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00:00 minister Vivian Anderson did a marvelous job reading this compilation of
00:06 scriptures that come to us from Acts 1 and Acts 2 and so since she has read so
00:13 thoroughly the contextual environment from whence I will seek to preach today
00:19 would you just join me in Acts chapter 2 and we'll look at verses 1 and 2. Acts
00:27 chapter 2 but we'll go through the verse for Acts chapter 2 and we'll read 1
00:32 through 4 when you're there say I am there would you read aloud with your
00:38 pastor online in the room online you read aloud with me let's read together
00:43 when the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all with one accord in one
00:50 place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind
00:58 and it filled the whole house where they were sitting then there appeared to them
01:05 divided tongues as a fire and one of the tongues sat upon each of them and they
01:13 were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the
01:22 Spirit gave them others. Rain, rain, Jesus, rain. Everyone say rain, rain, Jesus.
01:41 Would you make it your prayer for the preaching? Say rain, rain, Jesus, rain.
01:51 Come on who is he? He is King.
01:58 And he is Judas Lyon. Rain, come on say it. Come on all over the sanctuary and
02:12 everyone online from the top rain don't you want him to do that in your life
02:19 this week as you go about the living of your life amid all the circuitous
02:25 circumstances would you rain? My, my. Come on church say with me his name.
02:36 And he is Judas Lyon.
02:43 And rain, Jesus.
02:52 Come on clap your hands as you go to your seats. Hallelujah. This morning
02:59 beloved we continue this series that we began some weeks ago and we've been
03:07 involved and engaged in it now throughout the month of May entitled
03:13 "The Power of One" and so far my Mary in this series we have looked first at what
03:23 we called "The Powerly of One Desire." We listened to David that sweet psalmist
03:33 of Israel that King anointed and appointed taken from the sheepfold to
03:42 the palace as David says "One thing have I desired of the Lord and that is what I
03:50 will seek after." Then we saw this Syrophoenician woman, this African mother
04:01 who had one determination and that was to see her child healed and delivered.
04:12 One desire, one Deacon Riles determination and today Deacon Skelton
04:20 on this Pentecost Sunday I want to lift, I want us to look at what I'm calling
04:28 the one difference. I am convinced, I am convinced beyond the shadow of any doubt
04:39 without any fear of successful contradiction that I do not stand in any
04:47 way under threat of violation of the truth when I say that the coming of the
04:55 Holy Spirit is one of the most seminal events in the life of the church. In fact
05:04 I would argue today that the coming of the Holy Spirit, the giving of the Holy
05:10 Spirit, the falling of the Holy Spirit is the one thing that makes the difference
05:18 in the life of the believer like nothing else can make a difference. Now you and I
05:26 I know some of y'all are saying now wait a minute pastor what about the birth of
05:31 Jesus, what about the crucifixion, what about the burial, what about the
05:37 resurrection, what about the ascension of our Lord and all of those are seminal
05:43 and all of those are powerful and all of those are meaningful but none of them
05:50 carry the weight in your life and mine that the coming of the Holy Spirit does
05:57 here's why because those are events that happen outside of us. The Holy Spirit
06:06 happens inside of us. Coming of the Holy Spirit, the giving of the Holy Spirit, the
06:15 imparting and the imputing of the Holy Spirit is one of the greatest most
06:22 seminal most significant events in the history of the world. Now it's important
06:31 before I go further and I need to teach this Uncle George because there's so
06:36 much lack of clarity about the Holy Spirit. It's important for us to
06:42 understand that the day of Pentecost is not the beginning of the Holy Spirit.
