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Open your Bibles with me to the book of Acts chapter 2.
In our continuing series of sermons from strong faith to stained glass.
Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through verse 13.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind.
And it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues as a fire appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
Amazed and astonished they asked, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
And how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language?
Parthians, Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Frigia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome, both Jews and Prosalites, Cretans and Arabs.
In our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.
All were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean?
But others sneered and said they are filled with new wine.
Thank you, you may be seated.
Luke chapter 1 and verse 35 reads, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you and the power of the highest shall overshadow you.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.
The Spirit responsible for the birth of Jesus is also the same Spirit responsible for the birth of the church.
The gift of the Holy Spirit indeed fulfills the prophecy of Luke at chapter 3 and verse 16.
John the Baptist says, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I comeeth, the lachit of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.
He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Moreover, the same Spirit that descended on Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism in the Jordan is the same Spirit that fill the disciples in the upper room.
Brothers and sisters, Bethlehem is God with us.
Calvary is God for us, but Pentecost is God in us.
Acts chapter 2 must be interpreted in the light of Acts chapter 1 verses 4 through verse number 8.
Whether risen Lord instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father and the promise of the Father was the Holy Spirit.
The lesson for believers today is that obedience is a prerequisite for a move of God.
Naaman would never have been cured of his leprosy had he not obeyed.
The walls of Jericho would still be standing this morning had the children of Israel not obeyed.
The 10 lepers in the New Testament would never have been cleansed of their leprosy had they not obeyed.
Obedience is better than sacrifice because all sacrifice does is try to make up for what obedience would have prevented in the first place.
There were three great feasts or three great festivals in Jewish culture.
The Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, or the Feast of Booth, or the Feast of Tabernacles.
The best attended of these three feasts was the Feast of Pentecost or the Feast of First Fruits.
The word Pentecost is found only in the Book of Acts and in the Book of First Corinthians.
Pentecost is the Greek word transliterated for our English word 50 or 5, meaning it is celebrated some seven weeks and one day after the Feast of Passover.
Jesus Christ is the first fruit from the dead because of the resurrection.
He spent 40 days on earth and told the disciples to go in an upper room and wait for the promise of the Father.
40 days after he spent his time here on earth he ascended back to heaven on the 50th day.
On the 50th day, 10 days after his ascension, the Spirit of God came precisely as Jesus came on the day of Pentecost.
To say to the church, just like Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the church, the new age, the dawning of the church is born on the day of Pentecost.
Let me see if I can help us this morning.
The Scripture says they were all with one accord in one place.
What I want us to look at this morning, brothers and sisters, if there will be another Pentecost, and I'm not talking about speaking in tongues or rolling on the floor because the Holy Ghost does not come to make us tongue talkers and holy dancers.
The Holy Ghost comes to make us witnesses for Jesus.
And if we would be the witnesses that Jesus is demanding today, there must first be participation.
They were all with one accord in one place.
The word here is the Greek word homo fumadon, which the King James translates beautifully, I believe, with one accord.
It is a musical term that means every instrument struck the same note.
They were on one accord because every instrument struck the same note.
The choir this morning all look alike.
The greeters all look alike.
Deaconesses all have on white dresses. We who preach and are deacons and trustees have on black suits and white ties.
You have come to church dressed up this morning. All of us look like the body of Christ.
All of us, many of us in our particular respective obligations are in uniform.
But the Holy Ghost does not call us to uniformity.
He calls us to unity.
Because you can be in uniform and never be unified.
You think everybody in the choir, lack everybody in the choir?
You think everybody in the ushering or greeting or everybody in the white dresses and everybody here in this sanctuary this morning?
We don't all have the same educational level. We don't all have the same financial status.
We don't all live in the same neighborhood. We don't all like the same kind of food.
We don't all like the same kind of clothes. We don't all shop at the same places.
We don't all sound alike or talk alike or look alike in terms of our resemblance.
But if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have one thing in common and we've come here to praise God out of our diversity.
There are diversities of gifts, but one Holy Spirit.
There is no reason why anybody cannot work with anybody else in the body of Christ if you are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Because if you are filled with the Spirit, your spirit connects with my spirit.
And what I believe hooks up with what you believe and we work together in the body of Christ, not in uniformity, but in unity.
It's very possible to be in one place and not be on one acolyte.
It's very possible to be in the same house, can't stand each other, be in the same room and don't talk to each other.
That's not being on one acolyte. How can two walk together?
Except they'd be agreed. I wish I had a witness. We don't have to all agree on the same things when it comes to non-essentials, but we got to agree he was born in Bethlehem.
We've got to agree that he was baptized in the Jordan. We've got to agree that he was born of a virgin.
We've got to agree that he died one Friday. We've got to agree that he rose early one Sunday morning.
