm down, Tim. Thank you. Calm down. You got time, Tim. Calm down. We don't have a one o'clock service, Tim. Calm down.
We don't get through this, Tim, calm down. Let me give you the Greek word for power. It is "dunamis." It's the word "dunamis." I want to give you all of these different adjectives for this one word so that you can understand how much context is available to you when we hear the word "power." See, we live in a Marvel movie, DC movie, hate them, generation.
DC movies are trash in Jesus' name.
They're just trash. When we think about power, we think superhuman engineering and we think leaping over a tall building in a single bound. We think Infinity Gauntlet and six Infinity Stones. We think purple great Thanos. We think all this stuff, but I want you to understand that the Holy Spirit's power is not supposed to be mystical. It's supposed to be used in a very practical way.
This word, "dunamis," literally means power, might, strength, force, capability, ability, deed of power. Now, I love deed of power because deed of power speaks to transfer. You understand that we were transferred this power because of Jesus's death. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four gospels, are actually part of the Old Testament. Even though we call it the New Testament, it's actually part of the Old Testament.
The reason why it's a part of the Old Testament is because Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and the promises that Jesus gave in those testaments could not come to pass until the testator died. If you take out a will on yourself for $5 million, your family cannot benefit from that will until you die. While you are alive, it's something they'll get. When you die, it will be transferred to them. Now, if you happen to rise from the dead after three days, y'all just rich.
Right? The deed has been transferred, which means everybody has access to it. This deed of power happens, this happens in this world as well. Miracle, wonder, I love this word, "resource." Power, it gives you meaning. There's an outward power. There's influence. There is authority. Force of war, I love that one. That feels good to me, force of war. Lastly, personal supernatural spirit.
When you think about having the power of the Holy Spirit, what do you need it for today? Do you need it to make you capable to do something? Do you need His power so you will have the ability to do something? Do you need to be reminded that there's been a deed of power transfer to you so that you don't have to wait on Sundays to access it? Do you understand that you have this power available to you today?
I want to talk to you about two points as it relates to this power and these two points are the very substratum, the very foundation of why this power was given in the first place. Point number one, please write this down. The first reason why the Holy Spirit's power was given was so that we could have boldness. The very first reason why the power was given is so that we would have boldness to preach and to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead.
It takes boldness to do that. You may need a lot of boldness or feel that you need a lot of boldness to say that on a Sunday morning surrounded by other believers who agree with the statement. When you walk out of these doors and have to live this out amongst people that have different religious mindsets, who are agnostics, who are atheists, who never want to hear the name of Jesus uttered, don't agree with any of the teachings of Jesus, and you still going to say it anyway, you're not going to do that because you just feel like it. It's going to take the boldness of the Holy Spirit's power enabling you to do something like that.
I want to start with Acts 2:1 because this is the very genesis of seeing God's power through the Holy Spirit at work through ordinary men and women like you and I. "On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them, and everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability."
Let me pause right there. They were speaking in other languages, but this wasn't a heavenly language. This was not a prayer language. This was another known language that they started speaking with complete fluency because the Holy Spirit gave them the power. Let's just say the Holy Spirit hit us all right now and this section started speaking perfect Spanish, "Gloria a Dios."
They just started speaking perfect Spanish. You can look at this section right now and tell that unless some of y'all are Dominican or some dark-skinned Cubans, you all should not know perfect Spanish with perfect diction, right? That would be the power of the Holy Spirit. Then let's say the power fell on this section right here and they started speaking perfect Mandarin Chinese, "Ni hao."
Looking in this section, you will go, "You know what? I think something other than you is helping you speak for you." Let's say this section started speaking perfect German, "Gesundheit."
Looking at this session, you will go, "I mean, they 23 in me may have had 11% German." I know they grew up in America, so I don't think they could just speak fluent German like that, right? Then let's just say this section started speaking complete fluent-- I'm talking like syntax, structure, everything Dutch. That would be amazing, right? Would we not think the Holy Spirit is at work? Then will we not say to ourselves, will we not get a clue that I think maybe God wants everybody to hear this? Because I know I don't speak this language, but yet I'm speaking this language, which means he must want somebody in this language to know the same thing I just found out.