06:51 If you'll let me I'll argue my case here and plead it before the bar of justice
06:59 known as First Church. The Holy Spirit falling on the day of Pentecost is not
07:06 the origin of the Holy Spirit no more than is the birth of Jesus in the manger
07:15 of Bethlehem the origin of Jesus. Jesus has always existed. John tells us in his
07:25 prologue in the beginning was the Word, the Logos, and the Word was with God and
07:32 the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God and without him was
07:38 not anything made that was made. Jesus has always existed and in like manner
07:45 the Holy Spirit has always existed. We are told that in the morning of creation
07:52 when God stood out in the middle of nowhere on the platform of nothing and
07:58 spoke worlds into existence he was not there by himself. Can I argue today? Here
08:09 it is you know the Bible I just quoted to you the prologue of John in the
08:14 beginning was the Word, Word was with God the Logos and everything that was made
08:19 was made by him without him was not anything made that was made. That is the
08:24 pre-existing eternal Christ. But Genesis 1 and 1 are y'all still with me?
08:31 Says in the beginning sounds just like John does it not? In the beginning God
08:39 Elohim Yahweh Jehovah in the beginning God created heavens and earth the earth
08:50 was without form and void darkness was upon the face of the deep here it is and
08:57 the Spirit of God. Y'all ain't ready for me I brought a bazooka you brought a
09:07 pea shooter. No! In the beginning God Elohim Yahweh Adonai stood in the middle
09:15 of nowhere on the platform of absolutely nothing stepped into chaos and created
09:23 cosmos and did it I feel preach on me today and did it with nothing but the
09:32 sheer weight power and authority of his Word. He spoke it he said it and it came
09:41 to pass stars started twinkling flowers started blooming cows started mooing
09:49 pigs started oinking birds started chirping sun started shining the moon
09:58 gave its pale light to the darkness of the evening all because God said let
10:04 there be. This omniscient omnipresent omnipotent omnipotent all power this God
10:22 said let there be and there was in the midst of the darkness of cosmic chaos
10:34 and the Spirit huddled over the face of the deep. Y'all missed it. God the Father
10:49 the Creator is there. How do I know? Ask me how I know. Because the Bible says so
10:58 because as part of the crowning creation process God after making everything that
11:05 is then says let us make man. In our image after our likeness. How much time
11:18 do y'all have today? Because I've got more message than you got time. Let us
11:25 make man. Adam, man. Let us make man. Now I will get in trouble but it will I
11:38 promise you not be my first or last time getting in trouble. That term man
11:45 brothers don't get too happy does not only refer to gender specificity. There
11:54 is no doubt there is no doubt that God made Adam first. Makes a man. A male.
12:10 Night pray. He makes a man. A male. And do you sense Lindy how I'm struggling up
12:25 here biting my tongue? And Tony and Helen he watches Adam hanging with
12:36 the animals like Dr. Doolittle if I could talk to the animals. He's hanging
12:44 with these. Lord he's kicking it with the animals but there's not a suitable
12:50 help me or partner for him. Huh and Jimmy O. Jimmy O. the first. Do y'all have time
13:04 for me to preach? Because you know I wasn't here last week so I got to make
13:08 up for lost time. I gotta preach two sermons in one week. Somebody said oh God
13:14 I'm just kidding. Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. If I wanted to I
13:20 couldn't do it. He looks at Adam. First negative word ever uttered in creation.
13:29 God looks at Adam the man the male and God says first negative word ever
13:38 uttered in creation. God okay you don't believe it. Here's why. Here's why. Here's
13:44 why. Every time you don't believe me go open your Bible and look at just
13:50 everything God made. It says and God said that's good. For five days everything he
14:01 makes in creation what we call nature. And let me just say this Aunt Trish,
14:10 Sister Kelly while I'm on the roll just call me butter because I'm on the roll.
14:14 I know y'all like to talk about mother nature. There is no mother nature. Thank
14:23 you Pastor Kelly. No everything you see came to you courtesy of God. God looks at
14:32 creation. Says that's good. That's good. For five days God said that's good and
14:38 somewhere around the fifth day in the evening he looks at Adam running around
14:42 there with these animals and every animal obviously has a counterpart, a
14:47 male and female counterpart except Adam and God says it is not good for man to
14:54 be alone. And so he performs the first surgery. He applies anesthesia, puts
15:03 Adam to sleep, opens him up, takes the rib out his side and fashions and molds
15:11 wo-man. Wo-man. You'll get the interpretation later, wo-man.