We've got to agree that he's seated at the right hand of the Father and we've got to agree that he's coming back again.
And if we can agree to that, we can all shout together in unity.
Being a Christian is not a spectator sport. You have to participate. You can't be off by yourself. God has no secret saints.
I'm a Christian, but I don't want to be around all them people. You run all them people at the club.
You run all them people at NRG. You run all them people on your job.
No, no, no, no. All of us participate in this thing called Christianity if we all have the Holy Spirit.
They were on one accord in one place.
Brother and sister, hear me. When the early church prayed, there was no wrong notes struck.
No ugly attitudes. No finger pointing.
No pity parties. No gossip sessions.
Because it's hard to pray for somebody that you don't love.
So either stop criticizing and start praying or stop praying and stop criticizing because you can't do both.
How can you love God whom you have never seen and hate your brother who you see every day?
You are a liar and the truth is not in you.
If we all walk in this way and you start walking that way, maybe something's wrong with you.
But the Holy Ghost is not in any discord.
Wherever there's disagreement and strife and meanness and ugliness, that's a sign that the Spirit is not present.
Because the Spirit of God does not dwell in mess and conflict and confusion and mean-spiritedness and bad attitudes.
That's a spirit, but it's not the Holy Spirit.
Oh yeah, you have a spirit, but it's not the Holy Spirit.
Because the Holy Spirit is not going to let you sit back to me and not speak.
The Holy Spirit will not let you rejoice when I get in trouble.
Have I got a witness here?
If you have the Holy Spirit in you and I have the Holy Spirit in me, we feel the same thing on Sunday morning.
I want you to get this.
Not only was there participation, but suddenly there is a manifestation.
There's a manifestation.
There's a sound like a mighty rushing wind.
They heard something.
And not only did they hear something, but they saw something.
A sound like a rushing wind.
It was not a tornado of sorts.
It was not a hurricane, gale force of wind, because we do not read that anybody's hair was blowing.
Nobody's coat was flying open.
Papers were not strewn all over the place.
It was like a rushing wind, but it was a sound that they had never heard before because it came from heaven.
And that sound that came from heaven was like a sound they had never heard.
And there's a sound that takes place in church.
That's a sound that's different from every other sound.
I said this to the brothers in the back.
I've preached this and I've preached it wrong for 45 years.
And I thank God for the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
I see it now. I got it now.
I thought for 45 years of preaching.
I thought that when the fire of the Holy Spirit, like as cloven tongues of fire, I thought that when that fire came in the upper room, I thought it was just over the heads of the 11.
But that's not what the Scripture says.
I've been looking at it. If you want to hide something from Negro, just put it in writing.
It's been in Scripture all these years and I've never seen it.
The fire was not just over the heads of the apostles.
There were 120 in that room, men and women, and the fire was over every last head in the room.
That is the democracy of Christianity.
The Holy Spirit is not just for men, it's for women as well.
It's not just for men and women, it's for children as well.
It's not just for white folk, it's for black folk.
It's not just for black folk, it's for Hispanic folk.
Everybody who wants to get under the umbrella of the Holy Spirit, if you just get in the way, a rushing wind, because when you hear something, you got to say something.
Jeremiah said, I'm going home.
I'm not preaching another word.
I'm not speaking another word in that name.
But then something happened to him.
And he said, it's like fire.
It's like fire.
Shut up in my bowl.
Somebody in here this morning said I wasn't going to tell nobody.
But I can't keep it to myself.
I can't keep it to myself.
God's been good to me.
And so I got to say something.
God has opened the door for me.
So I got to say something.
God has put down some enemies for me.
So I got to say something.
God has provided when I didn't have a dime.
I got to say something.
God has made a way when it looked like there was no way.
Is there anybody else here?
Said it's like fire.
Shut up in my bones.
I said I wasn't going to tell nobody.
I said I wasn't going to tell anybody.
But I can't keep it.
I can't be quiet.
I can't keep still.
I can't act like I don't know who brought me.
I can't sit down here trying to act all sophisticated.
And I'm wearing God's clothes.
I'm spending God's money.
I'm driving around in a car I didn't qualify for.
I'm living in a house that they said I'd never be in.
Nobody but God who did that.
And you think I'm going to let you make me be quiet?
Clover tongues of fire.
What I heard was over every head in the room.
And there were people there for the Feast of Pentecost.
The people there were there from all nations in the world.
world. And the people in the upper room were Galileans who spoke either Cornei
Greek or Aramaic. But I just read you the names of the 15 places that people were
there from all over the world. And when the wind came and made that sound, they
were walking on the street and they came to that upper room. Because the sound
drew them. And when the church makes a sound, it draws people. But then they saw
the fire and they came to watch it burn. If Lily Grove would ever catch on fire,
people would come out of their houses to watch us burn. I need somebody who's on
fire this morning, not just on Sunday, but you on fire on Tuesday. You on fire on
Friday because you got to tell somebody.