"Everybody present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time, there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers." This would happen even today.
I have a friend of mine who was a missionary to Brazil. He was born in Boston. He's a Bostonian, born and raised, Black dude from the inner city of Boston, okay? I'm talking Boston, New-kids-on-the-block Boston, okay? He feels a call to go do a missions trip in Brazil. He goes to Brazil. He stepped off the plane. The moment his feet hit the soil, he's hearing the Brazilians talking Portuguese and he can understand them. He's never taken one class of Portuguese in his life, but he's listening.
He's like, "Oh, they know English," but then he's like, "They're not speaking English, but I can hear in my head what they're saying. What?" He starts talking to some people. As he starts talking, they're nodding their heads like, "Yes, yes, yes." He's thinking he's talking English and then he slows down and he's like, "Wait a minute. I'm sorry. What?" They're like, "What?" Then he's like, "You understood me?" "Yes, yes, yes, you have very good Portuguese." He's been a missionary to that country ever since. God gave him the language. Now, I've just been begging for Spanish.
I still got to read my grammar book. I'm trying to have a conversation with any Spanish-speaking person that will at least give me five minutes of their time so I can break my way through this beautiful language I'm trying to learn. I've asked the Lord every day, "Will you please, sir?"
It's as the Holy Spirit chose to do that that they got that. "They were all completely amazed. 'How can this be?' they exclaimed. 'These people were all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages.'" I love this because they know by their location, there's no way that they could know that language. It'd be like somebody saying, "Man, we know all these people is from DeSoto."
"We know all these jokers live around Carrollton and Irving. How are they speaking our language? This is absolutely amazing." "Here we are, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans, and Arabs, and we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done. They stood there amazed and perplexed. 'What could this mean?' they asked each other, but others in the crowd ridiculed them saying, 'They're just drunk. That's all.'" Can I pause? Have you ever heard a drunk person talk?
Have you ever in the history of ever heard somebody that was completely faded, opening their mouth and talk good English, let alone a completely different-- Have you ever heard anybody take 12 shots of anything and open their mouth and start speaking fluent French? Just, "Bow, bow, bow, bow. Ha, ha, oui, oui."
"It's a wonderful day. Merci beaucoup," right? That would never happen. This goes to show that no matter how powerful the Holy Spirit moves, there will always be a cynic who doesn't believe in it. I hope this releases everybody in the room from trying to convince people that God is real because you'll never convince them.
If you could debate them into a relationship with God, somebody else can debate them out into a relationship with something else or someone else, right? "Then Peter stepped forward with the 11 other apostles and shouted to the crowd, 'Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem. Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk as some of you are assuming. Nine o'clock in the morning is much too early for that."
I just love the plainness of this. "No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel. 'In the last days,' God said, 'I will pour My Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. In those days, I will pour out My Spirit even on my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy. I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives, but everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"
"People of Israel, listen. God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through Him as you well know, but God knew what would happen and His prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed Him to a cross and killed Him." Peter, you out here, bro. This is your first sermon? Are you calling people murderers? You bold.
"But God released Him from the horrors of death and raised Him back to life for death could not keep Him in its grip. King David said this about him. 'I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken for He is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad and my tongue shouts His praises. My body rests in hope.' For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. You have shown me the way of life and you will fill me with the joy of your presence."
"Dear brothers and sisters, think about this. You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn't referring to himself for he died and was buried and his tomb is still here among us, but he was a prophet and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on his throne. David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah's resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave. God raised Jesus from the dead and we are all witnesses of this."
Now, let me pause right there and say, "Well, Tim, yes, I understand that they would say it because they actually saw Jesus, but what about me? How can I be a witness when I didn't even see Jesus get up?" The answer is very easy. The one who got him up lives on the inside of you, so you actually have a better witness than Peter does because the person that's on the inside of you tells you, "I got him up. Same way I got you up, I got him up. Same way I'm delivering you. That's how I got him up. The same power you used me for to live out your life is the same power that was used to raise up his life." Be my witness because I'm the one that got him up and I live on the inside of you.