15:24 Let us make man Adam but let us make human beings really that's what I was
15:35 getting to in our image after our likeness. Here's why I'm telling you that
15:39 the Holy Spirit's always existed because God is tripartite. Father, Son, Spirit. You
15:46 and I are tripartite. Body, soul, and spirit. We get that because we are made
15:53 in the imago Dei. The image and the likeness of the divine. I need my folk
16:01 online to help me preach because they're not helping me up in here. No, no you and
16:05 I are stamped with the imago Dei. The image of the divine and present is the
16:15 Word. John, oh y'all missed it. Present is the Word which is why John could say in
16:25 see that's why you got to read the Bible because John could almost echo Genesis
16:29 1 in the beginning in the beginning. God created in the beginning was the Word
16:35 the Word was with God the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God
16:39 without him the Word was not anything made. Are y'all still awake? Because y'all
16:48 shouted when I said he made it with nothing but the sheer authority of his
16:55 Word. So you have God and then you have the Word Jesus who is the Word made
17:03 flesh and you have the Spirit hovering over the face of the deep all in Genesis
17:15 1. So the Holy Spirit showing up on Pentecost is not the beginning of the
17:22 Holy Spirit. So you're probably sitting there now because you are the most
17:26 brilliant church I know. Y'all online too sister Veronica Hill, y'all too. Y'all are
17:32 the most brilliant church I know. So I know what you're doing you sitting there
17:35 critiquing my sermon raising critical questions. You're saying well if that's
17:41 true what's the big deal about Pentecost? Why you got us dressed up in this white
17:46 and red? Why are we observing Pentecost if the Holy Ghost the Paracletas has
17:56 always existed? What's the big deal? Great question and I got a great answer. Because
18:03 after creation the Holy Spirit— y'all got time for this? If I ever start boring you
18:12 put up your Pentecostal finger and let me know and I'll acknowledge it. I'm not
18:19 gonna stop but I will acknowledge you put it up. Watch this, watch this. After his
18:25 activity in creation, Spirit of God—
18:38 hovers. I'm out of breath y'all I can't do it again. I'm old. That right there,
18:52 hovers. For the remainder from Genesis to Malachi, the Holy Spirit is confined—
19:08 y'all write this down. I'm teaching you better than you know. He has confined
19:14 Kevin to times and tasks. He shows up at certain times for certain tasks for a
19:31 certain purpose for a certain period over certain persons. Somebody said this
19:40 is good, this is good, this is good. That after he hovers over the deep and God
19:49 steps into the abyss of chaos and creates cosmos, Word, Spirit, Father all at work.
19:57 He is now relegated to tasks and times showing up at certain periods for
20:05 certain purposes in certain places on certain people. But on Pentecost, he is
20:18 not temporarily here for tasks and times, he is poured out without measure. God I
20:28 want to shout, brother Lee, I want to shout right there. See you don't know
20:32 where to shout. That before, before he would come on the prophets, he would come
20:36 on the kings, he would come on certain people and they would have him and he
20:41 would use them, he would imbibe them and imbue them and impart in them and he
20:47 would function and flow under the authority and the anointing of the
20:53 Holy Spirit but then he'd lift. Task, assignment fulfilled for that time. But
21:03 on Pentecost, I'm sorry I'm excited, Dick and Rosie thank you for standing, on
21:11 Pentecost he does not come for tasks or time for place and period and for
21:18 person but he is poured out without measure. They were all filled with the
21:24 Holy Ghost. God I thank you. Not just the king, not just the priest, not just the
21:33 prophet, but every believer. And he doesn't come for just a little while, he
21:42 comes to stay. Jesus says in John, "I will pray the Father, he will send you
21:50 another comforter." Are y'all ready? He will not just be with you, he will be
21:58 old school. Everybody say old school. The comforter has come, the comforter has
22:10 come, the Holy Ghost from heaven, the Father's promise given. Spread the
22:17 tidings round, wherever people are found, tell them the comforter has come. Not for
22:26 a task, not for a time, not for a place, a person, a period, a purpose, but poured
22:35 out without measure. Not to just fall on us, but to live inside of us. Would you
22:47 thank God for the Holy Ghost?