When they saw those tongues of light as fire, the Bible says the Holy Spirit
gave them the ability to speak in other languages. They did not speak in an
unknown time.
They did not babble.
They spoke clear, intelligent, dialectical language. Xenolalia. They spoke a
language that they didn't learn. People were there from Africa, from Spain, from
Italy, from areas of the Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates
River. Not only did they speak their language, but they spoke their dialect.
You do know that there's a different dialect between North and South
Louisiana. In North Louisiana, they go by groceries. In South Louisiana, we go
make groceries. Now we're talking about the same thing. It's just a different
dialect. Somebody ought to help me here. The Holy Ghost got in their tongue and
got in their speech and let them speak a language that they never heard. That is
the miracle of Pentecost, which is descriptive and not prescriptive. A
sign that you've been saved is not that you speak in tongue. A sign that you're
saved is because you want to talk about Jesus. Because it is the job of the
Holy Spirit to magnify Jesus. Can I help you further? Pentecost reversed Bible.
Because at the Tower of Bible, they could not understand each other, but on the day
of Pentecost, everybody heard the gospel in their same language. Because what
happened at Bible, they tried to build a tower to see what God was doing and he
confounded their language. But on the day of Pentecost, God opened their
language so that disciples who spoke Aramaic got power to speak Latin. That
was repeated only three other times and it is not for us today. Because the
Bible says, tongues will cease. So why would you want a gift that's not
necessary? I've preached in Haiti and when I preached in Haiti, if I was all
that spiritual, which I'm not, but if I was all that spiritual, I could speak in
Haiti to the Haitian people in Creole because that's their native language. Now
I know some Creole because my family, my grandmother, all my relatives are
Creole. Creole people speak a dialect and a language that is French, but it's
different from French and I know some Creole, mostly Cuss words. But that's
not what I'm talking about right now, so come on back to what I'm saying. If I
was all that spiritual, I would go to Haiti and speak fluent Creole and they
would understand me. But when I preached in Haiti, Lucien Armandard had to stand
right beside me to interpret what I was saying. And if by chance you have the
gift of tongues, you need somebody to interpret, but they need to interpret an
intelligent language. That's the manifestation on the day of
Pentecost. Cloven plungs of fire was over the head and they started to speak in
other languages as the spirit gave them utterance, as the spirit gave them
ability. And then when the people who came around that noise and that sound and
that light and that fire, when they heard it, they said, what is this? Or not these
people Galileans? How is it that we hear the Gospel in our own language? We move
from participation and manifestation to observation because somebody in the
crowd said, I know what happened. They got a hold of some new wine.
That's why they talking like that. It's some new wine. It's some new wine. It's
some new wine. Somebody gonna get it in a minute. It's some new wine. I'm not
talking about Mad Dog 2020. I'm not. I'm not talking about Boone's Farm,
Strawberry Hill. I'm not talking about anything you would find in Napa Valley.
I'm talking about the newness of the spirit of God falling on people afresh
and making them act like they didn't act before. And when you get a hold of
that new wine, it'll make you love people who don't even love you. It'll make
you shake hands with folk who don't want to shake your hand. It'll make you be
nice to people who don't even speak to you. It'll make you love your enemies.
It'll make you pray for people who despitefully use you because you can't
put new wine in an old wine skin.
You cannot put the freshness of the Holy Spirit in the old wine skin of your
bad attitude.
Somebody ought to help me preach it. All I'm trying to say brothers and sisters
is that when the Lord gets a hold of you, somebody ought to observe something
different about you. There ought to be a change in your life. There ought to be a
change in your disposition. There ought to be a change in your attitude. The
things you once enjoyed, you can't even have a good time doing anymore. The
places you used to go, you may still go there, but you don't have the same
attitude anymore because the Lord has done something new in your life. And
Christian, you ought to have a new shout on Sunday morning. You ought not still be
shouting over what God did 36 years ago. God should have done something for you
yesterday or the day before yesterday or the month before last month or the year
before last year. I'm not talking about shouting over house now or shouting over
pregnancy or shouting over car or shouting over job. You ought to shout
because God has made you new in your attitude. You ought to shout because God
has helped you to put some boundaries around you and then God has helped you
to say goodbye to some things in your life. And not just goodbye to some things,
but goodbye to some people.