I'm testifying through you that Jesus is Lord and God raised Him from the dead. "Now, He is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand. The Father, as He promised, gave Him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us just as you see in here today. For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet He said, 'The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool underneath your feet.'"
"Let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified,” he ain't going to let you forget that, "to be both Lord and Messiah. Peter's words pierced their hearts and they said to him and to the other apostles, 'Brothers, what should we do?' Peter replied, 'Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,'" just like we did.
"This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away, all who have been called by the Lord our God. Then Peter continued preaching for a long time--" Can I just stop? I just read you a lot of what Peter said. After Peter said all of that, then he preached a long time. If you ever want to know when the first revival started of long-winded preaching, you can thank Peter. "Then Peter continued preaching a long time, strongly urging all of his listeners, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.'"
That sentence right there needs to be said in every decade until God's return because every generation is crooked. No one's had it better than the other. I hear so many of my older seasoned believers say, "Oh, I wish we could go back to the good, old days." Your days weren't good. You just didn't have social media. That silent generation has so many secrets. Y'all had so many secret families and brothers and sisters that live four blocks away. They had the luxury of convenience. You would never go find your daddy's side chick.
I have no idea why that came out of my mouth.
I just wrecked somebody's whole family tree for no reason. Why did I do that just now? Oh, well, must be the spirit. Anyway--
I have no idea what's going on. Okay, those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day, about 3,000 in all." Can you imagine? Peter's first sermon, 3,000 people gave their life to Jesus. The Holy Spirit falls, Peter with boldness comes out and says, "Let me give you context of what's going on here," and 3,000 people having their hearts pierced gave their life to Jesus.
Now, how do I want to say this? I can't say "reclaim." I want to remind everybody that Acts 2 is about Jewish people receiving the promise from their Jewish Messiah being filled with the Holy Spirit, a promise that was given, starting with Abram, the first Jewish man, crescendoed with Jesus, a Jewish man, then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happening to Jewish people because the gospel is first to the Jew and then the Gentile.
We are Gentiles. How do I not become a Gentile? By not being a Jew. Now, here's the reason why it's important for me to say this because Gentiles have hijacked Jewish narrative and tried to preach it and teach it as if it was their own. Acts 2 has nothing to do with Gentiles. In the Pentecostal churches I grew up in and they go to Acts 2, "We're going to have a revival. Bless God. We're going to have a revival. Come on. We're going to talk about the Holy Ghost. Go to Acts 2."
It's like, "That's not even about you. That's about Jewish people." We're engrafted into that story, but we have to give Jewish people their Bible back and realize that we are the ones that were edited into it, not the other way around. Western Christianity would make you think that Jesus belongs to us because we just picked up the Bible. The Bible wasn't even written to you. You got in it because you believe what Abraham did, not the other way round.
I just wanted to put that out there so that we don't walk around with our heads up arrogantly as if the original promise was to us. "Peter and John," Act 3:1, "went to the temple one afternoon to take part in the three o'clock prayer service. As they approached the temple, a lame man from birth was being carried in. Each day, he was put beside the temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the temple."
"When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money. Peter and John looked at him intently and Peter said, 'Look at us.' The layman looked up eagerly at them expecting some money, but Peter said, 'I don't have any silver or gold for you, but I'll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,'" called him by his name and his address, "'get up and walk.'"
He jumped up, stood to his feet, and began-- Oh, "Then Peter took the lame man--" I'm always skipping a verse. "Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man's feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. Then walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the temple with them. All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God. When they realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the Beautiful Gate, they were absolutely astounded."
"They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon's colonnade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John. Peter saw his opportunity--" Can I pause? A miracle happened and Peter saw an opportunity. He saw an opportunity to access the power of the Holy Spirit to be bold enough to preach about Jesus. He didn't see an opportunity to hold a revival and call himself a miracle worker. Any miracle done is an opportunity to talk about the one who did it. Any miracles done that talk about the guy who was used, that's idle worship. That's placing the wrong and fastest on the wrong syllable.
10 people got it.
The wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable? Okay.
"Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. 'People of Israel,' he said, "'what is so surprising about this?'" I love that Peter was like, "This is normal." "'Why stare at us though as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all of our ancestors who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate."