22:51 Okay let me get to point one because y'all bored. So what does that mean?
23:02 Relevant question, Dr. Samuel D. Wood Proctor, Laurie, always said, "Your pastor,
23:07 my brother," who was, I think, I won't, well I can say it, Doc's favorite student,
23:14 Dr. Booth, I think was Dr. Proctor's favorite student. Dr. Proctor always said, you
23:20 heard me say it enough, that every sermon ought to have a relevant question. The
23:25 relevant question I want to raise is, if the Holy Spirit has come Pentecost
23:30 Sunday, what does that mean and what does that look like? And there are three
23:35 manifestations and I'll let you go wherever you're going. Here's the first
23:39 thing. The first thing I want us to lift is what I'm calling the difference.
23:44 Everyone say the difference that the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost makes in
23:50 the life of the Christian. Now DP, remember I mentioned to you a few
23:56 moments ago that prior to Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon people for a
24:00 period, a purpose, in a place, but it was always select persons or person. But with
24:07 the coming of Pentecost the Holy Spirit is poured out on every believer, every
24:13 child of God, and every Christian, listen to me, every Christian now has the right
24:21 and the privilege to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
24:31 Pastor Kelly, I am, I can't call the names because I would never embarrass
24:40 this preacher, but in our town, you know there was H. Kelly Temple where you grew
24:48 up, First Church of God where I grew up, First Baptist, and then Bethlehem. One of
24:54 those churches, I was talking to a son of that church on the phone one day and I
25:00 asked him about another son of that church and how he was faring. He said to
25:08 me, he said, "Oh he's doing great." He said, "You know he's some preacher." I said, "He
25:14 sure is, always has been." And then he said to me, "Innocently I know it, as a
25:21 compliment." He said, "Now he got the Holy Ghost." I knew what he meant because he,
25:29 you know, he was a hooper. He would tear a house up and he said,
25:36 "He got the Holy Ghost." And I knew he was trying to compliment him, but I
25:39 thought to myself, "Oh pity him to think that a style of preaching represents the
25:50 Holy Ghost." Y'all ain't gonna help me here. And that only certain preachers can have him.
25:56 I'm preaching right now. I've got good news for everybody in the room online. If
26:01 you are saved, you are a candidate for the baptism, the infilling, and the
26:07 indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and you don't have to be a preacher, prophet,
26:12 apostle, or pastor. I wish I had a church that could celebrate that.
26:18 A.W. Tozer, the later A.W. Tozer said, "To have the Holy Spirit in our lives is to
26:27 have another person living inside of us." God, I thank you. For the believer, the
26:36 Holy Spirit is the difference that makes all the difference. Here's why. Because he
26:44 lives in us. Stay with me. The person of the Holy Spirit. The person. Stop asking
26:57 folk about the Holy Ghost, "Do you have it?" That's like COVID. You got it? No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
27:13 The Holy Spirit is not an it. The Holy Spirit is a person. Are you in the room
27:22 with me? This is why we miss him, because we're looking for an it. Okay, now I'm
27:29 gonna really get in trouble, but it's alright. You can't fire me. I've been here
27:33 too long. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Because too many believers settle for
27:39 it instead of him. They settle for some feeling, some emotion, some ecstatic
27:45 experience. That ain't bad, but that ain't all. Did I just say something? Did I just say
27:53 something, Bill? Here it is. Listen, an experience is not bad. An ecstatic
27:58 encounter is not bad. That ain't bad, but that ain't all. Because in life, when I'm
28:03 going through, I need more than just a feeling. I need more than just an urge. I
28:09 need more than just an emotion. I need somebody. Oh, the person, the person of the
28:21 Holy Spirit. What does that look? I have 15 minutes. Here it is. A, it means he's
28:25 alive in us. Oh, he's alive. I want to say this to some of y'all been sitting here,
28:32 some of our guests. You may not belong to a church like First Church. You may belong
28:36 to a church that's a little more quiet, a little more sedate, a little more refined
28:39 than us. Don't get scared. We ain't gonna do nothing to you. But the Holy Ghost in
28:46 us is alive, and anything alive shows some sign.