I wish I had a shout out here this morning. I wish I had a witness here this
morning. And it's so noticeable. It's so observable. People look at you and say,
girl, you must have a new boyfriend. It's something different about you. You
weren't smiling like that last week. You weren't that excited last year. You've
been looking depressed and down and not as a bounce in your step. Now you don't
care what people say. You don't even hear what they're saying about you. It
doesn't even bother you how they look at you. What's wrong with me? Ain't
nothing wrong with me. Peter said, this is not a new wine. These people are not
drunk as you suppose because it's still nine o'clock in the morning. Peter said,
this is that. I wish I had a Bible reader which was spoken of the prophet
Joel that in the last days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your
sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young
men shall see visions and brothers and sisters, my question this morning for
you Lily Grove is this that? Is this the same Holy Ghost that fell on the day of
Pentecost? Then it ought to change your expression. It ought to change that frown
into a smile. It ought to change that bad attitude into a sweet, sweet spirit. It
ought to change how you look at people. It ought to change how you walk. It ought
to change how you talk. I wish I had a witness here. You don't always physically
feel like it but if God's been good to you, if God has opened doors for you, if
God has made a way for you, there ought to be something in how you praise God.
You don't have to praise like everybody else praises. Maybe you're not a
shouter who jumps up and waves your hand. Maybe you're not one who runs all
around the sanctuary. Maybe you don't make noise like everybody in your section
but there ought to be something noticeable about how you give God praise.
You can worship God quietly but you can't praise God quietly. If God has opened
the door for you, you need to make some noise. If God has routed an enemy for
you, there ought to be a testimony in your mouth. If God has moved a mountain out
of your way, there ought to be a noticeable difference in how you worship.
If God has put down some rivers in your life, there ought to be a noticeable
difference in how you worship. You ought to tell Him, thank You differently. You
ought to wave your hands differently because it was not just about what they
said, it was about what they heard. Peter stood up in the midst of them and it
was not brothers and sisters just about participation. It was not just about
manifestation. It was not just about observation but it was forthly about
proclamation because they really couldn't shout like they were supposed to
until somebody talked about Jesus. Peter stood up in the crowd and said,
ye men of Israel, this Jesus that you crucified, God raised him from the dead
because it was not possible that the grave should hold him down and when
Peter got through preaching, 3,000 souls were added to the church. Now we got to
preach 3,000 sermons before one person changes their mind. But all the
tell somebody this morning, when God has saved you, when the Holy Ghost is in you,
He'll make you act right. He'll make you live right. He'll make you talk right.
He'll make you give right. Is there anybody here know you're filled with the
Holy Spirit? If you can feel Him like I can feel Him, I don't have to be a church
to feel Him. It don't have to be Sunday for me to feel Him. Sometimes riding in
my car, sometimes sitting down by myself, I look back over my life and see
where God has brought me from and then the Holy Ghost get a hold to me. I wish I
had a witness here. When I was growing up in my church down in Louisiana where
I'm from, they used to sing something got a hold of me. Something got a hold of
me. I went to a meeting last night and my heart wasn't right. But something got a
hold of me. Is there anybody here who can help me testify? Something got a hold of
me. Let me fix your theology this morning. It was not something that got a
hold of you. Somebody got a hold of you. And somebody is Jesus Christ. He walks
with me. He talks with me. He tells me I am His own. If you feel Him right now, if
He's been good to you, if He's made a way for you, why don't you grab somebody?
Don't be scared to grab somebody. The Holy Ghost will take care of you. Why don't
you grab somebody? Tell them something, something got a hold of me. Something,
somebody got a hold of me. I went to a meeting last night and my heart wasn't
right. But somebody named Jesus. Y'all know Him, don't you? He died. Didn't he die.
But bright of He had a... bright of He had a... Sunday morning, He got up. Didn't He do it?
Didn't He do it? He sent the Holy Ghost. He's all over this building. He's all over
these grounds. He's all over my life. Thank you Jesus. Can you tell Him, thank
you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know He's all right.
I know He's all right. He's a waymaker. He's a heart fixer. He's a burden-barrel.
He's a mother when you're motherless. A father when you're fatherless. A friend
when you're friendless. Bread when you're hungry. Y'all know Him, don't you? If He's
been good to you, why don't you shout right now? Don't wait till the battle is over.
Don't wait till your prayer is answered. Don't wait for your breakthrough. Go ahead.
Shout right now. Thank your Holy Ghost. Thank your Holy Ghost. Thank your Holy
Ghost. Thank your Holy Ghost. Thank your Holy Ghost. Thank your Holy Ghost.
Thank your Holy Ghost. I feel Him right now. Thank your Holy Ghost. Thank your Holy
He goes, I knew he's all right.
You don't have to know very much.
You don't have to have very much.
Because listen to what the scripture says.
They were ignorant, unlearned men.
But they noticed that they had been with Jesus.
And when you've been with Jesus,
He'll put something in your face.
He'll put something in your personality.
He'll put something in your smile.
That you don't even hear them criticizing you.
You don't even hear what they're saying about you.
Because when you know Jesus,
it's hard for somebody else to impress you.
When you really know Jesus Christ,
He makes the difference in your life.