This man is not going to let up. Now, this is the reason why I'm showing you this. This is why I wanted to read it to you. This is the same man that denied Jesus to a little girl. This same man that cussed out a little girl for asking, "Haven't you been with--" "No." Came back in here, "You sure look like--" "No."
Third time, "Are you sure?" Listen, [Morse code sound] gave her that good, old Morse code, and another thing. [long Morse code sound]
Now, if you don't get your [long Morse code sound], that same guy without the Holy Spirit would cuss you out. That same guy, this same guy without the Holy Spirit, without the Holy Spirit's power, without the Holy Spirit's boldness, wouldn't even follow up with you. If you said, "Didn't you use to be a--" "No, I don't know who you're talking about. It's a guy that look like me. I'm Simon." Go back to his old name. "I'm Simon."
"You're thinking of Peter. I don't even-- That's some rock dude. That ain't even me. I'm Simon. I'm a flake." "This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate despite Pilate's decision to release Him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead and we are witnesses of this fact." Talk, Peter. "Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus' name has healed him before your very eyes. Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance."
I ain't even mad at you. You see, I ain't got no attitude because my boy got up. "But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah that He must suffer these things. Now, repent of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord and He will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For He must remain in heaven until the time of the final restoration of all things as God promised long ago through His holy prophets."
"Moses said," you still talking, Peter? "'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything He tells you.' Then Moses said, 'Anyone who will not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from God's people.' Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today. You are children of those prophets and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, 'Through your descendants, all the families,'" that's how us Gentiles get in, "'on earth will be blessed.'"
"When God raised up His servant, Jesus, He sent Him first to you, people of Israel," to the Jew first, then to the Gentile, "to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways." Do you see this boldness in action? Good. Let's keep going. 4:1, "While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and some of the Sadducees."
"These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that, through Jesus, there is a resurrection of the dead. They arrested them. Since it was already evening, put them in jail and--" "They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning." These guys are literally in jail for doing a miracle. "But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believe now totaled about 5,000."
2,000 more people gave their life to Jesus after they saw this miracle. 3,000 gave just from the preach word. 2,000 needed a miracle and they were like, "Okay, I'm in." The next day, the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem. Annas, the high priest, was there along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the other relatives of the high priest.
Just so you guys know, those names that I just mentioned are the ones that collaborated to have Jesus killed, okay? "They brought in the two disciples and demanded, 'By what power and in whose name have you done this?' Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we've done a good deed for a crippled man?'" Can you hear the swag?
Do you see the sauce? This dude has the shame.
Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified. Yo, Peter has no chill. This the type of dude that will never let you forget that you owe him money. It'd be 4 years later, "Hey man, you still owe me $3 from high school." The man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the scriptures where it says the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else. God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. For they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures.
Can I pause? This is shade if you ever saw it. Luke, this was shady. They could see that these dudes were basic. They could see that these dudes were regular degular. They could see that these guys were not impressive at all, but the next sentence qualifies everything. They also recognize them as men who have been with Jesus. Oh. Can I tell you that you don't need a doctorate in theology to profess that Jesus Christ is Lord? Can I tell you that Jesus is his own university?
That by following Him, you wind up credentialed by Him, authorized by Him, given authority by Him, given power by Him, given an anointing by Him. Jesus is the only man you could ever follow and wind up with credentials. That He would literally give you his name to use when you get in trouble. Next time you get in a fight, please don't open your mouth and say who you are. Who am I supposed to say? Mention my name. See what happens. All authority has been given to me, not you, so I let you use it because you chose to follow me. We see that these men are ordinary with no special training, but they have been with Jesus, and Jesus' university is a pretty special place.
Since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say. They ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves, "What should we do with these men?" They asked each other, "We can't deny that they have performed a miraculous sign and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it, but to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus' name ever again
They called the …”Yes, yes, that sounds good. You good with that?" "I'm good with that."
"Alexander, you good with that?" "Man, I'm straight, I'm down." "Get them back in here. Let's get them back. We got this. We have deliberated. We are good. Let's get them back in here and tell them right now.” They called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. Peter and John replied, "Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? The sauce? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard."