28:55 He's active in us. He's not just alive in us. He's active in us. He's working in us.
29:05 Now, that working is not just making you shout. Sometimes it's
29:09 sitting you down.
29:12 I'm so tired of y'all and your version of the Holy Ghost that only makes you
29:23 speak in tongues and shout, but doesn't make you pay tithe or treat folk right.
29:28 I just don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it.
29:33 Michelle, I don't get it. But Roy, I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't know what
29:37 kind of Holy Ghost that is. Let you cuss folk out, tell folk off, and still you got
29:42 a prophecy. I don't want you telling me nothing. He's alive. Everybody say, "He's alive
29:51 in us. He is active in us." Here's the shout for me when I was working on this
29:56 sermon and He's abiding with us. Oh God, I thank you. Pity a believer that only has
30:05 the Holy Ghost on Sunday in the sanctuary. I need Him on Monday and on
30:15 Tuesday and on Wednesday and on Thursday and on Friday and sure enough on Saturday
30:23 night. He abides with me, gives me victory. God never fails. He never leaves us. He
30:33 never forsakes us. So there's everyone say the difference. There's the difference
30:38 He makes in the church. Let me, in the Christians. Secondly, there's the
30:41 difference He makes in the church. The Holy Spirit, deacon Croft, is the presence
30:46 of God in and among His people. When the people of God gathered, first church
30:53 hear me today online in the room, Erica praying for you and the family. I'm gonna
30:58 talk about y'all in just a minute. When the people of God gather and the Holy
31:04 Ghost, the Holy Spirit is among them, His presence makes all the difference.
31:16 Let me go for a walk. Let me go for a walk. Let me take a walk. See y'all are
31:25 spoiled. Okay, let me see. Gary, I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna say this. Y'all are
31:33 spoiled. I love you, but y'all spoiled and it's alright because I spoiled you. So
31:42 like me talking about Pug and Little Lady or Dee Dee and Jocelyn. They spoiled.
31:49 I can't say too much. We spoiled them.