The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn't know how to punish them without starting a riot, for everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign. The healing of a man who had been lame for more than 40 years. They wanted them to stop doing the miracle based on the power that God gave them to be bold, but couldn't prosecute them to the fullest extent of their law because the people would've got mad and said, "Why you hate on these people for healing the man that has been lame for 40 years?" As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priest and elders had done.
Could you imagine this? Spent a night in jail, get roughed up by… Alexander, all the dudes that put the hit on Jesus and your boys get out and run back to the house with the other apostles. Yo. Yo. "Hey, man, you all didn't come back last night." "I know son, yo, check it. We got arrested last night. What did you all do?" "We went to a prayer--" "You went to a prayer service and got arrested?" "Bro, this is lame dude right in there shaking, and so I tapped my pockets. John tapped his pockets. We ain't have no money. I was like, 'Man, I ain't got no silver. I ain't got no gold, but that what I do have, I'll give you in the name of Jesus, get up and walk.'"
"Then, I stretched out my right hand, the dude grabbed it, and then his ankle bones received strength. As soon as I touched him, the boy jumped up, started leaping. We went in and all the religious people got mad." Because religious people are the only people that get mad when you disrupt something that doesn't go according to their program."
They came back and told them the whole story. When the homies heard the report-- I'm sorry. That's not what that says.
When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God, "Oh, Sovereign Lord, creator of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. You spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit, through our Ancestor David, your servant saying, 'Why are the nation so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?' The Kings of the earth prepared for battle. The rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah."
"In fact, this has happened here in this very city for Harris Ant Pest, punches, pilot, the governor, and the people of Israel were all United against Jesus. Your holy servant, whom you anointed, but everything they did was determined beforehand, according to your will and now, oh, Lord, hear their threats and give us your servants great-" what?
Bonus.
Louder?
Bonus.
Louder?
Bonus.
"Give us great bonus in preaching your word, stretch out your hand with healing power, may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus." After praying this prayer, the meeting place shook and they were all what?
Wait a minute. They were all what?
They were all filled with the-- Wait a minute. They were all what?
I thought they got filled after chapter number two. Chapter number four. They got filled again? Have you ever been to a restaurant that will give you unlimited refills? Do you know how the refills work? Anybody know how refills work? Don't you have to consume what you got? I'm talking slurping up the bottle. Doesn't it have to be all gone and then they come back and go, "Oh, looks like you need a refill?" It's always you win the lottery if you get a chipper waitress or a chipper waiter, they're like, "Hey man, Well, look at that."
"Right back at you, buddy." "Hey man, anything you guys need, I'm here." You get access to refills when you consume what you got. They had just been filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time ever two chapters before. I don't know how that breaks down in hours or days or weeks, but suffice it to say it wasn't a long time before they needed a refill. Why? They had used what they had been given. I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, that many believers have never had access to a refill because your cup's still full.
You sip instead of gulp. You don't expend it. You're not looking for opportunities to be bold with the witness that he gave you, and so every time the waiter comes by like Holy Spirit comes by like, "Hey, maybe you're not thirsty. You read your Bible once a week. I can't even give you a refill. You didn't use the last revelation I gave you. Why would I show you something new? You don't need a refill on nothing because you haven't used what I've given you." "Oh, I want to experience your power, and I want to see a miracle." Let the first miracle be what I do in your life. "We want to see revival," you get up.
Yes. This is what this is about. This Isn't about a Chill Bump in here for you to go cold out there. This is a crooked generation. If you don't have the power of the Holy Spirit to declare Jesus Lord, the same perverse world that you want to see saved, you walked by all week and didn't even utter a word to them. The people at your job know you're nice, they don't know you're saved. You won't even give them the location of why your spirit is so different. They just think you're a sweet personality not knowing that you used to be the most evil person on the planet.
You won't even share the backstory because, "They have a different belief or a different lifestyle and I just don't want to come off as that preachy." Will you shut up? Boldness means you're like, "You know what? I love you more than the current position you're in. I'm not responsible for saving you. I'm responsible for telling you." All Peter did was preach it. "You did it. You sure did kill him. Jesus of Nazareth's name and address," and their hearts were pierced. Not because of what Peter said but because of what the Holy Spirit did based on what Peter said. He needed somebody to go out there and say something, and then they were like, "Oh."