31:55 Pug and Little Lady here so I can tell it. They spoiled. They got us wrapped
32:03 around their finger. We put up a good bluff though. Well don't be thinking we
32:11 don't be, you know, at the house talking big. I spoiled y'all. Y'all, we spent a lot of
32:23 money on sound and lights and cameras and paying musicians, worship ministers. We
32:31 spent a lot of money on that. Y'all come in here and if a song is not something
32:37 you like, you got the nerd to get mad. 52 Sundays they sing one song you don't
32:43 like and you're ready to go join another church. All this money we spend. See y'all
32:51 should have came up when I came up. We didn't have, the church I grew up in had
32:57 carpet down the middle aisle and in the front, but under the pills it was
33:02 bare wood floor. And if Aunt Betty wasn't there or Sister Evelyn wasn't there, we had to
33:09 make music and melody with our heart, our mouths, and our feet. Y'all ain't helping
33:16 me here. And all we had in our church was a piano and an organ. A Hammond B3, that's
33:22 all we had. We didn't have no band. Wasn't no band. Dad wasn't gonna have no band. You
33:27 had bands in a nightclub. We had no band, we had no band, but we had church, Jimmy-O,
33:38 because when the saints got together, we brought with us the Holy Ghost in us and
33:46 we didn't need all this other stuff. We could sing acapella. Y'all, you ain't never
33:56 heard singing till Mother Eden's got to singing over in that corner. Y'all, you ain't
34:01 never heard it till them deacons at First Baptist doing the devotional, singing
34:06 "A charge to keep our hand." You ain't never heard singing until you came to First
34:13 Church of God and we started singing page nine. Once again we come and we
34:19 didn't have all this other stuff, but when the saints got together—I wish I
34:25 had a witness up in here—and sometimes I think we ought to sit everybody down
34:30 and we just ought to ask the Holy Ghost, "Sweep on in here and fill us again with
34:37 your presence in our midst." We can't do it because y'all too busy waiting on Gabby,
34:47 waiting on Sylvia, waiting on this one and that. They are not here to worship
34:53 for you. They are here to worship with you. Tell somebody, "He's preaching real good
35:01 now." Thank you, Bob. No, no. When the people of God gather, Holy Spirit shows up.
35:12 That presence makes all the difference in the world. What's the difference the
35:19 Holy Spirit makes in the church? Glad you asked. A, it's to grow His church. The
35:24 Holy Ghost grows the church. You all give me all this credit. Child, you've
35:28 been here all these years and thousands have joined this church. They ain't joined the church
35:32 because I grew it. Y'all say amen. Don't be scared, I'm saying it. Did God use me?
35:41 Yes, but growth comes by the Holy Spirit. It's right there in verse 41. He added to
35:50 the church every day. Come on. Verse 41 tells us souls were added and then
35:57 multiplied. They went from addition to multiplication because the presence of
36:03 the Holy Spirit in the church grows the church. It's also gifting the church. Acts
36:10 chapter 3 verses 1 through 9. You know the story. Peter and John going up to the
36:16 temple at the hour of prayer. There's a lame man there at the gate and asking
36:20 for money and they say, "Look on us. Silver and gold have we not, but such as we have
36:26 give we unto you in the name of Jesus." Only the vice chairman knows it. "Rise up,
36:35 walk." And immediately his ankle bones received strength and he stood up
36:42 leaping and praising God. The Holy Spirit doesn't just grow the church, he gifts
36:49 the church. In Acts 3, 1 through 9, it's gifts of faith and gifts of healing and
36:55 word of knowledge. The gifts. And then the Holy Spirit present in the church makes
37:04 the difference because he's there to guard the church. Acts chapter 5, 9 through
37:10 11, Acts 12 through 13, you'll notice, you'll notice that Ananias and
37:17 Sapphira lie to the Holy Ghost. God wipes them out. And the Bible says in great
37:27 fear came upon the whole church. It says that after that nobody just joined them
37:36 casually because they saw the reality of the Holy Ghost. Why y'all getting quiet?
37:42 No, no, the Holy Spirit grows the church, Deacon Angie, and the Holy Spirit gifts
37:47 the church, but I want y'all to know, and here's as a pastor where I thank God and
37:52 the Holy Ghost guards the church. Okay, I'm gonna try it, I'm gonna try it, Sister
37:58 Kelly, I'm gonna try it, First Lady, I'm gonna try it. That's why some things have
38:02 never happened in this church, not because folk didn't want to try it, but
38:06 because the Holy Ghost is guarding it. Okay, y'all ain't helping me, y'all ain't. I wish I
38:12 had somebody up in here who could shout with me that across the years of your
38:17 life, the Holy Ghost has guarded you, and the Holy Ghost has covered you, and the
38:22 Holy Ghost has protected you. Listen, the only reason you didn't die, okay, Bill,
38:27 am I talking good? Only reason you didn't die on Monday in that car crash is
38:32 because the Holy Ghost guards us, and the Holy Ghost protects us. Do I have anybody
38:38 else here who was in an accident, was sick enough to die, but God raised you up
38:43 because the Holy Ghost guards his church.