After this prayer, the meeting place shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then, they preached the word of God with bonus. I had read all that to let you know that the Holy Spirit's power is to give you boldness to declare that Jesus is Lord, not just in church, but anywhere. The transformative power of Jesus is meant to be preached to the utmost parts of the earth. Point number 2, please write this down. Then, we're going to wrap up. All that was just the first point. Number 1 is boldness. Number 2 is power. The Holy Spirit's power was given for you to have power. I know that sounds redundant, but you need to understand this. The Holy Spirit's power was given for you to have power.
Let me set this up for you. First Corinthians 2, starting at the first verse. Here's what Paul says, "When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn't use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God's secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness, timid and trembling, and my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom, but in the power of God." Wait a minute, Paul, you are outside of Jesus, the most influential figure in the New Testament.
13 epistles written by him. Some of the most incredibly clear theologic perspectives given by him. Here's what Paul said, "I know that God gave me an incredible power. Here's how I decided to display it to you." Very plainly. "I just decided to roll up on you and be like, 'Hey man, let me tell you about Jesus. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that he is Lord, then you will be saved.' Then, I got some other things and visions that God showed me. I just want to share them with you so that you could have your heart open for transformative power." He did it very, very plainly because here's what Paul knew, and his is something that I've applied to my own life in ministry.
The way you get him is the way you get to keep him. When we planted Embassy city six years ago, I made it a point. It's not going to grow off slick marketing, it's not going to grow off of hype, it's not going to grow because every weekend I'm about to say the most revelatory, "Don't miss next week, it's going to be the most everything you've ever heard," might not be. Don't set me up for failure. Every week is about to be the most epic-- Man, "Hey, next week's going to be life-changing." Really? More life-changing than receiving Jesus? I'm a literalist. I can't even say something like that. That don't rven make sense. The most life-changing thing that could ever happen to you is receiving Jesus.
Getting teaching every weekend keeps you informed of how Jesus sees you and wants to use you. I don't have a message that's going to change your life more than Jesus Himself, that's hubris, so I came to you plain. Doing this over six years, I've gotten even plainer. Two years ago I decided, you know what? This is not a fashion show. I'm just going to wear the same outfit once a month because that way I don't have to worry about what I'm going to wear and you won't be preoccupied with what I have on. This is not about, "Yo, did you see his shoes though?" You missed point 3 looking at my shoes? That's malpractice, I don't even want to do this no more because that's not what I'm here for.
I wasn't here for you to see the blazer. I was here for you to see Him. The plainer I get, the more effective the Holy Spirit has an opportunity to work. The more I get out of the way, the more He gets up in the way because He's the one that does everything. I'm just a vessel and that's the reason why I know some of you are like, "Oh my goodness, sometimes we don't know when He's here and when He's not here," because if you ever fall in love with me that means if I disappoint you, you'll stop listening to anybody. I don't plan on disappointed anybody. God, my wife, my kids, nobody, but you all not going to make this about me. I preach when I'm here and when I'm not here, I don't preach.
Either you came to get a word from the Lord or you just came to get a word from me. If it was only based on me, then your priorities is in the wrong spot. You're still in kindergarten, I'm trying to get you at least to high school, so there.
Paul said, "I'm going to be plain. I'm going to talk plain. I'm going to preach plain." He preaches sermons so long, a guy fell asleep and fell out the window and broke his neck. You know what Paul did? That dude, his neck snapped it, died. Everybody was like, "[screams]." Paul was like, "And then the Lord-- Get up. In Jesus' name get up," and that boy got up. I've never done that in my life, but I see it and I would imagine if your neck broke, it would have to pop back, I don't know. It's a miracle, I don't know. That dude got up so anyway, went right back to preaching because he wasn't going to make it about hype. He didn't do a revival for the next seven weeks because that boy got up.
"I raised the dead, hand out the business cards. I'm a big deal." He knows who did it, that's why he didn't talk about it no more because it was a moment that he didn't make a monument. Any moment you turn into a monument becomes a idol that you'll worship for the rest of your life.