38:49 Everybody holler, "The difference, the difference, the difference he makes in the
38:58 Christian, the difference he makes in the church." I have five minutes, here it is,
39:02 and then it's the difference he makes in the culture. The Holy Spirit in the
39:09 Christian is the person of the Holy Spirit or the person of God abiding in
39:14 that believer. The Holy Spirit in the church is the presence of God filling
39:20 his church, but the Holy Spirit in the culture is the power of God on display
39:28 in the world. In John 16, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world
39:36 of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. In verse 8, the Holy Spirit in the
39:43 culture, in the world, convicts, convinces, and converts the world and brings them
39:52 to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He does that in three ways, and I close A.
39:59 By witnessing to the world. If you go back and look at Acts chapter 2 verses
40:04 16 through 13, you will be amazed, I promise you will, at the list of nations,
40:11 tongues, nationalities that are there on the day of Pentecost. God, I feel like
40:18 preaching this, Ray. Here it is, here it is, the world is there. Dwellers of
40:25 Mesopotamia, Pontus, Phygeria, Cappadocia, places, regions beyond Africa, Asia. What
40:34 we would now call Europe. They are there. The world is in Jerusalem for the Feast
40:41 of the Passover. Y'all still didn't get it because you're sitting there. The world
40:45 is there, and when the Holy Ghost falls, the world hears the good news in their
40:53 own tongue. Uncle George, I wish they'd help me preach this. See, see, see, some of y'all
41:02 get scared of the Holy Ghost and scared of tongues because you think, "Oh God, oh
41:06 God, I don't know about that." Listen, first of all, tongues in Acts 2 are not
41:11 the tongues in 1st Corinthians. The tongues in Acts 2 are historical
41:17 languages. The tongues in 1st Corinthians is what Paul calls a heavenly
41:23 language. Y'all are missing this. Y'all are missing this. So watch this. When the
41:28 Holy Ghost fell and the world is there from Pontus and Phygeria and
41:34 Cappadocia, from regions of Libya and Syria, and they all hear them speak the
41:41 wonderful works of God, here it is in their tongue. Everybody heard the gospel
41:48 in their language. Okay, y'all still ain't with me. Y'all, I don't know why y'all
41:52 make me work so hard. I've been here 41 years. Don't I get some time off for
41:57 good behavior? Come on, y'all. They heard the word in their own tongue, in their
42:02 own language, and that's what the Holy Ghost wants us to do. He wants to take
42:08 the message of salvation and redemption and pardon and forgiveness and tell the
42:15 world what Christ can do for them. And we have to learn, Deacon Ross, how to speak
42:24 in their language. We got to learn how to be conversant in the language of the
42:35 culture. We don't change the message, but we create a language by which the
42:43 message is heard in their ear in their own language. Wow. Used to be a time when
42:52 the black church didn't have to do nothing but preach black. Wasn't about
42:58 there but black folk. Now we preach to the world. So even my illustrations cannot
43:05 just be black illustrations. Boy, y'all getting quiet. I can't just talk about
43:09 Martin Luther King, I got to talk about Abraham Lincoln. I can't just talk about
43:15 Rosa Parks, I got to talk about Eleanor Roosevelt. Why y'all getting so quiet? I can't
43:21 just talk about Adam Clayton Powell, I also got to talk about Jacob Javits and
43:27 Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I've got to learn how to use illustration that help
43:33 people who are sitting here who don't speak the tongue I grew up in. Somebody
43:40 say he's preaching real good right there. By working, by witnessing in the world.
43:47 Then it's by working in the world. I told you Acts chapter 3, Lee Hinton watches
43:52 Acts chapter 3. They're going to church. Everybody say they're going to church.
43:54 They're going to church. Got one minute. They're going to church and there's a lame
43:58 man there and thank God they ain't so busy going to church that they walk by
44:03 the lame man. Because the Holy Spirit uses us to touch hurting people.
44:13 Okay I'm not getting any help let me try it again. No, no. See you have the Holy
44:18 Ghost in your life. He will open your eyes to see the hurt and the pain of the
44:23 people around you and then allow you to be a blessing to them so that they are
44:28 convinced of the reality of God because you took time to touch them. If I can
44:34 help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, show
44:40 somebody they're traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain. He sends us
44:48 out to touch the world, to touch their hurting and then he does it not only by
44:53 witnessing to the world and working in the world, he does it by winning the
44:58 world. Acts chapter 2, 47 says, "Praising God." I love this. "Having favor with all
45:06 the people." Y'all missed that. "Praising God, having favor with all the people and
45:12 the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." I'm gonna close on
45:17 this and I'm gonna leave it alone. If you think the only time God can save
45:21 somebody is Sunday morning, we in a world of trouble. If you think the only way
45:29 folk can get saved is you drag them by here by the nap of their neck and they
45:33 sit here and listen to me preach, we're not gonna get a harvest. But you got to
45:37 make up your mind, you too are an ambassador. God, I wish I had help here.
45:43 Somebody just tell a neighbor, "Sir, you're an ambassador. You're a minister. You're
45:48 an agent and you don't have to drag them here to get saved, but you ought to
45:53 invite them to come after they get saved because you can witness to them on a
45:58 Coda bus." Oh God, I'm through deacon Dowdy. Y'all ain't gonna help me. You can
46:04 witness to them in a classroom at The Ohio State University. You can witness to
46:10 them in a dorm room at Ohio University at Wilberforce. You can witness to them
46:16 at Central State in the cafeteria. You can witness to them in the-- is
46:22 Rhodes Tower still open? In Rhode Tower on the elevator because wherever you are,
46:29 wherever God places you is where you ought to let God use you to judge
46:35 somebody's life. Would you turn, turn to one of your neighbors and say, "Neighbor,
46:41 don't wait to get to church on Sunday to pray for somebody to get saved, but when
46:49 you wake up every morning, say, 'Lord, if I go to the dealership to get my car
46:56 worked on and I'm sitting in the room waiting on my car and somebody's in
47:01 there, would you give me the courage to say a word about Jesus? If I'm at the
47:07 doctor's office and the doctor's late, rather than fussing and cussing, would
47:13 you give me somebody that I can say a word about Jesus? If I'm standing in the
47:19 express line at the supermarket and somebody got 30 pieces instead of 12 or
47:26 15, don't let me go ballistic, but help me use that time to tell somebody about
47:33 Jesus. Is there anybody here who can shout with me, "I didn't get saved on a Sunday, I
47:41 didn't get saved in church, but right where I was when I called on his name,
47:48 he saved me, he washed me." Is there anybody here who can thank God? He'll save you on a
47:58 Monday, he'll save you on a Tuesday, he'll save you on a Wednesday, he'll save you
48:05 on a Thursday, he'll save you on a Friday, he'll save you on a Saturday, and God
48:11 knows he'll save you on a Sunday. Would you turn, turn, turn to one of your neighbors,
48:18 say, "Neighbor, I don't know what day you got saved, but I'm so glad he picked me up,
48:25 turned me around, placed my feet on solid ground." Is there anybody here who can
48:34 shout with me on Pentecost Sunday because he's real? Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. I've had a long week, I ain't gonna do that. He's real!
48:47 Christ Jesus, real today. He walks with me, he talks with me, along life's narrow way, he's real.
49:00 Uh-uh, uh-uh. Don't do it, don't do it Winston, don't do it. He's real! Salvation to impart. You ask me how, I know he's real. He's real.
49:15 [applause]
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