One more, let's go, one more. Let me set this up for you because before you even put it on the screen I got to set it up for you. That way when I read these first four words, you will have a sense of what was going on. Now we're going to 1 Corinthians 4, and in 1 Corinthians 4, Paul has just finished an argument in chapter number three, where he's trying to tell people, "Will you please grow up? Some of you all like Apollo. Some of you all talking about you with me, but we're all Christ' servants."
"God's just using us all to do something for His glory. Don't get caught up with the messenger, fall in love with the message." You might like somebody's delivery style, I'm not saying that. I like some people's delivery style more than others, but as long as they're teaching the truth, I can get it. I'm mature enough to just say, "Let me just get that message." I might not like your delivery eat that much, but if Uber Eats blows up, I will use DoorDash. I just want my food, I don't care who delivers it. I would rather it be Uber Eats, but if it's DoorDash, I'm cool and if something happens to DoorDash, I guess I'll use GrubHub. All I know is I'm not leaving my house.
That's the revelation we all need to get. Paul was talking pretty stern to the Corinthians and because he was tied up in Ephesus doing some missionary work there, he sent Timothy to Corinth as his representative. Well, when Timothy gets to Corinth, the people started talking reckless to Timothy about Paul. They were like, "Yes, Paul sent you Timothy because he was scared to face us himself. All that big talk in his letters, but he ain't here. I see he sent you instead of coming himself." Now let's read 1 Corinthians 4:19, "But I will come. Don't think I didn't hear you. I will come and soon." See, that's just gangster right there.
"If the Lord lets me, and then I'll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God's power, for the kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk. It is living by God's power." You know why the Holy Spirit empowers you? He empowers you to be bold enough to be his witness, and He empowers you to live right. I can't tell you how many churches I've been in growing up where people ran around for hours talking about the power of the Holy Spirit and couldn't stop gossiping, couldn't stop lying, couldn't stop sleeping around. For all of that talk, they would not embrace His power because most-- Oh yes, I guess I'll say it.
Most charismatic people, most Pentecostal people love God's presents more than His power. Now, let me give you a good spelling check here. Not P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E, P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S, they like them gifts. You'll see a gifted person,wWord of knowledge, word of wisdom, prophetic, healing, discernment, whatever the gifting is, gift of leadership, gift of administration, gift of giving, and will fall in love with the present that was given to them, but they don't fall in love with the power that's available to them. Everybody's running around with a present, "Look at the present I got, whoa, my present," but that's not the power. If you deny the power for the presents, the presents is what He gives you to help other people.
The power is what He gives you to help yourself. There's no way I could overcome a porn addiction without the power of God. The gifting, the present he gave me to communicate does absolutely nothing with my temptation to porn. The power available to me helps me overcome porn. The power available to me help me to overcome the trauma of being molested when I was eight years old, sexually abused at eight years old. That doesn't happen because I preach good. That happens because on the days where it's darkest for me, where I'm the most triggered and the most dramatically scarred, the Holy Spirit says, "I'm here if you need me."
I'm trying to help you use this power for that father wound you have. I'm trying to help you use this power for that anger issue that you have. I'm trying to help you use this power for that self-consciousness that you walk around with, that low self-esteem that you have. The Holy Spirit will remind you that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
The Holy Spirit will remind you that God made you as a masterpiece according to Ephesians 2:10. The Holy Spirit will remind you that you've been empowered to overcome all the things the enemy brought into your life to try to kill you, but that won't happen because you're gifted. That only happens if you tap into the power. [sighs] All right, I got to stop.
I got to stop. Oh, I've done the best I can do. [chuckles] That's all I can do. I feel this thing so strong, but I know I have to trust God to get it into your heart to turn it over. I can't physically take you and be like, "You going to get this today," so I can just communicate it but I'm telling you this Friday, I think January 14th is this Friday, it will be 26 years that I've been living for Jesus. I've gotten better every year because I keep allowing the Holy Spirit's power to work on me. It's not like, "Oh, because you're a preacher, you're stronger." No, if I was a mechanic, I'd be this strong. I'd be the most anointed mechanic you've ever seen in your life.
If I was a regional call sales manager, I'd be the same person just as a regional call sales manager. It has nothing to do with platform and preaching. No, no, no. All this power is available to every single one of you all. You can be a stay-at-home mom, just as powerful. People calling you on the phone and you just like, "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm," "God said," and you, "Jesus, thank you so much. I just wanted to confirm your Amazon order, but I feel like the Lord spoke." If every single one of us started using the power available to us on a day-to-day basis, we would literally upset people's world in ways we never thought before. Last story I'll tell you then I'll go.
Last night, my friend that I've known since junior high, he's a truck driver, he came through the city and I got a chance to spend time with him. We went out to Cracker Barrel to eat and he celebrated with chicken dumplings and I celebrated with cheese, eggs, turkey, sausage, and hash brown casserole. He had greens and the Pento beans on the side and our waitress was such a bright light that I just felt like, "God, is this an opportunity?" She was so pleasant. She was so open. I said, "Is this an opportunity?" He was like, "Oh yes, this is an opportunity." Then he said, "I want you to give her $200." I was like, "Oh God."
We weren't at Ruth Chris, right? I wasn't thinking high bill. Our ticket was 25 bucks. "You want her to have a $200 tip?" Then, Tyrone's like, "You're giving $200? I want to give her $100. " Sometimes when I tip people, he tells me to tip them when I'm leaving, and then they just get it and I don't even know their reaction. The Lord said, "You need to give her context to why I'm giving her this. I want to show her the value that she has by what you say to her based on this tip." She came back over and I said, "I want to tell you something." This is not just my personality, you all, this is the boldness of the Holy Spirit. I don't know her. She could be Muslim. I don't know.
None of that is my business, witnessing is my business. Do you all hear that?
Yes.
I'm not in your business, but witnessing is my business. He's given me the boldness to do it. I said, "Come here. I said, "What's the biggest tip you've ever received?" She said, "Oh my God, it was last week. Somebody gave me $102." I said, "Ah, yes, you about to get $300, girl." I said, "Here's why, I felt like the Lord told me to tell you that you're just a bright light, your personality. You're so open. You walk with a confidence and I just think God's going to use you." She was like, sShe started crying. She's a beautiful girl and I thought it was over. I'm like, "I've sown my seed." Then Tyrone, he's a really good friend, Tyrone clicked. He said, "I want to tell you something."
He said, "Please don't take this the wrong way." He said, "We know we were supposed to give you the $300." He said," I know men that will convert this $300 into ones and go make it rain." He said, "You're a beautiful woman and I know you don't have to work at Cracker Barrel. You could be on only fans." She was like, "You right." He said, "You come from good stock, and because of the way you've chosen to live your life, God's going to bless you in ways that you never thought." I'm looking at Tyrone like, "Bro, I didn't even know you had that in you dude." We upset that girl's world. We sowed the seed. I didn't invite her to church. I didn't tell her I was a pastor, but she met Jesus last night.
Through two random dudes at Cracker Barrel that are always looking for opportunities to be bold enough to be a witness for Jesus Christ. I'm trying to tell you how basic this can be. It will work in Kroger. It will work in Sprouts. It will work in Walmart isle 11. It will work if you picking up regular dairy milk or oat milk, it will work. Let Him do the work. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? What's the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message? My hope and my prayer, that there was something in this message significant enough that makes you desire the power of the Holy Spirit.
You may have grown up in a church where you saw some outlandish things that were called the Holy Spirit. You may have come from some church hurt where there was some manipulation that took place in the name of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you've watched Christian television and saw some things and you're like, "No, I don't want no parts of that." I'm not talking about none of the expression stuff. I'm not talking about anybody's manipulation. I'm not talking about anybody's control. I'm talking about the person of the Holy Spirit Himself. I'm not talking about who talked about the Holy Spirit, I’m talking about the Holy Spirit, God's spirit.
The triune figure in the Godhead, living in you, giving you the power to do and say what He tells you to do. My hope and my prayer is that this message is the seed that grows the desire for you to have a daily interaction with the power available to you provided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus, I thank you so much for my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters. I thank you for the work that you are doing right here right now. God, would you take this message that I've tried to preach the best way I know how, and would you turn it into power in each and every believer so that we could literally turn the world upside down with the message, love, and hope of Jesus Christ.
